WH vs. NBC

NBC has responded to the WH accusations of unfair editing.

"Just as the White House does not participate in the editorial process at the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal or USA Today, NBC News, as part of a free press in a free society, makes its own editorial decisions."

[...]

Here's Olbermann's own take on the complaint that NBC didn't show the full exchange: "Since they asked, we'll play it. Trust me, it makes him look worse." Olbermann's conclusion: "The White House apparently [doesn't realize] that in full it is clear the president never actually answered Richard Engel's first question and clear that the president either does not know what he talked about or what he is now talking about."

  WaPo

But it wasn’t really about the editing, as you can imagine. Go ahead and read the article or watch the video. (What's with Herr Busch's breathing?) I’m reminded of a previous interviewer who got on his bad side).

And, P.S., just in case you were tempted to believe Dana Perino, in the Engel interview, when asked directly Bush certainly doesn't deny the idea that he'll attack Iran before he leaves office.

Media Pressure

The White House is trying to bring the hammer down on straying media. I guess Chris Matthews' defection was too much for them. Time to get NBC back in line. W3IAI has the skinny.

Update: 5/20/08

Why We Need Independent Media

The New York Times first reported on Sunday that the Defense Department was giving information to retired officers serving as pundits for various media organizations in order to garner favorable media coverage.

Some of these retired officers saw their access to key decision-makers as possible business opportunities for the defense contractors they represent, according to the newspaper. The story also alleged that the officers who did not repeat the Bush administration's official line were denied further access to information.

[...]

The Defense Department has temporarily stopped feeding information to retired military officers pending a review of the issue, said Robert Hastings, principal deputy assistant secretary of Defense for public affairs.

[...]

Hastings said he is concerned about allegations that the Defense Department's relationship with the retired military analysts was improper.

  Stars and Stripes

Temporarily, at least. It's not like they haven't been doing it for a long time, but apparently it takes a major newspaper article for them to find a conscience.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

The ABC "Debate"

Check it out.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Because 'B' and 'S' Are So Close Together on the Keyboard

In a little noticed flub, the Reuters news agency referred to Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) several times as 'Osama' in a widely distributed news article Wednesday, an article they pulled later in the day.

[...]

Reuters attributed the mistake to a 'spelling error.'

  Raw Story

Several times.

B. S.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Is ABC Afraid of Ron Paul?

Congressman Ron Paul and 20/20 host John Stossel have more than a few things in common. Specifically, they both think a lot of libertarian thoughts, and unlike a lot of libertarians, they've both learned to communicate these thoughts so effectively that they have earned the respect of their peers.

Paul, in his tenth Congressional term, is known as "Dr. No" for his refusal to vote for bills that cater to special interests, raise taxes, or violate his literal interpretation of the Constitution. Stossel, the Emmy-winning consumer reporter who discovered free-market theory via Reason magazine, has been permitted to air provocative specials such as "Stupid in America," which criticized the government's monopoly in education.

[…]

So what happens when the champion of freedom and free markets from the U.S. Congress sits down for a chat with his counterpart from the mainstream media? That's when we learn that freedom is simply too hot for TV, or at least, too hot for ABC.

That's right, they are only airing this interview on the internet, in pieces.

[…]

ABC does not want its viewers to learn about Ron Paul. What the hell are they afraid of, a Ron Paul presidency?

  Huffington Post

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Thank God for Flexible Programming

The latest National Intelligence Estimate concluding that Iran discontinued its nuclear weapons program four years ago has claimed one casualty: CNN has postponed speculative documentary "We Were Warned -- Iran Goes Nuclear."

[...]

In its place, CNN will this weekend air two Campbell Brown-hosted specials on the Iran situation and its history. Portions of "We Were Warned" correspondent Frank Sesno's original reporting will be incorporated into those hours, which air Saturday and Sunday.

  Variety

God forbid they should air a program about fixing intelligence around policy, or the administration's misuse and abuse of it.

The Media and Politics

Early this summer, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign for president learned that the men’s magazine GQ was working on a story the campaign was sure to hate: an account of infighting in Hillaryland.

So Clinton’s aides pulled a page from the book of Hollywood publicists and offered GQ a stark choice: Kill the piece, or lose access to planned celebrity coverboy Bill Clinton.

Despite internal protests, GQ editor Jim Nelson met the Clinton campaign’s demands.

  Politico

And that is how you rarely get the truth from the media these days.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Touching the Monkey*

America's biggest pair
Belong to Stephen Colbert

I just wanted to watch it again....

2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Now that was a coup.

Always cracks me up. Seen at WTF

*There's a saying in Cuba (according to Andrei Codrescu) about how much one can get away with in criticizing Fidel: "You can rattle the chain, but you can't touch the monkey." Seems very appropriate for the Chimperor as well.

Investigation into Bush v. AlJazeera

Thanks to Sara for her comment to the previous post:

The American Committee to Free Sami Al-Haj has just launched an online petiton to the U.S. Congress demanding his release and an investigation into the Bush Administration's campaign against Al Jazeera.

http://www.petitiononline.com/freesami/petition.html

Guantanamo

From Sami al-Haj's attorney:

Sami al-Haj, the Al Jazeera cameraman held in Guantánamo, has been on a hungerstrike for more than 230 days, more than three times as long as the IRA strikers in 1980. Sami was seized when on assignment to Afghanistan, apparently because the US thought he had filmed Al Jazeera’s famous Bin Laden interview. As has so often been the case of late, the US was wrong (though name me a journalist who would turn down a Bin Laden scoop).

[...]

Sami began his strike when his patience finally ran out on 7 January of this year, the fifth anniversary of his incarceration without trial.

