The We Love Propaganda Edition

[liz_marcs]

I remember when NOW with Bill Moyers was a staple on PBS.

And now, it's b-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ck! And Moyers once again proves why he's the God of Journalism on earth.

I missed the Friday broadcast of NOW, so I had to catch it on repeats on the Rhode Island PBS affiliate last night.

Of course, my blood pressure went right through the roof.

Buying the War, about the follow-the-heard mentality of the press that greased the skids into the U.S. invading and occupying Iraq, made me shake with rage.

Wanna know what's really sick? None of the information is new, nor is it a surprise at this point. Or, it shouldn't be if you've been paying even the smallest bit of attention.

It's seeing it laid out from one end to the other. It's seeing all the whining from the journalists about how "no one called them." (Fuck you, dude! You're supposed to call them, you idiots! — It's called Journalism 101! I had to do it back in the day. Do reporters not pick up the phones any more?) It's seeing the truth being reported in other countries, while pure propaganda was being spoon fed to the populace in ours. It's seeing those self-satisfied smirky talking heads not fucking getting it. They as "journalists" dropped the ball, and we managed to kill an entire country. Fantastic. Good job guys. I won't be forgiving you assholes any time soon.

I have herewith decided to pretend that my Journalism degree is a degree in Mid-19th Century American Literature. I don't want people to assume that I'm incompetent.

How is it possible that the last real reporters in the United States work for Knight Ridder/McClatchy Newspapers? As it turns out, this is the news organization that got it right all along and was calling shenanigans from the start.

But guess who's still got the big television contracts, still on the weenie cocktail circuit, and still making oodles of money for being wrong?

Here's a hint: It's not the ink-stained wretches at Knight Ridder/McClatchy who actually did their fucking jobs.

---

In other news, Riverbend of Baghdad Burning has finally thrown in the towel. She announced that she and her family were fleeing Baghdad for either Jordan or Syria (the only countries where Iraqis don't need passports to cross the border). From there, they're going to try to find a country that will take them in.

As conditions have deteriorated in Iraq, Riverbend's posting schedule has gotten increasingly erratic, with sometimes months going by between posts.

Another bright light goes out in Iraq, but at least Riverbend will live on.

---

I admit that I thought the Congressional hearings on the lies told around the fratricide death of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan was over-the-top and conducted only because Tillman was famous. However, the House Hearing on Accuracy of Battlefield Information turned out to yield lots and lots of interesting information.

Like how U.S. troops were being used as propaganda parts by the Bush Administration to keep public opinion in line the Iraqi invasion and occupation. To be honest, again, this is not at all news, considering how King George so does love prancing in front of uniformed officers for political purposes. ("Mission Accomplished" anyone?)

By the way, this hearing included testimony from Jessica Lynch, in which she also accused the administration of lying about her situation. For the record, Lynch is accusing the administration of turning her into a hero for propaganda purposes — she denies that she's any kind of hero at all. IMHO, however, anyone who fights to set the record straight — as Lynch has tried to do for years — despite the pressure to keep her mouth shut and accept the hero accolade really is a hero. I'm just sayin'.

In either case, if you want to break your heart, this article on Pat Tillman from Sports Illustrated shows why so many people are fighting to get the truth out about Tillman, and to draw attention to the propaganda games around the Iraqi invasion and occupation.

---

More bits and pieces of flotsam:

George Tenet, who's not exactly one of the "good guys" when it comes to the invasion and occupation of Iraq, has released his tell-all book in which he's confirmed that the Iraqi invasion was based on a hill of lies. Again, not new news here at all, but notable for the "who" that's saying it.

Knight Ridder/McClatchy continue to prove how invaluable they are to journalism by reporting that in order to "prove" that violence in Iraq is decreasing, the administration has stopped counting car bombs as acts of violence. So next time your wingnut relatives tell you that Iraq is getting better, you might want to point out that the numbers are improving only because the Bush administration is congenitally incapable of telling the truth...or realizing that the American people actually have brains.

---

Anyway, I'll be posting some Bad Art Appreciation Day links up tonight. I got hung up doing a bunch of stuff yesterday and never got to my computer.

Comments

[thebigfatman.livejournal.com]

f you want to break your heart, this article on Pat Tillman from Sports Illustrated

My older brother gets Sports Illustrated, and I read that article while visiting my parents. I meant just to give it a browse while on the john. I ended up sitting there with my butt getting cold and sore, and sobbing all over the magazine.

[lillian13.livejournal.com]

On the slightly brighter side, Bill's guest tonight is none other than Jon Stewart. I'm going to a baseball game tonight, so it's time to fire up the TiVo!

