Hunter S. Thompson on Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72: George McGovern (1997)

Corporate America tried to kill Investigative Journalism: they didn't anticipate Social Media

K.J. McElrath
Ring of Fire
30 August 2015

Five years ago, the word in the media was that investigative journalism was dying. No longer would corruption and morality be kept in check through journalists such as Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman (Nellie Bly), Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward, and Seymour Hersh.

Well, to paraphrase another famous news man, Samuel (“Mark Twain”) Clemens, reports of the death of investigative reporting have been greatly exaggerated.  Thanks to Progressive digital media sites like Huffington Post and The Intercept,that tradition is returning with a vengeance – and heaven help the corporate and political villains who attempt to hide under rocks and in the shadows.

What happened to investigative journalism in the first place? The short answer: it was about the money. Traditional investigative reporting is very expensive and time-consuming. It requires travel, research, extensive interviews with many people and rigorous documentation. It also entails risks; not surprisingly, investigative reporters are targeted by those persons and institutions who are the subject of their reports. Small wonder that Corporate America, which has been consolidating media under its control for years (and often the target of investigative reports), has been happy to see investigative journalism killed off.

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Rachel Maddow: Bernie Sanders' track record distinguished by consistency

The Next GOP Debate

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How to beat the senile old teabaggers

The city of Troy, Michigan was facing a budget shortfall, and was considering closing the Troy Public Library for lack of funds. Even though the necessary revenues could be raised through a miniscule tax increase, powerful anti-tax groups in the area were organized against it.

Koch Brothers built it

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The Bernie Sanders Moment

Todd Gitlin | New York Times
11 July 2015

"The white-haired politician stands before 10,000 cheering supporters in Madison, Wis., and calls for “political revolution,” denouncing a 'rigged economy' that produces 'a grotesque level of inequality,' returning to a theme that ’60s radicals have long been trumpeting.

"It may have seemed, only a few years ago, that the ’60s radical moment was consigned to documentaries on Woodstock, pushed out of the spotlight for Occupy Wall Street and a new generation of activists to enter stage left. But here it is again. And it is perfectly timed to crusade against what Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, calls an 'oligarchy.'

"In Mr. Sanders’s run — and in the absence of a White House bid from Senator Elizabeth Warren — progressives have found a candidate they can support wholeheartedly. To understand the moment that the 73-year-old Mr. Sanders is enjoying, we have to see how he got here, waiting for national politics to catch up.

"The road he took out of the 1960s student movement was not the most conspicuous one, but it was the widest. And Senator Sanders now represents a culmination of one of the primary currents of the left in the past half century."

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U.S. Marine Band - John Philips Sousa - The Stars and Stripes Forever

Still Flying

Luckovich

Senator Bernie Sanders on TPP Vote: Wall Street steals more from America and Obama promotes it

Bernie Sanders beats the Hell out of Wall Street dope Alan Greenspan in 2003

Charleston

Bernie Sanders on G.E. and The Five Chinas

Rick Perry's accomplishments

B.B. King on Austin City Limits in 1983

“B.B. King personified blues music for the whole world...He was larger than life, but a gentle man with a kind soul and big heart. His ACL performance ranks as one of my personal favorites, and I was never more proud than when he somehow slipped ‘Austin City Limits’ into the lyric of his classic rendition of Willie Nelson’s ‘Night Life.’ We’ve lost a giant.” – Terry Lickona, ACL Executive Producer

Birds of a feather

Traitors

The Great Texas Teapublican Freak Out

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Senator Sanders: "The American people are angry"

Senator Bernard Sanders Floor Statement - June 27, 2012

excerpt
"I think what the American people are saying is enough is enough. This country, this great country, belongs to all of us. It cannot continue to be controlled by a handful of billionaires who apparently want it all. You know, I, for the love of me, I cannot understand why people who have billions of dollars are compulsively driven for more and how many people have got to die because they don'€™t go to a doctor because you want to avoid paying your taxes?€œ

"Well, that is not what America is about. That is not what people fought and died to create. With that, we have got a fight on our hands. The job of the United States national is to represent the middle-class families of this country, all of the people, and not just the super-rich. I hope we can begin to do that".



Link to transcript