[...]

Now Sami is being force-fed with a 110cm tube shoved down his nose. The military is doing it in a way that is calculated to be painful – or, to borrow General Craddock’s offensive euphemism, to make it “inconvenient” for Sami and others to continue their peaceful protest. Instead of leaving the tube in – which would be bad enough – they insert it and pull it out again with each feeding. I tried experimenting with this on myself one time and it is excruciating.

[...]

Sami has already told me what I have to say to his seven-year-old son, Mohammed, if he does not make it out of his prison cell alive.

[...]

Doctors from the US, UK and Middle East all agree that there are urgent concerns about Sami’s health, and that he needs independent medical intervention. He won’t get it, no matter what I do.

CagePrisoners

Update: From the comments section:

The American Committee to Free Sami Al-Haj has just launched an online petiton to the U.S. Congress demanding his release and an investigation into the Bush Administration's campaign against Al Jazeera.

http://www.petitiononline.com/freesami/petition.html

It's All in the Presentation

Dell has a "Start Page" whereby you can set up certain views to suit your taste, including headlines from various news agencies, using Google's services. So when I saw the headline reading "Poll: Bush approval holds steady" under the CNN listings, I was going to blame that agency for putting a positive spin on bad numbers. Turns out, it was Google. Once I clicked on the link, the CNN headline read: "Poll: Bush approval holds at 36 percent", and the article began:

Ahead of a national address on the war in Iraq, Americans remain deeply skeptical about the policies President Bush is pursuing and unhappy with his job performance, according to a CNN poll released Thursday.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

And We're Off and Running

The New Yorker’s George Packer wrote that the White House was reportedly planning a post-Labor Day PR blitz to promote a war against Iran. According to Packer’s source, FOX News was to be part of the co-ordinated effort. Sure enough, following Bill Kristol’s morning warmongering on FOX & Friends, chickenhawk Michael Ledeen was the sole guest in a Hannity & Colmes discussion devoted to the war effort.

[...]

Ledeen told Sean Hannity during the first part of the discussion, “It could be almost any day now” until we have to make a choice whether to attack Iran militarily or allow them to have nuclear capability “with all that implies.” It was very reminiscent of the "mushroom cloud" argument during the run-up to the Iraq war.

[...]

During Colmes’ portion, he mentioned that in 2006, Ledeen wrote in the National Review that he had opposed the war in Iraq before it happened. Then Colmes put up a 2002 quote from Ledeen about Iraq, “One can only hope that we turn the region into a cauldron.”

  News Hounds

News Hounds found the expanded quote:

"[Brent Scowcroft] fears that if we attack Iraq "I think we could have an explosion in the Middle East. It could turn the whole region into a caldron and destroy the War on Terror."

One can only hope that we turn the region into a cauldron, and faster, please. If ever there were a region that richly deserved being cauldronized, it is the Middle East today. If we wage the war effectively, we will bring down the terror regimes in Iraq, Iran, and Syria."

In case the name Michael Ledeen isn't yet familiar, check this Alternet article about this old Iran-Contra player's influence in the cauldronization of the Middle East, this American Conservative article about his affinity for fascism, and this Juan Cole post that includes his involvement in the Niger yellowcake forgeries.

....or hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Pentagon-approved News Analysis

CNN news boss Eason Jordan's comment on CNN's "Reliable Sources" about getting the Pentagon to approve the network's military analysts was "equally troubling" as his silence-for-access admission. "Based on Jordan's own words... the news chief had asked the Pentagon to sign off on personnel assigned to a key element of CNN's war coverage, the equivalent of consulting with the White House in advance about political or policy experts it planned to use on the air," writes Rosenberg. "And he regarded the Pentagon's endorsement as 'important.' Not the best way to inspire confidence in the media's independence."

  Poynter Online

Oh, I think we're way beyond that.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

What We Need Is...

...new propaganda to catapult.

The Pentagon has just spent $400,000 of our money to get a marketing report from the RAND corporation on how to better "sell" the war in Iraq. As you well know, these days it's all about marketing the product.

Wasn't that what Romney was wanting to do if he gets elected?

I guess the magazine hasn't gone over so well.

They've Done It Again

A story at MSNBC falsely identifies Senator Vitter (of DC Madam fame) as a Democrat.

Fox News used that ploy with Mark Foley, the Congressman disgraced after his escapades with a teenaged male Congressional page was leaked. Even the AP misidentified Foley as a Democrat.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Back to Work

Apparently the New York Times is trying to spin the news on the bill to allow soldiers proper time between tours. According to TPM, the paper's headline claims the bill was defeated by a narrow margin, when what actually happened was that, knowing there were enough votes for the bill to pass, the Republican party filibustered, so there was no vote.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Sicko

Michael Moore gives Wolf Blitzer hell on air. Bill O'Reilly would have pulled the mike.

Update: Part 2

Propaganda Media

After a Pew Research survey finds that U.S. Muslims are 'Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream,' that they are 'in line with U.S. values,' and that they "lean toward the Democratic Party, six to one," the Washington Times headlines its report on the poll, 'Young U.S. Muslims back suicide attacks.'

  Cursor May 23: links embedded

Qubetv

This should provide no end of entertainment. Some right-wingers apparently think Youtube is biased against them. So a crew of them have created Qubetv, a right-wing only Youtube, basically like a digital innertube for folks who can't hack it out on the actual internet.

-- Josh Marshall

It seems typical of Republicans to me - they seem to like exclusive "clubs". But mostly, I just liked Josh's summary sentence: "a digital innertube for folks who can't hack it out on the actual internet."