Googling one of my heros, I.F. Stone

[LittleClarkie]

I see that there has been an attempt by the Right Wing to discredit him after his death. How courageous of them to wait until his death, btw.

So, what the hell is that all about, and how successful were they in attaching Izzy to the Communist movement. It looks kind of shakey evidence to me, but what do I know. All smoke and mirrors or not?

I really resent them going after my beloved Izzy. My half deaf, half blind dear little tornado of a journalist didn't deserve that.

[htuttle]

1. Count me into the Izzy Stone fan club

Another name to google is George Seldes, a contemporary of Stone. His 'In Fact' weekly is often pointed to as a precurser and inspiration for I.F. Stone's Weekly.

Wrote some great books about WWII-era fascism and it's American collaborators. He names a lot of US names in the book 'Facts and Fascism', for example.

on edit;

Here's a link to an excerpt of a book Seldes wrote in 1942!:
http://www.fair.org/extra/9411/george-seldes.html

Is the Entire Press Corrupt?

What is the most powerful force in America today?

Answer: Public opinion.

What makes public opinion?

Answer: The main force is the press.

Can you trust the press?

Answer: The baseball scores are always correct (except for a typographical error now and then). The stock market tables are correct (within the same limitation). But when it comes to news which will affect you, your daily life, your job, your relation to other peoples, your thinking on economic and social problems, and, more important today, your going to war and risking your life for a great ideal, then you cannot trust about 98 percent (or perhaps 99 1/2 percent) of the big newspaper and big magazine press of America.

But why can't you trust the press?

Answer: Because it has become big business. The big city press and the big magazines have become commercialized, or big business organizations, run with no other motive than profit for owner or stockholder (although hypocritically still maintaining the old American tradition of guiding and enlightening the people). The big press cannot exist a day without advertising. Advertising means money from big business.

(more at link)

[EVDebs]

2. Comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable !

Stone had Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin incident down cold. Would that he were around now....

[LittleClarkie]

3. I sometimes wish that too

He was almost scary in his tenacity. I remember watching a documentary about him, and his intern said that he couldn't keep up with the old man. He'd read newspaper after newspaper, plus going through the Congressional Record. He wasn't one of the good old boys in the press pool, but that was his strength. He had to get his news the hard way.

[EVDebs]

4. He went looking for the facts. Current 'journalists' want it all on a

platter, which is why the White House press corp isn't holding Bush accountable for anything.