Letters to the Editor
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What about CBS?
I usually watch Ms. Couric's evening broadcast and I don't remember CBS having any of these propagandists on back then, (and they aren't in your list, "MSNBC, CNN, ABC, Fox, and various newspapers and magazines -- all presented ((the generals)) as independent analysts") but my memory is not perfect.
Was CBS complicit also? And if not, can't this story gain televised access through them?
CBS can 'scoop' them and break this out.
Just wondering. Katie and her team (Armen Ketayan, etc.) have been real bulldogs going after the news stories lately for real. At any rate, IMHO - I think CBS has been doing some solid reporting lately RE: troop suicides, government waste/fraud/abuse, and might be amenable to such a story.
Perhaps I should write a letter. I don't know, thought you might know if I was wasting my time and if they were just as complicit as the other "big three" channels.
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@Jkalos
I just found this on the website for the Shepperd Group that Glenn linked to. I think it fits with your thoughts here:
Ever wonder how some leaders elicit world-class performance consistently? Learn how to roll in the mud and other leadership tricks to get your people to get the most from themselves.
Link: http://shepgroup.com/leadership%20main.htm
Guess the Shepperd Group has been doing a bit of training here at UT.
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Speaking of rare and endangered news stories...
One of the very very very few stories regarding "Iranian Weapons" in Iraq.
IRAQ: The elusive Iranian weapons
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Iraqi officials also have accused Iran of meddling in violence and had echoed the U.S. accusations of new Iranian-made arms being found in Basra. But neither the United States nor Iraq has displayed any of the alleged arms to the public or press, and lately it is looking less likely they will. U.S. military officials said it was up to the Iraqis to show the items; Iraqi officials lately have backed off the accusations against Iran.
A plan to show some alleged Iranian-supplied explosives to journalists last week in Karbala and then destroy them was canceled after the United States realized none of them was from Iran. A U.S. military spokesman attributed the confusion to a misunderstanding that emerged after an Iraqi Army general in Karbala erroneously reported the items were of Iranian origin.
When U.S. explosives experts went to investigate, they discovered they were not Iranian after all.
Iran, meanwhile, continues to seethe after an Iraqi delegation went to Tehran last week to confront it with the accusations. It has denied the accusations, and it says as long as U.S. forces continue to take part in military action in Iraq's Shiite strongholds, it won't consider holding further talks with Washington on how to stabilize Iraq....
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/05/iraq-the-elusiv.html
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@JKalos
I'm more grumpy than angry.
Arrogant and impatient with people. I have my failings. Boy, do I ever.
Buucky,
I understand that you can't seem to distinguish between criticism of Obama over Reverend Wright and criticism of Ron Paul over the Newsletters. There are some minor equivalencies pehaps but it is just not the same thing, no matter how you may wish for it to be. And I'm just too impatient to explain it to you. I hope I've addressed the issue of "facts".
To be honest, some things about Reverend Wright are troublesome, but just "controversial" troublesome in an election year context. The Newsletters were way beyond controversial in an context. I hope that helps.
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If Media were to acknowledge the propaganda program there's no way to make up for the damage done
Excellent post sir. The effort you put into this article should be an example to Williams and others as to what real journalism consists of. Williams, even in his blog post, did not put any effort into checking on the military analysts he mentions as "independent". Rather than check and investigate these generals Williams just uses his own thoughts to vet them thereby sparing him the trouble of getting off his ass and actually doing some work. The most important part of his reporting is hair and make-up.
The effort and work put into Glenn's pieces shames the likes of Williams and most of the corporate media. I suspect these organizations knew all along they were spouting propaganda and just chose to ignore it. I find it hard to believe that the thought of whether or not these "experts" were biased never crossed their minds. Journalists generally are taught to question yet we are to believe CNN and others never thought to do that when using these military analysts. Just pathetic.
Thanks Glenn for the huge effort you've made on this issue. It's come to the point where the only real investigative journalism is coming from bloggers and those without internet access, working several jobs, whose only exposure to news is the TV will fail to realize how badly they have been mislead and lied to. But one person sharing with another will continue to make dents in the propaganda flowing from our media darlings.
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@ Patrick Morgan
Patrick Morgan: As more malfeasance on the part of the Bush Administration comes to light (primarily through Glenn's blog and others, not the MSM), I have taken to considering more and more the possibility of more direct action. Short of revolution, a path that I have been advocating to friends and colleagues is calling for a constitutional convention. Put everything on the table: Should we explicitly provide for a right of privacy, or should all Americans be required to have a homing device/national ID inserted in their skulls; Should we get rid of the First Amendment and require compulsory Christian worship and the teaching of creationism in our schools; should bloggers (and their commentators) who question the actions of the federal government be excluded from the protections of the Fourth Amendment; etc.
Another thought I just had in thinking about your post is that perhaps we need a modern day secular Martin Luther, someone who will post 95 theses regarding the abuses of the federal government. These theses could be posted on the Capitol Building, although someone carrying a hammer up the stairs would probably be arrested before reaching the building, so perhaps crazy glue would be better.
Or perhaps, ala the Sermon on the Mount, we could have the Sermon on the Lincoln Memorial, extolling the virtues of the Constitution and the rule of law.
Anyway, I think that the time for massive civil disobedience is close at hand. Certainly, as Baldie McEagle says, people would be arrested. But get enough people and the authorities cannot arrest everyone. Get a million people in D.C. and shut down the government just by being there and the government and the MSM would have to take notice.
Part of me hesitates to write this because it sounds naive, but nothing up to now really appears to have worked. The time for more direct action is nearing.