Not much music at the moment. I'm in music creativity down time, mainly because of some health problems ... don't worry I'm in recovery. My focus is elsewhere though. Setting up a forum and a news site (see my portal http://djbarney.org ). Even though the IT revolution has given us Myspace, and a digital commons that has enriched us in many ways, I still think that the mainstream media has a curious grip on the public mind.

I just received a newsletter from Médecins Sans Frontières. It had an article about Somalia. All their staff commented that they see very little in the mainstream media about that situation. The same with the Peru earthquake (remember that? August 2007 ?). People there are still struggling for survival.

So why do we get endless news stories about Bush in the Middle East .. Iraq ... Iraq .. Iraq ... Afghanistan ... Afghanis ... Yes, those situations are important, but where is the breadth and depth of our extraordinary world in the reporting ?

I've come to the conclusion that the mainstream media are obsessed ... they have an agenda to score political points. They no longer report the news. Hence my move into a news site ... well it's a start.

I wonder what else I can do though. With music .. ideas ... breaking the hold that the "one size fits all" mentality has on so many people.

It's original ideas that will save us. That is the raw currency that excites minds and gets things changed. Everything else is a marketting opportunity ... even the internet it's self. We're told that information has never been freer .. and yet the grip that the satellite news agencies has on the public mind seems greater than ever.

Reality check .

DJ Barney