Media panels: Fear of seeming unpatriotic prevented critical Iraq reportin

[Judi Lynn]

Media panels: Fear of seeming unpatriotic prevented critical Iraq reporting
By Mielikki Org, Associated Press, 3/19/2004 17:13

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BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) Competitive pressures and a fear of appearing unpatriotic discouraged journalists from doing more critical reporting during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, according to reporters and others at a conference on media coverage of the war.

The journalists on the panels at the University of California at Berkeley this week blamed the Bush administration for leaking faulty information, but said the media also has itself to blame for not being more skeptical about the case for war.

''The press did not do their job,'' said Michael Massing, who wrote an article in the New York Review of Books that found The New York Times and The Washington Post particularly at fault.

Journalists fear they will be seen as unpatriotic if they challenge White House statements, said Robert Sheer, a syndicated columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
(snip/...)

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/079/economy/Media_panels_Fear_of_seeming_u:.shtml

[mtnester]

1. Surprise - NOT

nt

[Devils Advocate NZ]

2. Bollocks - That is a total COP OUT.

The fact is, it was the PRESS that created this fake patriotism, and now they are using it as an excuse for why the did not print the truth (afraid of seeming unpatriotic).

The press did not report the truth because they did not WANT to report the truth. They WANTED a juicy high-ratings war. They WANTED to work in conjunction with the military industrial complex to enrich themselves and each other.

This is just a CYA lie designed to hide the true role of the press in that illegal war. They are just trying to make sure that only BUSH gets the blame, and that they themselves are free to do it all over again at some other time.

[FlemingsGhost]

10. And we have a winner, folks!

The Good:
The press is beginning to distance themselves from BushCo.

The Bad:
They are shamelessly shirking responsibility by playing the victim, in an attempt to cover their asses. Or is that... "assets?"

The Ugly:
If we do not address their complicity in a very real and very dramatic fashion, you can look forward to a future of nothing but "Neo-Bush" administrations, from here on in. It won't matter what side of the aisle your candidate resides.

This is the head of the snake, people. Chop it off...

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

22. Then again.

The press was so pissed off about being chumped on Lewinsky they gave Bush a free pass in 2000. As the saying goes once bitten twice shy. I don't think they'll make the same mistake twice.

[Voltaire99]

29. Plenty of blame to go around

I don't dispute your nice take on it. To be sure, there are segments of the press that are more critical than others, and yet tongues were stilled there, even among the professionally heterodox. Surely the early auto-de-fe of Susan Sontag for her New Yorker squib was a cautionary lesson.

See, for instance, Paul Krugman's recent column (Mar. 16) on Bush's exploitation of and errors following 9/11: this would have been blistering for Krugman to write years ago, when much the same thing was being written by people such as Noam Chomsky or Tariq Ali. They were vilified then. But he has only managed to work up a head of steam now. Was Krugman afraid? On some level surely; he has, after all, hired a bodyguard as a result of backlash for the mild criticisms he'd already dared.

One further culprit: the Democratic Party. By lining up so faithfully behind Bush and his policies, the Dems deprived the establishment media of even its usual tiny yardstick of political difference. Without an opposition in sight, what was the dutiful press to report? It's not as if the media think for themselves!

Not all of the US media have been collaborators or sheep. Among the most courageous in our press, since the start of our present madness, has been Harper's Magazine and its editor, Lewish H. Lapham, who have offered one of the best analyses of the Bush Reich anywhere.

[9215]

34. Excellent Post!

Great analysis. Not only are the Press cowards, but they are liars and their lies have cost thousands of lives!!

[saigon68]

3. THE TRUTH when in Doubt try "THE TRUTH"

I can depend more on Pravda and Al Jezerra for the "TRUTH"

Sick controlled string puppets

[tom_paine]

5. Saigon68, you said a mouthful there, pal!

So true it makes me nauseous.

I remember reading "Farenheit 451" and "1984" in high school, thinking, "Thank God I don't live there."

But now every day "here" becomes more like "there".

I also remember hating the Soviets, and Brezhnev. HATING him and them for their lies, hypocrisy, frauds, thefts, Orwellian insults to the intelligence, the way they had greater division of rich and poor (Commisars & Comrades, then everyone else) in a nation that was supposed to be "fair and balanced".

