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A Strong Case For Legalizing Marijuana

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Despite the strong case for legalizing marijuana there is very little favorable press from the mainstream corporate media. Media companies make most of their money from advertising revenues and that results in a carefully crafted agenda dependent upon not offending their corporate sponsors. Alcohol and pharmaceutical drugs are some the media’s heaviest advertisers which creates an implied business partnership because of their aligned corporate interests. In 2007 alone, drug companies spent $3.7 billion in direct-to-consumer advertising. The media must not bite the hand that feeds them, yet the popular notion of “liberal media bias” still exists. Yes, the majority of media outlets give favorable press for Democratic politicians, but the corporate media isn’t hard hitting, grassroots, or very liberal, for that matter. After all, the United States ranks 46th in the World Press Freedom Index, behind Romania and ahead of Haiti. The television news industry is now primarily driven by Fortune 500 companies that are focused on profits, not independent journalism. That wasn’t always the case as television news wasn’t looked upon for driving profits in its pioneer days. It was considered a loss leader for the major networks. “The interests of the government, interests of the corporations, and the interests of the news media have kind of melded together whereby, I think in many instances, the news media isn’t doing that good old government watchdog job that it used to do,” says

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