Would you offer amnesty to journos to build a case against Bush?

[AZCat]

We now have two cases of journalists accepting payment from the Bush Administration to promote their programs - Armstrong Williams and now Maggie Gallagher. I predict that with the recent FOIA rush, more cases will emerge. However, I don't think everyone will be caught - some are bound to get away.

Would you be willing to offer amnesty to other journalists that have accepted payment for similar services if it helped build a legal case against the Bush administration?

[Spiffarino]

1. Hold them up to scrutiny AND help citizens

...understand that BushCo is all about propaganda? Sounds like a clear winner to me.

[AZCat]

2. But verdicts from the court of public opinion lessen with time...

How else would nutjobs like G. Gordon Liddy and Ollie North have come back from their respective scandals to establish radio shows?

[Spiffarino]

3. By playing to the people who love their brand of sleaze

Ollie and Liddy have gained fame (or notoriety in the minds of progressives) and this makes them marketable. I don't think there's a lot of love out there for them. However, you are correct in that they're given a pass in the MSM for past misdeeds. Again, I go back to their being marketable to a certain crowd that loves reactionary scum. Media whores don't care where they get their fame fix...just as long as they get it.

[AZCat]

4. You make a good point, plus I thought of another

The pundits LEAST likely to take money from the Bush Admin (IMHO) are those who are loud proclaimers anyway (Rush, Hannity). They are funded, but by more traditional means (think tanks, book deals).

The pundits who will have accepted contracts (again IMHO) would be those who have a modicum of respectability, and have to hide said contracts to maintain the lie that they are "objective". Outing THESE people would subject them to scrutiny that might have an effect - perhaps limiting their market value to the talking heads shows or (as Williams has already seen) limiting the reach of their voice by terminating their newspaper columns.

[Spiffarino]

5. That's the outcome I fervently hope for

Will the MSM have the stomach to pursue it? Probably not. That's why it's important for people at DU and in the rest of the progressive community to raise the roof every time another benefactor of Bush payola is exposed. It needs to be scared into submission, and the most effective way to do it is to bombard media companies with letters, emails, faxes, and phone calls. If that doesn't work, march on their stations, offices, and headquarters. If that doesn't work, ???

The freeps and creeps have been pushing media's buttons for years. Unless we do the same thing, we will cease to be relevant.

on edit: You are so right. The Rushes and Hannitys don't need payola to keep spouting. They get their Bush money filtered through organizations like the Scaife Foundation. As long as they keep making their millions, they'll say and do whatever they're told.

EDIT edit: Happy one year anniversary on DU, AzCat!

[AZCat]

6. Oh gosh - has it been a year?

Thanks Spiffarino - it's hard to believe that there was life before DU.


I agree re. activism and the MSM - this may be similar to the reluctance of police to testifying against other police. The MSM doesn't want to see its overall image tarnished and needs to be hounded until they see that covering this issue is in their best interest - that a liberal audience is not going to stay if they give this a pass, that it will only get worse if they cover it up.

[Spiffarino]

7. Time flies when you're P.O.'d!

I'm still a relative newbie here, but I've developed a nice case of carpal tunnel what with all the type-ranting.

I'm glad to hear you mention the "liberal audience" out there. The MSM doesn't get it if it thinks everybody wants Fox News. Cable news is slowly going down the tubes because they're forgetting the other half of America - the left - is not content with the current situation and wants its story told.

I sincerely hope a wise entrepreneur will step forward and create a Fox News for the left. We desperately want and need a voice. Plus, in the right hands it could be a serious moneymaker. I would gladly invest some of my 401K in a venture of that kind if a Ted Turner or George Soros ponies up.