In Honor of the <i>Lying Military Analysts</i> for Cable TV
By John Amato Monday Apr 21, 2008 11:00amAre you as shocked as I am about the NY Times article: "Behind Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand?"
...which tells us that once again the American people are being lied to with the help of our media about all things involving war. War---War---War. OK, I wasn't shocked at all, but it is a truly shocking story. Do these people have any decency left? There should be an investigation into the use of paid shills on our airwaves who are substituted for investigative journalists---used for the sole purpose of distorting the truth to push the company line.
We constantly discuss on the blogs questions like "what are the greatest threats to our Democracy," and the more and more I ponder it, the more and more I put my finger on the delivery system known as the media. In honor of yet another travesty perpetrated on the American people by our lying media---I bring you Norman Solomon's very fine: "War Made Easy."How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death because he was hip to this problem long before the NY Times took a look.
I asked Norman to write a post for C&L on this issue because he was so far out in front of it. He delivered the above video clip from the movie "War Made Easy" with transcript plus the comment below.
While it’s a positive step, the big front-page New York Times article on Sunday -- “Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand” -- is tardy by several years and now makes a remarkable detour around the active role of the television networks themselves in implementing systemic disinformation efforts for starting and continuing war. As I say in the documentary film War Made Easy, “Nobody forced the major networks like CNN to do so much commentary from retired generals and admirals and all the rest of it.” And that just begins to tell the sordid and bloody tale.
This kind of stuff is 24/7 wartime wallpaper for cable news. The extent of the war-propaganda problem is such that the Times just scratched the surface. For a look at some grim media cases-in-point and samples from War Made Easy, go to: www.WarMadeEasyTheMovie.org
From the War Made Easy<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> transcript: <!--[endif]-->
SEAN PENN [narrator]: CNN's use of retired generals as supposedly independent experts reinforced a decidedly military mindset, even as serious questions remained about the wisdom and necessity of going to war.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->
NORMAN SOLOMON: Often journalists blame the government for the failure of the journalists themselves to do independent reporting. But nobody forced the major networks like CNN to do so much commentary from retired generals and admirals and all the rest of it. You had a top CNN official named Eason Jordan going on the air of his network and boasting that he had visited the Pentagon with a list of possible military commentators, and he asked officials at the Defense Department whether that was a good list of people to hire.
EASON JORDAN [speaking on CNN]: Oh, I think it's important to have experts explain the war and to describe the military hardware, describe the tactics, talk about the strategy behind the conflict. I went to the Pentagon myself several times before the war started and met with important people there and said, for instance, at CNN, here are the generals we're thinking of retaining to advise us on the air and off about the war, and we got a big thumbs up on all of them. That was important.
NORMAN SOLOMON: It wasn't even something to hide, ultimately. It was something to say to the American people on its own network, “See, we're team players. We may be the news media, but we're on the same side and the same page as the Pentagon.” And that really runs directly counter to the idea of an independent press, and that suggests that we have some deep patterns of media avoidance when the U.S. is involved in a war based on.
Thank you Norman. By the way, is C&L allowed to be critical of these generals? Will I be censured by Congress too?
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The military plant is not only the analyst. It is also the interviewer.
Sometimes witting. Sometimes unwitting.
Besides blogging, what could be done about this?
Shocked? Of course I'm not shocked.
The depth of criminality of conservatives no longer surprises me.
The sad thing is when the founding fathers made sure to guarantee the freedom of the press they did so in order that there be an independent check on government excess. Little did they know the the press would eventually become governmental excess.
The media will be much more active as a tool for determining the outcome of the elections this fall. See Tony Snow to CNN. The Dem candidate(s) have been so demonized by the MSM that the sheeple will be frightened into voting for McCain "to preserve our way of life".
It almost makes you wonder. If the C.I.A. or rouge elements of the Executive Branch. Have planted people in News Channels like
C.N.N.. To give there Pro War Slant to the News.
hug the moon @ 1:
Congress reverses the Bill Clinton legacy of media consolidation.
