title:  Leaked Audio: CEO Of CBS Gleefully Celebrates The Rise Of Donald Trump (VIDEO)
text: Leslie Moonves, the CEO of CBS, one of the three largest media outlets in the United States, was recently caught on tape gleefully celebrating the rise of Donald Trump.During an investor meeting held at the end of February, Moonves laughingly told the audience that the rise of Trump  may not be good for America, but it s damn good for CBS. Moonves says, Man, who would have expected the ride we re all having right now? This is pretty amazing. An ecstatic Moonves then goes on to ask,  Who would have thought that this circus would come to town? As he tells investors that the Trump show has been  damn good,  for company profits, the entire room explodes with laughter.Barely able to contain himself, Moonves tells the crowd that  the money s rolling in. What can I say,  he continues, still laughing,  This is fun. After saying that he s never seen anything like what s going on in American politics today, with presidential candidates  throwing bombs at each other,  and  not even talking about the issues,  Moonves rejoices over the fact that  the marketplace is flooded with money,  and then proclaims that  This is going to be a very good year for us. It s no surprise that America s trust in the mainstream media has fallen to a historic low.What is somewhat surprising is the fact that 40 percent of the Americans still think that the mainstream media is  trustworthy. Journalistic integrity and ethics in reporting went out the window with the end of the Fairness Doctrine in the 1980s. It was further eroded by media consolidation, which began in the 1990s, after the Telecommunications Act was passed.Today, six networks own 90 percent of the U.S. media.If you thought those companies were interested in something other than generating as much money as possible, you won t after you hear Moonves comments and listen to the laughter coming from those who stand to make a lot of money off the evil Donald Trump is spreading across our country.Watch the video below from Thom Hartmann on YouTube. The audio starts at roughly 4:15. The founders of our country understood that a free and independent media is essential to a healthy democracy.In the U.S., the press is no longer the watchdog of government that it once was. Instead, as this leaked audio shows us, it is simply the means through which giant corporations rake in huge profits for their shareholders, unphased by trivial things like what s best for the country or even what s ethical or moral.As the New York Times reported here on March 15, the media s coverage of candidates in the 2016 elections has been anything but equal or fair.The numbers shown on the chart below represent millions of dollars in media coverage, comparing paid advertising to free coverage each candidate has gotten from the media.Image credit: screen capture New York TimesAs you can see from the graph, the mainstream media has spent a huge amount of time on Donald Trump coverage, while also neglecting every other candidate in the race.What this leaked recording should tell us is that we need to stop tuning in to everything Trump. Since there s no doubt that the media is motivated by profit alone, the best way to address the problem (outside of legislation) is to stop tuning in to the media s non-stop coverage of Donald Trump.If we want Trump to go away, and most of us do, the best way we can make that happen is for the public to quit rewarding the media for their excessive coverage of Trump, which is coming at the expense of all the other candidates, and our democracy.Image credit: video screen capture Thom Hartmann on youtube