Ex-Watergate writer laments 'idiot culture'

[DustMolecule]

<snip>
TAMPA - Legendary reporter Carl Bernstein riffed Thursday night about President Bush, the Martha Stewart trial, the war in Iraq and his affection for Florida.

But mostly he talked about an epidemic that troubles him deeply these days. He calls it "the triumph of idiot culture."

<snip>

Bernstein...said much of today's news has deteriorated into gossip, sensationalism and manufactured controversy.

That type of news panders to the public and insults their intelligence, ignoring the context of real life, he said. Good journalism, Bernstein said, "should challenge people, not just mindlessly amuse them."

He said the modern press lacks true leadership, citing such examples as AOL Time Warner and mogul Rupert Murdoch as media owners that have increasingly abandoned the principles of meaningful reporting.

"Their interest in truth is secondary to their interest in huge profits," Bernstein said.
<snip>

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/03/19/Tampabay/Ex_Watergate_writer_l.shtml

[Catch22Dem]

1. Hear Hear, Carl

That's tellin' it like it is.

[napi21]

2. Yes, and this from the Woodward/Bernstein team!

Do you think there are ANY journalists today who would have the ** to break the Watergate story like those two did? Ane even if you could find a few journalists, would you find ANY media moguls who would OK such reports????

Sorry to say, I doubt it.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Seems to me that Bernstein was giving Bush good press not too long

ago. Is he speaking from both sides of his mouth now?

[napi21]

5. Yes, I heard the same thing from him.

For a LONG time, the media has been totally in support of *. Since his poll #'s have been dropping, they seem willing to be somewhat more honest.

Maybe this is part of the answer to Bernstein's change to more honest!

[Touchdown]

6. You might be thinking of Bob Woodward

His former partner, who wrote this fawning felatio of fruitless fallacies...

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. Shame on me for getting them mixed up.

I shan't do it again. Thank you.

[NewJeffCT]

4. well, somebody would report it

Then, the Bush Crime Family would threaten the person's family or livelihood and they'd have an army of Fright Wing liars on the network news, talk radio and in op-ed columns continually denouncing the story and the authors until most Americans were so confused as to not know what to believe.

[Octafish]

8. Bernstein: CIA co-opted US press decades ago...

CIA AND THE MEDIA

FBI Domestic Intelligence Activities

In 1953, Joseph Alsop, then one of America's leading syndicated columnists, went to the Philippines to cover an election. He did not go because he was asked to do so by his syndicate. He did not go because he was asked to do so by the newspapers that printed his column. He went at the request of the CIA.

Alsop is one of more than 400 American journalists who in the past 25 years have secretly carried out assignments for the Central Intelligence Agency according to documents on file at CIA headquarters. Some of these journalists' relationships with the Agency were tacit; some were explicit. There was cooperation, accommodation and overlap. Journalists provided a full range of clandestine services -- from simple intelligence-gathering to serving as go-betweens with spies in Communist countries. Reporters shared their notebooks with the CIA. Editors shared their staffs. Some of the journalists were Pulitzer Prize winners, distinguished reporters who considered themselves ambassadors without portfolio for their country. Most were less exalted: foreign correspondents who found that their association with the Agency helped their work; stringers and freelancers who were as interested in the derring-do of the spy business as in filing articles; and, the smallest category, full-time CIA employees masquerading as journalists abroad. In many instances, CIA documents show, journalists were engaged to perform tasks for the CIA with the consent of the managements of America's leading news organizations.

The history of the CIA's involvement with the American press continues to be shrouded by an official policy of obfuscation and deception for the following principal reasons:

The use of journalists has been among the most productive means of intelligence-gathering employed by the CIA. Although the agency has cut back sharply on the use of reporters since 1973 (primarily as a result of pressure from the media), some journalists are still posted abroad.

Further investigation into the matter, CIA officials say, would inevitably reveal a series of embarrassing relationships in the 1950's and 1960's with some of the most powerful organizations and individuals in American journalism.

CONTINUED...

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/ARCHIVE/ciamedia.html

Those who can, should check out the entire article:

Carl Bernstein, "The CIA and the Media -- How America's Most Powerful News Media Worked Hand in Glove with the Central Intelligence Agency and Why the Church Committee Covered It Up", Rolling Stone, October 20, 1977, p.63.