Glenn Greenwald: Three key rules of media behavior shape their discussions of "the 'torture' debate

[babylonsister]

Thursday April 23, 2009 08:45 EDT
Three key rules of media behavior shape their discussions of "the 'torture' debate"

(updated below - Update II- Update III)

snip//

The rules for how media stars behave are vividly evident as they finally take part in what they are calling The 'Torture' Debate. Here are three key rules for Beltway media behavior that, as always, are shaping what they say and do:

(1) Any policy that Beltway elites dislike is demonized as coming from "the Left" or -- in this case (following Karl Rove) -- the "hard Left." Media stars recite that claim regardless of how widely accepted the belief is in American public opinion and regardless of whether there is anything "leftist" about the view in question. For years, withdrawing from Iraq was demonized as the view of the "left" even though large majorities of Americans favored it.

Identically, roughly 40% of Americans favor criminal prosecutions for Bush officials -- even before release of the OLC memos -- and large majorities favor investigations generally. The premise of those who advocate prosecutions is the definitively non-ideological view that political elites should be treated exactly like ordinary Americans when they break the law and commit serious crimes. Individuals such as Gen. Antonio Taguba, Gen. Barry McCaffrey and former CIA officer Robert Baer advocate investigations and/or prosecutions of Bush officials. But no matter: the Beltway opposes the idea, and it is therefore dismissed by media stars as coming from the "Hard Left."

(2) Nobody is more opposed to transparency and disclosure of government secrets than establishment "journalists." Richard Cohen wrote of the Lewis Libby prosecution: "it is often best to keep the lights off." ABC News' Peggy Noonan said this week of torture investigations: "Some things in life need to be mysterious. Sometimes you need to just keep walking." The Washington Post's David Ignatius, condemning Obama for releasing the OLC memos, warned: "the country is fighting a war, and it needs to take care that the sunlight of exposure doesn't blind its shadow warriors." And the favorite mantra of media stars and Beltway mavens everywhere -- Look Forward, Not Backwards -- is nothing but a plea that extreme government crimes remain concealed and unexamined.

This remains the single most notable and revealing fact of American political life: that (with some very important exceptions) those most devoted to maintaining and advocating government secrecy is our journalist class, of all people. It would be as if the leading proponents of cigarette smoking were physicians, or those most vocally touting the virtues of illiteracy were school teachers. Nothing proves the true function of these media stars as government spokespeople more than their eagerness to shield government actions from examination and demand that government criminality not be punished.

(3) The single most sacred Beltway belief is that elites are exempt from the rule of law. Amidst all the talk about how prosecutions would destroy post-partisan harmony and whether torture "works," it is virtually impossible to find any media star discussions about the fact that torture is illegal and that those who order, authorize or engage in torture are committing felonies. That is because -- other than for fun sex scandals and other Blagojevich-like sensationalistic acts -- the overriding belief of the political class is that elites (such as themselves) have the right to break the law and not be held accountable.

Amazingly, when it comes to crimes by ordinary Americans, being "tough on crime" is a virtually nonnegotiable prerequisite to being Serious, but when it comes to political officials who commit crimes in the exercise of their power, absolute leniency is the mandated belief upon pain of being dismissed as "shrill" and extremist. Can anyone find an establishment media pundit anywhere -- just one -- who is advocating that Bush officials who broke the law be held accountable under our laws? That view seems actively excluded from establishment media discussions.

more...

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/04/23/prosecutions/

[WCGreen]

1. Hey Peggy, the only thing mysterious about you is how you have managed

to parlay a rather vacuous demeanor into a 6 figure yearly contract to spread inanities throughout the vast right wing echo chamber...

[burning rain]

7. Not a surprising response from Noonan.

She's all about grandeur and sentimentalism and vague, fuzzy crap; hard logic would come as a surprise from her.

[The Magistrate]

2. Mr. Greenwald Has Nailed It, Ma'am

The demand that felonies be prosecuted is hardly a division between the political left and the political right. It is the basic ground of a society in which the concept of law has passed beyond the view that the King is law speaking. What has been presented publicly now on this topic constitutes a prima facie case that from Bush and Cheney on down, the Bush administration conspired to commit felonies under U.S. law, and saw to their being committed by direct order to subordinates, who willingly executed those orders.

[babylonsister]

5. Well hello, Sir! Long time, no see!

When I agree with Greenwald, I really agree with him. I think this is spot on, too. Just watch the newz and you can see the corporate slant. The enablers are still enabling.

[tom_paine]

6. Indeed he has. Sadly. What a sorry situation, and nearly impossible to turn around.

Once a massive sea change, taking decades and trillions of dollars, intimidation, rewriting of laws, and more, has taken place, what can be done to change it?

Before the media can be changed to even the tiniest semblence of trustworthiness, more than half of the cable TV whores, male and female, would have to be fired.

Where will we find the people to take over their jobs and do them with INTEGRITY. Because journalism could not have become this Inverted Totalitarian Plausibly Deniable State-Controlled Media unless all across the board, journalism schools were declining in their ability to impart simple principles of journalistic integrity.

We are now likely at a point where the Sellouts and Whores are now teaching the young would-be journalists. What are they teaching them? How to whore one's self and sell out to power, of course!

I have always been fond of saying what the Bushies have taught me over the last 25 years, which is the Rule of Law is NOTHING without people of integrity to enforce it.

Journalism is the same way. We can write new guidleline or restore the Fairness Doctrine or whatever, but if all that is available to staff the positions are Blow-Dried Whore Toady Courtiers in Waiting being taught by the first generation of Blow-Dried Whore Toady Courtiers in Waiting, then what do the rules matter. When their Corporate Consulatants who tell them what to cover and when to cover it, as well as guide the writing of their performance reviews, say "jump", the Would-Be Toadies say "How high?"

My God, of all the thousands of shameless examples of the New Corporate Toady "Journalism" I could cite, one which stands out particularly was an editor of the Chicago Tribune in 2003 PROUDLY declaiming how it was proper journalism for him to change Dubya's mangled quotes into something else that sounded better.

Soviet Journalism, anyone? My head explodes from contemplating it.

If journalism is to be de-corporatized and restored to some semblence of trustworthiness, it will be a long hard slog that only begins with decorporatization. It will involve restoring the lost art of journalism with integrity.

And that is quite a tall order, since so few still even know what that is, and they are so very old now...

[glitch]

10. Quite a few excellent journalists in the blogosphere.

Life finds a way.

[ErinBerin84]

3. kick

The reaction from the press has been very predictable. Here's another snippet from Boehlert at media matters.


http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200904220029?show=1
"Does anybody else think it's odd, albeit telling, that for chunks of the corporate press corps, the emphasis surrounding the release of the Bush era torture memos is now centered on the political problems they've created for the Obama administration -- how the memos reflect poorly on the current White House -- and not, y'know, what the memos say about the administration that actually okayed the law breaking in the first place? "

[Uncle Joe]

4. The stench from the corporate media propaganda is overwhelming.

I also believe Glenn Greenwald nailed the situation.

Thanks for the thread, babylonsister.:thumbsup:

[bertman]

8. To The Greatest with you. Glenn is right on target once again. Thank you, bablylonsister.

Recommend.

[chill_wind]

9. Three Easy Pieces. K & R.

eom