Corporations to blame for the media’s bias

Dear Editor,

It would blow me off of the face of the Earth if this story was actually printed in any of the corporate media outlets, but they have this entire country hustled. Trying to figure out if the media is left or right is like getting stuck in M.C. Escher’s House of Stairs; once you finally think you have picked the right way, you find yourself right back where you started.

Conservatives blame the media for pushing the liberal, socialist agenda and coddling liberal representatives. It’s all Hollywood Communists and traitors in the form of peaceniks. They go on all day about the so-called global warming and “evolution,” all while doing everything they can to render God non-existent.

And yet liberals blame the media for cow-tailing to Republicans. Just watch any FOX or MSNBC “news” program; the “debates” are two or three hard-nosed Republican ideologues against one weak, easily intimidated little girl who is more likely to agree with them then stand up for herself. (This is what they call the “FOX effect.”) Liberals say the media loves to jump on any pseudo-scandal involving a Democrat (Monicagate, etc.), but they won’t even touch a Republican one (the propaganda for Medicare, Tom DeLay, the weapons of mass destruction fraud, etc.). They say the media shows nothing but sensationalist crap designed to scare us into obedience. When you can’t trust your fellow man, who are you going to team up with to take what’s rightfully yours back from the establishment?

Trust me, left or right, the media’s not on either side. They’re on their own. They push the agenda of those who pay their bills. Corporate sleazebags like Rupert Murdoch who care for nothing more than the size of their pocketbooks and how much power their wealth gives them over others.

I think it’s time we un-mortgaged the deed on the fourth estate! I always thought they were supposed to help us keep a check on government and elitist exploitation, not be an agent to it. We’re looking at the left and calling them traitors; looking at the right and calling them chauvinist idiots; and all the while we’re getting something from behind — a hand in our wallets that isn’t ours!

Adam Zandarski

Sophomore history major

More should take part, vote in student elections

Dear Editor,

I have a concern about our recent Undergraduate Student Senate elections. I am a third-year student, and I have tried my best to actively participate in our student body governing elections, particularly the USS and BUS elections. However, I am extremely disappointed in both the results of these elections and the number of student voters.

In regards to the USS elections, it amazes me that some of the students who actually voted were completely oblivious to the information provided about the candidates. I spoke to a group of my classmates about the elections, and it surprised me that some of them were unfamiliar with platforms, let alone what most of the senator positions are responsible for. But they voted for people they knew through some association of others they had relationships with. Out of an undergraduate body of approximately 24,000 students, only about 1,180 students voted. I think this is completely ridiculous.

BUS also holds elections each spring, and last spring only about 170 undergraduate students voted. I guess it should not come as a surprise that most students do not care about governing organizations that affect them.

When it is time to hold elections, both of these organizations require at least 1 percent of undergraduate signatures to petition for candidacy. BUS is less than that participate.

I recognize that these organizations invest a lot of effort into promoting their elections, but that may not be enough. To USS and BUS, it is my advice that you advocate informing students that your organizations are not designated to particular groups. I will in fact contribute by saying USS is one of our main sources to administrative contribution as students, and BUS does not just include the black student community but affects Kent student body as a WHOLE.

Carla Smith

Junior English major