Coward Dan Rather-tells the truth about */war/911 on BBC-Audio stream

[Room101]

Dan Rather is a piece of sheep shit choosing to tell the truth on the over side of the electronic Berlin wall.:puke:

We in America have the greatest propaganda system ever devised.

BBCaudio
<snip>
On my BBC television show, Newsnight, an American journalist confessed that, since the 9/11 attacks, US reporters are simply too afraid to ask the uncomfortable questions that could kill careers: "It's an obscene comparison, but there was a time in South Africa when people would put flaming tires around people's necks if they dissented. In some ways, the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck," Dan Rather said. Without his makeup, Rather looked drawn, old and defeated in confessing that he too had given in. "It's that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions and to continue to bore in on the tough questions so often."

Investigators were ordered to "back off" from any inquiries into Saudi Arabian financing of terror networks.

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=220&row=1

[still_one]

1. Hey, he has courage to come out

and tell it like it is. I do not see anyone else from the mainstream press doing that

[whatelseisnew]

12. BBC is foreign press, not mainstream, most US don't see it

[gandalf]

15. Yes, but too late again. That is systematic.

[kysrsoze]

2. Uhhhh, remember when he interviewed Hussein?

Rather has pointed out a lot of the B.S. that has gone on in the past 3 years. It's just that no one over here bothers to listen.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

3. All I can say is this:

Edward R. Murrow must be spinning like a top in his grave and I don't think Walter Cronkite would be very sympathetic to Dan Rather either.

[Gman]

4. The one thing Rather is not...

is a coward. Not by any stretch. Rather has nothing to prove. There's no doubt he's on our side.

[Room101]

5. Did you listen to the interview?

Rather looked drawn, old and defeated in confessing that he too had given in. "It's that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions and to continue to bore in on the tough questions so often." =COWARD!

[Gman]

17. No, I didn't but...

Rather doesn't have a thing to prove to me. Maybe we forget so soon how as recently as 2001 Rather pissed off the RW when he was the featured speaker in Austin at a ritzy Democratic Party fund raiser. (And, damn, I was offered a ticket and I still regret I couldn't be there!) Rather's attendance drove the freepers nuts for several weeks.

Rather is ours.

[michael_j_martin]

6. No job, no voice

Dan is not in control of what he says on air. Nor can he be blamed for not saying the things that should be aired in this country. He works for a company that is cow towing to the administration and mass public opinion.

The Saudi connection to 9-11 and Al Qida have been known for years. The Bush administration protecting oil interests is nothing new either. What should really aggravate you is that NOBODY in America cares.

Even if Dan got up in front of the whole country and said "the Bush administration is actively covering up for the Saudis so we can plot a war in Iraq", nobody would care. That is what the rest of the world (myself included) cannot understand about this country.

[maggrwaggr]

9. I think you're wrong. People would care if they were told

but they're not being told because too many people have the attitude like you: "don't bother, people won't care"

That's as bad as cowardice.

[truthspeaker]

10. Dan IS in control of what he says

He doesn't have to say what they tell him.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

19. You're right--what does he have to fear?

He's old, he's rich, and he's respected by Middle America. If he got fired for speaking the truth, he would not end up on the streets and could keep a nice income stream coming by going on the lecture circuit.

[alittlelark]

21. Perhaps he would fear for his family

:shrug:

[michael_j_martin]

23. Sure he is

You're right. Dan could stop reading his TelePrompter and start speaking his mind; for about 5 seconds. Then his mic would be cut, a commercial would play over his face and at best he would be walked out the front door by security. Depending on what he said, he might wake up on the 13th floor of a loony bin with a Thorazine drip surgically attached to his arm. But you are right, he could speak his mind.

[Piperay]

7. Terrible the way

the press has been muzzled, they should do everything they can (at least subtly) to rid us of chimp and his minions like asscrack.

[PCIntern]

8. Maybe many/most people don't care because they're narcissistic

and if it doesn't bother them directly, then they just don't give a damn.
"It's the economy, stupid" while successful for our buddy Bill, was a terrible indictment of Americans. What else can explain that the only reason that Ohio is in play in 2003 is that there exists a job loss of monumental proportions there. Unfortunately, I believe that the vast number of Americans just don't care if they're lied to - funny thing is, it worked for us with the Clinton sex business - nobody cared: doesn't everyone lie, especially about sex and marriage? That was the argument, valid I guess.

