Well, Mr. Wilson, I want to thank you for appearing before this committee today. It’s been many years since you served as the CEO of one of the largest news networks in the world.

Many years since I was ousted, yes.

We’re not here to discuss that today.

No.

We want your point of view on news media in general. How they shape public perception.

Mr. Chairman, let me start with this. Every year in the US, people commit about 1.2 million violent crimes. That would be murder, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery.

That many?

Yes. Have you ever seen a full-length news documentary revealing, step by step, the recovery of a victim of one of those crimes?

Why, no. I haven’t.

If such a documentary were produced, it would show the surgeries to repair the wounds, the hospital stay, the period of rehabilitation in another facility, the arrival at home, the anguish of friends and family, the economic hardship, the attempt at psychological recovery, and so on—over a long period of time.

I’ve never seen anything like that on television.

I’ll tell you why, Mr. Chairman. Viewers watching it would finally understand, up close, the effects of violent crime. And therefore, they would hold the perpetrators, the criminals, more accountable and responsible. And THAT would bring about a change in our culture. News media don’t want that change to occur.

Why not?

Because news media are devoted to enlisting public sympathy for the criminal. That’s their agenda. It’s a destructive agenda.

That’s a very serious charge, Mr. Wilson.

Yes, sir, it is. But it’s just the beginning of what I have to say here today. Let me continue. According to available statistics, the police in America shoot and kill about 1200 people a year. A few of those shootings cause major upheavals in society. Protests and riots. Every year, in America, the medical system kills 225,000 people. There is no upheaval. The news media don’t cover this fact in any way at all.

Are you sure about that medical statistic, Mr. Wilson?

It’s a conservative estimate, Mr. Chairman. I’ll offer one citation out of several. Author, Dr. Barbara Starfield, a revered public health expert at Johns Hopkins. July 26, 2000, the Journal of the American Medical Association. Her review was titled, “Is US Health really the Best in the World?” She stated: 106,000 deaths result from the administration of FDA-approved medicines. 119,000 deaths come as a result of mistreatment and errors in hospitals.

That’s astounding, Mr. Wilson.

Yes, it is. Yet, no coverage from the news media. The police shoot and kill 1200 Americans a year. The medical system kills 225,000 Americans a year. So imagine would happen if the media covered the medical deaths in the same way they cover four or five police shootings that lead to protests and riots.

And you’re saying the news media intentionally ignore the medically caused deaths?

Yes. Of course.

Well, television news is supported to a great degree by pharmaceutical advertisers.

Correct. And those advertisers would remove their money if medically caused death suddenly became a leading story, night after night, on the evening news. But there is more to the story.

Which is?

The medical system is a cornerstone, a pillar, a foundation of society. People pay homage to it. In order to maintain the kind of society we have now, people must believe in the foundation. Otherwise…a collapse would occur.

You’re really saying the news media are propping up—

Yes, I am, Mr. Chairman. Take that figure—the medical system causes 225,000 deaths in America every year. That would be 2.25 MILLION deaths per decade. And we’re not even talking about the millions of other people who are maimed by the medical system and manage to survive.

I’m trying to picture what you’re—

Let me go even further, Mr. Chairman. Suppose one news network devoted a week of coverage to ONE PERSON killed by the medical system. Up close. The period of suffering, the death, the effect on family, the incredible emotional distress and pain and turmoil, the financial burden, and so on. And then, at the end of the week, the news anchor stated: THIS HAPPENS TO 225,000 PEOPLE IN AMERICA EVERY YEAR. 2.25 MILLION PEOPLE EVERY DECADE.

There would be a national uproar.

And, I suggest, Mr. Chairman, this is the only way the US medical system can be reformed and rebuilt from the top. But it will never happen. The news media will not permit it. Therefore, the medical system has to be rebuilt from lower levels—ultimately, by the people themselves.

So how are news media shaping the public perception of the medical system?

I hope that’s a rhetorical question, Mr. Chairman. The public is led to believe we have a system with only RARE adverse effects. This belief is created and cultured by news media. They are complicit in the crime.

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(The link to this article posted on my blog is here.)

(Follow me on Gab at @jonrappoport)

Jon Rappoport