Following FAIR's call for more mainstream coverage of the "smoking gun
memo"--the secret British document containing new evidence that the Bush
administration manipulated intelligence to justify its plan to invade Iraq--a
steady trickle of news reports have appeared. But that coverage has been
downplayed in general and is still completely absent from the nightly news.
<....>
While the memo has begun to get wider coverage in print, broadcasters have
maintained a near silence on the issue. The story has turned up in a few short
CNN segments (Crossfire, 5/13/05; Live Sunday, 5/15/05; Wolf Blitzer Reports,
5/16/05), but the only mention of the memo FAIR found on the major broadcast
networks came on ABC's Sunday morning show This Week (5/15/05), in which host
George Stephanopoulos questioned Sen. John McCain about its contents. When
McCain declared that he didn't "agree with it" and defended the Bush
administration's decision to go to war, Stephanopoulos didn't question him
further. A look at the nightly news reveals not a single story aired about the
memo and its implications.
When finally questioned by CNN (5/16/05), White House press secretary Scott
McClellan claimed he hadn't seen the memo, but that "the reports" about it were
"flat-out wrong." British government officials, however, did not dispute the
contents of the memo--which can be read in full online at
http://downingstreetmemo.com/ --and a former senior American official called it
"an absolutely accurate description of what transpired" (Knight Ridder, 5/6/05).
This letter from FAIR today reminded me how hard we've worked here to get coverage by the papers, CNN and MSNBC among others for this disturbing story. The next step is to get it on the nightly news, which polls show more Americans still get their news from.
Let's make one final push to get this out, people. It's always better to call in person, so here are the phone #'s:
CONTACT:
ABC World News Tonight
Phone: 212-456-4040
CBS Evening News
Phone: 212-975-3691
NBC Nightly News
Phone: 212-664-4971
PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
Phone: 703-739-5000
If you prefer EMAIL though, just paste this into your 'bcc:' slot:
evening@cbsnews.com, PeterJennings@abcnews.com, nightly@nbc.com, newshour@pbs.org
Please don't let this important story be forgotten y'all. Im so f-ing proud of all of us!