I've commented on how the Koch brothers are one of the largest forces in American politics for the Libertarian/corporate far right.
They own the second largest private corporation in the US, which has shot up in the last several years from about $7 billion to over $50 billion, much of that during Obama.
They've long been active in the politics of transferring wealth to the most wealthy and their rights to pollute more. They were co-creators of the pro-corporate Libertarian advocacy organazation the Cato Institute and funded countless other right-wing gorups, gaining that movement huge influence.
Two filmmakers wanted to make a documentary about their activities. They approached PBS, who agreed to fund the film for $150,000 and air it.
Now, there's a funny thing about PBS. I often see shows list at the beginning with all those funding foundations, Koch money as one of the major funders. It didn't terribly surprise me - you often see people who might do some terrible things to make their money be philanthropists with some of it as well. In a plutocracy, with hugely concentrated wealth, that can be one of the situations, where the same citizens kept poor for the wealthy's interest also become dependant on the gifts of the wealth, making it harder to complain.
So at the same time the Kochs might be among American's gtreatest villains fighting against thepublic interest, there they are being thanked constantly for funding one of the more public-interest organizations, created to provide an alternative to the televison dependant on advertising interests. Many on the right will oppose PBS saying 'let the market decide' if a show is made, but a show like Frontline doesn't fit well with a lot f advertisers' interests to avoid controversy. That's how it's supposed to work, independent.
But a funny thing happened with this documentary and PBS. The Kochs sit on two PBS boards, given their donations, and used their influence from their money to get PBS to reverse its decision, and the filmmakers had the funding and agreement to air the film cancelled.
I've seen a report of an article in The New Yorker reporting how that was done.
So, PBS's role as independent and public role was corrupted and compromised by this Koch money - pretty much illustrating the sort of problem that 'corruption causes.
The filmmakers went to Kickstarter for funding, and the film is funded and will be made.
It's not cheap - the lowest donation that gets the full film is $75.
But if you would like to support it, would like to see a film like this made - I'm not sure what the extra funds go to, it looks like increased distribution - here's the link:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1308051297/citizen-koch
It looks like it's scheduled for release by the end of next year.
As bad as PBS was corrupted under Bush by the leadership being far-right wing, this shows it's still marginalized by the Koch brothers' contributions.
The Koch money usually does good for PBS, sponsoring shows like Nova. But having PBS be overly dependent on big donors can cripple its role for a film like this.
People don't want to pay for PBS with taxes making it actually independent; we can see the good that can do with the excellent BBC, with the viewer-funded HBO network.
So this is a price that's paid - censorship of exposing one of the largest corrupt, government-buying forces in the country. I'm sure a commercial network will do the story...
This is an example of the problem of the unprecedented media conglomorates instead of the traditional diversely-owned news media in the US that's supposed to serve the people as a watchdog against powerful interests whether they be in government or the private sector.
We can say as much as we like that it's up to the American people to decide to read the better media that covers those things, but apparently under 2% of people do. Change the rules to make a few corporations own nearly all news media and run it for a profit advertiser-driven agenda and it breaks the system. Blaming citizens doesn't solve much.
They own the second largest private corporation in the US, which has shot up in the last several years from about $7 billion to over $50 billion, much of that during Obama.
They've long been active in the politics of transferring wealth to the most wealthy and their rights to pollute more. They were co-creators of the pro-corporate Libertarian advocacy organazation the Cato Institute and funded countless other right-wing gorups, gaining that movement huge influence.
Two filmmakers wanted to make a documentary about their activities. They approached PBS, who agreed to fund the film for $150,000 and air it.
Now, there's a funny thing about PBS. I often see shows list at the beginning with all those funding foundations, Koch money as one of the major funders. It didn't terribly surprise me - you often see people who might do some terrible things to make their money be philanthropists with some of it as well. In a plutocracy, with hugely concentrated wealth, that can be one of the situations, where the same citizens kept poor for the wealthy's interest also become dependant on the gifts of the wealth, making it harder to complain.
So at the same time the Kochs might be among American's gtreatest villains fighting against thepublic interest, there they are being thanked constantly for funding one of the more public-interest organizations, created to provide an alternative to the televison dependant on advertising interests. Many on the right will oppose PBS saying 'let the market decide' if a show is made, but a show like Frontline doesn't fit well with a lot f advertisers' interests to avoid controversy. That's how it's supposed to work, independent.
But a funny thing happened with this documentary and PBS. The Kochs sit on two PBS boards, given their donations, and used their influence from their money to get PBS to reverse its decision, and the filmmakers had the funding and agreement to air the film cancelled.
I've seen a report of an article in The New Yorker reporting how that was done.
So, PBS's role as independent and public role was corrupted and compromised by this Koch money - pretty much illustrating the sort of problem that 'corruption causes.
The filmmakers went to Kickstarter for funding, and the film is funded and will be made.
It's not cheap - the lowest donation that gets the full film is $75.
But if you would like to support it, would like to see a film like this made - I'm not sure what the extra funds go to, it looks like increased distribution - here's the link:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1308051297/citizen-koch
It looks like it's scheduled for release by the end of next year.
As bad as PBS was corrupted under Bush by the leadership being far-right wing, this shows it's still marginalized by the Koch brothers' contributions.
The Koch money usually does good for PBS, sponsoring shows like Nova. But having PBS be overly dependent on big donors can cripple its role for a film like this.
People don't want to pay for PBS with taxes making it actually independent; we can see the good that can do with the excellent BBC, with the viewer-funded HBO network.
So this is a price that's paid - censorship of exposing one of the largest corrupt, government-buying forces in the country. I'm sure a commercial network will do the story...
This is an example of the problem of the unprecedented media conglomorates instead of the traditional diversely-owned news media in the US that's supposed to serve the people as a watchdog against powerful interests whether they be in government or the private sector.
We can say as much as we like that it's up to the American people to decide to read the better media that covers those things, but apparently under 2% of people do. Change the rules to make a few corporations own nearly all news media and run it for a profit advertiser-driven agenda and it breaks the system. Blaming citizens doesn't solve much.
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