CSPAN II seminar on journalistic ethics.............NAUSEATING

[julka]

Marvin Kalb, Bob Schieffer, Dan Schorr, Karen Jurgensen (USA Today), Margaret Warner sit there, patting themselves on the back on how ethical they are, how well they serve the common weal, how WONDERFULLY the embedded reporters served both the government AND the American public.

this last assertion was heartily seconded by Schieffer, who said, most ironically, I thought, that they have lots of ways to get a story out that needs to be told (referring to the possible difficulties in publishing work unflattering to the DOD, etal).

Like Bush AWOL, PNAC, WMD serial lies, right?

I saw only the first half hour, so they may have covered other stuff.

time for QandA right now.

can't wait to see if anyone in audience is not swallowing the swill.

[DUreader]

1. Update us if anyone slips a good Q thru the censors

If you can stand watching for long.

I don't know how you tv folks continue watching.

[julka]

2. It's very disheartening

a journalism student who spent the last term in Europe just asked what Margaret Warner called a "very profound" question.

why is the coverage of the war I saw overseas so much different than it is in America?

Warner said she thought it was perhaps cultural.....seeing things from an American perspecitive, despite trying not to be manipulated.

Trying? not very hard.

Kalb falls back on Rashomon phenomenon, citing four different views of US/Panama invasion back in 89. please.

[LittleApple81]

3. Did you hear Daniel Schorr talking about Rush's drug problem?

He nailed it on the head! basically implied Rush is a hypocritical sob.
The moderator quickly said "interesting, interesting... no more time."

[julka]

4. I just caught a whiff of that.....was looking this up:

Kalb vs. Len Downie, and his obsession with Clinton, leading to the IGNORED, but excellent book by Kalb:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Gore-2004-Community/message/24886?source=1

old link from MWO, I think. I remember reading a three-parter from them when Kalb's book came out.

brief synopsis of Kalb's book, "One Scandalous Story: Clinton, Lewinsky, and Thirteen Days That Tarnished American Journalism"

reason I'm including this is that Broder mentioned what a great, scrupulously ethical editor is Len Downie. here's how the above link refers to one of those MOST responsible for the entire Whitewater fiasco:

during the early days of the pseudo-scandal, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton invited Downie to the White House, where she recounted for him her story of the truth about Whitewater. Clinton blamed former-friend and con-man James McDougal as the source of her problems with Whitewater, acknowledged that she "probably made a mistake" in the way she handled the matter, and said that "Bill had nothing to do with it." But Downie dismissed her account and thereafter resolutely refused to give it any credence at all - even after numerous investigations showed that her account was completely accurate and truthful. Instead, Downie embarked on a crusade against Hillary Clinton as a liar.

The result was that not only the Clintons but dozens of hard-working White House staffers were smeared, hauled before witch-hunting congressional committees, and subjected to Ken Starr's inquisition.

Given the time and energy spent on the fake Whitewater scandal-and the investment of Downie's reputation -- it is no wonder that the Post became the reliable faucet for leaks from Ken Starr's office. In for a penny, in for a pound, huh, Len?

urging all to refresh their memories of this creep, just in case anyone's forgotten just how NOT liberal this sad excuse for a newspapper had become during the Clinton Inquisition (and I can't stand WJC, btw, for the most part).

see Howard Zinn's updated ending of A People's History of the US for an excellent compendium of all the reasons not to like his policies.

[mandyky]

5. Talk about mental masturbation -

It's odd how CNN not telling all about Iraq is brought up when it is never mentioned about the Palestinian side of the story is squashed by Israel. I rememember about 2 years ago for maybe a week CNN covered Palestine honestly, then it wass fade to black as far as real coverage goes...

[julka]

6. that's the part where I tuned in

isn't it amazing that THAT's what they chose to discuss, instead of, say Love Canal, Love Story, Templegate, etc.

or how about the TWO HUNDRED LEAKS that the guy from the Washington Times spewed out, WRT to DOD/Iraq war secrets?

seen that one?

it was in Truthout, Oct. 4, either in the Dean/Salon or Ray Johnson link. just read it today