Actually, in the Fox-sense of things, the Soviet Union was quite "fair and balanced".

And now we approach the same thing here. Slowly at first...but we cannot count on the transition remaining this "soft & slow", especially if the election is stolen again (at least a 60% chance of that or some variant).

And the only difference between Busheviks and Bolsheviks is degree of Tyranny and rationale for Tyranny.

Otherwise they are soul-mates, like Bunnypants* and Comrade Putin. Like Fox and Soviet Pravda.

:puke:

tom_paine
USAF Veteran 1983-1987

[Lisa]

16. remark by comedian Dave Broadfoot during the Cold War

"The Russians, they don't know whether or not their government is lying to them. Our government -- we KNOW."

[struggle4progress]

4. Democracy requires informed public.

Informed public needs the press.

What the f**k good is the press if it doesn't do its job: investigate and tell the truth.

[ninkasi]

6. Informed public

also needs a government which operates openly, and honestly. Everything this administration does is shrouded in secrecty, like Cheney's Energy Task Force meetings.

They refuse to give any information that might cast them in a negative light, and that pretty much covers everything they do.

[struggle4progress]

27. I vote for transparency

:)

[SoCalDem]

8. Isn't it amazing too

That news organizations will spare no expense to "investigate" one of their own who they suspect of plagiarism, but yet they seem to have no budget to allow the real journalists (are there any left?) to really investigate the administration thugs..

[saigon68]

30. A pack of Foxes seldom gets concerned when feathers

are found outside the Den.

The press is totally neutered. And has been for some time. The news is not reported for "the truth" It is reported with an eye toward fallout to the "corporation" (Cnn etc.)

Ie: if the Acme Co. is the largest advertiser on NBC, will NBC's investigative reporters do stories on Acme's use of 10 year old girls in Bangladesh sewing shirts? And the ANSWER is: --NEVER.

There are some ass kicking young reporters out there, I'm sure they learn quite early in their carreers, not to rock the boat.

[Dulcinea]

20. That's what happens when big corporations run news outlets.

Woodward, Bernstein, Walter Cronkite.....none of them would be able to do their jobs now.

News, back in the day, was treated as a public service. Stations didn't expect to make money on it. They were happy to break even. Now, Murdoch, Time Warner, & their ilk are all about making the fat cats happy, & journalism, the search for truth, is a distant second...or third. And they profess surprise that network news viewership is down? Who wants to see that corporate crap? Give me BBC World Service any day!

[PROGRESSIVE1]

7. Well there you have it! The "Librul" Media once again has cowered....

to the Right Wing/Facsist/Republicans!

:mad:

[depakid]

9. From the "Well, duh!" department

So now that theyve had heir collective mea culpa- what are they going to do about it?

Nothing. By in large, they'll remain the same sorry sycophants they always were- and they'll continue to run cover for the far right.

I almost feel sorry for them- I wonder how they sleep at night knowing that they haven't even got the courage to stand up for Helen Thomas? Must be hell on their self-esteem....

[Ravy]

11. Unpatriotic??? For criticizing * ????

Where on Earth would they have gotten that idea?

[calimary]

36. Uh, hate to say this, but it's partially OUR fault, too.

These people, as with our reps in Congress and the Senate, were BARRAGED with angry emails, letters, faxes, and phone calls, either generated by, or encouraged by, the right wing machinery that is already well-ensconced out there. KKKarl Rove had only to pick up the phone to people like Limbaugh, Hannity, Ralph Reed, the folks at the Heritage Foundation and the Cato and American Enterprise Institutes and other such "think tanks," and the wheels began to turn.

Remember the astroturfing of many of our newspapers? How many dittoheads and freepers were martialed to action?

Think back farther. Remember that angry mob pounding on the doors of the Florida office where the folks inside were trying to count the votes? These thugs intimidated them. And who were these thugs? Every last one of them was an congressional staffer for some republi-CON. Somewhere on the net is proof of that, a photo with names attached.

Guys, they're correct about one thing. This Is War. They aren't afraid to fight hard and dirty. Why are we?