It's that simple.
FilthyHarry @ 3:
The times are a lot different now than when Ben Franklin printed his own paper.
Who knew? Liars in gov't, now the MEDIA? Say it ain't so, John. I don't know...how I...argh ack can. go.onnnnnnnnnnnn
The press is as much to blame for this fiasco as the administration itself, and also the American peolpe who became so complacent. By not asking the right questions and our selfishness about the world around us. We are now being held responsible. The world has a very dim view of us and it is justfied. Thanks Bush, you turned everything to crap.
No I'm not shocked I saw what was brewing during campaign 99-2000 and was already yelling Warning! Warning! like the B9 robot in Lost in Space.
The Rise of The Neocons
Good discussion on this on democracynow.org today.
Amy even played old interviews with Hague-worthy douchebags Frank Says-No and Arron Brown.
But really who cares?
cause Teh Preznit was on Dancing with the Stars or something!
I have to admit that I wasn't particularly shocked by the New York Times article. Perhaps I'm just too cynical, but I'd always assumed that these "analysts" were shilling for the government. In general, for the last eight years I've assumed that all large news organizations were shilling for the government as well. The superficial motive for the "journalists" is similar to the motive for the analysts -- unless they repeat the government line, they will lose access.
... And dint it used to be illegal to use Psy-Ops against americans?
ron @ 5:
If you ran an intelligence agency in a country with 4 basic MSM channels, Where would you want to place your professional misinformationists? Of course the MSM is rife with agents. Infested.
ABC is a great example of how a guy at the top can make unwitting agents out of those news managers below.
These people work from the ground up to the top, and the top down to the ground.
Remember when the Iranian president said to John Roberts something along the lines of John sounding like a CIA agent. I think this was a not-so-subtle tip off to the American people that some of our beloved news personalities have received training outside of journalism school.
Life in America could be way different for the better if it weren't for the MSM controls. Sitcoms included.
The fact the neocons have been so blatant and horrific in their behavior (not to mention publishing PNAC et al) they have actually managed to wake up a lot of people Reagan, Bush 1 and Clinton had put to sleep.
Not enough yet though.
emphasa @ 7:
Exactly! Freedom of the press was designed when the press was a guy in a basement turning a crank, not billion dollar corporate behemoths. If the founding fathers could have known what the press would morph into they would have put a clause in the constitution about freedom of the press only for for non-profit or independent organizations.
There should be an investigation? Sure, I know just the congressional body who might be up to the task. /snark
earl @ 13:
It still is but, the Justice Department won't pursue it because.............Well.....you know.
Pravda never had so many different ways of pushing the propaganda.
From February's Harper's Index:
-Percentage of Democrats in 2006 who said they supported the war when it began: 26
-Percentage of Democrats in March 2003 who said they supported the war: 46
I guess the military "analysts" were pretty convincing but its still funny to see our collective memory fail so miserably.
Doug @ 18:
They (neocons) have admitted it cheerfully: “we are a warlike people and we love war. . . . What we hate is not casualties, but losing.”
Lollimom @ 6:
SHOULD be done, but I'm afraid the cancer has spread too far to be removed. And if HRC were elected, she'd probably veto any such act.
fastfeat @ 22:
Case in point, quoting Robert Scheer: "Are Americans unusually stupid or is it something our president put in the water? As millions surrender their homes and sacrifice other standards of our nation’s economic and political reputation to the caprice of the Bush-Cheney imperium, a majority of voters tell pollsters that they might vote for a candidate who promises more of the same."
John, you dont know what this is any more than I do. You assume that because you agree with it that it must be right and correct - that the NYTimes finally did the right thing.
This could be nothing more than posturing for a future administration. I think it would be foolish to assume that the employers of Judith Miller and Kristol suddenly came to their senses.
Also, the media IS NOT the greatest threat. We are - we the people.
We are supposed to participate.
We are supposed to make politicians sphincters tighten.
We are supposed to - in the end - destroy rogue institutions.
truth is ...
We are nation that either isnt paying attention.
