Bernie Sanders has some interesting ideas on fixing the 'corporate media'
The "corporate media" is a source of frequent derision by Sen. Bernie Sanders, and he said in an interview posted over the weekend with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow that Americans are "sick of establishment politics and economics, and by the way, a little tired of corporate media as well." Maddow pressed him on that last one. "What's the solution to corporate media?" she asked.
"I think we have got to think about ways that the Democratic Party, for a start, starts funding the equivalent of Fox television," Sanders replied, presumably referring to Fox News. "And No. 2, I think pressure has got to be put on media to say that, you know what? Maybe as a nation, the American people are entitled to hear real discussions on real issues," not process stories, he said, giving some examples: "Who's going to win in West Virginia? How many delegates does Hillary Clinton have? What dumb thing did Donald Trump say yesterday?"
Instead, Sanders said, we should be discussing "Why are we the only country in the industrialized world not to guarantee health care to all people?" or why does the top one-tenth of 1 percent own so much of the wealth? He suggested that the corporate media is ignoring the Sanders agenda "because it's against their own best interest," making Maddow talk about MSNBC's parent company, Comcast. "I would hope that the corporate media understands it has a responsibility to our democracy to allow serious discussion on serious issues, not look at politics just as a horse race," Sanders said. Watch below. Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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