October 21, 2005
On the
CNN homepage, the only reference to the fact that a huge criminal investigation is taking place at the
highest levels of the government, is at the very bottom of the page under the section entitled "politics" - not in the main headline section. And one could hardly even call it a headline- it says something to the effect of "bush disavows background noise" or something nondescript like that. There is no mention on the front page that the "background noise" to which Mr. Bush is referring, is perhaps the greatest criminal/political scandal since Watergate. In fact, there is nothing on CNN's homepage that would lead a viewer/reader to conclude that there was anything amiss in the White House today at all.
How lucky for the administration to
have a media that considers such alleged criminality at the highest levels of our government, hardly worth mentioning. For me personally, this jagged little pill would be easier to swallow were it not for the fact that I witnessed the most ridiculous media behavior during the Clinton years- there was no rumour, innuendo or fact that wasn't worthy of front-page, headline news. Whether it was speculation that the Clintons had a hand in Vince Foster's death or the absurd, and ultimately false, allegations of Troopergate- the media were always front and center with a blaring headline to greet us each and every day- whether it be online, on tv or the print media. In fact, I think it's almost impossible for even the most ardent right-wing Clinton-hater to argue(in a rare moment of utter honesty) that the impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton would have been possible were it not for the coverage by the mainstream media.
And that brings us to the media coverage of the Iraq war and the role the media played in ensuring it would come to pass. And that, in turn, brings us to Plame-Gate.
With respect to Plame-Gate, Perhaps the media need Cliffs Notes on what this issue is about ultimately- the leaking of classified information as part of the administration's petty, unethical (and likely criminal) war against their detractors - to punish anyone who dared point out that their case for war was a pack of lies, even from the very beginning. And we now know (we didn't before- thanks mainly to the media's refusal to cover it) that Cheneys office was literally at war with the CIA over the Iraq intelligence, with the CIA apparently being strong-armed by the VP regarding conclusions about the intelligence- in other words, everything the Right has denied about the pre-war intelligence and the situation surrounding it, is seemingly true. However, the question of politicized intelligence as the basis for a totally volunary war in violation of international law, seems to have been relegated to nothing but a historical footnote-neither the media or the American people seem to care about the propangand being force fed to them via the White House Iraq Group and the DD's secret propaganda group, the Office of Special Programs. Even the appearance, those many months back, of the uber-damning
Downing Street Documents didn't pique the mainstream media's interest.
It's interesting that not long ago we as a nation were brought to a screeching halt because a President lied under oath in a civil case about sex with a white house intern. Astonishingly, despite the fact that this consensual sexual affair threatened no one but his immediate family(and even then, only emotionally), it was labeled a High Crime and Misdemeanor and, well, you know the rest. It's history.
But the current administration strong-arming the CIA, using our tax dollars to create secret propaganda agencies with no Congressional oversight (the DOD's Office of Special Programs), lying to the American people and the world about Iraq intelligence to justify embarking on an illegal war and possibly violating national security by outing a covert NOC as part of an agenda of political revenge- Thats just fine with everybody except the "overzealous prosecutor" (unlike Ken Starr, right?), Patrick Fitzgerald?
And what nonsense are some of the bigwigs (Chris Mathews, Andrea Mitchell, Nora O'Donnell and of course- Fox News) in the mainstream, corporate media spewing? That if Fitzgerald brings indictments against *anybody*, it will be tantamount to the criminalization of hardball-style politics. In other words, lighten up Fitz- the outing of Valerie Plame was no big deal.
Of course, the mainstream media has a horse in this race too, so to speak. Several big news agencies were forced to offer post-hoc apologies of sorts for their piss-poor and inaccurate coverage of the events leading up to the Iraq war. So, perhaps they are a tad defensive now? Perhaps that is why the most desperate (and ironically, powerful) among them have put forth little Judy Miller as the First Amendment martyr? In other words, enough about treason, the neocon cabal that holds sway in the WH, the war between the CIA and the administration- lets talk about them.
