…is the first step towards correcting the problem….Washington Post hasn’t quite gotten *there* yet.  The media was absolutely culpable for instilling fear into the public and credibility into the Bush Administration where no credibility existed.

What’s worse is that they are still giving air time to Cheney, et al, as if this guy has any credibility at all.

From the New York Times:

Most notably, Mr. Cheney defends his position on Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, the Iraq war and the use of waterboarding with his usual aplomb and deft obfuscation. Other key players, including George W. Bush, have acknowledged mistakes and expressed dismay over decisions that proved misguided. Mr. Cheney says he did nothing wrong and has no regrets.

~~~~~

One incident is almost chilling. Barton Gellman, a journalist and the author of a Cheney biography, recounts how in 2004 Mr. Cheney fought Justice Department lawyers who had determined that the top-secret, warrantless surveillance program that he had pushed for was illegal. Mr. Cheney was so insistent on keeping the wiretaps going that he kept Mr. Bush, then in his re-election campaign, out of the loop until the 11th hour, when two dozen Justice Department lawyers and the F.B.I. director threatened to resign

~~~~~~~~~~

And let’s not forget the profit factor for Cheney.  More here.  Blood on your hands, Dick.

Here’s a good article on those that were promoting the Iraq War through the media.  They use powerful words and the “if you’re not with us, you’re against us…or a fool….”  Hard to go against the grain when put in that context…I tried talking with a friend about it, but she was military and absolutely refused to believe that there was any doubt there were WMD’s.  They wouldn’t lie to her….

The media is very powerful in influencing people.  And the fact that Ronnie Reagan removed the Fairness Doctrine has had huge impacts in our ability to get both sides of a story in order to flush out the truth.  The press is no longer obligated by law to present the whole picture instead of something that suits them.  The fact that in my community there are nothing but rightwing radio announcers is testament to how unfair and unbalanced our media is…

Not only Reagan, but Clinton allowed media consolidation.   The media owners get to promote their own political views and world views without having to air the opposing side’s views.

From the article:

(This is my beef, also, about what happened in Fort Wayne last June–save for one station on Friday night, there was no live broadcast talking about the super storm.  NO ONE was live on the air on the next day, Saturday, telling people where they could go for cooling stations, when the power would be back on, how many people were affected (so folks would know that it was going to be awhile to get power and to plan accordingly.))

 

January 18, 2002

A train carrying hazardous materials derails at 1:30 a.m. in Minot, North Dakota, spilling 210,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonia in an incident federal regulators call “catastrophic”. Clear Channel Communications owns six out the seven commercial stations in Minot. Minot authorities say when they called with the warning about the toxic cloud, there was no one on the air who could’ve made the announcement. Clear Channel says someone was there who could have activated an emergency broadcast. But Minot police say nobody answered the phones.