All the President's Newsmen

[LWolf]

One more Armstrong Williams story; a long, but worthy piece:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/arts/16rich.html?ei=1&en=626d384db8e00834&ex=1106631696&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1105633534-8XImcIN/ZTDEO8Ce7Vs33w&pagewanted=print&position=

Frank Rich

<snip>

But perhaps the most fascinating Williams TV appearance took place in December 2003, the same month that he was first contracted by the government to receive his payoffs. At a time when no one in television news could get an interview with Dick Cheney, Mr. Williams, of all "journalists," was rewarded with an extended sit-down with the vice president for the Sinclair Broadcast Group, a nationwide owner of local stations affiliated with all the major networks. In that chat, Mr. Cheney criticized the press for its coverage of Halliburton and denounced "cheap shot journalism" in which "the press portray themselves as objective observers of the passing scene, when they obviously are not objective."

This is a scenario out of "The Manchurian Candidate." Here we find Mr. Cheney criticizing the press for a sin his own government was at that same moment signing up Mr. Williams to commit. The interview is broadcast by the same company that would later order its ABC affiliates to ban Ted Koppel's "Nightline" recitation of American casualties in Iraq and then propose showing an anti-Kerry documentary, "Stolen Honor," under the rubric of "news" in prime time just before Election Day. (After fierce criticism, Sinclair retreated from that plan.) Thus the Williams interview with the vice president, implicitly presented as an example of the kind of "objective" news Mr. Cheney endorses, was in reality a completely subjective, bought-and-paid-for fake news event for a broadcast company that barely bothers to fake objectivity and both of whose chief executives were major contributors to the Bush-Cheney campaign. The Soviets couldn't have constructed a more ingenious or insidious plot to bamboozle the citizenry.

Ever since Mr. Williams was exposed by USA Today, he has been stonewalling all questions about what the Bush administration knew of his activities and when it knew it. In his account, he was merely a lowly "subcontractor" of the education department. "Never was the White House ever mentioned anytime during this," he told NBC's Campbell Brown, as if that were enough to deflect Ms. Brown's observation that "the Department of Education works for the White House." For its part, the White House is saying that the whole affair is, in the words of the press secretary, Scott McClellan, "a contracting matter" and "a decision by the Department of Education." In other words, the buck stops (or started) with Rod Paige, the elusive outgoing education secretary who often appeared with Mr. Williams in his pay-for-play propaganda.

But we now know that there have been at least three other cases in which federal agencies have succeeded in placing fake news reports on television during the Bush presidency. The Department of Health and Human Services, the Census Bureau and the Office of National Drug Control Policy have all sent out news "reports" in which, to take one example, fake newsmen purport to be "reporting" why the administration's Medicare prescription-drug policy is the best thing to come our way since the Salk vaccine. So far two Government Accountability Office investigations have found that these Orwellian stunts violated federal law that prohibits "covert propaganda" purchased with taxpayers' money. But the Williams case is the first one in which a well-known talking head has been recruited as the public face for the fake news instead of bogus correspondents (recruited from p.r. companies) with generic eyewitness-news team names like Karen Ryan and Mike Morris.

[DrZeeLit]

1. Time for a Senate Investigation. Send this piece to everyone you know. n/

[LWolf]

2. Yes.

Take a look at what The Black Commentator had to say, on this other thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2945522

[DrZeeLit]

5. That is certainly scathing.

I'm surprised it took so long for this to come to light, but since it has, we (the People) need to push for hearings. If the "tip of the iceberg" is Armstrong, I'm dying to find out who's under the water. And who has been doling out my tax dollars.

Thanks for the link.

[ashling]

3. Sounds like money laundering

White House pays off AW using Dept of Ed to launder the money

[G_j]

4. "perfect storm of media corruption"

Armstrong Williams interviewing Dick Cheney for Sinclair Broadcasting talking about media objectivity in covering Halliburton....

[LWolf]

9. It is, isn't it?

May the waves of their perfect storm come crashing down and knock them out of their sturdy little boats of greed and complacency.

[AndyTiedye]

6. Maybe the DU Store Should Sell These Stickers

[LWolf]

7. Good idea!

After seeing a link on DU's homepage about an investigation, and reading through this article, and the one from The Black Commentator, I was listening to NPR on my way home from work. The topic? Journalistic integrity. Armstrong Williams? Not at all. Dan Rather and CBS. The consensus? "People will never trust CBS again."

[leftchick]

10. Don Imus spent many hours this week and bad boy Dan..

It is sickening! I wish he would get Frank Rich and and discuss this article!!!

[LWolf]

11. I guess that's how media will respond.

If we have to talk about journalistic integrity, we'll do our best to downplay the rampant corruption of the right, and find a story on the left to fill up our airtime.

:grr:

[David Zephyr]

8. Excellent Article. Great Read. Kick.

Thanks, LWolf! :)