FEAR AND SILENCE IN AMERICAN MEDIA, DAN RATHER ADMITS

On BBC Newsnight on May 16, 2002, Rather talked candidly about how he and other journalists censor themselves. 

"There was a time in South Africa that people would put flaming tires around people's necks if they dissented," he said. "And 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. 

Now it is that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest questions, and to continue to bore in on the tough questions so often. 

And again, I am humbled to say, I do not except myself from this criticism."

ARE YOU AWARE THAT THE COURTS HAVE RULED THAT THE MEDIA CAN "LEGALLY" LIE TO US?

"In February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an assertion by FOX News that there is no rule against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States."

What is more appalling are the five major media outlets that filed briefs of Amici Curiae- or friend of FOX – to support FOX’s position: Belo Corporation, Cox Television, Inc., Gannett Co., Inc., Media General Operations, Inc., and Post-Newsweek Stations, Inc.
THAT IS BUT THE TIP OF THE PROVERBIAL ICEBERG.

WHEN FOX FIRED THOSE REPORTERS WHO REFUSED TO COVER UP THE TRUTH AND THEY CAME FORWARD WITH A PUBLIC STATEMENT, A LAWSUIT, AND PROVED THEIR CASE, HOW MANY WERE JUST GLAD THAT FOX GOT BUSTED?

[ADMITTEDLY, I WAS GLAD FOX GOT CAUGHT, BUT HATS OFF TO THOSE JOURNALISTS!]

Back in December of 1996, Jane Akre and her husband, Steve Wilson, were hired by FOX as a part of the Fox “Investigators” team at WTVT in Tampa Bay, Florida. 

In 1997 the team began work on a story about bovine growth hormone (BGH), a controversial substance manufactured by Monsanto Corporation. 

The couple produced a four-part series revealing that there were many health risks related to BGH and that Florida supermarket chains did little to avoid selling milk from cows treated with the hormone, despite assuring customers otherwise.

According to Akre and Wilson, the station was initially very excited about the series. 

But within a week, Fox executives and their attorneys wanted the reporters to use statements from Monsanto representatives that the reporters knew were false and to make other revisions to the story that were in direct conflict with the facts. Fox editors then tried to force Akre and Wilson to continue to produce the distorted story. When they refused and threatened to report Fox’s actions to the FCC, they were both fired.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA WINS...FOR NOW.

MORE AND MORE, JOURNALISTS ARE COMING FORWARD TO TELL US THE WAYS IN WHICH THEY ARE CENSORED AND HOW MAINSTREAM MEDIA WILL BEND OVER BACKWARD TO KEEP THEM FROM TELLING US THE TRUTH.

NEWS ANCHOR TELLS THE TRUTH ABOUT WHO REALLY OWNS AND CONTROLS AMERICA... MINUTE 3:13, THE SIMPLE TRUTH.

THE TEA ROOM SALUTES SUCH BRAVERY AND LOOKS FORWARD TO FINDING MORE SUCH MEN WHO WILL LOOK INTO CAMERAS AND JUST TELL US THE WHOLE TRUTH.

Aug 24, 2012: Dan Rather speaks out in a candid, one-on-one interview with The Guardian's Gary Younge in which he reveals the disturbing truth about the corporatization of mainstream news media, the corruption, how deep it runs, how it is signaling the demise of true investigative journalism, and WHY YOU SHOULD CARE. 

DR: "What's changed is that.. any reference to public interest has just about disappeared. And that's a signal change. That's a big change."

GY: "Do you consider that a violation of the public trust?"

DR: "I do. I do consider it a violation of the public trust."

DR: "What's happened in the banking industry, in the insurance industry, the health care and hospital industry.. has also infected the news industry. Which is today, having said, that any talk of operating a news operation as a public trust has all but disappeared. 

That.. and I'm pausing only because.. I apologize, for this language is necessary..

VERY BIG business is in BED with BIG power in Washington.. for 'their' mutual interest, not in the 'public' interest.. in 'their' interest. The large conglomerates who operate on a worldwide basis and for whom news is only a very small part of their overall business. Consolidation of media in this country has reached the point where, no more than six.. my count is four, of these conglomerates control something more than 80% of the true national distribution of news in this country. 

Now that's important because the leaders of these very large corporations, they have business that they want out of the powers that be in Washington.. whether Washington be led at any given time by Republicans or Democrats. 

And of course, those in power in Washington want things from the leaders of the corporations. They'd like to have sweetheart coverage, at the very least they don't want reporters mucking around, digging deep and exposing malfeasance, if not something worse. 

