September 6, 2005
IMAGINE ALL THE PEOPLE
WHO MIGHT STILL BE ALIVE
HAD THE CORPORATE MEDIA NOT BETRAYED THEM!
A TvNewsLIES.org Accusation
Contributing Editor - TvNewsLIES.org - 5-September-2005
There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and to shame the devil. - Walter Lippman
A SINGLE MOMENT OF TRUTH
Mouths
are agape and praises are flowing. Applause and accolades are
heard everywhere. Imagine! Just imagine! For the first time in five years, a handful of reporters and television pundits actually told the truth.
For the first time in five years, the evidence was so clear and the
consequences so shocking, that a few corporate news people who were
witness to the horror that followed Katrina, actually found their own voices.
For
the first time in five years, the Bush administration was publicly
accused of being inept and dangerous and deceptive. Finally, some
reporters who could no longer deny the obvious simply refused to play
the White House game. For a brief moment in time, American television
viewers heard the hard questions and learned the damaging truth about a
painful and devastating disaster from the corporate sycophants
themselves.
And
guess what? In the wake of this terrible tragedy, the likes of
Tim Russert, Shepard Smith, Geraldo Rivera, Jack Cafferty Anderson
Cooper and yes, even Paula Zahn, were transformed into instant heroes. Why, because they were actually honest with the public? Why,
because they refused to toe the corporate line and give George Bush
another uncontested pass? Why, because on this one occasion they
did what they should have been doing for the past five years? Exactly.
Only it’s too little, too late.
Thousands are dead in Louisiana because no one asked questions when
they should have been asked. All of the hoopla is taking place
after the fact. And therein lies the greater horror. In the
past few years, so many lives might have been saved, not only in New
Orleans – but in so many parts of the world, had the media only raised
the questions they was morally obligated to ask. The dead are dead, and
they had no one in the corporate media to champion them. The
silence of the news networks has been shamefully deafening and will
remain predictably so for a long time.
But
for a moment, imagine the numbers of people who might have lived had
the corporate media not betrayed them. Imagine what might have been had
George Bush and his band of thugs been confronted at every turn by the
hard questions that should have been asked by honorable
journalists? Just imagine what might have been if this administration had been held accountable for its lies and deceptions by
the news networks and the press corps. Imagine how many thousands of
people might still be alive. Imagine how many maimed bodies might still
be whole. Imagine how much suffering might have been avoided. Just
imagine.
YEARS OF BETRAYAL
There
is so much, it can’t all be told here. There’s no time to retrace the
way it all got started during the disgraceful election of 2000. But we
can start with the attacks that horrified the nation and the world on 9/11.
What if the right questions had been asked back then? What if fear and
intimidation had not paralyzed the mainstream media? What if they
had acted as watchdogs instead of our lapdogs? What if the media had
demanded the truth instead of becoming complicit in the lies?
What if? What if?
What
if people in the corporate media back then had exhibited the kind of
backbone we saw coming out of New Orleans? What if these ersatz
journalists had mustered the real courage that was needed to
investigate the discrepancies and the distortions about 9/11 and its
aftermath that were coming out of the White House? What if they had
challenged the dangerous lies of the warmongers who used 9/11 as a tool to catapult us into Iraq? What if?
What
if someone, somewhere in some news network had refused to swallow the
distortions then as they did now? What if even one reporter had
demanded that the President, his handlers, or his hired guns answer the
questions that the American people had the right to know? What if
someone, somewhere in some news network had bothered to investigate and
reveal even a minimal amount of truth to the American people? What if?
What
if there had never been a war against Iraq because the truth had been
exposed? What if a single corporate news network had challenged the lies about WMD’s and the Iraq - Al Qaeda connection? What if someone had revealed the PNAC pre-9/11 war plans and had exposed PNAC members in high positions in the Bush administration?
What if even one corporate news network had refused be a cheerleader
for "Operation Iraqi Freedom?" What if even one corporate journalist
had publicly questioned the legality of an unprovoked invasion of a
sovereign nation? And what if only one honest investigative
reporter had stood up and denounced the "shock and awe" bombing of a
vibrant, populated city of innocents? What if?
What
if the lies had been reported and as a result, carte blanche war powers
had not been given to George Bush? What if there had been no war? What
if there had been no beheadings, no road side bombs, - no insurgency
and no increase in terrorism? What if there had been no horrific
torture of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan and Guantanamo? And what
if Halliburton
and the Carlyle group had not profited so handsomely from the
destruction their friends in Washington had designed. What if?
What
if tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians were still alive? And
what if thousands more had healthy, unscarred bodies? And what if more
than 2000 American and coalition troops were still alive? And what if thousands in the military were whole again in body and in mind? What if? Really, what if?
WHO WILL SHAME THE DEVIL?
Don’t get your hopes up. It won’t be the corporate media.
Even as this is being written, the blame is already shifting in
aftermath of Katrina. The Bush administration is throwing the onus of
ineptitude onto the local authorities in Louisiana and many in the
corporate media are going along with the ruse. At this very moment some reporters have taken to drawn military press releases rather than filing firsthand reports.