But they picked the wrong case with its bad facts for a First Amendment cause. Not to mention the heroine that cast in the role is a total sham. Miller was no Bernstein and Libby/Scooter/Cheney were/are no Deep Throat. In fact, it is almost the Deep Throat/Watergate situation perversely reversed- Miller is protecting, not a government whistleblower uncovering executive abuses who has reason to fear retribution, but rather she is/was protecting those that committed the abuses and whom tarteted the whistle blower (Joe Wilson). And to make her the poster-girl for a federal shield law for journalists when she herself wouldnt even be covered under such a law for the above stated reasons, is absurd (not to mention there would be a national security exception, taking this case well outside the confines of any such law). Why on earth would the NYT try to martyr itself on that set of fucked up facts? Did they really think we wouldn't notice the contradiction?
Watching Judy-Gate unfold was a bit like driving by a roadside accident- you want to look but you know you shouldn't. And then when you do, you feel embarrassed and ashamed. I still find it difficult to believe that the whole Diva Judy Affair is anything other than a very long, absurd, SNL skit. That moment reached a crescendo while reading her long-awaited first of two "versions" of the events leading to her incarceration-interruptus. To think that this neocon diva was basically running loose in the NYT news room for decades, is absolutely incredible. Even more incredible is that they chose to make her the public "face" of their war coverage. Everywhere you looked, there was Judy - on PBS, CNN, Jim Lehrer...her pre-Iraq war doomsday coverage was getting attention because it was exactly the message the neocons in the White House wanted dispersed to the public. Too bad none of it was accurate. Unfortunately, It would be one thing if her pre-Iraq war reporting was her first episode of unethical, shoddy reporting, but apparently it wasn't. The NYT apparently learns things the hard way.
But yet the guys[neocons?] who ran the paper seemed absolutely enamoured of little miss "run-amok". I'll put the knee-pad scenario aside for a moment[forever] and focus instead on what some of her colleagues have said said about what a wonderful reporter she was:
"I'm not willing to work further on this project with Judy Miller," wrote Pyes, who now writes for the Los Angeles Times. He added: "I do not trust her work, her judgment, or her conduct. She is an advocate, and her actions threaten the integrity of the enterprise, and of everyone who works with her. . . . She has turned in a draft of a story of a collective enterprise that is little more than dictation from government sources over several days, filled with unproven assertions and factual inaccuracies," and "tried to stampede it into the paper." (Craig Pyes, former Times writer, December 2000 Memo to NYT editors).
In other words, Judy's reporting on Iraq WMD issues had nothing to do with journalistic integrity or even, astonishingly, providing its readers with the FACTS regarding Iraq WMDs. It was about kissing up to the neocon cabal in the White House, rubbing shoulders with those in power and ultimately, it was about Miller's over-inflated ego. And that my friends, may [should] tank the integrity of the NYT for good. They had an opportunity after the Jason Blair fiasco to rehabilitate their reputation and stick to what they used to do best- putting their best and brightest reporters/investigators/writers on the toughest issues of the day and holding those in power accountable, when appropriate- not by advocacy on the part of the paper, but by reporting the facts as they existed, not as how those in power wished them to be.
In the run-up to war, and even now, they ceased to be the paper of record and became part of the administration's propaganda campaign and thanks to Judy and the NYT head honchos, the administration had its cause heralded from page A-1 of the most prestigious paper in America.
Now that we know what we do about the lack of WMDs in Iraq, the administration's attempts to silence their critics and the propaganda coming out of the DoD and administration, they must ask themselves whether we would be in Iraq today had they (and other media outlets) done their job, ethically and responsibly. After all, the government can't go to war in a democratic nation if the people aren't behind it. And how is it that the people learn about the issues relating to the war? Mainly from two sources- 1. the government- which obviously has a vested interest in presenting only one side of the issue; and 2. the media.
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