1. Although you cite numerous reasons why many of the major news outlets neglect true investigative reporting, do you think the public wants to hear the truth about politics and corporations?

The public's HUNGRY for truth – look at Michael Moore's hit – it's the bone-head media execs who believe the public wants official crapola.

2. In your opinion, will there be more exposure of Enron type scandals?

Not with that bleating flock of sheepish castrati known as "American reporters." They STILL haven't exposed Enron ... which wasn't about poor stockholders losing money, it was about criminal manipulation of the power and water markets in California, Argentina, India and England. I was reporting about these power pirates 5 years ago – and the stories STILL aren't out.

And while that airhead fluff called 60 Minutes "courageously" ran a story about Enron in India (a story reported endless elsewhere over the past 6 years), AFTER the company collapsed – don't count on anyone taking on the OTHER Enrons, like Southern Company, TXU, Reliant, Entergy and the rest of the buccaneer gang.

3. How important is "truth" in mass media reporting compared to ratings?

The media doesn't care about outing the real stories - nor about ratings. The truth GETS ratings - but it doesn't win friends in high places. We got more information about the war in Vietnam through "MASH" and "Star Trek" allegories than on CBS news.
The corporate owners of the networks will make a killing on their stealing the digital spectrum, given away for nothing by the Telecommunications Act. (For details, see my website www.GregPalast.com) They are willing to give up ratings points by serving up snooze-news with Tom Brokaw rather than gain audience share but lose their tickets to White House dinners.

4. You cite England as one of the few places to get accurate American information. What are the major reasons for this?

I don't want to get all weepy about England – they have no First Amendment: official censorship is serious stuff. BUT, BBC and the Guardian papers will let me file investigative reports on heavyweight economic and political issues because they have no commercial interests. BBC takes no corporate money (unlike America's Petroleum Broadcasting System) and my newspaper, The Guardian (and it's Sunday paper, the Observer) is non-profit. Also, because the UK ruling class is more confident of its authority, they don't fear the effect of releasing real news.

5. Why do you think Americans and American news agencies paid little or no attention to the Harris-Bush removal of voters in Florida?

Hey, YOU tell ME. I'll give you just one story from the book. Dan Rather's CBS Evening News called me and asked for a piece of the story on purging voters. I had info that Jeb Bush's own office had, in violation of two court orders, sent out a letter telling elections supervisors to remove thousands of LEGAL voters from the roles – people with criminal records but had their voting rights restored in other states. CBS didn't run the story. Why? The producer told me, "Your story didn't stand up." How did she know that? SHE CALLED JEB BUSH'S OFFICE AND THEY SAID THEY DIDN'T DO IT. D'oh!
(Later, the Washington Post ran this story – but only after the US Civil Rights Commission endorsed my findings - in other words, once I had official endorsement.) US journalism is pompous, lazy, cowardly.

6. According to your reports, global corporations have not only the means, but also the political power to do almost anything they wish. Is their anything the average person can do to stop this vulgar display of greed and abuse of power?

No, no, no. Global corporations have gawdawful wads of power and cash – but they CANNOT do anything they wish - especially in America - where citizens really do have a threshold on how much poop we will swallow. We have had very successful consumer, environmental, women's, farmer, civil rights, and other movements which have made America one of the most hostile economic environments on the planet for corporate ne'er-do-wells. Don't forget, the American people did NOT elect George W Bush. See my chapter, "Kissing The Whip."

7. What do you feel is the future of our mass media?
The internet will eat mass media alive: that's why their manic desire to control it, buy it, monopolize it, Gates-ify it. The big papers and networks are dinosaurs that don't know they are past their extinction date. And books! Don't discount the power of books.

8. What are some of the reasons for bias in news coverage?
Because dipwits like Goldberg simply repeat the wisdom of the Good and Great. For example, every newspaper and every network - EVERY ONE - in the USA - reported in April that the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, had resigned. This stone-cold lie was fabricated by US State Department - and it took me but a few hours to find out conclusively it was bogus. The Bush Administration badly wanted a new government in Venezuela – Chavez had doubled royalties charged to Exxon and Phillips Petroleum (a fact reported NOWHERE in the USA) - and the "resignation" propaganda allowed the US to endorse a coup. When the resignation lie could no longer be covered up (Chavez returned to office with massive public support), there was no apology from the US media.
Why? The official word is the ONLY word. Controversies are limited to fights within the official elites (Democrats said, Republicans said.) The Soviets had Izvestia and Pravda – and they were lucky – because no one there believed the official outlets.

9. The average news program is composed of quick sound bites. What are the negative ramifications associated with this practice?

That's not the problem. The problem is that 99.9% of all news programs are made up of pre-fab news – press conferences and press releases. "The White House said today ...." What the White House said is NOT news. But it's quick, it's cheap, and everyone's doing it. Luckily, most Americans have stopped watching.

10. What are the major professional setbacks you have encountered due to the choices you have made in terms of your investigative reporting practices?

Do you see me on CBS? Do you read anywhere in ANY major paper a dissent from the wonders of Globalization? If you don't stay within the accepted bounds, you're dead. If Michael Moore, once a "straight" journalist, wants to report news on network TV, he has to put on a chicken suit. Do I sound a wee bit bitter? Tell you what: buy my book, cut out the copies of the documents contained in it, paste them to your television set, and then turn it on. If you don't see anything that matches what I show you in print, then TURN IT OFF. As long as televisions have an Off-button, there's hope for the USA.