o'reilly, olbermann star in elaborate puppet show; obama to cut the strings

remember once upon a time, when we were teetering down the precipice into proto-fascism, and bill o'reilly was actually a powerful force in media? bad times, right?

believe it or not, mr. o'reilly is still making tv news, and has been embroiled in a feud with bizarro'reilly (keith olbermann) for just about five years now. slate's jack shafer seems to think this has its place in media history, as it "evokes some of the nastiest pissing matches in journalistic history." since day one, this feud (and arguably the modus operandi of their respective networks) has been filled with all of the ire behind that primitive blue-state-vs.-red-state construct, turning each anchor into a representative of their simplified pseudo-ideologies.

as the general sentiment of the country has turned against the bushites, so has viewership shifted from red to blue. as of september of last year, more american people turn to the former sportscenter anchor than the former inside edition anchor for their news.

just like any other fight, what does a sycophantic little pussy do when he gets outgunned? he gets the big boys involved, of course. according to the washington post, this skirmish is now going all the way to the top, pitting msnbc's owner general electric against fox's owner news corp. o'reilly fired the first corporate shot, criticizing ge for their business endeavors in iran that lasted until 2005:

GE has long had a corporate presence in Iran, which U.S. officials say is providing weapons and training for Shiite militias in the Iraq conflict. Under growing criticism from the public and its own shareholders, GE announced in 2005 that it would accept no new business in Iran and would wind down existing contracts, which mostly involved sales of oil, gas and energy and health-care equipment. The remaining work, valued at less than $50 million, amounts to less than .01 percent of GE's income, and the company says the final four contracts will expire within weeks.

honestly, i couldn't give a fuck about ge's morality in and of itself. watching those two corporations preach morality at each other is like watching pol pot and stalin argue over who killed less people.

this finger-pointing fiesta, however, is a telling sign of a far greater problem in our country than bullshit journalistic feuds. television news is beholden to corporate interests. the big six (news corp, disney, ge, time warner, viacom, and cbs) own most every televised news outlet, and many of the radio ones. if you don't think this is a problem, just check out this snl tv funhouse cartoon spoofing media consolidation. this cartoon apparently struck a nerve at the parent corporation, and was supposedly never aired again after its original broadcast.

so what do we do now? how do we fight back against this centralization of mass media, ensuring that our less-literate fellow citizens get the information they need? thankfully, one presidential candidate has enough historical wherewithal to understand the sherman antitrust act. his name: jesus h. obama*.

preach it, brother:

"I will assure that we will have an antitrust division that is serious about pursuing cases," the Illinois senator told an audience of mostly senior citizens in Oregon.

"There are going to be areas, in the media for example where we're seeing more and more consolidation, that I think (it) is legitimate to ask...is the consumer being served?"

god damn. i can smell the hope.

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*note: the h is for hussein.