FRONTLINE didn't mention most the people who watched the Saddam statue come down were media

[NNN0LHI]

And the rest were Chalabi's thugs who were bused in for the photo-op.

Must have slipped their mind.

Don

[cynatnite]

1. And the point is? n/t

[NNN0LHI]

5. They are trying to subtly rewrite history. The truth is depicted at the link below

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2842.htm

[cynatnite]

8. I knew it! Frontline is a bush mouth piece! I bet PBS is, too!

:sarcasm:

:rofl:

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. They left out a lot

My favorite thing about that show was the reaction of several of my non-political friends and my American Idol watching co-workers. They were pissed! I got several phone calls yesterday and as soon as I got to work, I was literally pounced on with "Wow! Did you watch Frontline?"

So I applaud that show for waking up the American public who bothered to watch it. I only wish the show had been aired 5 years ago.

[sharesunited]

3. Don did you just recently see Part II of Bush's War??

Let's break it down. First, I want to reconcile the "small footprint" let's "bring them all home" media face with the insistence on staying forever. Building billion dollar permanent bases and embassies.

[John Q. Citizen]

9. That's a good point. How do the bases fit in to the 'get them out' argument presented as

Rumsfeld/Cheney's plan gone wrong.

[derby378]

4. That's because a FReeper edited that FRONTLINE episode

I kid you not. BTW, you should check out the movie Control Room if you haven't done so already. Goes into a little more detail on the statue toppling.

[magellan]

7. Yeah, I'm surprised she let that much be aired

Wonder why?

[John Q. Citizen]

6. I noticed that exact same point. They used the statue as an icon, but they didn't let on that it was

a completely staged event.

They presented it as history and not as scripted propaganda.

[AlphaCentauri]

10. canned "history" for the masses n/t

[autorank]

11. They've been pandering for a long time. No sense of purpose or intellectual honesty

Nice post!!! K*R

[cynatnite]

12. What a load of crap...

How much information is a program expected to cram in under an hour or two hours? If a person wants the entire unvarnished truth, they need to hit the library in addition to other research. They have a much better chance of getting the whole truth rather than looking at the TV for it. PBS recognizes, as does most television, that todays consumer does not have the time, the energy or whatever reason you care to name, to read a book or spend time researching. So, Frontline puts a program together to help inform the viewer. They're crunched for time so they have to pick and choose what information is or is not used. It's the norm and has been for quite some time.

Frontline has always performed very well in the past with their programming, but for a person to expect them to cover everything in the amount of time the show is allotted is outright unreasonable.

[autorank]

13. That's what they are...

They took on the "false memory" issue in the 90's and ran a piece that basically endorsed a group
of folks whose mission in life was to disparage and discredit victims of child abuse. That position,
the planting of false memories, has been discredited beyond belief and had very little credibility
then. But they jumped right on the bandwagon with the rest of MSM. That was dreadful.

In addition, I didn't say that they had to cram anything into any time period. I said that they
pandered.

Has PBS covered in any depth the 1 million dead Iraqi civilians in civil strife after the invasion or
the logical point that there would be major resistance since we'd bombed the place for 8 years?

Have you seen a Frontline or other PBS special on the five million Iraqi orphans due to the war?

They g e t t h e i r m o n e y from the government. What else would they do? Say that Bush
and crew are monsters of the first order?

They don't have to say that and no one else has to say that they're first rate. They're not because
of the financial constraint.

You can't have a real news service with that type of funding, even with safeguards. Just ask BBC.

[cynatnite]

16. Seems odd that the repukes want to defund PBS for their librul ways...

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3968

That's a repuke think tank, BTW, so take care in clicking on it...

I want programming on a lot of issues that are important to me and others, but it doesn't always happen...no matter the right of it. It does not mean that PBS is equal to Faux news by any stretch of the imagination and I most certainly wouldn't even come close to that. They've done some of the best programming on TV since they've been in existence.

Keep in mind, PBS also relies heavily on public funding as well...which includes my contribution. I value what they do and that includes Frontline, Sesame Street, Nova and a lot of other programming that has stood the test of time. Carl Sagan's fabulous program 'Cosmos' was an all-time favorite.

I find this type of thinking really disturbing, you know. It's like if a program or network does not perform to MY expectations then they must work for the other side. It's odd to me.

[NNN0LHI]

23. They say the same crap about the "liberal" NYT but most people with any sense know better

[tkmorris]

19. Time restraints? Really?

Sorry friend, but that is an entire crock of unadulterated horseshit. If they are going to include in their program an event that was indisputably proven to be nothing more than a staged propaganda event, I expect them to acknowledge that's what it was. No need to dwell on it perhaps, but presenting a staged event as if it was not is just plain dishonest.

You may not be aware of it but the PBS of today is not the PBS we used to have.

[cynatnite]

21. The PBS of today hasn't changed that much...

We've been loyal watchers and supporters for a long time now. We'll continue to be because we find value in the programming. Anyone who thinks that PBS has somehow gone the way of Faux News is just plain delusional.