We are a nation that likes the way the country is going ... except for the losing part. If we were winning, it would be all good.
We are a nation that only in very small ways objects to the destruction of the constitution and the commission of war crimes.
This really is who we are John. Even if all is made 'well' by your and my standards - you and I would still be surrounded by those that love thuggery and thievery. No getting around it. When our government worked - regional representation etc - it was less of a problem. Today - the government has been subverted and the influence of national government is overwhelming. Why does that matter? Put a small town cracker in charge of the national government and see what happens - wait ... that is actually happening. Today, with the dominance of a politburo style government ... there is no escaping the reach of the policies and whims of the tyrant de Jeur.
Only we can stop that ... and frankly ... the redneck peckerwood "we's" among us kinda like it.
We arent going to stop a damn thing.
Gee, kind of puts a new light on the Republican's huge media indignity about General Petreus being called "Betray-us" doesn't it?
Johnny2Bad @ 20:
How else can we explain that politicians tell the same lies over and over and people still vote for them over and over?
Leave it to the librul meediuh to lie about the war on terr. The New York Times is full of librul commie pinko islamofashists LIERS. You all help the enemy to win by embiggening them.
Has anyone else noticed that there has been no mention of this by any of the networks and cable stations? I read that article on Sunday and I said to a friend that we wouldn't hear a word of this because the networks are as guilty as these faux military officers.
What is very clear to me is that it is time to get these troops out of this war and to cut the defense budget, negate Blackwater's contract, and start impeachment at once.
I was in college when Watergate broke and the length of that article in the Times reminded me of when that broke. It is very rare that an article is 2 1/2 pages long. This is such a grevious matter and congress better act now. They should be working 7 days a week to get to the bottom of this. We, the taxpayers deserve it.
the problem with these people is addiction. the media and big business are addicted to money, and the bush adm. is addicted to power. all 3 need each other to feed their addictions. the media and big business helped put bush in office, and bush gave the media and big business what they wanted which was a war to profit off of. the axis of evil is not iran, iraq, and n. korea, it's the bush admin., the media and big business.
support our lying sacks of shit!
Ever notice how people who call themselves "professional" journalists are always just stenographers for their corporate bosses.
The CIA admitted in the late 1970’s that they had hired (at least) “dozens” of journalists to do their dirty work. It was later found out that hundreds were on the payroll. Our corporate media is NO DIFFERENT than Pravda. Chomsky was actually WAY our front with this, read “Manufacturing Consent”, and points out that if corporations (even if there were more than six who owned the majority of the media) own the media and are reliant for advertising revenue to function, nothing will fundamentally change:
http://www.namebase.org/news17.html
“James (Scotty) Reston of the NYT was satisfied with an evasive answer, but when the Star-News editorial board met with Colby, they made some progress. The other shoe dropped with an article by Oswald Johnston on November 30: the Star-News learned from an "authoritative source" (Colby) that the CIA had some three dozen American journalists on its payroll. Johnston named only one -- Jeremiah O'Leary -- who was one of their own diplomatic correspondents. (The Star-News stopped publishing in 1981, at which point O'Leary joined Reagan's national security staff. From 1982 until his death in 1993, he was with the Washington Times.)”
[Edited for length. Site Monitor]
tanglewood @ 28:
That will never happen.
How about ... we the PEOPLE deserve it?
Drtoxic: You are a complete moron. You can't even construct a sentence much less spell. I guess you are one of the 28% who think things are going swimmingly and that the Chimpster is just swell.
tanglewood @ 34:
that was sarcasm
tanglewood @ 34:
I think the poster is being facetious, although, judging but the grammar and spelling they could easily be a freeper troll.
The reich blames the loss of Viet Nam on the MSM. When the MSM presented the truth on VN, the people said enough. So, a multi-prong front is established to prevent that from happening again. One solution does not guarantee success. I would wager the anthrax terrorism was another tool to bring the media on board.
