Does the Mainstream Media represent the interests of U.S. citizens or the wealthy elite that rule?

Question

Three-quarters of Americans think the United States should stop its military threats (against Iran) and concentrate on reaching agreement by diplomatic means... The vast majority of the population of both countries think that the area from Israel to Iran should be completely clear of nuclear weapons, including those held by US forces operating in the region. But you would have to search long and hard to find this kind of information in the media.
...Most Americans want less military spending and more welfare expenditure...They also want to cancel the tax reductions decided by President George Bush for the benefit of the biggest taxpayers.

On all these topics, White House policy is completely at odds with what public opinion wants. But the media rarely publish the polls that highlight this persistent public opposition. Not only are citizens excluded from political power, they are also kept in a state of ignorance as to the true state of public opinion.

Noam Chomsky

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=21&ItemID=13485

BMCR-you have absolutely no clue what you are talking about. The polls in 2003 of people being in favor of the war are exactly because they were misinformed by the media. MSNBC fired the only host (Phil Donahue) who had guests on saying there were no WMDs in Iraq (THEY WERE RIGHT!) If you actually read one of Noam Chomsky's books you would know he was just as critical of totalitarian communist regimes as he is of plutocracies.
check out:
Failed States
Hegemony or Survival
Manufacturing Consent

BMCR-incorrect again...if you actually read any of Chomsky's articles or books since the illegal invasion of Iraq you would know that he has referrenced public polls in 2003 all around the world that showed overwhelming opposition to the U.S. invasion. Only in the U.S. where consent is manufactured by the propaganda delivered by the Corporate media was there "support."

WMDs "not relevant"?-IT WAS THE REASON THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION GAVE FOR THE WAR!
Next!

Answer 1

The wealthy elite that rule, of course! *sm*

Answer 2

"On all these topics, White House policy is completely at odds with what public opinion wants."

Funny. Very funny. Chomsky is so far to the left he considers most left wingers (including the media) "right wing". The vast majority of American's political views vastly differ from Chomsky's on any given day.

When public opinion polls at the start of the war showed that a majority of Americans supported it, that did not stop Chomsky from being anti war. Yet now, when he has a poll that seems to point the other way, he appeals to "public opinion". It seems "public opinion" is only valuable when it suits him.

"But the media rarely publish the polls that highlight this persistent public opposition. "

That is a bald face lie as anyone who watches network news knows. Polls are cited all the time.

"Not only are citizens excluded from political power, they are also kept in a state of ignorance as to the true state of public opinion."

This is also BS. Has he not ever heard of democracy where citizens get to vote for whoever they feel will support their views? I guess that doesn't matter to him that much, considering his admiration for Communist regimes past and present where such democratic ideas are rarely displayed.

And get this? He says the public is ignorant of its own public opinion? Sheesh. For a linguist he really has it all well defined there, doesn't he?

Also, as an aside, does he not realize the following? If the public does not want Iran to have nuclear weapons then he must realize that, from the public's view, were such a thing to happen, that would be very bad. But does Chomsky himself think that that is a bad thing? Knowing him, he'd probably disagree. Also, if the public thinks this can be achieved through diplomatic means, what would their opinion be if those diplomatic means fail? He doesn't say though I would venture to guess that if any "opinion poll" indicated anything opposite of Chomsky's opinion he be sure not to mention it or just dismiss it.

Update:

I currently don't have time for a full response and I'll leave the subject of Chomsky's views on Communist regimes to those who are better versed in it than I (which was not my main point anyways).
Here is a reference site for that issue.
http://www.antichomsky.blogspot.com/

But the problem is that you didn't bother following my basic point.
Chomsky critisizes the White House policy for going against public opinion, basing himself on recent polls.
Yet public opinion in the past has been the other way.
Whether polls past or present are based on the public's misinformation or perception of current circumstances (and its usually the later rather than the former) is IRRELEVANT. Either public opinion is meaningful or not. If it is not meaningful, then Chomsky's critisizing the White House using that as an argument fails. If it is meaningful, then one has to consider it even when he disagrees with it. But in truth, he doesn't really care about what public opinion is. Thus, his statement is hypocritical.
In other words, if you went up to Chomsky in 2003 and cited polls that were pro the war he would probably yell at you and tell you that "public opinion polls are meaningless". Now, when he sees a public opinion poll that is (allegedly) more in alignment with his views, he uses "public opinion" as an actual argument to critisize the White House.

(And for the record, your points about WMD and MSNBC [who watches that anyways?] are totally irrelevant.)

Answer 3

Conspiracy Theory buffs eye Council of F Relations (CFR) and others are units of the ruling olygarky or oligarky (sp). Opponents say there are too many loose ends for them to have a "controlling interest" as Al Gore used to say.
However, the poi-poi is easily manipulated by the Mainstream Media as when we were told recently that the next debate was about homo "rights". When people tuned in and left soon thereafter it was designed to make the Republicans look like "they couldn't draw flies for an audience."
Who gives a "rat's rear end" for Homo rights except 'mos?
Nowadays even the "hate Crime law" has been appropriated to be "crimes against homos only".
It appears that talented cartoonists should rule out employment at YOU-KNOW-WHERE unless that artist is "gay". By the way..."gay" caballeros do not run away with lovely captivating senoritas! The song is fragged by the stealing of a word!

Answer 4

The Treason Lobby only represents the interests of liberals.

By the way, I did some checking into Chomsky. He's a complete liberal and, naturally, his statistics are skewed. Nice try though.