[From the diaries by susanhu.] It’s a big deal on liberal blogs, but is the media waking up to the story? How are they covering the hearing on the Downing Street Memo held by Congressman Conyers yesterday? Well, take a look (but don’t get your hopes up too high):
More after the fold . . .
At CNN it doesn’t merit a major story listing, but is headlined under the “Politics” section.
It is given the same treatment at ABC’s front page.
At Fox, again the same thing. It’s the fourth headline under “Political Headlines.” You have to scroll down near the bottom to find it. Their big story on the Democrats has to do with Senator Durbin.
MsNBC doesn’t play it prominently anywhere either. You have to scroll down to “Politics” for the ambiguous headline “War Inquiry.”
I couldn’t even find the story at CBS. Their big story was about a child sex offender. Tom Cruise popping the question to Katie Holmes took second place. They don’t even list under the “Politics” section.
Here’s the online edition of the New York Times Front Page. Can you spot the story? I’ll give you a hint: the headline (which you have to hunt for) is Antiwar Group Says Leaked British Memo Shows Bush Misled Public on His War Plans. That really informs the reader that the group in question was a bevy of Congressional Democrats led by John Conyers, doesn’t it.
Not that the Washington Post online edition’s front page is any better. They can’t be bothered to even mention the story, with or without cryptic headlines, on their front page.
Finally, what about NPR, that bastion of liberalism? Well, they do slightly better than the others, listing it as the second story under the “Nation” section of their news front page under the headline: “Hearings Center on British Memo; Iraq” and also under their Iraq section under the headline: “Democrats Investigate Downing Street Memo.”
The upshot? There’s a long way to go before this story expands beyond our corner of the blogosphere people. When even so-called liberal bastions of the press such as the Times and the Post can’t be bothered to give the story any significant play (much less the cable shows) that tells me that we and Congressman Conyers have our work cut out for us.
Ah well, we knew it would be like this. The giddiness of yesterday is fading under the realization that nothing with the media has changed. We certainly do have our work cut out for us. This was just a first step, no matter how momentious the moment seemed.
Oh, well. THe gun realy is smoking, though..and this time enough respectable people are mad that I don’t think they are going to sweep it under the carpet as easily.
ON CSPAN yesterday, during that conference, I noted that one of the panel had firmly told the press and all assembled ” that they were here for the long term” and he was certainly implying that he thought he had a job to do. Another said that it had taken 40 years for … some atrocity to come to light.. but i can’t remember to which he was referring…
So take heart, fine folks. This time there’ll be a bit more fight than there was the last times
But…but… Tom Cruise proposed to Katie Holmes in PARIS at the EIFFEL TOWER!!!!! How romantic is that?!!
And..and…all my outrage for the day is reserved for the Runaway Bride, who is going to MAKE MONEY through a book/movie deal. I mean, really, the nerve!!!! Heads should roll!!!
</sarcasm>
The Today show just had Russturd give it a little nod. He did say he did not think it was going to go away because so many Americans are polling to pull out now. It’s something as it was not given any mention yesterday. I did write to the producers of the Today show and basically told them Shame on you for not giving the Conyers’ historical forum the coverage it deserved. AND where is the media coverage of Conyers being told he was not welcome with 122 congressional signatures and 550,000 American citizens signatures on petitions and over 1000 protesters at the WH gates. SHAME SHAME SHAME on all of them!
The what?
Where’s Downing Street? Is that a new Pizza Parlor?
….home sick from work yesterday afternoon….watched daytime news…watched about 10 minutes of a high speed kidnap chase on CNN in LA…surfed about 10 minutes of other networks….decided a nap was more informative.
There are two major problems to getting more coverage:
First, I think the WaPo editorial a few days ago captured the overall MSM mood: we know that Bush was hyping the case to war, there’s nothing NEW there. The MSM failed to offer any real skepticism in the run up to the war and they are embarassed to do it after the fact. There is still a knee-jerk reaction to wingnut complaints about “liberal media bias” – so they try to avoid reporting anything that is coming from an explicitly liberal quarter.
Second, the issue hasn’t fully bled through into the national consciousness quite yet. Based on how Bush’s polling numbers look, I think we’re getting close. The constant disconnect between the violence in Iraq and the BushCo fantasyland statements are having an effect. In a few months, if Congressional Dems can keep up the drumbeat of pressure, they’ll have to cover more of it.
The majority of Americans overwhelmingly supported the war in Iraq in March 2003 because they thought Sadam Hussein was a major security threat to the United States. Hell, over 70 percent of Americans thought Sadam Hussein was connected to the 9/11 attacks. Now the corporate media, eg. the Washington Post, has the balls to claim that the Downing Street Memo is not news because:
What was publicly known in July 2002? What the fuck are they talking about? I think they need to step into the time machine my friend. The print and TV media were all over the “Iraq has weapons of mass destruction” story like flies on shit. Can the Washington Post produce one article before the Iraq invasion in which they stated that Iraq was not a threat and that the Bush administration was fixing the intelligence around the facts?
Oh, and I like this.
If this is so fucking urgent, then why isn’t it printed all over the fucking newspaper- “We’re Fucked!.” Where in the hell do they come off calling me “AntiWar” anyway. I’m ready to launch a war against the US Corporate Media. They need some major ass kicking. Those greedy fucks. They should send their own kids to Baghdad while they contemplate on what we should do now.
CNN did show Conyers walking up the sidewalk with the petitions and mentioned the phrase about the intelligence being “fixed”… at about 7:11 AM.
Last night, Aaron Brown led with an “exclusive” about car fires while MSNBC led with the missing blonde in Aruba.
