Via Truthout: Thom Hartmann | An Informed and Educated Electorate

Thom Hartmann, Berrett-Koehler Publishers: Today we present the next chapter in our series of installments of Thom Hartmann's book, "Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country." Hartmann recalls: "After Reagan blew up the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, two very interesting things happened. The first was the rise of rightwing hate-speech talk radio, starting with Rush Limbaugh that very year. The second, which really stepped up fast after President Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which further deregulated the broadcast industry, was that the money losing news divisions of the Big Three TV networks were taken under the wings of their entertainment divisions - and wrung dry. Foreign bureaus were closed. Reporters were fired. Stories that promoted the wonders of advertisers or other companies (like movie production houses) owned by the same mega-corporations that owned the networks began to appear. And investigative journalism that cast a bright light on corporate malfeasance vanished."

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