TRNN: The Radicalization of Phil Donahue...and How He Got Cut Off & What He Learned: 1/3
The Radicalization of Phil Donahue - Reality Asserts Itself (1/3)
Published on Sep 29, 2014
Mr. Donahue says he believed he was blessed, living in the greatest country on earth - but through hosting his show, speaking to people like Chomsky and the Black Panthers, he came to question what he had thought was true - October 3, 14
PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT BELOW...(WORTH THE READ) and FULL TRANSCRIPT AT THIS LINK (for all of us who don't have High Speed Connections, you can still read a BIT OF IT ON THIS THREAD... After the Video and then go Read at this LINK:
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12454
Bio
Phil Donahue and the Donahue show have been honored with 20 Daytime Emmy Awards, including nine for Outstanding Host and a George Foster Peabody Broadcasting Journalism Award.
TRANSCRIPT:
PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN:
Welcome to The Real News Network, and welcome to Reality Asserts Itself. I'm Paul Jay. Our guest today is probably someone that helped create this show in a sort of way, Phil Donahue. He's not just a legend in broadcasting. He's one of the more important figures politically, I think, at least in terms of media. There's very few people in American media that stand up and stick their neck out and take a risk and even suffer the consequences for it. Well, Mr. Donohue's one of those people. And it's a privilege for us for him to join us here.
Thanks very much.
PHIL DONAHUE, TV TALK SHOW HOST:
Pleasure, Paul.JAY: So here's a little bit of introduction. Phil Donahue's an Emmy Award-winning media personality. He's best known as the creator and host of the Donahue Show, which ran for 29 years on cable TV and I think was the longest-running talk show on TV, or still is. Still is? That's a funny way to phrase it. It is not on the air anymore, but it's still the longest running. Nobody has caught up to you yet, I believe.DONAHUE: To my knowledge. I'm not sure.
JAY:
So Wikipedia says, anyway. He also was the host of Donahue, which ran from July 2002 to March 2003, before msnbc canceled it because of his vocal opposition to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. This was despite it being the most highly rated show at the time on msnbc network. He's also the codirector of Body of War, a documentary film about the struggles of an Iraq War veteran and antiwar activist, Tomas Young. So, for those of you at home that don't know, although I think most of you that watch do know, we usually start with a personal segment, and that's what we're going to do with Mr. Donahue, kind of more about what helped shape his view of the world. And then we'll talk about his views on more recent events. So you're born in 1935 in Cleveland.
DONAHUE:
I was.
JAY:
You sort of come of age, consciousness of sorts, about nine, ten years old. I think that's about at the end of one war and the beginning of another. It's not very long before the Cold War begins, with McCarthyism and House Un-American Activities Committee.DONAHUE: Right.JAY: What was the politics of your household like?
DONAHUE:
We weren't desperately political. My parents certainly supported Roosevelt, although I recall my mother leaned Stevenson. But I was totally American. I thought we were the best in all things. I thought I was blessed. I lived in a country that stopped Hitler's advance in Russia. I didn't really understand the help we had from Russian soldiers, but it was America who defeated Hitler and it was America who defeated the Japanese after Pearl Harbor. I wore a bill that said "Remember Pearl Harbor". My uncle was in the Battle of the Bulge. And I was a member of the one true church. I was Catholic. I was not only Catholic; I was Irish Catholic. So I'm born—by accident, at birth I'm born in the greatest nation on earth that wins everything, all its wars, is all good in all things—the Marshall Plan, Lend-Lease. And I'm a member of the one true church. Holy cow.
JAY:
So this is deeply part of your identity.
DONAHUE:
Absolutely, in the '40s, yes, when my wheels began to turn. And I came of age really in the '50s. My Notre Dame college days extended from 1953 to 1957. I wasn't really savvy to McCarthyism till later. And I carried this superiority to my college education. And then, around ten years later—I'm a slow learner, I have to say. I'm not proud of this. I remember I had a Ohio State University professor on my program for something I don't remember, on my television program. We were a local show in Dayton, Ohio. We began in 1967. And I remember I'm in the green room talking to him, and we must have been—we were probably talking about the war or something. And he said there's not a professor at Ohio State who supports this war.
JAY: Vietnam.
DONAHUE:
Yeah. And that stunned me. I mean, at least this is how I remember it.JAY: And how old are you?DONAHUE: Well, let's see—'35, '45, '55, '60—I'm 30.JAY: So the official—.DONAHUE: Or 29, 30. Twenty-eight, probably
.JAY:
The rah-rah American narrative is still your narrative.DONAHUE: I'm suddenly thinking—yes. And I'm thinking, are we going to lose a war here? This can't be. Eisenhower, the '50s, I mean, MacArthur, Roosevelt. And suddenly this guy from Ohio State. And after a while I looked up to suddenly realize that in many ways I was prepared for a world that never materialized. Nobody told us they were going to assassinate our president. Nobody told us we were going to lose a war. Nobody told us the Japanese were going to overtake us in automotive superiority. All of—and then the cities began to explode. The whole civil rights movement began violently. And in the first year we were on the air, 1968—we premiered in November '67. Nineteen sixty-eight, Bobby is assassinated, Martin is assassinated, and the cops beat up the kids in Chicago at the convention.
JAY: So what does that do to you?
DONAHUE: Well, first of all, we're doing shows on all of this. I mean, we were smart enough to grab these issues.JAY: But you're learning as you go
.DONAHUE: Oh, my. And then I had Noam Chomsky on my program.JAY: Actually, hang on for sec. We're going to show little clip of Noam Chomsky on Phil's show, 'cause Noam gives this analysis of the media. And you can see—you're not sure whether Phil looks a little skeptical or not at this, and it's interesting to—I want to hear you talk about that moment. So here's just a minute or so of Chomsky.~~~
[Source: Pozner/Donahue]NOAM CHOMSKY, LINGUIST AND POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Now, in order to maintain those contacts, you'd better present the world a certain way, or those contacts are going to be cut off. You'll lose your opportunity to appear to have special insight, to have leaks, to be able to come across with a story a couple of hours before the next person, and so on. Now, there's an interplay here which requires power in order to maintain your own power. That's another factor over and above the just structural and institutional properties
.DONAHUE: Go along to get along.~~~
JAY: What was that sounding like to you at this time?DONAHUE: Well, I was rattled. You know, I didn't—at this time I wasn't aware of the importance of dissent and how American it was. And I sure didn't know the pushback that you got if you dissented. I was totally naive. But I remember saying to Chomsky, what are you trying to say? In some inelegant way like that. And he looked right at me and he said, never ever trust the state. And I'm thinking, what? I mean, I grew up in a church that prayed for America, prayed for the conversion of Russia.JAY: It to some extent blessed the war in Vietnam,—
DONAHUE: Absolutely.
MORE CONTINUED AT:
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12454
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