So, that's the point we've reached today and, yes i do think this is a violation of the public trust, and i do think it's important not just for journalists and journalism, but for the public at large to understand what has happened, why it has happened and why they should care about it.

...an example would be, that in the case one of the large American networks was until very recently, owned by a company that did a lot of the defense contracting business. A huge part of their overall corporate business. They were competing for contracts. They certainly did not want any deep digging into how contracts were awarded.. and you saw very little coverage of that. In fact, almost none."

RATHER, AS DO MANY, LOOKS BACK WITH BLURRED VISION AT HIS OWN COMPLICITY IN DELIVERING LESS THAN THE TRUTH.
HE, AS MOST, WOULD HAVE US FORGET MUCH AND EXCUSE MORE, THEIR FAILURES, THEIR WILLING PARTICIPATION IN OBSCURING FACTUAL INFORMATION.

RATHER WAS NEVER A FAVORITE OF MINE, BUT WALTER CRONKITE WAS...UNTIL HE HIMSELF BEGAN ADMITTING SOME OF THE "LITTLE LIES" HE TOLD THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS ADDED TO THAT LIST OF "LITTLE WHITE LIES" THE BIG ONES THAT WE WERE TOLD DURING CRONKITE'S "GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION JOURNALISM".
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY'S BIOGRAPHY OF CROKITE, WHICH HE TITLED "CRONKITE", EXPOSES MUCH BUT OFFERS PARDON WHERE NONE IS DUE.

EVEN THE "MIGHTY" CAN FALL, AND I STILL ADMIRE CRONKITE'S ABILITY TO DELIVER THE NEWS, MUCH AS I ADMIRE THE POWER IN THE VOICE AND THE HYPNOTIC CADENCE OF ADOLF HITLER'S SPEECHES.

DOESN'T EVEN LOATHING CARRY WITH IT FRAGMENTS OF, IF NOT ADMIRATION, THEN A SMALL SENSE OF WONDERMENT?
AS I WROTE ON THE TOPIC OF "THE WAR OF INFORMATION, DISINFORMATION IN AMERICA", "I cannot name ONE "major news source" that has NOT been caught in either outright lies, manipulation of facts, or making up stories that turned out to be pure bunk. 
Time and time again they are exposed for their false journalism, yet the majority of Americans STILL have to see it in THEIR favorite media before they can accept it. 
Isn't that amazing?"

AMAZING...OR ARE AMERICANS MERELY CONDITIONED TO "HEAR AND OBEY"?

WE KNOW WE'VE BEEN LIED TO BUT WE CLING TO THAT WHICH SUITS US BEST...THE AGE-OLD "LESSER OF TWO EVILS" JOKE...ALL EVIL IS EVIL, PERIOD, THE END.

BRIAN WILLIAMS WAS RECENTLY "LET GO" BY NBC BECAUSE OF HIS ON-CAMERA LIES.

THE REALITY IS, NBC WAS COMPLICIT IN THAT, BUT WILLIAMS DESERVED WHAT CAME OF THAT "REVELATION".

IF THE OTHER NETWORKS FOLLOWED SUIT, WE'D HAVE NO TV JOURNALISTS.

A QUICK GOOGLE SEARCH OF "JOURNALIST FIRED FOR TELLING THE TRUTH" WILL SHOW YOU WHAT, PERHAPS, RATHER HOPED TO GET ACROSS TO US ABOUT "FEAR AND SILENCE"?

HOW CONGRESS REACTS TO ITS WHISTLEBLOWERS, WITH OUTRAGE AND MUDSLINGING AGAINST ALL FROM THEIR OWN RANKS WHO HAVE BECOME SO ASHAMED OF WHAT GOES ON BEHIND CLOSED CONGRESSIONAL DOORS THAT THEY HAVE GONE BEFORE THE AMERICAN PUBLIC WITH CRIES OF "WAKE UP, AMERICA!", SHOULD SHOW ANYONE WHO CARES TO SEE JUST WHAT TELLING THE TRUTH GETS THOSE WHO DO, OR TRY TO. 

WELL, IT ISN'T JUST CONGRESS THAT BEATS THE HELL OUT OF THEIR WHISTLEBLOWERS ALL OVER MAINSTREAM MEDIA!
Because Justice Department rules limit how and to whom whistleblowers can report agency retaliation, a “significant portion” of complaints are dismissed before any attempt is made to address them, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.
[I don't want anyone to miss that GAO report linked above so here is the url:
http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/668055.pdf]
“In 14 years as an FBI agent, I had never been asked to look the other way when I saw a violation of federal law,” Michael German said in testimony before Congress in 2006. “I reported this violation to my superiors, and that is when my journey in the labyrinth began.”
[HIS TESTIMONY CAN BE READ AT http://fas.org/irp/congress/2006_hr/whistle.html]Nearly every other executive agency allows its staff to disclose wrongdoing to their superiors, the media, Congress, the Office of Special Counsel, their agency inspectors general and “others,” but the FBI forces its whistleblowers to file complaints only to a set of designated offices, the report said. 

