Comments on: When the rich and powerful control what we see, what we read and how we vote

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 05:22:07 +0000

Obviously, the solution is to become rich and powerful.

I’m going to buy a lottery ticket.

Not that it’ll help – Forty or fifty million is nice, but it’s not a patch on a billionaire.

By: Jim B.

Jim B. — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:40:52 +0000

Interesting, Doug!….I guess in these polarized and politically tumultuous times, if Buffett carries out his plans to become a “local newspaper” potentate, I can’t think of a more benevolent one. Somehow, I don’t the feeling of dread and foreboding that I would if the Koch bros were following the same strategy….but good luck, just in case.

By: Doug Thompson

Doug Thompson — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 10:18:52 +0000

Many community newspapers are merely repositories for news releases, grip-in-grin photos and local bulletin boards. A few, including the ones I work for, make an honest attempt at covering local news and issues. My local newspaper avoids opinion columns and sticks to news.

As for Buffet’s intentions, my plan for now is to wait and see.

By: Pondering_It_All

Pondering_It_All — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 18:38:13 +0000

You will be in a position to answer the question: Did Buffet buy all of those local newspapers to influence politics directly, or did he do it because he believes in the role of The Fourth Estate at every level of government. (Obviously he didn’t do it to make a fortune, by cornering the market in local paper cash-cows!

In the bigger picture, aren’t local papers inherently anti-corporate, by their very nature, because they allow more opinions, more views on various issues, uncontrolled by the mega-media corporations? Isn’t that idea Liberal, even if the individual owners/editors of those papers are Conservative?