Wow, Buzzflash is getting famous...interview with Bill Moyers

[Sperk]

http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/03/10/int03281.html

BUZZFLASH: You served as a press secretary for Lyndon Johnson. Based on your personal experience, how do you think the relationship between the White House and the White House press corps has changed since the l960s?

BILL MOYERS: Every era has its own unique issues, but the basic tension between president and press is always there. Presidents want their options protected, their good intentions emphasized, their sins unreported, and their mistakes forgiven; journalists want to find out what's going on. That much hasn't changed.

LBJ was waging an unpopular war and that made the usual tensions even more acute, especially with reporting from Vietnam that was at odds with the official view of reality. Since the 60s, the number of reporters covering the place has grown almost exponentially. Government's bigger and its expertise in public relations more sophisticated. Access to officials is much harder except when they want to leak or spin. And, a phalanx of conservative publications and right-wing radio and television talk shows has created a cavernous echo chamber for a Republican agenda, with no real-time opportunity for rebuttal of the propaganda or the refutation of the lies. Everyone operates today in what a friend of mine calls "the blinding white light of 24/7 global medium" -- an increased conglomeration of megamedia corporations has essentially stripped journalism of purpose except pleasing consumers.

There was a study not long ago that asked mainstream journalists how they view their own professional situations. Not happily, it turns out. A majority felt that much of the control over their work has passed from editors to corporate executives and stockholders whose interest is not necessarily informing the public with the information we need to have to function as citizens. Journalists who don't serve a partisan purpose and who try to be disinterested observers find themselves whipsawed between these corporate and ideological forces. I agree with Eric Alterman that "the constant drumbeat of groundless accusation has proven an effective weapon in weakening journalism's watchdog function."

I think these forces have unbalanced the relationship between this White House and the press. Frankly, even if we had tried it in LBJ's time, we wouldn't have gotten away with the kind of press conference President Bush conducted on the eve of the invasion of Iraq -- the one that even the President admitted was wholly scripted, with reporters raising their hands and posing so as to appear spontaneous. Matt Taibbi wrote in The New York Press at the time that it was like a mini-Alamo for American journalism. I'd say it was more a collective Jonestown-like suicide. At least the defenders of the Alamo put up a fight.
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"AT LEAST THE DEFENDERS OF THE ALAMO PUT UP A FIGHT." HA! Why can't the press corp see what fools they are making of themselves?
:shrug:

[Bozita]

1. That's a great interview. Here's Moyers' take on Jon Stewart...

... from the interview.


-snip-

MOYERS: I think Jon Stewart is the most astute political analyst working today. He has more moments of "Eureka" in a single broadcast than a month of editorials. Who else sets off laughter and light bulbs in your head at the same time? If I believed in reincarnation, I would believe Mark Twain alive and well.

more...

-snip-

[KoKo]

2. This article is an excellent read if you missed his show this week.

It explains so much of what we've been experiencing!

[Wonk]

3. kick