HOW MANY MORE BRIEF ARTICLES ON HOW AGENCIES LIKE THE FDA, THE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION, THE EPA, THE NRC, "HOMELAND SECURITY", FEMA, ALL OF THEM HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATED AND PROVEN TO HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN WRONGDOING WILL IT TAKE BEFORE AMERICANS CAN ALLOW THEMSELVES TO ACCEPT THAT THE MEDIA MAY MAKE PASSING COMMENTS BUT NEVER GOES FOR THE THROAT OF ANY AGENCY?
AFTER ALL, NOTHING HAS CHANGED, HAS IT?

MAINSTREAM MEDIA IS CONTROLLED BY THE SAME ONES WHO CONTROL WALL STREET, CONGRESS AND THE OVAL OFFICE.

WHEN THOSE OUTSIDE THE REACH OF THOSE WHO CONTROL OUR "NEWS" UNCOVER THE TIGHT-KNIT CORPORATIONS WHO RULE BOTH WALL STREET AND THE MEDIA, MAYBE WE SHOULD PAY CLOSER ATTENTION?
"A study of more than 40,000 transnational corporations conducted by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich discovered that a very small core group of huge banks and giant predator corporations dominate the entire global economic system." 
READ THAT STUDY <HERE>.RATHER KNOWS QUITE WELL...TELLING THE WHOLE TRUTH CAN GET ONE KILLED! 

"Numerous journalists have been murdered or killed in the United States while reporting, covering a military conflict, or because of their status as a journalist. At least 39 of these have been directly targeted as a result of their journalistic investigations."

[SOURCE:Peele, Thomas (2012-08-01). "Death stalks some reporters working their beats in U.S.". Plain Dealer. ] 

THAT DOESN'T INCLUDE THOSE 203 "SUSPICIOUS DEATHS" IN A RECENT SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.

"A Denver banker that supposedly shot himself 8 times in his head and torso with a nail gun, the infectious disease scientists that was stabbed 196 times, 3 investigative journalists who all work in "explosive" areas, all die within 24 hours."

"Weeks after the fiery death of investigative journalist Michael Hastings (shown), who was probing abuses by the CIA and NSA and had recently informed others that he was being investigated by federal authorities, suspicions about his mysterious car crash are still swirling around the Internet. 

While police officially ruled the death an “accident,” serious questions are still surfacing — even in the establishment media and among prominent officials. 

Based on e-mails Hastings sent out shortly before he died about working on a “big story” and needing to go “off the radar,” it has become clear that he was worried, too."

OH, BTW, 3 OTHER JOURNALISTS RECENTLY DIED WITHIN 24 HOURS :

Ned Colt (NBC) died of a massive stroke yesterday (He died FEB. 12, 2015)...he was “supposedly” kidnapped during the Iraq war for several days, then freed.
He WAS 58 years old.

Bob Simon (CBS) died in a car crash yesterday.. he also was supposedly kidnapped and held captive for 40 days in an Iraq jail. He was 73.

David Carr (NY Times) died suddenly on Feb. 13, just hours after interviewing Edward Snowden, and had just come out against Brian Williams from NBC while on CBS… calling Williams out for lying about being shot down in the Iraq war. Carr was 58.

Bob Hager, the NBC aviation expert and long-time news correspondent, had a head on crash ALSO ON FEB.12, but lived. Both he and his wife were slightly injured in spite of it being a terrible head-on crash. Hager is 74.

ALL COINCIDENCES, ALL 200 OR SO SIMILAR STORIES I FOUND FROM THE PAST 10 YEARS...JUST MERE COINCIDENCE.

BUT, HONESTLY, I WAS STRUCK BY THE OBVIOUS FEAR IN RATHER'S EYES AS HE MADE CERTAIN STATEMENTS IN VARIOUS VIDEOS I FOUND WHEREIN HE SEEMS TO BE PULLING UP SHORT OF LETTING ALL OF THE CAT OUT OF THE OLD BAG. 

MAY HE FIND EITHER THE GUTS OR THE GUILT TO TELL US "THE REST OF THE STORY".

IT ISN'T EASY TO TELL THE TRUTH AND BUCK THE SYSTEM.

THINGS CAN GET A LITTLE "DICEY" EVEN FOR A GUY IN SPECIAL FORCES WHO BLEW A WHISTLE OR TWO AND OFFENDED THE FBI.

