From: dave@ratmandu.esd.sgi.com (dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcliffe)
Newsgroups: alt.news-media
Subject: ever-burgeoning web of media-industrial-military-intelligence complex
Date: 9 Apr 92 14:40:15 GMT
Article-I.D.: odin.1992Apr9.144015.303
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.


 from a while back, but highly revelant as a point of departure:

 SUMMARY: 
   this posting, by Michael Worsham from an article in Texas A&M University's 
   "Polemicist", provides an *EXCELLENT* chunk-o-facts about how incestuous 
   the coalescence of power has become concetrated in the corporate states of
   america.  teach yerselves ALL you can about this component of our society.

from ACTIV-L:

Date:     Sun, 7 Jul 91 19:28:36 CDT
From: MCW9395%TAMVENUS.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu
Subject:  The Media-Military-Industrial Complex
To: Multiple recipients of list ACTIV-L <ACTIV-L@UMCVMB>


>From Michael Worsham, Texas A & M University, July 6, 1991
===============================================================================

        The Media-Military-Industrial Complex

        The following information was taken from an article titled :

        "The War Divivend and the Corporate Media"  by Scott Henson

which appeared in the February 1991 issue of Polemicist, the alternative
newspaper at the University of Texas at Austin. This is an extremely good
source of information of certain issues, and your support for the paper's
continued existence is needed and welcome. Send donations to :

        POLEMICIST
        504 W. 24th Street  #28
        Austin, Texas  78705

        512-477-1915

Since I did not get permission and do not have much time, I will pound out the
important bits of information in the article and avoid a direct transcription.


        The Media-Military-Industrial Complex

        Scott Henson, who writes for Polemicist and The Texas Observer has
looked at the corporate proxy statements of a few of the major media, and
dug up the following examples of people who are boardmembers of both major
media companies and major defense contractors.

        Former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance under Jimmy Carter sits on the 
board of General Dynamics and The New York Times Company. Vance is also 
chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. General Dynamics manufactures
the Tomahawk missile and holds large military contracts with the Saudi 
Arabian government under its "Peace Shield" program.  New York Times 
director Charles Pierce II sits on the board of Texaco Inc., which contracts
with the Saudi government to distribute its oil in the U.S.

        The "Peace Shield" was an arms program started in 1984 by Richard
Secord and Oliver North of Iran-Contra shame as part of the larger U.S plan
for a Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force in the Middle East.

        Westinghouse Electric is another "Peace Shield" contractor. Its
boardmember Rene McPherson also sits on the board at Dow Jones and Company.
Dow Jones publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron's and other publications.
Prior to 1989 Dow Jones director James Riordan held the position of Vice
Chariman and Chief Financial Officer of Mobil Oil.

        It is General Electric which has the most media clout. GE owns NBC,
and is a major nuclear weapons contractor. GE also is a major subcontractor
on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and the Apache attack helicopter, things 
that never get mentioned on The McLaughlin Group political analysis talk 
show which GE sponsors on public television. GE's total revenues in 1989 
were $54.5 billion. GE's revenues from military contracts approached $9 
billion, while revenues from NBC were $3.4 billion, in 1989. Thus about 
one-sixth of GE's total consolidated revenue is from government contracts 
(our tax dollars).

        GE boardmember William French Smith who was U.S. Attorney General 
under Ronald Reagan and is now a Bush appointee to the President's Foreign 
Intelligence Advisory Board is one example. Another GE boardmember, David 
C. Jones, is a retired Air Force General and former Chair of the Joint 
Chiefs of Staff.

        GE director Lewis T. Preston, who is connected to the Morgan 
financial empire, also sits on the board of British Petroleum, of which 
the Kuwaiti government owns almost 10 percent. [I beleive since the Feb 
1991 publication of the original article Lewis Preston became head of the 
World Bank. Can anyone confirm this?]

        GE boardmember Barbara Scott Preiskel sits on the board of the
Washington Post Company, which owns the Post and Newsweek. Washington Post
boardmember Richard D. Simmons is a member of the General Electric 
Investment Corporation Equity Advisory Board.

        Capital Cities, Inc. owns ABC. Its boardmember Robert Bauman is 
also Vice Chairman of Textron Inc., a prime contractor on the Abrams 
battle tank.  Capital Cities boardmember Frank T. Cary sits on the board 
of Texaco Inc., as well as the New York Stock Exchange. Capital Cities 
boardmember Thomas Murphy also sits on the Texaco board of directors.

        Gannett Co. Inc, owns USA Today, 80 other daily newspapers, 10 TV
stations, and 16 radio stations. Ganett boardmember Julian Goodman sits on 
the board of McDonnell Douglas, the principal contractor for the Apache 
helicopter and a major subcontractor for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. 
Andrew Brimmer has been a Gannett director since 1980 and sits on the 
board of E.I. duPont de Nemours & Company (aka Dupont), a major nuclear 
weapons contractor. [ I was not aware that Dupont was involved with 
nuclear weapons, does anyone have info on this?]

        Rosalynn Carter, wife of ex-President Jimmy, sits on Gannett's 
board.  It was Carter who established the "Carter Doctrine" which allows 
that the U.S. will protect the "free flow of oil" in the Persian Gulf with 
its own troops, setting the stage for the U.S. massacre of Iraq.


Comment:    Thanks to Scott Henson and Polemicist for putting this out. The
            article does not mention CBS, but there has to be a link. Dan
            Rather cheerleaded the war as much as anyone. This article sums
            up much of the media-state linkage which became so apparent
            during the massacre of Iraq. By the way, here is the quote on
            Polemicist's masthead:

       A journal must have a polemic, if it is to struggle. -Karl Marx

===============================================================================
Reported by Michael Worsham


--
                                             daveus rattus   

                                   yer friendly neighborhood ratman

                              KOYAANISQATSI

   ko.yan.nis.qatsi (from the Hopi Language)  n.  1. crazy life.  2. life
       in turmoil.  3. life out of balance.  4. life disintegrating.  
         5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.
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