Exclusive: 'The Fourth Estate is dead,' former CIA analyst declares

Exclusive: 'The Fourth Estate is dead,' former CIA analyst declares

www.rawstory.com

Traditional lines of communication between the people and the press have fallen into such disrepair in America that a whole new approach is necessary to challenge the military-industrial-governmental complex, according to a former CIA analyst sympathetic to WikiLeaks.

"The Fourth Estate is dead," Ray McGovern, of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, told Raw Story in an exclusive interview. "The Fourth Estate in his country has been captured by government and corporations, the milit

(visit the link for the full news article)

"That was very powerful back then," McGovern said. "And just a century later you get Tom Paine, James Madison. You know what Thomas Jefferson said? He said if we have to make a choice between having a government and having a press, I’ll go for the press every time. He understood that any government without a free press will resort to despotism."

While I don't agree that WL is any better, I do agree with the premise expressed by this ex-CIA official. He pretty much hits the nail on the head, when describing our "Fourth Estate", or lack thereof.

This is a very interesting and informative article that I reccomend everyone read.

--airspoon

www.rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

The Fourth Estate died the minute the people let it be taken from their hands and put into the hands of corporations.

In old days men had the rack. Now they have the press. That is an improvement certainly. But still it is very bad, and wrong, and demoralizing. Somebody — was it Burke? — called journalism the fourth estate. That was true at the time no doubt. But at the present moment it is the only estate. It has eaten up the other three. The Lords Temporal say nothing, the Lords Spiritual have nothing to say, and the House of Commons has nothing to say and says it. We are dominated by Journalism~Oscar Wilde

I would argue that the '4th Estate' has been dead in the US since the war of 1812, if not prior to that date.

Free press hasn't been free for a very long time.

Just go back in time a bit, and watch how pro-Vietnam the press was initially. Same with Iraq, etc. Hell look at how gung-ho the press was to trump up the Maine incident in Cuba that led to the Spanish American war. We have proof that the Maine was some type of accident, but the Govt was totally into using it to start a global conflict and gain colonial possessions from the Spanish Crown.

The press exists to protect the Govt from the people. During the American Revolution, the Press protected the people from the Govt.

Either this CIA analyst lies to himself about History, or he is purposely trying to push the idea that only recently the Press has become corrupt. Yeah Right.

From a former CIA analyst....

While I agree that the press is morally bankrupt, I think something is very, very fishy about WL, and also this guys comments....

Divide and Conquer!!!

reply to post by airspoon


How many awesome threads to you make!?!

I have to agree/disagree with the premise of the OP. As a fourth estate the media have been sadly lacking for a long time, how long is hard to define, 10 years, 20, 120 years could well be. But the media has never been freer, unfortunately the direction chosen out of freedom has been the path of advertising revenue and money.

I hope the internet is going some way to addressing this but the trend I see is the splintering of focus, (ie a million different websites) and sites like ATS taking easy stands on issues, Ie the great work on the Jaguar issue but nothing on 9/11.

Peace

reply to post by airspoon


Thanks for the article.

He is right, of course, about the press being totally corrupt. They are party politicans and corporate representatives. He has some dreamy idea that it was not always so. It has been as long as I can remember. The press has always responded to their political party's agenda. The stories they report on and the spin they give is centrally to promote their political party's agenda. It has always been this way; in their arrogance they are just less sneaky about it now.

The old press and the politicans are trying to move in on the Internet now. You have Sharpton demanding Rush be taken off the radio and you have Congress demanding a double standard of free speech for their press versus interent bloggers. You have Obama's czars expressing dreams of regulating the content of the Internet for "fairness" because they don't like the exposure that comes with a free press. This effort to force everyone to publish their names and locations on the Net is pure intimidation under the guise of "civility." If you say something they don't like, they can report your political incorrectness to your school or employer!

They can not control the information given to the public anymore and they don't like it. This should be the end of any politican - demanding the public's political and social speech be controlled by the government!

That is what this battle is about. The internet is 21st century equivalent of the 18th century pamphleteer. A truly free press and platform that TPTB are trying deperately to control. That's why TPTB are terrified of the "little people" being able to post about what they see in their day to day lives. AKA - "the truth" and then spread that truth without the "filters" that have cost vast amounts of money for them to implement.

Irrespective of whether Wikileaks turns out to be genuine or not, the fight for freedom of speech is vital and it's now. WL has made more people aware of it which is a plus.

If WL does turn out to be a false flag, then now is the time they have chosen. If not WL it would have been something else, but we know that when they want a big problem-reaction-solution scenario we get one.

So, if it's a false flag we've reached that point. If it isn't, we might just have stolen a tiny lead.

