I've been a big fan of Cohen from a tender age; his work, along with that of FAIR and Extra! got me into examining the media and writing in particular in the first place. I still think he's great, even though, over ten years ago, he pretty much mercilessly shot me down during a job interview (and he should've). He's been covering many of the issues that Glenn covers on a regular basis, and he harped about the media-military-industrial concept long before the internet gave such ideas any where near a mainstream audience. I was surprised when he went to work for FOX, but also kind of impressed that he would thrust himself into the belly of the beast--in those days there really weren't any "lefty" personalities on TV.

That all being said, I was a little disappointed with the interview. Not to harp on this too much—I wrote about it yesterday--but nothing Glenn or Cohen talked about explain the Olberman phenomenon. My personal feeling is that MSNBC/GE simply follows what it perceives to be public opinion—tempering it with the obvious fact that GE is a conservative corporate institution with a bottom line produced from economic imperatives. If Donhahue was shot down because of fears relating to MSNBC/GE’s brand and perceptions of popular sentiment, then Olberman has been catapulted into the MSNBC’s number one spot for the same reasons. Today, the war is overwhelmingly unpopular, but I think we would be lying to ourselves if we didn’t admit that a majority of Americans (at least in terms of how vocal they were) were pro-war in the days after Afghanistan.

The government lap-dog model alone doesn’t explain this dynamic. I would also like to hear a little more in depth analysis of the cable news network phenomenae to begin with. The corporations that run the big three—TW, GE, and NewsCorp—could literally throw the profits they make from their cable news into the gutter compared to the vast empire they already run. Why even bother? Is FOX simply a propaganda tool for Republicans, or is it a branding device for NewsCorp. And is MSNBC simply a branding device for NBC and Universal (viz, Matthews’ constant plugs of SNL)?

Anyway, it would be great to engage a debate on these issues.

Ok, will try.

Cohen isn't your average corporate news flunkie. He was a member of what most would consider a pretty radical group of media critics (FAIR). In my opinion he went to work for the cable news networks to expose their secrets and, perhaps, influence them (although I think the latter was somewhat naive).

I'm sure I agree with the underlying sentiment--that the media was lax and didn't cover issues that were important to Americans--but I have a little trouble believing any of this happened. The idea of an Arab walking into heartland agricultural office and boasting of being a member of an anti-American group just out to convert a crop-duster into a vehicle capable of carrying a bomb sounds a bit far-fetched--something I might hear on Hannity and Colmes as an example of the liberal pro-Al Q'aeda media hating America again. Are there quotes somewhere? Attributions?

In fact, just a quick perusal of the internets indicates that story started with Aschroft's AG administration a couple of weeks after the 9-11 attacks. I only found one site attesting to that, and so I can't say that for sure. But it does seem odd that a story that enabled the Bush administration to ratchet up the American fear of successive attacks using the anthrax scare, that's so perfectly newsable, has virtually disappeared in the last seven years and has never been mentioned by media again.

I didn't say it didn't happen, just seemed odd to me, and I wouldn't take just one website as evidence refuting it either.