Tom Brokaw: a nonentity in the service of wealth and power (WSWS: 2004)

[oblivious]

Exit NBC anchor Tom Brokaw: a nonentity in the service of wealth and power
By David Walsh
6 December 2004

...While millions of people around the globe, including in the US, marched in the streets in February 2003 to protest the imminent illegal American invasion of Iraq, Brokaw was reporting from the northern frontier of Kuwait, extolling the virtues of “a new band of brothers preparing for the first war of the 21st century.”

...Of course, aside from supporting the general interests of American capitalism, Brokaw and his NBC crew at times have an even more specific, although unmentioned agenda. It has been noted that when Brokaw and his colleagues praise the performance of the F/A-18 Hornet jet, for instance, they fail to note that NBC’s parent company, General Electric, produces the engine for the aircraft.

...Brokaw’s integrity and seriousness as a journalist might be measured in the following manner. How many interviews did he conduct from March 2003 until his retirement with opponents of the Iraq war? Despite the widespread opposition in the American population to the invasion, we feel safe in saying that Brokaw did not carry out a single in-depth conversation with a critic of Bush administration policy. Such interviews would not be “news.” On the other hand, he has provided a friendly platform on numerous occasions over the years for that reactionary blowhard Rush Limbaugh.

...In an interview several years ago, he revealed his profoundly anti-democratic conceptions, asserting that cyberspace should be managed for younger audiences. “We can’t let that generation and a whole segment of the population just slide away out to the Internet and retrieve what information it wants without being in on it,” he declared. “I also believe strongly that the Internet works best when there are gatekeepers. When there are people making determinations and judgments about what information is relevant and factual and useful. Otherwise, it’s like going to the rainforest and just seeing a green maze.” Bring on the Thought Police!
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/dec2004/brok-d06.shtml

The Nuremberg tribunal and the role of the media

The prosecution went on: “For the correct definition of the role of defendant Hans Fritzsche it is necessary, firstly, to keep clearly in mind the importance attached by Hitler and his closest associates (as Goering, for example) to propaganda in general and to radio propaganda in particular. This was considered one of the most important and essential factors in the success of conducting an aggressive war.”

In Hitler’s Germany, the reply to the verdict continues, “propaganda was invariably a factor in preparing and conducting acts of aggression and in training the German populace to accept obediently the criminal enterprises of German fascism. ...

“The basic method of the Nazi propagandistic activity lay in the false presentation of facts. ... The dissemination of provocative lies and the systematic deception of public opinion were as necessary to the Hitlerites for the realization of their plans as were the production of armaments and the drafting of military plans. Without propaganda, founded on the total eclipse of the freedom of press and of speech, it would not have been possible for German Fascism to realize its aggressive intentions, to lay the groundwork and then to put to practice the war crimes and the crimes against humanity. In the propaganda system of the Hitler State it was the daily press and the radio that were the most important weapons.”
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/apr2003/nure-a16_prn.shtml

[ariellyn]

1. Good information. That anti-internet reference is startling. nt

[Old and In the Way]

2. Interesting post and quote.

“I also believe strongly that the Internet works best when there are gatekeepers. When there are people making determinations and judgments about what information is relevant and factual and useful. Otherwise, it’s like going to the rainforest and just seeing a green maze.”

I just commented in another thread that Brokaw was, in some ways, more of a problem than the Rush Limbaugh's in our society. I hadn't read this article, but that quote just jumped out for me. We should never forget that under the guise of folksy centrism, Tom, and others like him, have helped the corporate elites engineer a bloodless coup on our democracy. Of course the internet is a threat to the Tom Brokaws; people might get more than one perspective on the news of the day and that can't be good for the parent corporation that has a vested interest in selling the war.

[oblivious]

9. Yes, he said it outright. I can imagine how many others in the elite think the same.

I can see them looking with admiration at how the Chinese govt is able to blatantly censor what people are allowed to see on the Internet.

Scary guy. And to think of how much control he had over the years about what Americans were allowed to see.

And not see.

[quispquake]

3. Haven't paid any attention to him since Marina Oswald interview...

WORST interview I EVER saw on the MSM (pre-Shrub). He wouldn't let her get a word in edgewise about anything she wanted to talk about, and kept badgering her with some book that supported the lone shooter (Oswald) theory...and I mean badgering her...she actually walked off the interview...

That was it for me and Brokaw...

[Benhurst]

4. Even his recent foray into the problem of global warming strikes

a false note. Where was he during all the years he sat as the head of NBC News, simpering whenever Gore was criticized for taking a stand on what quite probably is the gravest issue ever to face mankind?

The man is a corporate stooge and an ass who deserves nothing but contempt.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

5. K & R. Brokaw was one the most...

...energetic cheerleaders for BushCo in the leadup to the war. His credibility is zero.

[peacetalksforall]

6. That is an amazing assessment of Brokaw. It fits mine perfectly.

I cannot bear to look at or listen to the man. What angers me the most is the morphing he appeared to do. He went from a journalist to a right wing corporate hack man. I don't know what it is that angers me as much as it does, but I feel more awful about someone like Brokaw was was or pretended to be more journalistic (read neutral) and ended up a 100% hack man. He makes me angrier than Michelle Malkin who was created and groomed for her role from the start. I know there is no comparison between Brokaw and Malkin for experience, but I'm not sure which serial xxxxcaster compares because I don't know the past of some of the others. A person can only mention Rather or Jennings if comparing experience. They all morphed to a greater or lesser extent.

I know they needed to morph because they wanted the money and security from their right wing corporate owners, but how does anyone do it as well has he did - he's as passionate and loyal to the right wing cause as someone born into it and that's why I think of Malkin.

The entire concept of morphing is absolutely fascinating and equally disgusting.

I wonder if this has happened in other countries, in any case, it has happened in the U.S. with xxxxcasters sliding into the wh pocket with slick ease.

Brokaw, for me, represents the ultimate in disloyalty.

Thanks for posting this person's opinion. He's right on.

[baldguy]

7. Not "band of brothers" but "kameraden"

[partylessinOhio]

8. FU, Brokaw. You are just another useless POS like *.

The internet saved my life. So you keep your hands off what information I can or cannot have.

(I absolutely could not stand or sit up. The doctors did not know what was wrong with me. I received an email from Intelihealth with my major symptom in the subject line. I opened that email and followed the link to the diagnosis of my illness. It was then confirmed by the closest physician treating it 120 miles away.)

[tbyg52]

10. “I also believe strongly that the Internet works best when there are gatekeepers.

Best for WHOM, you jerk?!

Edited to add:
And a "Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?" to you!

[malaise]

11. Great post

When he proudly talked yesterday about the free trips for his family, he had no idea what he was really saying about himself.