Joe Conason... 'A Press Coverup' (Salon)

[WillyT]

<Reposted here for wider distribution.>

Leave it to the Beltway herd, with their special brand of arrogance, to insist that the Downing Street memo wasn't news.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Joe Conason

<snip>

Only a very special brand of arrogance would permit any employee of the New York Times, which brought us the mythmaking of Judith Miller, to insist that new documentary evidence of "intelligence fixing" about Saddam's arsenal is no longer news. The same goes for the Washington Post, which featured phony administration claims about Iraq's weapons on Page 1 while burying the skeptical stories that proved correct.

If you listen to those mooing most loudly, such as the editorial page editors of the Post, the Downing Street memo still isn't news because it doesn't "prove" anything. (Only a Post editorial would refer to Sir Richard Dearlove, the chief of Britain's MI6 intelligence service who reported the fixing of intelligence to fit Bush's war plans, as merely "a British official.") Certainly it proves much about the candid views held by the most knowledgeable figures in the British government. Evidently the Post's editorialists would rather not learn what else the memo might prove if its clues were investigated.

How foolish and how sad that all these distinguished journalists prefer to transform this scandal into a debate about their own underachieving performance, rather than redeem mainstream journalism by advancing an important story that they should have pursued from the beginning. This is a moment when the mainstream press could again demonstrate to a skeptical public why we need journalists. Instead they are proving once more that their first priority is to cover their own behinds.

To my ear, their arguments lack conviction as well as logic. Although reporters tend to be timid or cynical, very few are stupid -- and almost none are truly stupid enough to believe that this memo wasn't "news" according to any professional definition of that word.

<snip>

Link (click on day pass if you aren't a subscriber): http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2005/06/17/dsm_pre...

Hey..ey Joe, Where You Goin With That Pen In Your Hand...

God I love Conason!!! Carry on, Joe...

:yourock:

[shraby]

1. Link doesn't work.

[WillyT]

6. Sorry Guys... You Have To Go To The Home Page...

Salon.com, watch the ***damned 'day pass' video (15 seconds), click 'enter salon', go to 'opinions', go to 'Joe Conason', go to 'Press Cover-Up'.

I swear it's worth it, LOL!!!

:shrug:

What a pain...

:argh:

[understandinglife]

2. Here's a TinyURL link to the article:

http://tinyurl.com/cy6qn

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4173.htm


WE THE PEOPLE .... WILL NEVER FORGET

"... we sent our young people into harm's way without leveling with the American people." - Congresswoman Pelosi before Congress, 16 June 2005

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - Impeachment of Bush and Cheney; indictment and prosecution of all members of the Bush regime who participated in the deception, should be campaign promises of any candidate worthy of our vote in the 2006 Congressional elections.

[The Magistrate]

3. An Excellent Piece, Sir

They did know at the time war was a settled decision; any competent observer, even from the sidelines, could see that. Despite that knowledge, they wrote as if there were some question in the matter. They deliberately falsified their reports, spoke less than they knew, went along with a sort of script that presented invading Iraq as first merely an option that might ocur, then a thing that would be hard to avoid, then a thing that had to be done. The old Pravda could not have done it better....

[Supersedeas]

26. it sums up may thinking about the Corporate press succinctly

[blm]

4. Anyone who still thinks most news media isn't working for BushInc

can't possibly be paying attention.

Their treatment of DSM proves they are only working to PROTECT Bush and the fascists and certainly have no intention of holding him accountable.

It's up to us and the few in the media covering the story. Thank undergod for Knight Ridder.

[indie_voter]

5. My favorite sentence

" Instead of pretending that we all knew what we know now, the Washington press corps should stop spinning excuses, stop redefining what constitutes news and start doing its job."



Paging Dana Milbank to the white courtesy phone.

[Dr.Phool]

7. After watching the hearings yesterday

I turned on CBS News. Not one friggin word.

[Liberal In Texas]

8. Joe Conason is great.

He's on Frankin right now.
I wish they'd give him his own show, he'd be much better than much of the AAR hosts.
Maybe when Al runs for senate, they can have Joe replace him.

[GalleryGod]

9. They Can Give "That little P$%y "Tucker a Show-but Not JOE!

Joe's the best!

BTW the "that little p#$y " remark was Imus' !!:nuke:

[sundancekid]

10. in these days of more msm meme and "no news" thank you for

speaking truth to power, the people.

[WillyT]

11. I Love How He Takes On Kinsley Too !!!

<snip>

Consider Michael Kinsley, the Los Angeles Times editorial page editor and columnist, who recently derided the memo's importance. According to him, "you don't need a secret memo" to know that "the administration's decision to topple Saddam Hussein by force" had been reached by then. Anybody could tell that war was "inevitable," he wrote. "Just look at what was in the newspapers on July 23, 2002, and the day before," he wrote, citing an opinion column by Robert Scheer and a Times story about Pentagon war planning.

But let's also look at what Kinsley himself wrote on July 12, 2002, after those war plans were leaked. On the Post's Op-Ed page, he suggested that despite all the logistical planning and bellicose rhetoric, "Bush may be bluffing ... Or he may be lying, and the leak may be part of an official strategy of threatening all-out war in the hope of avoiding it, by encouraging a coup or persuading Hussein to take early retirement or in some other way getting him gone without a massive invasion."

So Kinsley himself wasn't quite certain whether Bush had decided on war, yet now he says we all knew.

<snip>

I guess when you become editor of a large newspaper, you lose 100 IQ points.

:shrug:

[Skwmom]

28. There's nothing like a journalist who actually does his research! n/m

[Karmadillo]

12. Unfortunately, the Washington press corps is doing its job.

Their job is to keep us as ignorant as possible.

[rodeodance]

15. yeah--guess you are right (sad as it is).

[WillyT]

13. Kick !!!

:kick:

[FreedomAngel82]

14. Yep

Love Conason. He's awesome.

[rodeodance]

16. "PRESS Cover-up" he is laying the blame where it belongs!! nominate

[rodeodance]

17. someone else on DU said to use the words Cover-up--I agree.

[liberalla]

19. Yes... the Downing Street Coverup.

The Downing Street Coverup.

I read that too! Makes sense - gets more attention.

[goclark]

22. Love "cover up" I'll say it for the 5th time

We have got to start Branding these thugs with the TRUTH.

They have done it to us for years and we sit back and play cry baby. Their "Liberal Press" comes to mind.

Let's get with the MeMe's, just keep saying the stuff and it will stick.

I am not oppose to what Durbin said, they are a regime and they have caused the NAZI like behavior at the prison. They should be tried for WAR CRIMES.

Let's repeat: The NeoCon Media is COVERING UP the TRUTH!

[annabanana]

27. the man speaks truth. . . . eom

[tavalon]

18. Damn it all to hell!

I hate it when a marketing strategy that insidious works! I've been avoiding Salon because I hate the forced commercials and I wasn't willing to pay for the right to see their articles but man, they have some great articles. I guess it's time to subscribe because I cannot watch those damn commercials anymore.

[Coexist]

20. Fantastic article - Conason kicks ass again.

amazing

[DemReadingDU]

21. Here is a link to the article on TruthOut

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/061705F.shtml

[WillyT]

23. Kick !!!

:kick:

[WillyT]

24. Last Kick... Cause It Was Just So good !!!

:kick:

[brettdale]

25. excellent

great story.

[Arugula Latte]

29. Downing Street "Outed" the Corporate Media to Many

nt

[H2O Man]

30. Conason is a fantastic author...

I had never really appreciated how good he is until friends on DU recommended that I read more of his work. I'm glad I did.