I am a bit suspicious of this ex-Cia analysis - coming at a time when more people are waking up, it might be convenient that they plant people to implement a psyops to tell us we are doomed. I absolutely don't believe we are. Consciousness is rising, the dark ones don't survive well in the Light...we will see, but I'm not buying into this for now.

reply to post by airspoon


It's really old news...
Years ago a certain group with plenty of money bought the opinions of the people by buying up the majority of media.
They have continued that trend by buying up most new outlets that have started.
This includes News Papers, TV, and Film..
It's a very powerfull tool in getting their views accepted as truth..

But it's far from breaking news..
I have seen multiple threads on ATS regarding the takeover..

Originally posted by unityemissions
From a former CIA analyst....

While I agree that the press is morally bankrupt, I think something is very, very fishy about WL, and also this guys comments....

Divide and Conquer!!!

What the heck? Divide what? This is talking about how we need a free press... how is that divide and conquer?

What is fishy about his comments? I have no clue of what you are talking about.

reply to post by HunkaHunka


Dude, it was entirely self-explanatory. You must be using different parts of your brain than I do.."left-brainer"...or something. I've noticed we clash on our views a lot. You're an "in the box" kinda guy, imo. Let's just agree to disagree.

Originally posted by unityemissions
From a former CIA analyst....

While I agree that the press is morally bankrupt, I think something is very, very fishy about WL, and also this guys comments....

Divide and Conquer!!!

I'm currently giving Wiki the benifit of doubt until actual proof shows otherwise..
But the media is certainly playing games..
Wiki has released some 95000 leaks so far to the media..
It's the media that's decided which of these they promote and they seem to have been VERY selective.
That has painted Wiki in a different light, but if you look at a few threads on ATS with the OTHER leaks, you will see a different story....
I'm not going to say who is doing what, go look for the information and decide..

An oldie but a goodie here:

We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected the promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world-government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the National autodetermination practiced in past centuries.

-- David Rockefeller in an address to a Trilateral Commission meeting in June of 1991
www.whale.to...

Originally posted by On the Edge
An oldie but a goodie here:

We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected the promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world-government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the National autodetermination practiced in past centuries.

-- David Rockefeller in an address to a Trilateral Commission meeting in June of 1991
www.whale.to...

No, it's supposed to come from a Bilderberg Group meeting in Baden-Baden, Germany in June 1991.
It's widely reported but there is sadly no real proof it was ever said..
Though I don't doubt that Rockefeller would say it...

Originally posted by muzzleflash
I would argue that the '4th Estate' has been dead in the US since the war of 1812, if not prior to that date.

Free press hasn't been free for a very long time.

What you're talking about is Frank Wisner's "Great Wurlitzer". i.e. the way govt manipulates the media.

Things have changed a lot since 1812. Things have changed a lot just in the last 10-20 years. There used to be laws to prevent ownership of too much media by one group. The far right got most of that thrown out. Now there are a handful of corporations that own 90% of the MSM, meaning newspapers, radio stations, the rise of fox news, etc.

I agree with the assessment of the author. The 4th estate has finally died completely, and there is a new 5th estate.

ATS is part of the 5th estate. There is more information out there (internet) than ever before. But it depends on people using their own brain to get to the facts and to inform themselves. Of course it's far easier to be a "consumer" of news and turn on tv and let your mind get programmed.

Originally posted by backinblack
reply to post by airspoon

 

It's really old news...
Years ago a certain group with plenty of money bought the opinions of the people by buying up the majority of media.
They have continued that trend by buying up most new outlets that have started.
This includes News Papers, TV, and Film..
It's a very powerfull tool in getting their views accepted as truth..

But it's far from breaking news..
I have seen multiple threads on ATS regarding the takeover..

Completely agree... If you take a look at the news sources that cover stories, you can find 50 different jouranlists covering the topic. Digging in a little bit you will find that of those 50 journalist, they are all represented by about 5-7 corporations, give or take.

reply to post by airspoon


Great article airspoon, in the article one can also read that there is a 'fifth estate' i.e the internets and darknets, untouchable by governments and corporations, the 21th century safeguards of democracy. Strong crypto and it will prevail.

"Luckily, there is a Fifth Estate," he said. "The Fifth Estate exists in the ether. It’s not susceptible of government, of corporations, or advertisers or military control. It’s free. That is very dangerous to people who like to make secrets and to make secret operational things. It’s a huge threat. And the Empire – the Goliath here – is being threatened by a slingshot in the form of a computer and a stone through these emissions thrown into the ether to our own computers."

The Press has always been at least a bit corrupt. The question is whether or not they are more corrupt today than they were back then.