IT ‘S fascinating how those so practiced at violating the public trust in front of national audiences are quick to point out the un-American behavior in others.
This past Monday,Miles O ‘Brien ,co-host of CNN ‘s “American Morning,” interviewed Dan Bartlett ,counselor to President Bush. O ‘Brien focused on the Bush Administration ‘s controversial domestic wiretapping policy,revealed long after it was implemented.
O ‘Brien made it clear that he didn ‘t feel that the National Security Agency ‘s behavior,acting on orders from the White House, passed his smell test.
He asked Bartlett why the White House did not seek Congress ‘s approval.
Bartlett answered that several Republican and Democratic members of Congress had been briefed on the matter and had issued their approval.Espionage,Bartlett added,has a way of becoming ineffective when there are public hearings to inform terrorists how the Feds plan to go after them.
O ‘Brien accepted Bartlett ‘s response,but boldly added, “It feels unAmerican.” Funny,he should mention that.Among the most un-American feelings we ‘re feeling,these days,is for what has happened to TV news,as reported,
among others,by CNN.
And it has nothing to do with politics.Rather,these newscasts have surrendered their credibility – their trust – to the corporations that own them.
Moments before O ‘Brien ‘s chat with Bartlett,CNN reported on that day ‘s expected announcement that roughly 25,000 Ford workers would lose their jobs.
At the end of that report, CNN displayed the cover of the latest Time magazine. The cover story was about Ford getting into the recyclable auto business.While this had nothing to do with the layoffs at Ford,it had plenty to do with CNN. Both CNN and Time are owned by Time-Warner.
A few minutes after the Bartlett interview,CNN again mentioned the bad news from Ford.Correspondent Ali Velshi
reported that the layoffs were due to poor sales of SUVs and minivans.There wasn ‘t even a hint that it had anything to do with recyclable autos.
Still,when Velshi finished,O ‘Brien again mentioned the recyclable story, adding, “in Time Magazine, out this week.”
Odd,among all the other networks ‘ reports we saw about these layoffs,none saw fit to mention the recyclable auto or Time ‘s cover story on it.
And so the layoffs of thousands of workers was, twice in a matter of minutes,exploited by CNN to sell a magazine owned by CNN ‘s parent corporation.
And between those two covert sales pitches,CNN ‘s news anchor spoke of how Bush ‘s covert espionage plan, “feels un-American.”
Several days earlier,we stumbled upon Fox News Channel ‘s “The Big Story with John Gibson .”
Gibson rarely holds back his opinions,especially when it comes to issues of global politics and American society.He ‘s unafraid to slam duplicity,influence peddling,slanted and bogus news coverage,and the disingenuous treatment
of the public.He attacks big shots for lacking credibility.
He ‘s an uncompromising, pull-no-punches guy.
On this day,one of the big stories that “The Big Story ” felt compelled to cover was “Skating With Celebrities,” a new Fox show that – what a coincidence!would air later that night.
Somehow,producers at “The Big Show ” were able to land Debbie Gibson (no relation to John),briefly a pop star and one of the participants of “Skating,” for an exclusive,live interview with John Gibson.
At least there was nothing covert about this “news ” – this was an inyer-face sell and sellout; Gibson was taking a dive.
Kinda makes you wonder.How come otherwise tough newsmen and newswomen aren ‘t so tough that they refuse to peddle corporate goods,pathetically disguised as news?Why can ‘t they refuse out of respect to their audiences?
Why can ‘t they refuse on behalf of their own credibility and the credibility of their newscasts?
Or is the uncompromised regard for the public ‘s trust now considered un-American?