Back then, when Dan Rather was complaining to the BBC while being interviewed overseas about being "necklaced" if he said anything oppositional to the regime, DID ANYBODY HERE TRY TO CONTACT THE CBS EVENING NEWS AND URGE THEM TO SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER?

When Helen Thomas was shunned and moved to the back of the room for asking too many pesky questions at White House news conferences, DID ANYBODY HERE TRY TO CONTACT THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS CORPS AND COMPLAIN? OR WRITE TO THE WASHINGTON POST TO COMPLAIN? OR EVEN WRITE TO HELEN THOMAS AND GIVE HER SUPPORT? She's even mentioned many times, including email responses to me when I've written to her, that she sure gets a lot of hate mail. ARE WE DOING ANYTHING - ANYTHING AT ALL - to push from the other side??????

HAS ANYBODY HERE WRITTEN TO WOLF BLITZER OR CHRIS MATTHEWS OR JUDY WOODRUFF OR PAUL KRUGMAN OR ANY OF THESE PEOPLE TO COMPLAIN, OR URGE THEM TO START TELLING THE TRUTH - OR IN KRUGMAN'S CASE, TO SAY THANKS AND GIVE HIM SUPPORT? ANYBODY?

Everybody's too busy. Everybody just wants to sit and complain. Everybody assumes it won't do any good. Everybody just wants to wring their hands and whine about how awful it is. HAS ANYONE HERE BOTHERED TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT? ANYBODY EVER WRITE TO THE ARMY TIMES OR STARS AND STRIPES?? OR BOB HERBERT OF THE NYTIMES? OR JOE CONASON? OR GEORGE WILL OR HOWIE KURTZ? OR LOU DOBBS? ANYBODY?

I read here, once, that some valiant soul complained to the New York Times about how they were lowballing their crowd estimates, repeatedly, back when many of us were out protesting against the build-up to the war. Whoever this was ALSO CC'ed the complaint letter to the Washington Post and a few other publications, plus a journalists' advocacy group - which I think is listed somewhere in www.takebackthemedia.com. Soon afterwards, the crowd estimates started to get a little more realistic.

Anybody write to their local paper and out an earlier letter that looked like it was astroturf? Some people do. It's CRITICAL THAT WE ALL DO! Please, folks! We can't just assume somebody else is always gonna do it. Nor can we just assume that our one little voice makes no difference. If we have even HALF the people listed among the 41,000 members of THIS WEBSITE ALONE, writing in, that's about 20,000 complaints that come in, en masse, from all over the country, and that big group of complaints will have clout. That's how MoveOn.org has made waves - with big numbers - and how Howard Dean's campaign got off the ground so fast.

I try to call my congresspeople at least twice or three times a week, sometimes daily, PLUS somebody ELSE'S congresspeople also, to register my views. I put the TOLL FREE information in my sig line so it's there every time I post, in case somebody's lost that freebie number. WE HAVE TO KEEP HAMMERING! It's NOT ENOUGH to just sit here, posting complaints to the choir.

Sorry to nag, but sometimes I get really frustrated, reading these things. And for every complaint, I wonder if the complainer has bothered to REGISTER that complaint somewhere, more formally, with someone else who counts. Guys, WE HAVE TO!!! OTHERWISE THE TAKEOVER IS COMPLETE.

[Democat]

12. What will their excuse be for supporting Bush and slamming Kerry in 2004?

The U.S. media is controlled by conservatives, that's the real reason for them supporting Bush and trying to destroy Democrats.

[FlemingsGhost]

14. Well... sort of.

The U.S. media is controlled by very large, very wealthy multinational corporations. Most have diversified holdings that create astounding conflicts of interest. (For example, NBC and General Electric.)

It's corrupt, immoral and completely undemocratic. They know they have the power to "crown the kings," so the throne goes to the highest bidder. This time around, it just happened to be George W. Bush et al.

(on edit: typo)

[ima_sinnic]

13. pathetic!

which is more worthy of disdain: actual "fear of appearing unpatriotic," or fabricating that as an excuse for licking the ass of BushCo?

either way they are beyond contempt, miserable scum.