I think we expect too much of people - we expect humanism, altruism, and caring. We can see this on an individual basis daily, but collectively, I don't think that groups comprising the majority manifest these behaviors consistently.

Getting old and increasingly cynical and, I guess, depressed.

[Q]

11. Rather is suffering from the "I Got Mine" syndrome...

...where those who have everything they need don't feel obligated to put their careers on the line for the common good. He's in the wrong profession.

[PCIntern]

13. Re: Rather

He was vaguely heroic during Watergate - taking on Nixon in the way that he did, but his weird manner of qualifying every sentence he states is impossible to listen to. "What's the frequency, Kenneth" was the beginning of the peculiar use of English. since then, he's so cautious that it's painful.

[Ripley]

14. I don't know, if I was sent Anthrax...

I might shut up too. His secretary got really sick and almost died from anthrax sent to him. I think he deserves a little break.

Can't speak for Jennings, etc. They couldn't all have been threatened with a deadly poison. Money keeps them quiet I think. Except for Blitzkrieg...now he is a real Nazi. He enjoys his work. :puke:

[JohnOneillsMemory]

18. Agreed. The press and Congress were terrorized. And it worked. n/t

[SoCalDem]

16. The days of real journalism are .......G O N E

It's about recognition, money, power and job security..

There was a time when the newer journalists were eager to prove themselves and since they were usually given pedestrian issues and stories to cover,they begged for and actually sniffed out their own stories, hoping to "make a name" for themselves..

The "older" guys feared being bumped off the ladder by the eager young reporters, so THEY dug deeper too.. It was a win-win for the public..

There was true competition between the rival papers (most towns had at LEAST two..

TRUTH was a commodity............No more....

Reporters are CHOSEN because they are eager to please their bosses, willing to work for very little at the beginning, and depending on how well they toe the company line, they will advance..

With no real competition anymore, they have nowhere to go if the say something bold or controversial. The papers they work for are all under a few parent organizations that are run by people who have a distinct AGENDA.. There is very little choice for them..

Broadcast media is the same way, often owned by the same conglomerates..

News used to be a totally separate area of a network's holdings.. They were not expected to be "profitable". Bureaus were all over the world, and NEWS was all they did.. Once the entertainment side took them over, they were under the same constraints as a sitcom.. Happy,fun news and chit-chat is easier to sell to advertisers than "gloom & doom", so we get force fed McNews...

Richard Mellon-Scaife was the prime mover behind the Clinton Inquistion.. Google his name + news... Do the same for Murdoch.. Then ask yourself this question.. Would a truly unbiased investigative "news-hound" be welcomed by either organization??

GE (munitions & military contractor) owns NBC.. are they likely to want their news people to report on stuff like graft and corruption in the pentagon budget??

Viacom owns CBS (and a zillion other media outlets).. Would they be eager to report on censorship issues and the ills of media consolidation??

Disney owns ABC (and a lot of cable venues).. Would they welcome the discussion of union beefs against big business??

He who pays the piper , calls the tune....

We can only sit and listen to the off-key music:(

[Lydia Leftcoast]

20. By the way, did anyone hear Cronkite talk about Morrow on NPR?

It was the 50th anniversary of Edward R. Morrow's expose of Joe McCarthy on his See It Now program, and Cronkite was giving the background on it, how Morrow let McCarthy condemn himself by relying entirely on film clips of the senator. Morrow did not let the high mucky-mucks at CBS see the script of the program before it was broadcast. There was a distinct undertone of, "Hey, you young journalists. This is how it's done. Grow some spine and people will be talking about you fifty years from now."

Also interesting was McCarthy's response to the Morrow program. As Cronkite noted, he followed Machiavelli's advice of defending himself by going on the offensive. The audio clip demonstrated that right wing talking points haven't changed much in 50 years.

I don't normally listen to the radio on the Internet, so I don't have a link, but I'm sure it's on the All Things Considered website.

[eissa]

22. I disagree

I actually think it's quite courageous for him to admit what we've (at least here on DU) always known. It's not easy to place your head on the chopping block, which is what happened to anyone who dared question this administration post 9/11. I think we're finally getting to that point where we can criticize the many faults of this "president" without fear of major reprisal.