Thursday, September 16, 2004
Where's the Real Story, CBS?
Finally. Dan Rather's peers begin to admit what nearly everyone else already knew: CBS reportage of almost everything comes from a left-of-center POV.
WWMD (What Would Murrow Do?)
The current document mess over at the "The Eye" is downright laughable.
What is not laughable is its back story. The multi-generational copies of the fake National Guard correspondence came to Mary Mapes, the producer of 60 Minutes, from a Kinko FAX machine in Abilene, Texas. Purportedly, a man named Bill Burkett is responsible. Evidently, Burkett, an ex-Guardsman, had bad feelings for President Bush and his supervisor, Jerry Killian. The issue of President Bush's guard service was raised during the Texas governor's race. Years and years ago.
Not satisfied that people are smart enough to figure things out, Rather and CBS carelessly threw this recycled story together, with a few special added effects, in an effort to brand the president a fake. Once and for all.
They also got the unit's secretary (they tried to pass her off as Killian's personal secretary) to say that the contents of the fake document were true. Check this woman's political affiliation, please. What a mean-spirited, gossipy little person she turned out to be. She coyly announced ("don't tell anyone I said this, but...") a couple of times that Lt. Bush thought he was above everyone else. It was politics and class warfare at its Texas best.
In the meantime, I'll bet my Dodger season tickets (actually, I don't have any. But if I did...) that the old boys like Ben Barnes, Texas' ex-lieutenant governor who admitted he gave favors to the president to keep him out of Vietnam, are scurrying to their nests about now. If there is a connection to the DNC and Terry McAuliffe, the story will blossom into a full-fledged effort to defraud the electorate during a presidential election. My kingdom for their phone records!
Speaking of broken laws, why is Ben Barnes excluded from criticism for his own claims he granted favors to keep Lt. Bush out of Vietnam? I wonder how many other "privileged" young men to whom he, God-like, granted special favors. Where's the outrage? Oh, yeah. I forgot. Being a Democrat is never having to say you're sorry.
CBS and Dan Missed It
There's a hell of a story down in Texas.
If Rather had been doing his job, if he were still objective, he would have sought out who and what is behind the fake memos, regardless of the rumors. He has a duty to consider all sources, including in this case, the son and wife of Killian, who flatly and unconditionally denied the alleged memos were representative of Killian's management style or attitude towards Lt. Bush. To the contrary, Jerry Killian thought very highly of the future pres.
It Takes a Cybervillage
I wrote a novel about ten years ago titled "The Oath of the Fourth Estate." It's now a new work-in-progress while I convert it to a screen play.
Oath is about an jaded Washington newsman, J.C. Barnes, who gets by to fit in with the powerful media establishment. Still a bit of an idealist, he begins to feel increasingly uncomfortable as he feeds slanted news to his viewers.
It is not until he gets in touch with his J-School mentor, a famous print commentator/blogger, does he fully realize that his chosen profession has become nothing more than a democracy-killing, agenda-driven, self-serving propaganda machine who parrots worn out phrases and doublespeak disguised as news.
J.C. has a news flash of his own; he has become what he always hated. He then sheds his golden handcuffs and openly crusades to enlist help from his colleagues to strike a gentlemen's agreement--an oath which unifies the profession into a substantive, peer-monitoring body.
Redeemed, J.C. and his mentor rally scores of bloggers to claim the net, giving the exact same message Payne himself would have delivered. Hungry for truth, people respond by ignoring the old, and welcome the new, more trustworthy sources for news.
The powerful do not relinquish their positions easily. J.C., now a full-on enemy of the elite media establishment, becomes romantically involved with another media mogul, the daughter of a Rupert Murdoch-like character. Together, they risk their lives to save the Fourth Estate from turning into a Fifth Column.
What would Murrow do?
Thanks for the read.
WWMD (What Would Murrow Do?)
The current document mess over at the "The Eye" is downright laughable.
What is not laughable is its back story. The multi-generational copies of the fake National Guard correspondence came to Mary Mapes, the producer of 60 Minutes, from a Kinko FAX machine in Abilene, Texas. Purportedly, a man named Bill Burkett is responsible. Evidently, Burkett, an ex-Guardsman, had bad feelings for President Bush and his supervisor, Jerry Killian. The issue of President Bush's guard service was raised during the Texas governor's race. Years and years ago.
Not satisfied that people are smart enough to figure things out, Rather and CBS carelessly threw this recycled story together, with a few special added effects, in an effort to brand the president a fake. Once and for all.
They also got the unit's secretary (they tried to pass her off as Killian's personal secretary) to say that the contents of the fake document were true. Check this woman's political affiliation, please. What a mean-spirited, gossipy little person she turned out to be. She coyly announced ("don't tell anyone I said this, but...") a couple of times that Lt. Bush thought he was above everyone else. It was politics and class warfare at its Texas best.
In the meantime, I'll bet my Dodger season tickets (actually, I don't have any. But if I did...) that the old boys like Ben Barnes, Texas' ex-lieutenant governor who admitted he gave favors to the president to keep him out of Vietnam, are scurrying to their nests about now. If there is a connection to the DNC and Terry McAuliffe, the story will blossom into a full-fledged effort to defraud the electorate during a presidential election. My kingdom for their phone records!
Speaking of broken laws, why is Ben Barnes excluded from criticism for his own claims he granted favors to keep Lt. Bush out of Vietnam? I wonder how many other "privileged" young men to whom he, God-like, granted special favors. Where's the outrage? Oh, yeah. I forgot. Being a Democrat is never having to say you're sorry.
CBS and Dan Missed It
There's a hell of a story down in Texas.
If Rather had been doing his job, if he were still objective, he would have sought out who and what is behind the fake memos, regardless of the rumors. He has a duty to consider all sources, including in this case, the son and wife of Killian, who flatly and unconditionally denied the alleged memos were representative of Killian's management style or attitude towards Lt. Bush. To the contrary, Jerry Killian thought very highly of the future pres.
It Takes a Cybervillage
I wrote a novel about ten years ago titled "The Oath of the Fourth Estate." It's now a new work-in-progress while I convert it to a screen play.
Oath is about an jaded Washington newsman, J.C. Barnes, who gets by to fit in with the powerful media establishment. Still a bit of an idealist, he begins to feel increasingly uncomfortable as he feeds slanted news to his viewers.
It is not until he gets in touch with his J-School mentor, a famous print commentator/blogger, does he fully realize that his chosen profession has become nothing more than a democracy-killing, agenda-driven, self-serving propaganda machine who parrots worn out phrases and doublespeak disguised as news.
J.C. has a news flash of his own; he has become what he always hated. He then sheds his golden handcuffs and openly crusades to enlist help from his colleagues to strike a gentlemen's agreement--an oath which unifies the profession into a substantive, peer-monitoring body.
Redeemed, J.C. and his mentor rally scores of bloggers to claim the net, giving the exact same message Payne himself would have delivered. Hungry for truth, people respond by ignoring the old, and welcome the new, more trustworthy sources for news.
The powerful do not relinquish their positions easily. J.C., now a full-on enemy of the elite media establishment, becomes romantically involved with another media mogul, the daughter of a Rupert Murdoch-like character. Together, they risk their lives to save the Fourth Estate from turning into a Fifth Column.
What would Murrow do?
Thanks for the read.
