8-20-2001: Congressman Bernie Sanders said today that, “One of the great unspoken truths in American society is the enormous damage being done to our political, social, cultural and economic well-being by the rapidly growing corporate control over the media. With fewer and fewer giant multi-national corporations controlling television, radio, newspapers, magazines and the internet, issues of major importance to our society get little or no attention.
Meanwhile, trivia, gossip and sensationalism receive enormous coverage. In fact, there appears to be an inverse correlation between the importance of an issue and the amount of coverage it gets. The sex life of a famous person is discussed on front pages for months. The economic problems facing tens of millions of working Americans is hardly mentioned.”
“In my view,” Sanders continued, “corporate America is quite intentionally trying to keep Americans ignorant about the basic economic realities they face. If the average American doesn’t understand what is going on, or why it’s going on, he or she is much less likely to have the ability, or the inclination, to change the situation.
“Let me very briefly mention a few economic and social situations. Think about how the corporate media covers the issue, and what the reality is for millions of Americans:
Corporate Media: The United States is in the end phase of the greatest increase in economic prosperity in the history of the country.
Reality: The average American worker today is earning eight percent less than in 1973. Workers in the United States, in order to compensate for declining wages, now work longer hours than do the people of any other major country.
Corporate Media: Free trade brings prosperity to the United States and to the entire world.
Reality: The United States today has a record-breaking trade deficit of more than $449 billion, including a an $84 billion trade deficit with China. The result of this trade deficit is that millions of Americans have lost their jobs, and the wages now being paid to entry-level male high school graduates are 25 percent less than they were in 1979.
Corporate Media: The United States is the wealthiest nation on earth.
Reality: While the cumulative wealth in the United States is greater than in any other country, that wealth is extremely unfairly distributed. In the U.S. today, the richest one percent own more wealth than the bottom 95 percent, and the CEOs of major corporations now earn more than 500 times what their workers make. The truth is that the standard of living for the average worker -- in terms of wages, health care, vacation time, education, etc. -- is higher in many European and Scandanavian countries than it is in the United States.”
