Well it’s here! Yes that’s right the day we have all been waiting for, UN WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY! Man, this is going to be so cool! I mean think about it, this means that all of us who try and put out the “Real news” have one day to let the world know what is really going on with the nameless, voiceless, and faceless peoples all over the world.
I don’t want to be presumptuous and think that corporate media; CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, FOX, CNN et.al will stand by on this important day. In fact, I hope all of you reading this blog will give them the benefit of the doubt on this day in particular.
If you look at it, they have a lot of news to cover and they can’t catch everything no matter how significant. Furthermore, I’ll bet they feel genuinely torn up about missing some of the other “not so” major news. You know what I’m talking about, the side issues that others and I keep on harping about.
For instance, I’m sure that the news executives from the above listed agencies might have forgotten to mention that now, as a means to exert pressure on allegedly wanted Palestinians to surrender, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have recently started to arrest, interrogate and harass mothers of a number of these Palestinians.
Hey it’s a simple oversight news item. No problem. Anybody could have missed it. Now don’t go beating yourselves up you journalistic do-gooders of the corporate elite. As my old football coach said after I dropped the ball on a potential winning play in the championship game: “Chris, walk it off!”
But you know what? I’ll bet that today those same corporate media agencies are going to proudly let people know that so far in the year 2006 that:
16 Journalists have been killed.
6 Media assistants have been killed.
120 Journalists have been imprisoned.
3 Media assistants have been imprisoned.
56 Cyber-dissidents have been imprisoned.
All of them I’m sure will take a stand and proclaim that this sort of thing shouldn’t be happening to the messenger! Conservative CNN television columnist Lou Dobbs will take a moment out from his constant illegal immigrant bashing and shout from the top of his voice: “Free the Hicksville Gazette nine and let the liberal, Commie views have a voice!”
I have a dream (No seriously I did last night while I nodded off watching The Simpsons) that Katie Couric, co-anchor of NBC’s TODAY SHOW, and Bob Schieffer, anchor of the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH BOB SCHIEFFER, who ironically will be replaced by Katie in September, will both do some sort of joint non-violent direct action to protest the lack of press freedom.
Maybe they’ll both lay down in front of an oncoming golf cart on the CBS studio lot shouting the phrase: “2-4-6-8 We don’t want a fascist state!”
Oh you don’t think they will huh? Well let me tell you something smart guy, I mean person; I think we’ve all been a bit rough on the corporate types myself.
Yes that’s right you heard me!
Do you know what kind of stress Katie went through to get her 13 million dollar a year contract to read the news for CBS? Can you imagine the heartache Bob Woodward (The man who broke the Watergate Scandal) felt when a Bush official who wasn’t Karl Rove or Scooter Libby, and sat on the story told him of the whole Valerie Plame affair?
And of course everyone has to knock the corporate journalists when they cried foul about the fact that they also felt duped over the reasons for going to war in Iraq, that there really was no connection between Saddam and Al Queada, or weapons of mass destruction.
And please, don’t bring up that whole embedded journalist, reporting form the “Green Zone” walled-off, heavily fortified compound, soft-ball questioning of generals non-sense. I’ve heard all that before!
The fact is that the corporate types are journalist too! And I am quite sure Nay, positive that they will stand up and say:
“Enough! From now on we report the truth. Not what the government wants to hear. Not what our bosses wish us to report in order that we can keep our fat cat salaries, but the real truth of what is going on in this world!”
As a matter of fact, this past Saturday was The Washington Press Correspondents Dinner. Stephen Colbert of THE COLBERT REPORT defended the media and the Bush administration in a way that we can all emulate.
Still don’t believe me huh? Well, I’ll be the last one laughing when you see conservative talk show hosts Bill O’Riley and Rush Limbaugh chaining themselves to the main doors of FOX’s corporate news headquarters demanding that every day be World Press Freedom day.
Rupert Murdoch and other owners of corporate media will suddenly see the light and demand that Washington give up this notion of prosecuting journalists who publish stories of truth given to them by whistleblowers who have uncovered lies.
Hey, it could happen.
So please, just cut these guys some slack.
Now if you’ll excuse me I have a lunch date with Cokie Roberts at In-N-Out Burger about a very important story working on concerning a major doping scandal involving the kids from New Zealand who played in last year’s Little League World Series.
No comments:
Post a Comment