An Effort to Demolish the Press
May 27th, 2005 at 6:39 am by Susie
But this particular anti-press campaign is not about Journalism 101. It is about Power 101. It is a sophisticated effort to demolish the idea of a press independent of political parties by way of discouraging scrutiny of conservative politicians in power. By using bad documents, Dan Rather helped Bush, not John Kerry, because Rather gave Bush’s skilled lieutenants the chance to use the CBS mistake to close off an entire line of inquiry about the president. In the case of Guantanamo, the administration, for a while, cast its actions as less important than Newsweek’s.Back when the press was investigating Bill Clinton, conservatives were eager to believe every negative report about the incumbent. Some even pushed totally false claims, including the loony allegation that Clinton aide Vince Foster was somehow murdered by Clinton’s apparatchiks when, in fact, Foster committed suicide. Every journalist who went after Clinton was “courageous.” Anyone who opposed his impeachment or questioned even false allegations was “an apologist.”
We now know that the conservatives’ admiration for a crusading and investigative press carried an expiration date of Jan. 20, 2001.
When the press fails, it should be called on the carpet. But when the press confronts a politically motivated campaign of intimidation, its obligation is to resist — and to keep reporting.
Not only that, the press is too intimidated to raise the obvious question: Does this “sophisticated” campaign include leaking and planting forged documents?
Does this “sophisticated� campaign include leaking and planting forged documents?
It includes whatever agitprop they can get away with. But of course the MSM has been buckling to them since the Clinton days. The progressive web has had some success in calling them out on some things like the Social Security campaign, but it’s a never ending battle and they have no principles and no shame.