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Category: Journalism

AT&T-Time Warner Merger: Another Media Consolidation That Puts Profits Over Consumers

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Media analysts warn that a proposed merger between AT&T and Time Warner is more likely to enhance corporate bottom lines and pad the pockets of Wall Street investors than benefit consumers.

“Big mergers like this inevitably mean higher prices for real people, to pay down the money borrowed to finance these deals and compensate top executives,” said Matt Wood, policy director at Free Press, an NGO that protects net neutrality and online press freedom, in an Oct. 22 press release.

The media first reported that AT&T was in “informal” talks to merge with Time Warner on Oct. 20. By Oct. 24, AT&T announced that Time Warner had agreed to be bought out by the telecommunications giant for $85.4 billion.

Jill Stein Blasts The Daily Beast’s Ties To Clinton After Attack Against Her Investments

Posted in Archive, Journalism, and MintPress News

Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein accused The Daily Beast, a popular news and opinion website, of hiding its ties to the Clintons after publishing an attack on Stein’s investment portfolio on Wednesday.

“Jill Stein’s Ideology Says One Thing—Her Investment Portfolio Says Another” declared the headline for an analysis of Stein’s investments and finances by Yashar Ali. The article suggests that Stein has millions of dollars invested in mutual funds which support industries she opposes on the campaign trail, including fossil fuels and the military-industrial complex.

“If Mr. Ali is truly interested in conflicts of interest of political candidates and their families, where is his disclosure on the conflict of interest posed by Chelsea Clinton’s position as a director of the corporate owner of the Daily Beast, IAC?”Stein fired back in a detailed response sent to the Daily Beast prior to publication and published to her campaign website in full on Wednesday.

Green Party Senate Candidate Margaret Flowers Crashes Two-Party Debate

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Dr. Margaret Flowers, a Green Party candidate for Senate from Maryland, interrupted a televised debate to protest her exclusion from the forum on Wednesday.

“I’m a candidate on the ballot. I have a statewide campaign. I don’t understand why I’m not up here,” Flowers declared as she briefly occupied the debate stage.

Flowers is running for the seat long occupied by Democratic incumbent Barbara Mikulski, who announced her retirement earlier this year.

During the direct action, Flowers took the stage amid loud applause from the audience and shook hands with her opponents, Democratic nominee Chris Van Hollen and Republican nominee Kathy Szeliga, both of whom agreed to debate Flowers.

Over 100 Arrested In Brutal Police Crackdown On Standing Rock ‘Water Protectors’

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Law enforcement commenced a violent crackdown on Native American activists blocking construction on the Dakota Access pipeline on Thursday, resulting in over 100 arrests and multiple injuries.

At least 107 people were arrested and both Native American “water protectors” and members of the media were harmed when hundreds of militarized riot police, accompanied by armored vehicles and the National Guard, stormed a blockade on North Dakota Highway 1806 and an accompanying encampment.

Among the injured was Derrick Broze, an independent journalist reporting for MintPress News from the Standing Rock Sioux reservation this week. He was shot with pepper spray and shocked with a “less-lethal” taser. Police also took his smartphone, which he had been using to document the day’s events via Facebook Live.

Noam Chomsky: US Commenced Plan To Dominate ‘Grand Area’ Of The Globe After WWII

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

World War II marked a crucial turning point for U.S. empire building and the growth of global capitalism, according to the historical analysis of noted political philosopher and scholar Noam Chomsky.

Chomsky examined U.S. domination of world affairs in “Who Owns The World?,” a speech he delivered at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2012. In May, he published a book, “Who Rules The World?,” which examines similar themes.

He revisited the topic in a recent conversation with Zain Raza, a senior editor at the independent media outlet acTVism Munich. An excerpt from that conversation was published on Tuesday as part of acTVism Munich’s “Reexamining History” series.

Beyond Dakota Access: Energy Transfer Partners Pipelines To Ferry Fracked Gas To Mexico

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Even as Native American activists continue to block construction of the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota and the three other states along its planned 1,100 mile trail, U.S. energy pipeline infrastructure — and opposition to it — is expanding elsewhere.

In May, the Obama administration approved two pipeline projects by Energy Transfer Partners, the driving force behind the Dakota Access pipeline. The Trans-Pecos and Comanche Trail pipelines will carry fracked gas from Texas into Mexico, where it will supply the Mexican energy grid.

“Together, the pipelines will take natural gas obtained from fracking in Texas’ Permian Basin and ship it in different directions across the U.S.-Mexico border, with both starting at the Waha Oil Field,” wrote Steve Horn, a research fellow at DeSmogBlog, on Sept. 20.