I Cogitate
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The Self-Neutered & Spayed American Press
Anyone up for a rousing version of "Kumbaya" with President George Bush?
Or you find that you just cannot stop chuckling over President Bush's antics about trying to find WMDs somewhere in his desk at the 2004 Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner!
I don't think Sy Hersh was there guffawing. Nor, I doubt, the ghosts of I.F. Stone or Edward R. Murrow.
Hersh, Stone and Murrow would be or would have been off somewhere else, both glowering at the subservience of so many in their profession and rocking the boat of the good ship D.C. with waves of uncovered truths. Not that any of these three individuals have exuded mistake-free sainthood--not by a long shot. But they haven't been guilty of kow-towing to power or wealth in lieu of truth.
Take these excerpts from Dan Froomkin's August 26, 2005 Washington Post column, as an example of how pervasive, throughout the mainstream media hierarchy, the illness is:
Bush's Secret Dinner -- With The PressIs it really that important to report when the President passes gas when such time could be spent connecting the dots of various lies, misperceptions and illegalities.of countless presidential administrations?
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
August 26, 2005
About 50 members of the White House press corps accepted President Bush's invitation last night to come over to his house in Crawford, eat his food, drink his booze, hang around the pool and schmooze with him -- while promising not to tell anyone what he said afterward.
It's something of a Bush tradition, a way of saying thank you to journalists for whom an extended stay in the Crawford area is anything but a vacation.
And in spite of all the recent press demands for senior administration officials to stay on the record more often, the press corps can't resist an offer of face time with the president, pretty much no matter what the conditions.
Nevertheless, I'm told that several reporters expressed squeamishness about last night's event, particularly as the press-pool vans drove by antiwar protester Cindy Sheehan's "Camp Casey" site. And later, a small handful watched askance as the rest fawned over Bush, following him around in packs every time he moved.
Ths Associated Press reports: "President Bush played host to the White House press corps Thursday night for a private off-the-record dinner at his ranch.
"The casual affair of fried catfish, potato salad, coleslaw, homemade cheese and chocolate-chip cookies followed a tradition in which Bush and his wife, Laura, have the press covering his annual August vacation out to the their ranch in central Texas as a sort of thank-you.
My sources (in this case, I should point out, not from The Washington Post) provided a few more details...
...Several senior White House aides attended and also spoke to reporters off the record, including deputy national security adviser J.D. Crouch II and deputy chief of staff Joseph Hagin.
One Bush touch particularly appreciated by the working media: Invitations were sent out at the last minute, so that only the reporters and photographers already in the area could attend -- preventing any bigfooting by the media elites in Washington or New York, or on vacation themselves...
...Incidentally, Bush isn't the only one holding off-the-record dinners with reporters this summer. I'm told senior adviser Karl Rove has held several in the last month himself.
This goes for the media in relation to all presidents, whether the Oval Office be in the hands of Democrats or Republicans: quit the star-gazing and fulfill your professional responsibilities. Do what you are capable of to NOT curry favor.
Take the lack of an invitation to any of the various governmental and private soirees and dinner parties as a badge of honor. It means you are doing your job ruffling the feathers of those who choose to subvert democracy. If you choose to be embedded, then throw off the charade and just be in bed.
If a tragic event such as 9/11 skews your vision and lessens your fortitude then let me employ an aphorism from one of your brethren: courage.
Unlike the bean counters and the media corporate elite, keep the press free--don't stealthily subvert it from the inside.
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