As far as the downing of Saddam's statue...I made a best guess as to the reason why I didn't think it was included. I may be right or I may be wrong. If your thinking is that the producers and PBS are acting as talking heads for the bush administration, then perhaps you should email them your concerns. Maybe they'll give you the reasons why they chose not to mention it.

But from what I'm seeing out of this PBS bashing thread here...I doubt anyone would believe it. I'm sickened by this. In the years I've been here at DU this is the first time I've ever seen the bashing of PBS here. I wouldn't be surprised if Cspan is next.

on edit: Yes, time does play a factor on what is and what is not included.

[riverdeep]

14. Frontline is about as good as we're going to get on free TV.

This was already a 4 1/2 hour airing, putting in every detail would make it even longer. As I recall (I missed some of it), they showed the statue coming down in a quick, artistic, montage sort of way-indicating this was considered a milestone, whether it actually was or not may not have been the point.

[LittleClarkie]

15. I remember watching that as a sheeple and thinking

"well, maybe we did something right. They look happy."

It was one of my steps out of sheeplehood to find out that it was bogus.

[EFerrari]

17. I still can't believe that Chalabi criminal was used to lie to the public.

I guess that makes me an idiot.

[ConcernedCanuk]

18. Odd that we don't see much of that "symbolic" destruction of Saddam's statues anymore

.
.
.

or of the soldier planting the USA stars and stripes on the shore in southern Iraq.

Just those two incidents show the height of the USAmerican arrogance.

Think of tourism.

Who the hell in their right mind would sport clothing with a USAmerican flag on it in the Middle East?

Not anyone that wants to live IMO.

USAmericans don't seem to get it

They let their government do things around the World that creates hatred toward the USA,

Then act surprised.

The USA War-Machine is not spreading "democracy"

It is spreading hatred of anything "American"

Tell me I'm wrong

[orleans]

20. i watched part 2 on comcast "on demand"

(part 1 keeps having technical difficulties and won't play)

i thought they left a ton of stuff out in part 2

i was disappointed

[JohnyCanuck]

22. Courage No Longer a Frontline Hallmark

Frontline's Timid Iraq Retrospective

By Ray McGovern
March 26, 2008

Frontline’s “Bush’s War” on PBS Monday and Tuesday evening was a nicely put-together rehash of the top players’ trickery that led to the attack on Iraq, together with the power-grabbing, back-stabbing and limitless incompetence of the occupation.
Share this article

Except for an inside-the-beltway tidbit here and there – for example, about how the pitiable Secretary of State Colin Powell had to suffer so many indignities at the hands of other type-A hard chargers – Frontline added little to the discussion.

snip

Courage No Longer a Frontline Hallmark

Frontline has done no timely reportage that might be looked upon as disparaging the Bush administration – I mean, for example, the real aims behind the war, not simply the gross incompetence characterizing its conduct.

Like so many others, Frontline has been, let’s just say it, cowardly in real time — no doubt intimidated partly by attacks on its funding that were inspired by the White House.

And now? Well the retrospective criticism of incompetence comes as polling shows two-thirds of the country against the Iraq occupation (and the number is surely higher among PBS viewers).

So, Frontline is repositioning itself as a mild ex-post-facto critic of the war, but still unwilling to go very far out on a limb. Explaining the aims behind war crimes can, of course, be risky. It is as though an invisible Joseph Goebbels holds sway.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/032608a.html

[Marie26]

24. Don't knock Frontline

You're implying that Frontline is some sort of Fox News propaganda outlet, when in fact it's one of the best news programs on the air, and the only one that does real journalism (IMO). The program is called "Bush's War", it covers 5+ years of mistakes, hubris, tragedy. It names Cheney as the cause of the war. They can't include every fact that everybody would want, but you can't fault Frontline's integrity and courage.

[NNN0LHI]

25. Screw Frontline

They are spewing propaganda.

If thats what you like go for it.

For me no thanks.

Don

[Marie26]

26. That's just stupid

Have you ever watched the show before? I mean, really? I've watched Frontline whenever I had a chance & always felt more informed & educated at the end. Which is the real point of journalism, not just to have your own thoughts, positions & prejudices spewed back at you. Basically your position seems to be that a news progam must conform in every way to your own thinking, or it's worthless & worthy of contempt. That's Freeper-thought.


List of Frontline programs:


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/view/

[NNN0LHI]

27. Somebody is definitely stupid

Lets leave it at that.

Don

[Marie26]

28. Or maybe just ignorant.

It bugs me that even a good program like Frontline can be bashed for not passing some imagined "purity test". Progressives moan & groan about the "corporate media", but then feel free to turn around & bash one of the only publicly-funded news outlets. Progressives should be supporting PBS, not joining the Republicans in the charge to eradicate it. Frontline has run a long series of in-depth programs that explored the crimes of the Bush Ad. - from warrantless wiretaps to Cheney's power coup. And because it's free media, it reaches many many more people than cable programs like Olbermann. Not everyone has cable, & not everyone is connected to the Internet. Liberals should be damn glad that programs like Frontline still exist in this country.

[NNN0LHI]

29. Just repeating over and over again something is "good" doesn't make it so

All of us should know that by now.

Don