If you missed Congressman Conyer’s Downing Street Minutes (DSM) hearings on Thursday, you can watch the rebroadcast this evening at 8 pm ET on C-SPAN TV or catch it online on C-SPAN 2.
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By now, practically everyone in the left blogoshere has read or heard about the powerful testimony at the hearings by Cindy Sheehan, mother of a soldier son, Casey who was lost in the Iraq war, former ambassador Joe Wilson, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, afterdowningstreet.org attorney John Bonifaz and many more participants who held a no-holds barred discussion about the contents of the DSM.
Today on Daily Kos, Congressman Conyers called for media accountability, specifically targeting Dana Milbank of the Washington Post, who wrote a pathetically inaccurate article about the hearings. Ray McGovern also wrote a letter to Milbank to express his disappointment. (The link may not work right now because the site has been experiencing very heavy traffic – a good sign of much interest). Earlier today, I posted a comment in StevenD’s front page diary about FAIR’s (Fairness and Accuracy in Media) Action Alert aimed at Milbank for a previous story and Michael Kinsley of the LA Times for his recent “we already knew that” article. Hold their feet to the fire!
Congressman Conyers has his own blog in which he provides a summary of the day’s events. He ends his entry with:
And he should be exhausted! He’s worked tirelessly on this and many issues recently and deserves a great rest. He constantly reminded people during the hearings that he doesn’t consider himself a man of courage. That place is held by the troops who are still in harm’s way. We all display courage according to what’s placed in front of us and what we choose to do with it, so as much as I truly admire the man’s humility, I think we all agree that congressman’s courage in taking on this huge task has been worthy of a medal. The media should be treating he and his colleagues as such, instead of trying to tear them down.
The media need to be reminded that their purpose is to report facts and editorial/opinion writers also have a duty to present factual accounts of what they oppose. Anything less is an abrigation of integrity. From some, this is expected since they sold out a long time ago. For the rest, they need to be reminded forcefully and as often as possible that inaccuracies will not be tolerated. As well, we need to show our support to those who are getting it right and cajole those not covering the DSM to do so.
Back to the rebroadcast, those watching it are welcome to use this diary as a live discussion platform. Some of us transcribed the hearings live over two front page diaries here at BT yesterday. You’re welcome to read through those comments, although by now various other detailed accounts and videos of the testimony appear on different web sites. Thanks to everyone who joined in yesterday. I love those live discussions, so it’s always a pleasure to participate (kidney pain notwithstanding – we all must sacrifice!).
On with the show…