As
this is being written, for all intents and purposes there is no war in
Iraq, and as this is being written, no one is dying because of the lies
and deceptions that the media refuse to challenge.
The
complicity continues as before despite the momentary variance we saw
this week. Not a single corporate news network reported that August was
the deadliest month for American troops this year. Not a single news
network tallies military deaths or reports the number of Iraqis who die
each day because of this insane war. Not one has mentioned the
deadly raids on civilians in Talafar. Not one.
So,
who will shame the devil? Don’t get your hopes up. The
momentary outcry in New Orleans was an anomaly, not a trend. It was an
emotional response to unimaginable suffering that could not be denied
by those who saw it up close. That’s all it was.
Understand
that there were clear warnings about the vulnerability of the levees.
Scientists and engineers informed the administration that New Orleans
was a disaster waiting to happen. The
media never reported on the Bush administration’s numberous
manipulations and or suppression of scientific data in reports ranging
from environmental toxins to global warming!
But the media loyally promoted Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy at the
same time that funds for strengthening levees were drastically reduced.
What if someone in the White House had been asked to justify the
insanity of such an action? The media never asked the questions and so many people died. What if they had asked the question? Dammit, what if?
What
if questions had been asked? What if something had been
done? What if one reporter had investigated the background of a failed horse show director who became the head FEMA? What if someone in Washington had to explain that appointment? The media never asked the question. What if they had, - might some people be alive today? What if?
And
of course, there were very clear warnings that the war in Iraq was a
hoax perpetrated by PNAC and our oilmen In the WH for their own
purposes. No matter, UN inspectors and their pleas for more time were
mocked by the media. Former generals, statesmen and historians
who warned against the folly of an invasion were ignored. Even as it
became clear that no threat from Saddam Hussein existed, the media
joined the march to war with a vengeance. They became shills for PNAC
and whores for ratings. What if they had retained an iota of
decency? What if?
Had
the corporate media shamed the devil from day one, so many people might
be alive today. The war against Iraq, like flooding of New Orleans,
need never have happened. So much suffering, so much death and so
much destruction might have been avoided if questions had been asked in
time and if truthful answers had been demanded. But they were not
asked, and even the simplest truth has yet to emerge.
WE CAN SHAME THE DEVIL
The
task then, is up to us. We, alone, must try to shame the devil.
At this very moment, because there has been a crack in the wall of
silence, we have an opening to do just that. For the first time ever,
there was outrage, there was horror, and there was rebellion in the
ranks of the corporate media. Surely it was impulsive and
unplanned, but it was real. We can take advantage of this momentary
glitch in their armor and storm the media Bastille in its moment of
weakness.
The
time is September 24th, 2005. The place is Washington, DC.
The goal is to show the nation and the world that we will no longer
allow this administration, with the complicity of the media, to
continue on its path of failure and destruction. The corporate news
media will be in attendance, and we can challenge them wherever we see
them.
Ask
THEM the questions they should have asked. Record their answers, or
their evasions. Film the media as they film the protesters. Challenge their silence. Challenge their betrayal. Carry signs that expose the media for the culprits they are. Accuse them of their betrayal and demand that they start asking the questions they have avoided for all this time. LET THEM KNOW YOU KNOW WHAT THEY ARE and LET THE NATION AND THE WORLD KNOW WHAT THEY HAVE DONE! We can do it. We really can.
And watch for us at the rally. Come over and say 'hello.’ We’ll be wearing T-shirt that let the world know that the Corporate Media is America’s #1 Enemy! You can be sure that TvNewsLIES
will continue to fight corporate media deception whenever we see it.
But just imagine what might happen if all of us worked together to win
that fight.
What
if more and more news people were to break ranks and join the truth
seekers? What if more news people began to ask the questions that must
be answered? What if they refused to go along with the talking
points and began to tell the truth? What if that actually
happened? What if? Just imagine….what if?
EDITOR’S NOTE: The
corporate media have spent the past 5 years telling you to be scared.
They have distracted you with the PNAC/Miltary Industrial Complex fairy
that a group of cave dwellers are a greater threat to you than cancer,
global warming, environmental toxins and of course hurricanes. They
have mesmerized you with the fairy tale that is the official conspiracy
theory of 9/11. They have distracted you with celebrity trials,
personal tragedy such as husbands murdering wives and runaway brides;
stories that would be vanquished to the covers of supermarket tabloids
in days past when real journalists were dominating the broadcast news.
They have left you in the dark about the immoral greed involved in
every single bill passed by Congress. The corporate media have blood on
their hands. Had they done their job we would know what our leaders
have been up to and perhaps we could have stopped the criminals who now
own our nation’s government and use it for the greedy personal
purposes. One burst of humanity does not absolve the media of their
complicity in the crimes of the corporate government of the Unites
States.
- America, Be Not Proud
- FROM THE EDITOR’S BLOG - We will no doubt see a lot of political
congratulations, praise and tributes to the many people who will take
part in the effort to normalize the lives of the people displaced by
Katrina and many of us will feel a newborn pride in our nation because
of this. Don’t be fooled, we have a long way to go before America
should be proud. While CEOs of corporations in America earn more that
400 times the salary of their average employee, people in this nation
go hungry.