Journalists Abandon the Fourth Estate

By Leslie Griffith, Reader Supported News

28 October 11

ctober 25th. 8:00 pm. Oakland: "Occupy Oakland" participants are taking a few rubber bullets to the butt at this very moment. One thing is clear, the people are mad and they are not going to take it anymore. This is not satire, this is real. And, when all is said and done ... we are in this mini- revolution in no small part because there are precious few reporters allowed to do their jobs.

The forces of accountability have failed.

So what exactly do the people want? What are they mad about?

Well, ain't that just the beauty of it? No one is selling one-liners based on malarkey. These occupiers have been subject to propaganda for so long, swallowing phrases like "war on terror" they began to feel that, alongside the reporters mouthing war slogans, they too were recruiting for a way of life they do not want.

The Occupier's remember the Main Stream press they counted on as recently as ten years ago. That press warned and protected them. Today much of the Main Stream media corporations are owned by the entertainment industry or those who make weapons of war. In fact, making war, movies, and gossip is how these new media corporations came to be so rich. Firing the investigative reporters helped too ... they were so expensive.

The forces of accountability have been replaced by media monopolies not that different from the financial monopolies of Wall Street.

If the "free press" was doing its job freely, it would have been nice to know which politicians were bought by whom, and how much more of the public's money the big wigs planned to take. Nice thought, but unlikely. The Fourth Estate is asleep and doesn't seem to be waking up ... not until the corporations that own the reporters stop pushing their own agendas and start doing what is constitutionally directed of them. The media was part of the envisioned checks and balances. Its job was protecting the people and the planet from tyrants and thieves.

Clearly, we are witnessing that democracy does not work without a free press. The voiceless masses paid attention in elementary school when they were told they were the government ... the people were the democracy. The occupiers know they haven't had much to do with anything, lately. Now, they are stepping back into their constitutional role as "the people."

Frankly, there has been so much dereliction of duty on the part of most Main Stream media - so much neglect - that there are more prisons than universities in this country. And few corporate owned reporters seem to be able to find their way to a school board meeting much less stumble upon a story of any value.

This speaks volumes. Does it not?

After years of neglect ... the work now seems formidable. There is so much corruption collusion and pandering to one side or another ... the public is finally taking to the streets. The "Occupy Wall Street" movement is fed up with the bait and switch that began in full force ten years ago. That's when it became unpatriotic to ask why. That's when it became "patriotic" to give up civil liberties. Unlike many in the Main Stream media, The People began to notice the more they gave up in the name of "national security", the less free they became. Just as Thomas Jefferson warned.

After ten long years of nodding and smiling under their belts, The People are not going along to get along anymore. Now, if only the press would follow.

The current corporate media is working for the least patriotic, most self-interested, callow, mean spirited, polluting, plundering corporations imaginable. These are the "corporate people" who parceled out the republic. The reporters cannot report on them ... they are them.

Now, "Occupy Wall Street" has become "Occupy America." Protestors are saying one thing loudly and clearly. Not so fast Bubba. Get your greedy hands out of our pockets.

It's about time too. Even so, there are very few reporters out covering this "Occupy" movement with any respect.

As a consequence, those on the street are not being heard and likely to make their voices louder.

For old time reporters, used to putting boots on the ground and trying to tell all sides, the most dangerous places were the communities where people were used, treated like peasants, and thrown away.

What happens when the majority of a country in a so called democracy feels unrepresented? We should remember, America's revolutionaries of 1776 desired not much more than a monarch off their backs, and if they paid their taxes, a seat at the table of discussion. Certainly sounds familiar does it not?

America is waking up.

Many in these rallies have no jobs, little hope for the future, and see a government, political system and mass media in bed together.

It's a very unholy trifecta. People with nothing to lose are the most dangerous people on Earth.

Leslie Griffith has been a television anchor, foreign correspondent and an investigative reporter in newspaper, radio and television for over 25 years. Among her many achievements are two Edward R Murrow Awards, nine Emmies, 37 Emmy Nominations, a National Emmy nomination for writing, and more than a dozen other awards for journalism. She is currently working on a documentary, giving speeches on "Reforming the Media," and writing for many on-line publications, as well as writing a book called "Shut Up and Read." She hopes the book, her speeches, and her articles on the media will help remind the nation that journalism was once about public service ... not profit. To contact Leslie, go to lesliegriffithproductions.com.