Tucker Carlson unintentionally reveals role of American press

[LadyVT]

Wow. This is a great article. http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/08/carlson/index.html?source=rss&aim=/opinion/greenwald

"The most interesting part of the controversy over Obama advisor Samantha Power's referring to Hillary Clinton as a "monster" -- one might say the only interesting part -- is that immediately after Power said it, she tried to proclaim that it was "off the record." Here was Power's exact quote: 'She is a monster, too –- that is off the record –- she is stooping to anything.'

"But the reporter who was interviewing her, Britain's Gerri Peev of The Scotsman, printed the comment anyway -- as she should have, because Peev had never agreed that any parts of the interview would be "off the record," and nobody has the right to demand unilaterally, and after the fact, that journalists keep their embarrassing remarks a secret.

"It's extremely likely, though, that had Power been speaking to a typical reporter from the American establishment media, her request to keep her comments a secret would have been honored. In one of the ultimate paradoxes, for American journalists -- whose role in theory is to expose the secrets of the powerful -- secrecy is actually their central religious tenet, especially when it comes to dealing with the most powerful. Protecting, rather than exposing, the secrets of the powerful is the fuel of American journalism. That's how they maintain their access to and good relations with those in power."

(snip)

If you read nothing else, at least look at the youtube video posted at the bottom of the page of Bush being interviewed by Irish TV:

"Bush also got blindsided in about 2004 by a determined interviewer on Irish TV, who was much less deferential than American journalists are. He's dumbfounded because it's not the model of journalism he's accustomed to. Very much worth watching.
Bush is used to sitting next to a warm fireplace while Brit Hume and Chris Wallace gaze lovingly at him, and he plainly didn't know what to do when faced with an actual reporter who doesn't have the very high standards which govern American political reporters."

[zabet]

1. Good article!

Tucker can get on my nerves
once in a while but every so
often he drops a jewel like
this.

[libbygurl]

2. Which is why one must check out the foreign media for the REAL news on the US!

The media here have just about abdicated their role as the fourth estate, becoming government propagandists pushing forth the interests of certain groups.