[54anickel]

15. BULL! They fed the unpatriotic frenzy, played it for all it was worth.

And I've got a Repug rep that stills gives me that line of crap with each reply he sends me.

[BadGimp]

17. It's bad enough ..

It's bad enough that this is the administration of Zero Accountability.

But now the media is taking the same approach.

No one wants to be held accountable.

f'in great...

I need a drink

[Dirk39]

18. I feel so sorry for these whores....

did hear the same after the gulf war 1991
did hear the same after Kosovo
hear the same, now.

"The press did not do their job"????

They did their job. And to now pretend to be concerned about lying is just another part of their idiotic job.

I just know one thing about their stupid free-market-society: if someone's job is to sell things and he or she doesn't in fear of violating human dignity: He's unemployed within a week. If it would be the job of journalists to tell the truth, the same would occur. But it doesn't and it never will happen. Their job isn't the truth, their job is to serve those, who pay them: the advertisers and the media-corporations. Otherwise, I would just be surprised about how human our capitalist societies have become.
Do you remember, how workers refused to do their job - not a few, nearly all of them. And those, who pay them just didn't care.
And just about a year after not doing their job, they were asking for forgivness?
They are just solid in lying and doing their job. And these excuses are just another lie.

From all the people I've met in my entire life, journalists are the most cynical and worthless ones.

Hello from Germany,
Dirk

[stepnw1f]

19. I Hold The Media Responsible

I will never forget the damage their ignorance and silence has done to our country.

[Dirk39]

21. Mac Donalds: Fear of supporting obesity prevented selling fastfood

n/t
Dirk

[Festivito]

23. Gee, what's stopping them now?

A desire to repeat mistakes.
A fear of being unpatriotic.
A fear that even fewer people will believe them.
A fishy sense of having to swim with FOX news.
A desire to receive Bush advertising.
A scary feeling of having made a huge mistake.
A realization that people like yourself used to be hung.
A combination of arrogance, stupidity, cowardice, etc.

[jimshoes]

24. Wasn't there a morality tale written long ago

about a youngster commenting on the emperor's lack of clothing yet no one had the balls to tell the dimwitted emperor. I thought so.

[Malva Zebrina]

25. I honestly think they are all incompetant and that their jobs should be

given to some bright tenth graders.

[Dirk39]

26. outsourced...

Let's face the facts. We can't escape globalization. Many people are ready to fabricate lies for just about 3 Dollars a day. We just can't afford those media- and corporate whores anymore...
Dirk

[uhhuh]

28. LOL! I Love This!

"The only government representative at the conference that ran Tuesday through Thursday was Lt. Col. Rick Long, a Marine Corps spokesman. He deflected accusations that the Pentagon decision to embed about 700 journalists with troops fighting in the Iraq war allowed the government to influence their coverage.

''The reason we embedded so many journalists is that we wanted to dominate the information environment,'' Long said. ''We wanted to beat any kind of disinformation or propaganda by beating them at their own game.''"

We didn't influence their reports, we just wouldn't let them report what we didn't like.

''We wanted to beat any kind of disinformation or propaganda by beating them at their own game.''"

Hmmm... The game is disinformation and propaganda, and we wanted to beat them at that....bbut we didn't influence the reporting!!

[TacticalPeek]

31. Kick. n/t

:kick:

[9215]

32. Well, the gutless wonders can take part, IMO a big part, of the blame

for the Iraq war dead. Pathetic worthless cowards these people are that compromise their most important responsibility to the public.

Excellent post Judi, as usual. :thumbsup:

[9215]

33. Condi Rice calls the Press and tells them what to print!!

http://www.americanfreepress.net/10_26_02/U_S__Media_Rigged/u_s__media_rigged.html
By James P. Tucker Jr.
10-30-2

.....Some stations have no coverage of local politics and people, and learn only from paid political ads, said Miss Jackson of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.

Newspapers are "manipulated" by the government, she said. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice calls to tell the media how to edit and what parts of a story to run, she said.

[democrank]

35. Oh, I get it.....

Asking probing questions about Bush`s pre-invasion intelligence was so....French that reporters had to prove their nationalism by 24/7 videos of freedom fry uprisings.