In a span of nine days, there has been a flurry of big-name, big-money media sales. This week, Eric Francis focuses on one of them: the acquisition of The Washington Post by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — someone known to have predicted the demise of print newspapers in the next 20 years.
This premium members’ issue of Planet Waves also includes Eric’s 12-sign weekly horoscopes, additional background to the Mohonk land-grab story by Eric — plus a wealth of astro-news briefs by the editorial staff covering subjects as diverse as the new thinking on female libido in long-term relationships, an Inanna-themed film project, radioactive water leaking at Fukushima and rampant GMO testing in Hawai’i. Oh yes — and Eric covers Mercury’s square to Saturn, coming this weekend to a sky near you.
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Don’t mean no disrespect, brother Eric. Nonetheless, in journalism as in politics, “independence” can be a strongly cured kipper.
Rest assured, the legendary Washington Post, now under the ownership of the legendary Jeff Bezos, will continue to demonstrate its legendary independence (see http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/washington-post-myths-about-its-new-owner-jeff-bezos).
Journalistic integrity is a high wire act (see http://www.journalism.org/resources/principles) and the editorial staff at PW perform this feat with great care. As an enthusiastic subscriber to Planet Waves, I will continue to do my job: to read and respond with great care.
There is always going to be some tension between any corporate media and the interests of the public and its workers. I know and respect some of the writers you’ve cited and I trust them; I am sorry to hear this. Part of why I’ve chosen to work independently, and found my own company and news outlet, is because I value my independence and I don’t want to sell out to these kinds of values, in particular, turning the truth into a commodity that’s traded away or sold off for points at the marketplace of power.
An American Story, indeed.
The Canonization of Katherine Graham
By Sam Smith
http://prorevnews.blogspot.com/2013/08/from-our-overstocked-archives.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+prorevfeed+%28UNDERNEWS%29
She Needed Fewer Friends: The High Life of Katharine Graham
By Alexander Cockburn And Jeffrey St. Clair
http://www.counterpunch.org/2001/07/25/the-high-life-of-katharine-graham/
Secret admirers: The Bushes and the Washington Post
By Michael Hasty
http://warisacrime.org/node/456
The Washington Post: The Establishment’s Paper
By Doug Henwood
http://fair.org/extra-online-articles/the-washington-post-the-establishments-paper/
Snow Job: The Establishment’s Papers Do Damage Control for the CIA
By Norman Solomon
http://fair.org/extra-online-articles/snow-job/
The Pentagon Papers: Media Praise Ringing Hollow
By Norman Solomon
http://fair.org/media-beat-column/the-pentagon-papers-media-praise-ringing-hollow/
Katharine Graham was the REAL hero of the Watergate era, putting the public wellbeing above all else. As an example of ethical humankind, she’s a star. Bob Woodward has spent an entire — and otherwise empty, from my point of view — career taking bows for what she made possible with her unflinching courage. Thanks for fleshing this out so nicely, E. A satisfying read.
Like a long, cool drink of fresh water, this issue gives you clear perspective on a turning point in the history of the printed word, as well as other news, and a deep, refreshing draught of your astrology for the next week. There is nothing like it short of a mountain lake for what you need now.
The Planet Waves “Eco” topic section refers to an August 7th article in the Wall Street Journal, “Fukushima, Fear of a Losing Battle.” The WSJ article contains the following ominous paragraph:
“…there’s a risk to changing the flow of groundwater in the ways that Tepco is considering, said Tatsuya Shinkawa, nuclear accident response director of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, at a news conference last month. The water could pool dangerously underground, softening the earth and potentially toppling the reactor buildings, he said.”
Radioactive discharges into the marine environment are very important, but a more critical issue is the condition of the Unit 4 reactor at Fukushima. Unit 4 holds more over 1,500 spent nuclear fuel rods in an elevated cooling pool that was severely damaged following the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that struck on March 11, 2011.
The ground beneath Unit 4 has already sunk over 30 inches since the disaster, and this sinking has taken place unevenly. If the ground continues to sink, or if another earthquake of even as low as a magnitude six occurs in the region, the entire structure could collapse, which would fully drain the cooling pool and cause a catastrophic meltdown.
In August 2012, Mitsuhei Murata, the former Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland, explained the danger in a video interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LCTv65aqgA
“If Unit 4 collapses, the worse case scenario will be a meltdown, and a resultant fire in the atmosphere. That will be the most unprecedented crisis that man has ever experienced. Nobody will be able to approach the plants … as all will have melted down and caused a big fire,” said Murata. “Many scientists say if Unit 4 collapses, not only will Japan lie in ruin, but the entire world will also face serious damages.”
It is important to note that here are 31 nuclear units of a similar type to Unit 4 in the U.S.
The effects of the Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown are depicted in A2-B-C: A Documentary Film by Ian Thomas Ash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD9yGONdEUY
The film focuses on the health effects many children in Fukushima are experiencing in the aftermath of the radiation exposures from the March 2011 triple meltdown. Life in Fukushima Prefecture means radiation hot spots in school yards; pre-cancerous thyroid cysts; radiation detectors on backpacks; government officials and even doctors who don’t seem to care. The reality of daily life in Fukushima Prefecture is a parent’s worst nightmare.
http://www.a2documentary.com/
The documentary’s name is derived from the names given to the different sizes and classifications of thyroid cysts. A2 are the smallest and most numerous cysts while C2 are the largest and least numerous. 43 percent of Fukushima area children have precancerous thyroid cysts and nodules.