Dragging the
Media Down Downing Street
*
By David Swanson, AfterDowningStreet.org
The
U.S.
corporate media has begun to awaken to the fact that top Bush
adviser Karl Rove exposed an undercover CIA agent's identity and then
lied about it. But reporters, editors, and producers remain slow to pick up
on the heart of the story, namely that this was part of an extensive
campaign to deceive the media, the public, and the Congress about the
justifications for an unjustifiable war.
The media has also given coverage to the recent bombings in
London
, but
in very few instances has communicated the fact that the Bush and Blair
administrations took their focus off Al Qaeda in order to launch a war
against a sovereign state with no ties to the 9-11 attacks, and that
this was done on the basis of intentionally false claims about weapons of
mass destruction and ties to those attacks. There is a danger that Blair and
Bush will try to misuse the recent tragedy as they have done that of four
years ago, that the media will allow them to do so, and that the result will
be still more attacks.
One way to break this cycle would be to provide the appropriate public
discussion and congressional investigation of the lies that launched
the war on
Iraq
.
On May 26, there had been virtually no
U.S.
media coverage of the
Downing Street
Minutes. On that day a coalition of veterans groups, peace
groups, political activist groups, and blogs launched a campaign at
www.AfterDowningStreet.org <http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/> to
demand media coverage and congressional action. This survey of media coverage
as of May 31st shows that results were not immediate:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/16
But by the time Prime Minister Blair visited the White House on June 7,
a coalition of hundreds of blogs called the Big Brass Alliance, and the
work of dozens of progressive radio shows around the country had begun to
pay off. By June 16, when 35 Congress Members held an unofficial hearing at
the Capitol, Congressman John Conyers delivered a letter with 560,000
signatures and 123 congressional signatures to the White House, and the After
Downing Street coalition held a rally in
Lafayette
Square
Park
, the Downing
Street Minutes had become news. Pundits had begun talking about how the
blogosphere now served as a court of appeals when the media blacked out a story --
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/605 -- , but it's hard to
overstate the impact that new progressive radio and progressive print
publications had as well.
In any event, the door had been opened. Letters to the editor had been
joined by op-eds and editorials and even news stories. The White House
press corps had raised the issue twice at press briefings:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/241 . The cable news pundits
had acknowledged the story and yelled at each other about it. If there were
serious reporters waiting for a timely hook that would persuade their
editors to allow them to do their jobs, now was the moment. Alas,
either there were no reporters or the editorial wall was still standing. Even
news stories about how there were no news stories stopped seeming
interesting to editors unwilling to do actual journalism. No polls have been done, but it seems likely that many Americans still don't know what the Downing
Street Minutes say.
In recent weeks, a FOIA request from 52 Congress Members has gone
uncovered by the media. A letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee from 10
Senators has passed unnoticed. A Resolution of Inquiry is expected to soon be
introduced in the House, thus far unremarked upon. And the three-year
anniversary of the meeting on
Downing Street
that gave us the minutes
is rapidly approaching, without comment. Many media outlets in the United
States have done one or two stories about the
Downing Street
minutes.
Some have done none. None have created the endless echo chamber that's so
badly needed, but which is apparently reserved for celebrities and sex.
So, AfterDowningStreet.org <http://AfterDowningStreet.org> has decided
to organize events all over the country on that three-year anniversary,
Saturday, July 23, in an effort to create a public discussion, as well
as to gather yet more signatures on Congressman Conyers' letter, promote
support for the Resolution of Inquiry and the Senate Intelligence Committee
investigation, and to spread the word about an investigative trip to
London
that Congressman Conyers is planning for next month.
*Over 150 public forums, town-hall meetings, dramatic recreations of
the Downing Street Minutes, house parties, and study circles have been
planned for July 23rd. See this site:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/526
Now is the time to request a meeting with your local newspaper's
editorial board and ask them to write in favor of an investigation. Here are
talking points: *
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/612
Here's another good clip to share:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/472
Ask them to do at least as well as the editorials compiled here:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/735
Ask them also to run op-eds and columns as good as the ones in this
collection:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/736
And now is the time to demand that news operations report the news. Ask
them politely, and then protest noisily, until they do at least as well as
the articles and broadcast stories collected here:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/737
And – above all – now is the time to hammer unremittingly at the
corporate wall of those worst offenders among the media outlets. No media outlet has given this story the level of coverage awarded to, say, the Michael
Jackson
trial. But some have completely or virtually blocked it out. Others
have covered it dishonestly.
Those that have imposed a complete or nearly complete blackout include:
CBS (I know of no coverage);
ABC (there may be no more than this one interview:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/337 );
NBC (there has been at least one report, which can be found in the
collection above, but little or no follow up);
PBS (Jim Lehrer did one interview that touched on this; NPR has done
several substantive stories);
Many major newspapers not found in the collection above.
*TELL THE BROADCAST NETWORKS WHAT YOU THINK: *
Remember that they all gave Bush 30 minutes of prime time to repeat his
false claims in a speech on June 28
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/310
Those media outlets that have covered the Downing Street Minutes
dishonestly include these:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/738
Clearly any major media outlet that at this point does not have at
least one investigative journalist in
London
and one in
Washington
,
D.C.
working on this, is in the entertainment business. Let them know we are not
entertained!
*CONTACT YOUR LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS:*
http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/alert/?alertid=7656046&type=ME
<http://AfterDowningStreet.org>
|