The mainstream corporate news media pulled a Bernie Sanders “blackout” during his 2020 presidential campaign. As you’d expect, folks who only consume mainstream media do not know this. (So frustrating.) Perhaps to fill the information gap, or simply because it’s a fascinating story, Vice TV is premiering the film documentary Bernie Blackout on Wednesday May 13 at 8:00 PM Eastern. Whatever the motivation, the 90-minute program will be pertinent to American democracy.
[Bernie Blackout is] an investigative deep dive into the corporate news media’s coverage of Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign that asks: who actually gets a say in American politics?
~ Vice TV
Bernie Blackout is a production from the new Vice documentary series, VICE Versa. Use the Vice TV channel finder to see if your favorite low-information friend or family member can access Vice TV via their cable provider.
If you have the opportunity to view Bernie Blackout, please share your impressions in the comment section below. We’d also love to know what conservative Democrats think of the film.
Keep your ear to the ground. Peace.
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Progressive Graffiti 
Thanks for info. Will check it out.
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My pleasure. Should be interesting.
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It would be journalistic negligence not to go back to the 2016 campaign when Ed Schultz, then working for fake-liberal MSNBC, had a news crew on the ground ready to broadcast Bernie’s announcement of his 2016 presidential run. As he later recounted in a stunning interview on RT America (which is a must-see), Ed said minutes before he was to go live he received a phone call from the president of MSNBC instructing him to send the news crew home because MSNBC would not air Bernie’s announcement.
Imagine that. A sitting U.S. Senator is going to announce his bid for president, and the mainstream media, including the allegedly most liberal network, won’t cover it. WTF happened to our vaunted freedom of speech and press you might ask? You know, those things that are supposed to separate us from Red China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and the old Soviet Union. Wake up kiddies, we are living in a country where information is almost as tightly controlled as in any totalitarian regime.
That was just the beginning. The MSM pretended Bernie didn’t exist for months until his popularity became so great that he couldn’t be ignored. Then the MSM’s Bernie strategy switched to smearing him and his policies. For example, in one short time period, of 12 straight opinion pieces about Bernie published by the Washington Post, 11 were negative (that may have been in 2019).
Not long ago, some current or former FBI agent let slip that when he joined the Bureau, it was the purpose of the FBI to keep progressive politicians like Bernie out of government. Remember when the FBI tried to convince Martin Luther King, Jr. to commit suicide? That’s the kind of country we really live in.
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Yes, going back to 2016 will be important. I referenced the Ed Schultz story, and the demise of the Fairness Doctrine in https://joannchateau.com/top-12-independent-progressive-news-outlets/
Power hates democracy, because democracy dilutes the accumulation of power. And, unfortunately, “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” ~ Lord Acton
All that just to say, that the U.S. is not the only one. The wealthiest nations (including 3rd world countries rich in natural resources) are targets of the global Corporate Cartel, that is, organized corruption.
I hope the documentary covers all the important points. I wasn’t able to watch it tonight. Did you see it?
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Yup, “Bernie Blackout” is TOMORROW night.
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Thanks My Friend! I have supported Bernie with a few bucks here and there. Now I’m crushed.
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It is crushing. But the movement goes on. Bernie ran for President to accelerate and institutionalize progressive policies. His nomination was blocked, yet the real point of it all is the progressive justice movement.
When I’m really sad about Bernie, I remember that losing the nomination means that he’s no longer in danger of assasination (which I feared). A friend of mine says Bernie gets the most done “under the radar” and maybe it’s better that he’s able to work without a spotlight on him all the time.
Bernie broke the trail, lifted the heavy weight, built-up the movement, pushed the Overton Window, and prepared the way for our next progressive leader. Whoever, whatever, progressive President elected or not, the people must be in the streets, protesting, organizing continuous nonviolent civil disobedience. Bernie prepared us for such a reality: #NotMeUs.
I’m wishing you, and #YouMeUs, comfort and peace and renewed strength — that we may all, together, rise up like the Phoenix. This is the way of social revolutions. They “are not televised.” The opposition thinks it has won. But the suppressed revolution actually continues to simmer, fortifying into an ever heartier concoction, until it boils over… Bernie likes to quote Mandela: “It always seems impossible until it is done.”
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(crying) (nodding) yes
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Technology and social networking makes it harder every year for the bosses to restrict who can see the truth.
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That’s right, Jeff. Bernie’s presidential campaigns are proof. We better hang on to Net Neutrality, or we’re really sunk.
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JoAnn:
You might say that the same mainstream media world that downgraded Bernie’s campaign is now a large reason why we have not been to control the economic aftershock of the Corona pandemic. You figure that had they better publicized Bernie’s sensible ideas about health care dignity for all and distributing income equitably, then the political resistance to oppose Trump’s feeble Corona response would have been much greater.
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Yes. Establishment leadership and corporate media work together to create one big downward spiral.
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