Bill Moyers: I thought CNN was taking a stand against White House lies. I was mistaken.
A Lamentation From Bill Moyers
I thought CNN was taking a courageous stand against White House lies. I was mistaken.
By Bill Moyers | February 8, 2017
Well, I certainly got that one wrong.
Based on news reports, and after two phone calls to check them out, on Tuesday I wrote a column saluting Jake Tapper and CNN for saying, “No!” to Kellyanne Conway when the White House offered her up as a guest for Tapper’s Sunday program. Except for Fox and Breitbart, I said, no news organization had been more useful to Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy than CNN, but now it appeared they were fed up with serving as a springboard for the lies tossed around like grenades by Trump’s propaganda minions — most notably Ms. Conway, the president’s senior adviser who doubles, I pointed out (with apologies to my late Baptist deacon father for the language) as the administration’s official Queen of Bullshit.
Standing up to her took some guts from Tapper and his network, given the fear and loathing Trump directs at journalists who dare exert some First Amendment independence, and I said so in the column:
I finished the column, hit “Send” (you can read it in its entirety here) and went to do some chores, feeling a tiny bit more hopeful about my craft. On my rounds, I even fancied that in protest against the vilification constantly aimed at them by Trump and his thuggish enforcers, perhaps CNN and the other big guys on the block would pull out of the annual White House Correspondents Dinner this spring, that godawful spectacle where journalists and their corporate masters — those with much business pending before the government — preen and prance with the privileged and powerful. All are one, on a night of reveling reminiscent of the court at Versailles when it was the seat of power in the kingdom of France.
And then I was rudely awakened. Word came that CNN had reversed itself. The ban had been lifted. Conway was back — and being interviewed at that very moment by none other than Jake Tapper, whom I had only hours earlier hoisted on a pedestal.
What had happened? We may never know. Obviously, someone high up at CNN had ordered the turnaround. My sources there said they simply didn’t know who it was.
(snip)
CNN’s change of heart Tuesday was a blow to its own credibility, and a disappointment to many hoping for greater courage among the media.
More:
http://billmoyers.com/story/lamentation-bill-moyers/
= new reply since forum marked as read
it's a two-way street!
Huffington Post refused to mention that idiot except in their Entertainment Section - until he became the Republican nominee.
Ignoring a cancer doesn't make it go away.
Tapper pointedly called the White House "distributors of FAKE NEWS" and "liars" - including the Corrupt One.
The ball is back in Corrupt Trump's court - will his people ever go on CNN again? 
Yes, we must start "small" - too many think we can't do anything. CNN had banned Conlie, and that was a start. Here's what Moyers said:
"Now, maybe someone else will follow, another domino will fall, and another and another — until we in the press have collectively reclaimed our courage and independence from complicity with the state."
And later he wrote:
"By uncoupling ourselves from this colossal National Lie, we might discover finally what it really means to a nation — and its people — to truly have a free press."
We've got to fight - make calls - write - march. It's OUR country - it is what we MUST DO! 