Just another example of how the Pentagon is using the tax dollars to perpetuate their warfare and bleed the national treasury. Disband the Pentagon and bring these folks to trial for the crimes against humanity. America deserves PEACE and all we ever get is war! war! war!
The military is acting against the welfare of the people.
PEACE by POPULAR DEMAND!
America's Corporate Media: The Fascist thumb we all live under
tanglewood @ 28:
Seems Congress these days is most proficient at answering a question before it's even asked.
Doug @ 18:
Cause Bush and Gonzo changed it to: "Just-Us" ?
Think about what the mainstream media is; they are advertising companies. They make money by marketting products and ideas. Every story that is run on CNN; someone is paying them money to run that story. This is how they make money. You are not going to find real journalism in the midst of an advertising company. This is why the BBC is funded by the British Taxpayers. It is also why it is SO IMPORTANT for us as a nation to fund public television. If you want to see journalism, watch Frontline on PBS or Democracy Now.
"Are you as shocked as I am about the NY Times article: “Behind Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand?”
No. I'm awed at one's ability to be shocked.
Peter G @ 31:
The Winston Smiths Group
drtoxic @ 27:
You must LOVE this media, they think you're stupid and you are, it's nice for the market to actually work as planned for once. They create a product, for idiots like you, and you gobble it up. Just a heads up though, The Onion ISN'T real.
You're not the first to reach that conclusion. Robert Parry at Consortium News published this excellent analysis three years ago on just how the reight wing went about co-opting the fourth estate in the wake of Nixon's defeat by Woodwards and Bernstein. The Left's Media Failure
I consider it a must-read for anyone who seriously opposes the creeping fascism of the New World Order.
No, tanglewood is right.
I'm a complete moron for thinking that post was funny. I would like to apologize to my friends at C&L and all of the good folks here who wasted their time reading and responding to my misplaced jape.
Regrettably,
Mr. Smokestoomuch
LibertyWatch @ 38:
Internationally, a nation that maintains an offensive military should be considered a belligerent and treated as such .... like the US for example.
chuck @ 42:
On the plus side we do have organizations like FAIR, Media Matters, Crooks and Liars, that did not exist a dozen years ago. I thinking the jeering at the end of the ABC "debate" may have been the writing on the wall for the mainstream media.
As ordinary folk gain greater access to the internet they might become more media savvy. On the other hand, the internet has some tough battles ahead given the fascist tendencies of our legislators (see China).
So WHY can't we impeach? Huh? Anyone...?
chuck @ 42:
BBC, though better than anything we have in the states, still has it's fair share of propagadists. Same problems.
Interesting to google and look at all the "commentary" about the killing of journalists in Iraq
CNN News Executive Eason Jordan Quits AP Reuters February 11 2005
Am I banned or something? Ajax just ate two comments in a row.
Al Hidalgo @ 49:
Corruption has become so huge, so intregal to every institution and form of business that exists including government it's considered "normal".
In Honor of our Vets
Please give our Veterans an Honest Media and Administration
Bush Veterans Administration Conceals Vet Suicide Figures From CBS To Downplay ‘Epidemic In Suicide’
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/22/va-hides-suicide-data/
SadButTrue @ 52:
A bug. It happens on occasion.
the must-read david harvey (the new imperialism) claimed that there are "two cardinal principles of internal strategic practice had been defined during World War II, and they remained set in stone thereafter"
1) Social order in the United States should remain stable (no radical redistribution of wealth ad no challenge to the elite and/or capitalist class control). There should be a continuous expansion of domestic capital accumulation and consumption
2) Foreign engagements should not interfere with consumerism at home. The United States would use its superior military power to protect its client regimes throughout the world that were supporters of US interests.
and i would like to, humbly, add a third cardinal rule:
3) suppression of democracy, human rights and open-government for the benefit of corporations is to be a policy of our government internationally AND domestically. and corporate media is the medium as which to control the domestic front.
Here’s Chomsky on Media Control:
http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/talks/9103-media-control.html
...[The Wilson administration] established a government propaganda commission, called the Creel Commission, which succeeded, within six months, in turning a pacifist population into a hysterical, war-mongering population which wanted to destroy everything German, tear the Germans limb from limb, go to war and save the world.
