Conyers, Downing Street and YOU...

[misanthrope]

...This is very important. John Conyers is carrying through with his end of the deal. The rest is up to us.

Everyone who cares about this issue can do more than just sign the petition and watch the show. We can try and make sure the media perks up.

Without media attention, this all fails. The GOP holds the majority they need to kill all of this on the Hill and sweep it under the rug...unless they feel the heat from media. There needs to be banks of cameras and lights at the scene of this key moment.

The media will give it no heed unless the feel their viewers/readers care about it. We can convince them of this.

Find the websites for all of your local media outlets, radio, television, print. Compose an e-mail that urges them to give the story the coverage you think it deserves. Outline your disappointment with the administration. State your worries for the direction of the country. Let them know this story matters and tell them you and others would like to see this story get the utmost focus. Send the e-mail to their news directors, editors, whomever you can. Regardless of whether they can send anyone to the event, they can certainly address it on their broadcasts and pages.

And don't let it stop there. Do the same with national services and outlets (except Fox--don't waste your time). Whether it's Reuters, MSNBC, the Washington Post, everyone you can think of who will add to this storm.

I work in the media and I can tell you this will make a difference if they get an overwhelming amount of input. Ultimately, they are going to do what they feel their market will clamor toward.

Act now so they can get their ducks in a row before Thursday.

Don't wait for someone else to do your job for you. This is what living in a democracy is all about.

[berni_mccoy]

1. Kick!

:kick:

[Racenut20]

2. What is the URL I have seen here that links to all the media?

[Just Me]

3. Kindly provide a link to precisely will be taking place on Thursday.

Thanks.

On edit: there has been some uncorroborated suggestion that congressional hearings are taking place next week and I just want folks to be clear about what will actually be taking place.

[misanthrope]

5. The links I found...

...are thus:

Conyers' comments

[Just Me]

6. Oh, thank you thank you thank you!!!! A snippet:

",...on Thursday, a week from today, I will be holding a hearing with my Democratic colleagues to begin to hear evidence about the DSM. We will have a number of witnesses, including Joe Wilson, who frequent readers here already know is a WMD expert and former Ambassador; Ray McGovern, a 27-year CIA analyst; Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq; and John Bonifaz, a renowned Constitutional attorney. At the conclusion of the hearing, we will go to Lafayette Park and I will personally deliver your signatures to the White House."

[mike_c]

4. no disrespect intended, but you've hit the nail on the head...

...about what is terribly wrong with the media in America:

Ultimately, they are going to do what they feel their market will clamor toward.

It's unfortunate that truth is not always profitable, or popular. The media once felt some degree of professional responsibility to serve such notions as truth before serving the stockholders. Now "the market" determines what they report and don't report. Truth is a matter of profit-- the only truths worth reporting are those that will increase share value.

Personally, I think a better strategy is to vote with your feet. Disconnect your television cable, cancel your "news" magazine subscriptions, and TELL THE LAME BASTARDS WHY YOU DID IT! I did this years ago, and I'm better informed than most Americans because of it (although I was a bit behind the curve regarding the runaway bride thing). Keep that in mind-- disconnecting from the corporate media machine will NOT lead to information deprivation-- quite the opposite.

[misanthrope]

7. What about...

...the people who don't follow news the way you do? What about those who might be influenced if they saw something on the nightly news, or heard it in their car while in rush hour traffic? Regardless of how ill-placed their trust is, you never know what kind of ally you might be missing on this issue.

Being a cynic doesn't preclude having the spine to fight.

[mike_c]

8. what good is that if everything they see on the nightly news...

...or hear in their car is filtered through the self interest of media corporations? If the "news" is manipulated for corporate profit-- if even the process of journalism that seeks information at the raw level is manipulated-- what value does that nightly newscast really have? Once it becomes suspect, it is useless except for propoganda and entertainment, which evidently suits the media perfectly well-- propoganda and entertainment are far more profitable than real journalism and reporting.

But my point is that NO one is better served by half-truths, manipulated information, and spin than by turning their backs on the sources of such drivel. The American MSM lost it's integrity incredibly quickly-- less than a decade ago I still believed that the press was our greatest hope against fascism and the politics of greed-- but like virginity, integrity is awfully hard to get back once it's been pissed away.

[misanthrope]

9. So your solution...

...to trying to help with this one critical event is to board the shutters, raise the drawbridge and help the powers you denounce by not spreading the word?