CONGRESSMAN BILL POSEY HAS BEEN CONDEMNED FOR ACCEPTING THOUSANDS OF PAGES OF DOCUMENTS FROM A TOP CDC SCIENTIST WHO EXPOSED THE CDC COVERUP ON THE HARM THE MMR VACCINE CAUSES.

DID YOU READ ANY OF THAT IN MAINSTREAM MEDIA LATELY?
NOPE.

WHEN ERIC SCHULTZ WAS EXPOSED FOR SCREAMING OBSCENITIES AT VETERAN CBS REPORTER SHARYL ATTKISSON FOR HER PRESSURING HIM ON THAT "FAST AND FURIOUS" SCANDAL, HOW MANY OF YOU LAUGHED AND WERE GLAD HE DID THAT?

HOW MANY REALIZED WHAT THAT ACTUALLY TOLD US, THAT MAINSTREAM MEDIA WAS NOT PRESSURING ANYONE FOR THE TRUTH?

PISSING OFF THE VERY ONES WHO PAY YOUR SALARY IS JUST NOT LIKELY TO HAPPEN, IS IT?

WHEN THE FOLLOWING FIRST "BROKE", THE VERY FEW MAINSTREAM MEDIA THAT CARRIED THE 'STORY' PRETENDED IT WAS SOMETHING NEW, A 2011 "DISCOVERY", BUT THEN WE LEARNED THIS CAME OUT IN 2007, AND WAS WRITTEN BEFORE THAT AS "HOMELAND SECURITY" WAS CRANKING UP...AFTER "9/11".

"72 TYPES OF AMERICANS CONSIDERED 'POTENTIAL TERRORISTS IN OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS" 

BACK IN 2007, USATODAY HAD SAID AS MUCH,THAT THE FBI WAS MINING DATA LOOKING AT "POTENTIAL TERRORISTS" THEN. 

THIS TIED UNTO THAT OLD "SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING CAMPAIGN" THAT WAS VERY MUCH ONGOING IN 2007.
THE ABOVE "PRESS RELEASE" EVEN SAYS THE CAMPAIGN WAS SUCCESSFUL IN 2006! 

ONE NEWS REPORT IN 2005, YES, 2005, ON THAT "POTENTIAL TERRORISTS" LIST BY GEORGE BUSH, JUNIOR, EVEN BEMOANED THAT HE DIDN'T INCLUDE "ULTRA-CONSERVATIVE GROUPS", 

25 April 2005

"The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not include extreme right-wing groups, some of which have ties to the Republican Party, on its list of potential terrorist threats, according to a report last month by the Congressional Quarterly, a publication with high-level sources in Congress and the federal government.

CQ Homeland Security, an online publication of Congressional Quarterly, obtained a draft planning document which outlines the foreign and domestic terrorist groups the DHS expects to face. The threats originating from overseas are attributed primarily to Al Qaeda and other extreme Islamic groups. The threats originating from within the United States are attributed to radical environmental and animal rights groups..."

SO, A REVISION IN 2007 INCLUDED, WELL, DAMNED NEAR EVERYBODY! 

THE "ALL NEW" 2011 VERSION MERELY REPEATED THE OLD NEWS, AND COULD BECAUSE WHO WAS REALLY GOING TO CARE?

A FEW DAYS OF "DAMN OBAMA!" FOLLOWED, JUST AS HAD THE FEW DAYS OF "DAMN BUSH!" WHEN HE CAME UP WITH THE ORIGINAL, BUT NO BIG DEAL...WE'RE ALL "POSSIBLE TERRORISTS" JUST SO THE NSA HAS SPYING RIGHTS ON ALL OF US ANYWAY. 
THIS WAS JUST TO ILLUSTRATE HOW EASILY ANYONE WHO CARES TO CAN USE THE MEDIA TO SWAY AMERICAN "THINKING"...AS IF AMERICANS ARE ALLOWED INDEPENDENT THOUGHT ANYMORE...HOW OUR TRUSTED JOURNALISTS LIE, OMIT,SMEAR, MALIGN, EXAGGERATE, TWIST THINGS, PLAY WORD GAMES, USE OUR BAD EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM AGAINST US, AND GET AWAY WITH IT.

HOW? 

BECAUSE LOGIC IS NO LONGER TAUGHT HERE, IS IT?
WHO KNOWS A "RED HERRING" FROM A TADPOLE?

NOR IS INDEPENDENT REASONING WELCOME...