That was a major achievement, and it led to a further achievement. Right at that time and after the war the same techniques were used to whip up a hysterical Red Scare, as it was called, which succeeded pretty much in destroying unions and eliminating such dangerous problems as freedom of the press and freedom of political thought. There was very strong support from the media, from the business establishment, which in fact organized, pushed much of this work, and it was in general a great success.
[Snip. Site Monitor]
http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/20031209.htm
Edward Herman (who co-wrote Manufacturing Consent with Chomsky) on the “Propaganda Model”
In Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, Noam Chomsky and I put forward a "propaganda model" as a framework for analysing and understanding how the mainstream U.S. media work and why they perform as they do (Herman and Chomsky 1988). We had long been impressed with the regularity with which the media operate on the basis of a set of ideological premises, depend heavily and uncritically on elite information sources, and participate in propaganda campaigns helpful to elite interests. In trying to explain why they do this we looked to structural factors as the only possible root of the systematic patterns of behavior and performance.
[Snip. Site Monitor]
[Pepper, please don't copy & paste so much text, most definitely when you're already linking the articles. Thank you. Site Monitor]
Seems like the corperate control is at the crux. Does this mean the solution is a national strike? just asking.
I wish we could all form a united front. To put pressure on Networks like C.N.N. To pressure them into hiring people with a
progressive point of view. Instead of hiring somebody like Tony Snowjob.
Samson- @ 56:
Lunatic Strauss taught young neoconservatives at the University of Chicago. He predicated his entire philosophy upon his belief there was no universal morality and, in his opinion, morality was a myth. Therefore it was necessary for a group of 'elites' to control all wealth and power to enable them to bring order to the unwashed masses (that would be you and me) who would turn into wild beasts if they ever discovered there was no morality.
How all these young smart people bought into this is beyond me.
Shocked? No. I always assumed this was the case.
david harvey the new imperialism
for all to see.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?r=1&ean=0199...
much like a media shell game.....
Wall St. Journal Editor Expected to Resign
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042208H.shtml
hug the moon @ 57:
personally, i don't think so.
a complete consumerism shut-down would though, imho.
national strike just makes it easier for corps' to send jobs out of the country. but, if the american consumer stops consuming, then we have hit the beast where it hurts. then entire world econ would hiccup.
of course, good luck getting americans to stop consuming.
(sorry for the glass-half-empty pov)
Will they censure you too? Possibly but look at the bright side;
1. You can have the 'sternly worded letter' framed and hung on the wall.
2. Or more appropriately you could use it as toilet paper and then send it back.
3. Censure from a bunch of lame duck, torture promoting losers is high praise.
4. It's delivered by a clown car full of staff members.
5. It comes with a coupon for half off "freedom toast" at a waffle house near you.
Repeat after me: There is no bottom to this administration. There is no bottom to this administration. There is no bottom to this administration.
L.A. Confidential @ 59:
oy strauss...
and don't forget the other cast of UChicago thuggies.
the preeminent, being milton friedman, the father of neoliberalism.
and, of course, the chicago boys that worshipped friedman who went to be augusto pinochet's economic advisors in chile...
nice legacy there.
Univ Chicago, why did you spread such harm?
Some of you are just now waking up, but it is too late. MIC owns everything. Why do you think so many stations on radio spewing christian rantings, do you think they pay for time? No they don't Money is nothing to those in power. It is all about controol. The good and out spoken are being murdered every day. I will have to explain that to you another time.
Evil is everywhere farewell my friends.
Anyone who trusts our government is a fool.
Established: 1890 by John D. Rockefeller
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Chicago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Strauss
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Junta_of_Chile_%281973%29
The Smiths @ 68:
thanks the smiths! (how many of there are you? or, would it be more accurate to ask 'is it so strange'?)
