Consider this an actionable item diary for all of you. I think the tone in the media has changed sufficiently over the past few months that now is the time to push to get stories out there.
One story inparticular is already done but has never been aired. 60 Minutes has it ready to go, they’ve just never aired it. Now is the time to contact them and request they show this important story. Here is the contact information:
EMAIL: 60m@cbsnews.com
PHONE: (212) 975-3247
More detail on the story that never aired below…
Here is the link to the article written by Michael Isikoff for Newsweek, September 22, 2004 about the CBS decision to bump the Niger story with the TANG documents story. There are some very interesting points in the article:
Some excerpts from the article include:
Although acknowledging that it was “frustrating” to have his story bounced, David Gelber, the lead CBS producer on the Niger piece, said he has been told the segment will still air some time soon, perhaps as early as next week. “Obviously, everybody at CBS is holding their breath these days. I’m assuming the story is going to run until I’m told differently.”
I think enough time has passed that CBS shouldn’t be “embarrassed” anymore about the TANG forgery fiasco and get back to reporting news now that 64% of Americans actually may want to hear it!
There is also another article by Mary Jacoby dated September 29, 2004 that talks about some of the details contained in the CBS story that never aired, and shows why this story is even more imprtant NOW than ever.
The Cowardly Broadcasting System
Here is the clip from the article that shows how it ties to the current Grand Jury investigation and why airing the story is so important, not only for the public, but for CBS regaining its credibility:
Bradley interviews Wilson, who says that he found nothing in Niger to indicate that any purchase agreement had been signed or executed. Bradley then speaks with the former director of the Department of State’s intelligence bureau (intelligence and research), Greg Thielmann, who explains why he concluded that Iraq was not attempting to reconstitute its nuclear program. In March 2002, Bradley reported, the White House received Thielmann’s report, entitled “Niger: Sale of Uranium Is Unlikely.”
So, please, contact CBS and get them to air this ASAP. I suspect they just might… Hey, if CNN is finally growing some, maybe CBS can too!
When I read the title, I thought this was an action diary about getting some coverage for the fact that millions are presently at the risk of dying from starvation in Niger, many of them children. Maybe, if folks are going to write 60 Minutes about the Yellowcake that Never Was in Niger story, they can also take a second to mention that people are dying and only a little from the West would make a huge difference?
Thanks.
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True – the hunger of millions across the globe should be a daily presence in government and the media in the West. Not just for a few days, when Tony Blair chairs the G8 in Gleneagles, Scotland. There is another diary by ask covering the false statements made by Blair and the introduction of Bush | Bolton policy at the UN for the coming years.
The neocon heritage will haunt the globe for many years to come. The battle should therefore be on ALL FRONTS, none to be neglected. Fortunately, in parts of the European Union a Human Rights and Aid Development policy is established and will not be changed at the whim of a fool in the White House and Congress on the Hill in Washington DC.
John R. Bolton, U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control gestures during a news conference after his address to the Biological Weapons Convention in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday Nov. 19, 2001. The United States identified Iraq and five other countries, as states that are developing germ warfare programs but refused to say whether any may have assisted Osama bin Laden in his quest for biological weapons.
Jose Bustani a “man with merit”
A former Bolton deputy says the U.S. undersecretary of state felt Jose Bustani had to go, particularly because the Brazilian was trying to send chemical weapons inspectors to Baghdad. That might have helped defuse the crisis over alleged Iraqi weapons and undermined a U.S. rationale for war.
Bustani, who got a “menacing” phone call from Bolton at one point, was removed by a vote of just one-third of member nations at an unusual special session of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The United States cited alleged mismanagement in calling for his ouster.
The UN’s highest administrative tribunal later condemned the action as an “unacceptable violation” of principles protecting international civil servants. The OPCW session’s Swiss chairman now calls it an “unfortunate precedent” and Bustani a “man with merit”.
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Thanks Emmajoe for letting us know about this story. I, too thought this was going to be about the dire situation in Niger.
This wil be a great opportunity to contact CBS about both topics.