WE MUST EACH "PICK A PARTY" AND, FROM THAT POINT ON, WE WILL ONLY TRUST THE MEDIA WHO REPORT GOOD THINGS ABOUT OUR CHOSEN "SIDE".

WE "STAND ON OUR PARTY'S PLATFORM" KNOWING WE HAVE NEVER ONCE READ THE "PLANKS" THAT MAKE UP EACH "PLATFORM".
WE TAKE THEIR WORD FOR IT....LIKE SHEEP.

EACH HERD, RED HERD, BLUE HERD,  MOVES IN UNISON, BUT ALWAYS AGAINST ONE ANOTHER, NO MATTER WHAT.

EASY AS PIE...
EACH HERD FOLLOWS THEIR APPOINTED JUDAS GOAT....HAPPILY.

WHAT A SHAME.

TRUTH  IS THE ENEMY.

FEAR IS THE WEAPON THAT IS COMMONLY USED TO SILENCE TRUTH.

AT LEAST OLD RATHER GAVE US THAT MUCH ....

---





A FEW "ASIDES":

~ INTERESTING STUDY...WHO REQUESTED THIS ONE?
TR 02-05 
July 2002

Espionage Against the United States by American Citizens 1947–2001

Analyses of 150 cases of espionage against the United States by American citizens between 1947 and 2001 provide detailed data on the demographic and employment characteristics of American spies, the means and methods they used to commit espionage, their motivations, and the consequences they suffered. Collected materials on the cases supplement the analyses conducted with a database that allows comparison of groups and the identification of trends. Factors highlighted include changes in espionage by Americans since the end of the Cold War and the impact of globalization and networked information systems on the practice of espionage.

Download full report

NEXT...
~ RIGHT AFTER "9/11"
THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN HELPFUL IN GAUGING HOW AMERICANS WERE GOING TO RESPOND TO "HOMELAND SECURITY" FONDLING THEM, MAYBE?
MR 01-04 
October 2001

Public Opinion of Selected National Security Issues: 1994–2000

PERSEREC undertook this project to assess the degree of public support for various national security issues. PERSEREC commissioned the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago to include questions on its 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2000 general Social Surveys. PERSEREC collected attitude information relative to seven issues: (1) need for secrecy in various areas of government activity, (2) government’s need to collect information on individuals vs. people’s privacy rights, (3) public support for various security countermeasures, (4) government’s right to know mental health information, (5) loyalty to employer versus coworkers, (6) punishments for various acts of trust betrayal, and (7) perception of threats to the United States.

Download full report

~ TWO YEARS BEFORE 9/11, SOMEONE WAS CURIOUS?
TR 99-02 
August 1999

Trends in Public Attitudes Towards Government Security Programs

PERSEREC has worked with the National Opinion Research Center from 1993 until 1998 to define the climate of public opinion in which government security policy is developed. Security-related items have been included in the 1994, 1996, and 1998 General Social Surveys concerning how much protection should be provided for national security information, the appropriate areas of inquiry for establishing eligibility for positions of trust, and acceptable methods for monitoring cleared employees. This report summarizes attitude trends and magnitudes of public support on these issues across the 4-year time span. In general, the data show that there is a solid and sustained endorsement for protecting various categories of national security information and a strong and continuing support for investigative inquiry into personal areas such as finances, mental health, criminal history, and substance abuse. Espionage is clearly perceived to be a serious crime that should warrant severe sentencing after conviction. However, there is mixed and uncertain support for security measures to ensure the continued reliability of cleared employees.

Download full report

[SOURCE: http://www.dhra.mil/perserec/reports.html#TR0205]

WHO IS "PERSEREC"?

History

PERSEREC was established in response to a recommendation by the Department of Defense (DoD) Security Review Commission (known as the Stilwell Commission), set up in the wake of the very damaging Walker espionage case, to improve the department’s personnel security system. In its 1985 report, the commission called for a personnel security research center to provide policymakers with an objective basis for policies and processes related to the security clearance system. Established in 1986, PERSEREC was located in Monterey, CA, because of its proximity to the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) West and the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), where there was already a nucleus of personnel security researchers.

Our original directive included a sunset clause requiring that the organization cease to exist in 1990 unless DoD directed its continued existence. Based on a favorable review by DoD components of PERSEREC’s performance, this clause was eliminated in 1992 and we became a permanent element within the DoD. The beneficial effect of the sunset clause was to force us to focus on creating practical benefits for the personnel security system. (See the section on Past Achievements for some of these benefits.)

TRANSLATION.....DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SAYS:

BELIEVE ONLY WHAT YOU ARE TOLD TO BELIEVE....

OR TRY THIS...DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!
DIG OUT THE TRUTH FOR YOURSELVES!