:-)
and, i did NOT realize that UChic was a rockefeller creation...
thanks again
I think the appearance of Wesley Clark as one of these "kept" analysts is wrong. He had spoken out against the invasion in congressional hearings, and mostly appeared as a cautionary guest. He warned against invading with such a small number, backing up the "Powell Doctrine." His characteristic line during that time was, "war should not be the first resort, but the last." Of course, since he is in the Clinton camp, he must be vilified. Sorry I forgot.
drtoxic@27 "Embiggening." That was Awesome. The sad thing is people thought you were for real. Maybe they are a little humorless, but the mindset (and spelling), you portray, ARE out there.
How can they have any left when they had none to begin with?
Jim H @ 70:
do you mean torie clarke?
i don't think wesley clark was mentioned in the NYT piece....
now, if you are referring to something else that did refer to gen clark i apologize...
We have had manipulation and propaganda since the dawn of the species.
Those in power want to stay in power.
Those that have, want to keep and to get more.
The successful learn from their successes and from their mistakes.
As for boondoggles, perhaps the largest example, as I understand, prior to this 'war' which may eclipse even it, was the Interstate Highway system, sold by Eisenhower on the basis of national defense. I have heard it said to have been the largest contract letting in history.
Was the highway system in this country a good thing? The big three in Detroit loved it, the oil companies loved it, the tire companies loved it.
For the culture of Detroit and our other urban centers it was a disaster, they were torn up, abandoned and destroyed.
Detroit was a most vital city, until the freeway system brought urban sprawl. Now, like many cities, there is not much there, there.
What will we do with that highway system when oil is a thousand dollars a barrel? Ride our bicycles on them? Run rickshaws on them? The final convergence of the East and West. When the per capita of India or China and the US equalize, we will be low cost labor destination. Some will still have cars, most will have bicycles and rickshaws. What will our democracy look like then?
Where will our defense be then?
The 'war' in Iraq may supersede all previous boondoggles. We blow Iraq up and then we rebuild it. Maybe we blow it up again. It is quite a profitable scheme. The trouble is we are borrowing so much of the money, really the best way to keep the populace at large from understanding what is going on and prevent dissent.
That, and take over the Media to further the mind control.
These new revelations of treachery and complicity of war profiteers, government and media do not surprise me at all.
Our system of checks and balances is failing. Our institutions merge and fail us.
Human nature is the culprit. Human gullibility and intellectual laziness are the enablers.
History will repeat itself again and again until the planet is uninhabitable for us as a species and we will go. That is part of the larger history of life on earth. We will not escape the cycle. We as a species are not smart enough.
No I was not shocked. I always understood that this was what they were doing. It seemed crystal clear to me. It's been nothing but propaganda from the news outlets forever. Well before Dumbya got "elected."
The idea that anyone on the left is surprised or shocked is what I find remarkable.
Very few people understand the criminality and deception that is really in play with the Main stream Media.
*
Jim H @ 70:
For every ten analysts that operate as the 'Mouth of Sauron", they need at least one Commie Hippie Supporter of Constitutional Law, in order to trick the gullible into thinking they are fair and balanced.
LA.Confidential@59: I would imagine it's very empowering to be told you are part of the elite. I would wonder if the large number of Jewish Neo-cons reflect that it would be even more empowering to combine the idea of an intellectual elite with the idea of being God's chosen people.
No, I am not a Holocaust denier and No, I don't want to see Israel pushed into the sea and I'm Mel Gibson posting under a fake name, either. Just someone interested in the power of religion to create identity.
Rush to War @ 66:
Farewell? Where are you going?
In Michael Moore's "Sicko", Moore interviewed the old-time British Labour politician Tony Benn. Benn stressed the absolute importance of the idea that for a democracy to properly function, the government must be AFRAID of it's people. Clearly that doesn't happen here. I would describe the way the government feels about us a contemptuous, at best patronizing, but fear? No, not a bit of it.
A sentence I read many months ago, on the John Edwards website: "The foundation of moral leadership is telling the truth."
The current occupant has consistently built his "foundation" out of lies.
This is why everything he builds collapses, and hurts people.