Money Corrupts (but the media won't cover this)

Corporations have one essential purpose aside from creating products or services that result in happy customers: to increase shareholder value. If the current CEO and Board of Directors fails to do so, they will be voted out and replaced with those that will.

And guess what: all major media are - or are owned by - major corporations.

So let's throw some hypotheticals out, to give an example of why this may be a problem. Let's say the GOP holds a convention during which a series of mistruths (aka, lies) are spoken and no solid plan is proposed for how to fix the current economic situation. And let's say the Dems hold a convention during which these falehoods are brought to light and hard numbers and detailed policy is laid out, all of which passes factcheck.org's muster.

One might think this would slant heavily in the Democratic Party's favor if widely reported. Which is why it isn't reported. Here's a hint as to why this is the case: the GOP just spent another $4 million on advertising, which is how the news outlets make money. And they will continue to make money as long as the race is close. So it is in their vested interest to report the news in such a way as to perpetuate the closeness of the race, even when the facts slant heavily towards one side.

Yet another reason why we need trusted community-based reporting, as any corporate-owned media outlet - by defintion - cannot be trusted.