[bastardsnow.livejournal.com]

I did manage to catch the Bill Moyers special, and it was, well, eye-opening. I knew most of what had gone on, but seeing it all put out there in one special was just... well, it was bad. I watched it with my parents, both of whom worked as journalists for UPI for a very long time, and they were... i guess irate is as close as I can come.

My mom actually met Landay when he was around my age and working for UPI in India, and she remembered him as being very bright, and wasn't surprised that he was one of the guys who actually dug in this. She was very impressed with him.

Anyway, thanks for bringing attention to this. It really is an excellent piece of work.

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

I watched it. And it was totally, absolutely devastating. Maybe this is the Cronkite moment we've needed.

I sure hope so...

I plan to watch NOW tonight, too.

[set-aka-ian.livejournal.com]

A friend came back from Iraq and when someone mentioned Pat Tillman, he said, 'Oh, that f*cking idiot who couldn't follow orders and got himself killed?'

Whatever we are being told here, they are hearing different stories over there. I don't think he 'got himself killed,' but I do think that misinformation about the events have been deliberately spread, to keep the story under wraps.

A very common theme in this political climate is to spread two or more stories, and then point to the 'controversy' to explain why the truth is so hard to find.

[ad-kay.livejournal.com]

Thank you for these links. I'm very relieved (and heartbroken) that Riverbend and her family are finally leaving.

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

The Tillman article hit me hard in a weird and peculiar place: the culture of the Rangers who trained AT Fort Lewis is so very different than the one of the unit transferred in from Georgia in the past year, who brought with them issues the old units tended to avoid (most particularly some racial violence in bars this side of the base).

Julia, it takes a long time to straighten out the damage that war does to military impact zones at home

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Jessica Lynch's testimony was a main story in the news broadcasts an BBC, ITV, Channel 4, & Channel 5, at least, over here - was it not big news in the US then?

The news here mentioned that she was not bravely shooting until her last bullet, but that she said that she was 'cowering in the cab of her truck', and that in the Iraqi hospital as soon as the American troops arrived the nursing staff tried to hand her over, but the American troops went around and shot a few people before they came back for her. That was the story as we heard it - how does it compare?

[velochicdunord.livejournal.com]

Yes. We didn't hear about the Pat Tillman or Jessica Lynch bits when we were getting coverage on CBC Radio One.

But we got pretty well everything else. I work in advertising. I know how to pitch and sell a product. I can also smell propoganda from three miles off. I also served ten years as a Canadian reeservist, had worked with the American forces and have a few clues as to when a story was probably spin.

To my mind, the ramp-up to the current Iraq war was pretty bleeding obvious. What was dumb-founding to a lot of people (but not all!) north of the border was the lack of media challenge to the White House line.

All that patriotism and determination/fear coming out of the post-9/11 period was _scary_. _Especially_ when Dubya said in essence "just keep on shopping".

I was so proud when Jean Chretien said no. I'm spitting nails at the current PM, Stephen Harper.

[velochicdunord.livejournal.com]

FWIW, I missed the air date, and caught the piece on the PBS website. Rah-rah for live streaming and internet feeds!

[omegar.livejournal.com]

whats the quote

"when you make peaceful revolution impossible, you make violent revolution inevitable"

when the media beleives the lies it is fed what can you do but go looking elsewhere, but even then how many people actually go looking for independent news?

have you read Transmetropolitan? its a Comic book, now availble in ten books. the main character is a politcal reporter at some point in the distant/not so distant future. Its a world were reporters report only press releases, and investigave reporters merely dig up old press releases! the Main character is one who actually goes looking for information for his stories.

i always took it as a warning of tends in news reporting, i think it is coming more true than i feared!

[midnightsjane.livejournal.com]

Bill Moyers is a true journalist in the very best sense of the word. I'm delighted to see him back on PBS.

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

When can we kick those lying SOBs out of the White House? I'd do it myself if I could.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's depressing. For all the Rights bashing of the Liberal Media on this one (And they don't bash the media because of bias - they bash because they don't control it) the media actually didn't push very hard for a long time. Even at the Washington Post where what critical stories there were in the 2003-4 timeframe were always buried on page A14.

[(Anonymous)]

While I mostly agree with the sentiments above I gotta disagree that a more vigorous media would have had any affect on the decision to go to war. Here in Britain a lot of the mainstream press was very sceptical about the build up to war, huge anti war demo in London etc and the end result was the same.Would the result have been different if the press had done it's job in U.S? I don't think so to be honest.