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Saturday, May 10, 2008 12:00 AM

How the military analyst program controlled news coverage: in the Pentagon's own words

"We develop a core group from within our media analyst list of those that we can count on to carry our water. They become the key go to guys for the networks and it begins to weed out the less reliably friendly analysts by the networks themselves."

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  • Saturday, May 10, 2008 11:47 AM

    Glenn, you're confusing "news" with news

    Glenn, the breakdown in communication here is that what you think of as TV news is not what they think of as TV news.

    You think of TV news as having a moral and ethincal responsibility to the public good to function oppositionally to the government in a search for truth.

    They, and by they I mean actors like Brian Williams, see TV "news" as a show. It's entertainment. It's ratings. It's Mary Tyler Moore meets reality TV. It's WKRP meets TMZ.

    Of course I agree with you. I think news has an obligation to the public trust.

    I'm just saying that when you say "news" and they say "news," you're talking about fact-based public trust, and they're talking about "Thatttts Entertainnnnment!!"

    Government Generals dressed up as "experts"? It's all part of the show.

    To them, it's like complaining the FBI agents on 24 aren't real FBI agents.

    Who cares? They look the part.

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