It is a cover-up. Come to think of it, a cover-up is sometimes what causes outrage. Wonder if we the people can influence that? Or will some bright, young journalist step up? (Not in the msm, I guess.)
Media matters is calling it a cover-up on its front page.
http://mediamatters.org/
Also has intersting-looking links I have had time to follow yet.
am still giddy and excited. Last night CSPAN did indeed re-air it on CSPAN2 – guess they got a few phonecalls. Momagainstthedraft and I called each other on the phone with “OMG!” and “REVOLUTION???” It was the first time I felt like … part of the uprising against these liars and murderers.
Nothing on the news yet. …. bastards.
I think we need to flood the Congressmen and Reps who were there with all our support and encouragement. Can we somehow get a letter template for us at Booman?
Cindy Sheehan is a true patriot. A mother who can truly be proud. She knows her son was murdered for NOTHING. She has made a difference in our world. Quite possibly she has started a revolution. Truth… a revolution.
History will show that those who stood by and with their silence and lack of civic duty allowed this Bush Regime to destroy all that Americans hold dear. Voting for Bush/Cheney and supporting prison camps and illegal occupations is radical and WRONG and UnAmerican. May all those who voted for Bush/Cheney begin to see the blood on their hands.
The Austin American Statesman.
Today’s online edition has Lawmakers Push Resolution on Iraq Pullout near the top of the web page – but it’s not in the hard copy at all.
Also in the online edition, a report on yesterday’s hearings Democrats Urge Inquiry on Bush, Iraq , which is in the hard copy, though greatly shortened.
Yesterday’s print edition had the front page headline, “Bush critics call memo evidence of lying on Iraq.” I was heartened to see the words “Bush” and “lying” so closely juxtaposed. However, the online archive edition from yesterday has a different headline British document suggests U.S. reached early decision on Iraq war.
For those of us who lived through the Watergate era – even during the Watergate Hearings, the Nixon administration was furiously spinning it as “partisan politics” and there were many Americans who supported Nixon in spite of the information about his abuse of power that was being revealed by the hearings.
Lesson: There will be no smoking gun or general Aha! that leads to a quick and decisive throw the bastards out movement. It’s a hard slog and everyone has to keep up the steady refusal to let it drop. We can’t get discouraged (though that’s really hard, I know).
I have faith that Rep. Conyers (my hero!) will keep doing his part. Our part is to take back the House for the D’s – if we can do that, real hearings, like the Watergate hearings can finally begin.
Work your butts off in your U.S. Rep districts. Protect D’s who are running for re-election. Go after vulnerable R seats, if you live in one of those districts. Even if you live in a district where you think there’s not a chance in hell that your current R can be defeated – make them fight and spend money defending their seat – there’ll be less for the R’s to spend in districts where they’re vulnerable.
Steady on, folks.
I read the LA Times every morning and am usually ok with their coverage. As for the DSM – nada. zip. zilch. Not a blurb.
I couldn’t believe it.
Look at what Yahoo! has as its second news item on its home page:
The accompanying story:
Bush pressed to answer `Downing Street Memo’ questions
From Knight-Ridder. Of course!
RATE THIS STORY!
People need to stop holding their breath. What we learned from Watergate, is that the Republican party will do what ever it takes to obfuscate the truth. What they learned from Watergate, is in order to do that, they need to control the media. Welcome to the new world order. The revolution WILL NOT be televised, because somewhere out there a good looking white women has gone missing
CNNi is showing a DSM hearing story right now.
CNN International or just plain old CNN?
Recently, CNN replaced Blitzer’s 12pm ET show with a news broadcast from CNNi. That’s who covered it. Bill Schneider also made comments about what’s happening i.e. the lack of support for the war, people more willing to listen now about what really happened. It was quite ‘fair and balanced’.
You can watch Canada’s CBC news clip about the DSM, which aired last nite, here.
For instance this recent editorial in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, entitled “Fig leaf for war/Paper indicates U.N. was misled.” When an entire editorial board comes to a consensus to write something this scathing, it tells me something about the mood at that paper. This editorial takes no prisoners.
And today, I read a Newsweek article posted on the MSNBC site, that devotes 4 pages to the Downing Street Memos. It includes an unsubtle comparison to the Pentagon Papers. I also noticed something that, again, I think is very telling, in terms of the mood of the publication. They inserted a [sic] in a Bush quote. There has been a good deal of discussion through the years about how the press cleans up after Bush’s mangled syntax. The [sic] read to me like a slap. I don’t remember them doing that in the past, though I don’t read the publication much. I also found it interesting that it was co-authored by Isikoff, who was badly burned over that Koran in the toilet incident. I think he may be hitting back.
I think this is heating up, despite the best efforts of the Washington Post to kill it.
FAIR.org has posted an Action Alert under the headline, Downing Street Memo Activists “Wing Nuts,” “Paranoid”, regarding the MSM’s coverage of the DSM – particularly aimed at Dana Milbanks (WaPo) and Michael Kinsley (LA Times).
Well, CNN has it on its front page (down), whereas it doesn’t even mention the European Summit currently under way in Brussels…
Hey Jerome, do you think it will be a matter of discussion there if not in the main pages of it, but behind the scenes? What is the feeleing over on the other side of this great pond to this in other countries. I go to the other side of boo trib and I do not see it discussed.
Did you see this photo??? Congressmen and Reps locked out yesterday. This infuriates me so much.
Anyone know of a liberal loving hotel/motel where we can all get discounts so we can go to the SmutHouse and protest this crap Admin???