Robert Parry: WPost Is a Neocon Propaganda Sheet

[babylonsister]

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/031509.html

WPost Is a Neocon Propaganda Sheet

By Robert Parry
March 15, 2009 (A Special Report)


For Americans who hear the name Washington Post and still think of “All the President’s Men” – brave journalists and editors facing down a corrupt President – today’s version of the newspaper would be a sad disappointment, a betrayal of a noble past.

Over the last three decades, the Post has evolved into a neoconservative propaganda sheet, especially its opinion section which fronted for George W. Bush’s false Iraq-WMD claims, led the long-term bashing of Iraq War critics, and defends whatever actions the Israeli government takes, including the recent war in Gaza and apparently its desire to preemptively bomb Iran.

Rather than a newspaper committed to the truth and favoring a broad debate about important issues, the Washington Post has become an enforcement mechanism for a neocon-dominated Establishment, setting the parameters for permissible points of view and twisting facts for that purpose.

snip//

Looking back over the Post’s recent history, I’m also reminded of my experience at the Post-owned Newsweek magazine in the late 1980s. I had been hired because of my early work exposing what became known as the Iran-Contra Affair. Newsweek – like the Post – had bought into the earlier false denials of the Reagan administration.

I thought maybe Newsweek sincerely wanted to catch up on possibly the most important scandal story of the decade. But I soon encountered what I considered troubling neocon trends at the magazine, particularly an elitist view about the need to steer the public in a direction favored by the Establishment, rather than to trust in the people’s well-informed democratic judgment.

When I spoke once with Washington bureau chief Evan Thomas about what I considered the importance of giving unvarnished information to the American people so they could make up their own minds, he upbraided me with an admonition that at Newsweek our purpose was less to inform the readers than to guide them to the proper conclusions.

Over the ensuing two decades, that elitist attitude, a core feature of neoconservative ideology, appears to have spread throughout the Washington Post company. It influences the tone of the news pages , but it pervades the editorial section.

Rather than encouraging as free and open debate as possible, the Post now sees its role as herding the American people to certain preordained conclusions – and casting out from acceptable society anyone who dares threaten the Washington consensus.

[disndat]

1. Sadly. the WashPo of Katherine Graham is

no more. K. Graham hated Nixon whom she considered an anti-semite. Now the WashPo principles are made up of George Will and owners who share his RW point of view.

[FrenchieCat]

2. I don't think there is a mainstream newspaper that isn't a neocon propaganda sheet

these days.....

unfortunately. :(

[Prometheus Bound]

3. I agree. And the disease is not confined to the US.

[disndat]

14. Aw C'mon. You overstate

Not all the big papers are as neocon as the Washington Post. The New York Times have great center and liberal columnists like Frank Rich, Paul Krugman, Maureen Dowd, and Bob Herbert, and its editorial pages are very pro-Obama's administration.

[depakid]

4. Yep- and water is wet

The Post lost its credibility long ago- and more than that, has become something of a laughing stock, where ombudsmen have to cut off complaints about dishonest reporting and the editotial board actually contradicts facts uncovered by its on reporters!

[Faygo Kid]

5. As a long-time daily reader, all I can say is, Well - duh.

Of course they are. They couldn't wet their pants often enough in supporting the run-up to the Iraq War.

[blm]

6. Evan Thomas is a longtime friend of William Weld who acted like a fixer for BFEE on IranContra/BCCI

matters - not unlike Robert Mueller.

[Puzzler]

7. "Proper conclusions"?

"When I spoke once with Washington bureau chief Evan Thomas about what I considered the importance of giving unvarnished information to the American people so they could make up their own minds, he upbraided me with an admonition that at Newsweek our purpose was less to inform the readers than to guide them to the proper conclusions."



This begs the question: "What are the proper conclusions?"

[Uncle Joe]

9. Corporate Supremacist Inverted Totalitarianism

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5258152&mesg_id=5258152

[burythehatchet]

10. the good news is they are admitting it. Soon they will be irrelevant

[Uncle Joe]

8. I agree, the Post is purposely dumbing the American People down

with the Post's pre-ordained conclusions. They're not trying to inform, enlighten or lift up, just manipulate.

Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, babylonsister.

[bemildred]

11. Word. nt

[Laelth]

12. Wow.

When I spoke once with Washington bureau chief Evan Thomas about what I considered the importance of giving unvarnished information to the American people so they could make up their own minds, he upbraided me with an admonition that at Newsweek our purpose was less to inform the readers than to guide them to the proper conclusions.

That is an astonishing admission. k&r for exposure.

:dem:

-Laelth

[L. Coyote]

13. Robert Parry is someone I trust.

Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s, including the role of drugs.

Fooling America
By Robert Parry

A look at how the Washington press corps ignored nearly every major scandal of the 1980s
--including the S&L scandal and the Iran-Contra scandals--argues that the press's number
one priority is continued access to government's leaders.

[L. Coyote]

15. VIDEO: Robert Parry on Neo-Con Media Manipulation

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x284527

[Enthusiast]

16. I have a question

What can we do about this? The MSM is nothing but a tool for the neo-con agenda. What can be done? It seems to me we are all but defeated already.

[Mr. Sparkle]

17. The paper has turned into an embarrassment !

I found it interesting why some of the righties have not been mentioning the Post when they try to describe the main stream media. They usually refer to the New York Time or NBC these days and not the Post anymore.

Now i get it !! They have been infiltrated by the neocon parasites.