Greg Palast - COWARDICE IN JOURNALISM AWARD FOR NEWSWEEK

[Al-CIAda]

COWARDICE IN JOURNALISM AWARD FOR NEWSWEEK
Goebbels Award for Condi
by Greg Palast

"It's appalling that this story got out there," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on her way back from Iraq.

What's NOT appalling to Condi is that the US is holding prisoners at Guantanamo under conditions termed "torture" by the Red Cross. What's not appalling to Condi is that prisoners of the Afghan war are held in violation of international law after that conflict has supposedly ended. What is NOT appalling to Condi is that prisoner witnesses have reported several instances of the Koran's desecration.

What is appalling to her is that these things were REPORTED. So to Condi goes to the Joseph Goebbels Ministry of Propaganda Iron Cross.

But I don't want to leave out our President. His aides report that George Bush is "angry" about the report -- not the desecration of the Koran, but the REPORTING of it.

And so long as George is angry and Condi appalled, Newsweek knows what to do: swiftly grab its corporate ankles and ask the White House for mercy.

But there was no mercy.

---

In the old days, Isakoff's discovery would have led to Congressional investigations of the perpetrators of such official offence. The Koran-flushers would have been flushed from the military, panels would have been impaneled and Isakoff would have collected his Pulitzer.

No more. Instead of nailing the wrong-doers, the Bush Administration went after the guy who REPORTED the crime, Isakoff.

Was there a problem with the story? Certainly. If you want to split hairs, the inside-government source of the Koran desecration story now says he can't confirm which military report it appeared in. But he saw it in one report and a witnesses has confirmed that the Koran was defiled.

Of course, there's an easy way to get at the truth. RELEASE THE REPORTS NOW. Hand them over, Mr. Rumsfeld, and let's see for ourselves what's in them.

-----

It used to be that the Washington Post permitted journalism in its newsrooms. No more. But, frankly, that's an old story.

----


Despite its supposed new concern for hidden sources, let's note that Newsweek and the Post have no trouble providing, even in the midst of this story, cover for secret Administration sources that are FAVORABLE to Bush. Editor Whitaker's retraction relies on "Administration officials" whose names he kindly withholds.

In other words, unnamed sources are OK if they defend Bush, unacceptable if they expose the Administration's mendacity or evil.

A lot of my readers don't like the Koran-story reporter Mike Isakoff because of his goofy fixation with Monica Lewinsky and Mr. Clinton's cigar. Have some sympathy for Isakoff: Mike's one darn good reporter, but as an inmate at the Post/Newsweek facilities, his ability to send out serious communications to the rest of the world are limited.

A few years ago, while I was tracking the influence of the power industry on Washington, Isakoff gave me some hard, hot stuff on Bill Clinton -- not the cheap intern-under-the-desk gossip -- but an FBI report for me to publish in The Guardian of Britain.

I asked Isakoff why he didn't put it in Newsweek or in the Post.

He said, when it comes to issues of substance, "No one gives a sh--," not the readers, and especially not the editors who assume that their US target audience is small-minded, ignorant and wants to stay that way.


Con't-
www.GregPalast.com
********
Greg Palast was awarded the 2005 George Orwell Prize for Courage in Journalism at the Sundance Film Festival for his investigative reports produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation. See those reports for BBC, Harper's, The Nation and others at www.GregPalast.com

[GetTheRightVote]

1. Greg is great and with so much courage to confront these people

I hope he watches his back while he is out there......

:kick:

[sonias]

2. Greg is a real journalist

who reports the truth about this corrupt administration.

Sonia

[bpilgrim]

3. thanks for sharing that, my thoughts exactly ---------------> IMAGE

http://images.globalfreepress.com

peace

[Al-CIAda]

5. nice hehe n/t

[Bozita]

4. Palast will be on Bob McChesney's Media Matters ...

... a week from this coming Sunday. (2pm EDT)

Tim Robbins will be the guest for this Sunday.

.

[Karenina]

6. Please make a note of it.

:kick:

[dbt]

7. Recommended.

HIGHLY.

[Hissyspit]

8. Another Palast Commentary - Another Vote for Greatest Page. n/t

[Pacifist Patriot]

9. I have to take issue with one thing Isakoff said..

as reported by Palast.

He said, when it comes to issues of substance, "No one gives a sh--," not the readers, and especially not the editors who assume that their US target audience is small-minded, ignorant and wants to stay that way.

I am sick and tired of the assumption that readers do not give a shit. I nearly lost it Saturday night when newsroom personnel told me the local paper carried no coverage of election irregularities because their marketing department determined that their circulation would not be interested in reading about it. I blasted the editors back in December and January when they failed to mention the Conyers hearings or the electoral challenge. The political editor told me, "these events were deemed unnewsworthy." An event repeated only three times in our constitutional history was deemed unnewsworthy!

I am beyond fed up with people telling me that readers don't care. How the f*** will they know until they print it????

STOP TELLING ME WHAT I DON'T CARE ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[meganmonkey]

10. Very good point, PP

I feel the same way. And it's not just the 'mainstream' newspapers, it's the actual 'liberal' media we rely on who are refusing to cover it. That worries me even more. I trust mags like the Nation and Mother Jones to bring me the info no one else will, and even they are staying away from it. It really sucks. x(

[Al-CIAda]

11. Yes, that IS a good point. A STOLEN ELECTION isn't 'newsworthy'?

...and yes, the left's self-censorship and denial is horrifying.


The claim that 'the readers aren't interested'simply allows the dumbing down to the most common denominator.

[Pacifist Patriot]

12. That's precisely what I said in my rant here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3686049&mesg_id=3686049

Yes, the "self-censorship" of the left and their mental gymnastics to justify it are nothing short of horrifying.

[smoogatz]

15. And they wonder why their readership is declining

faster than the number of George W Bush's functioning neurons. They're startled and alarmed at the rise of alternative media--all that actual reporting going on out there on the internets, unfiltered by some corporate douchebag with a degree in marketing. Local papers are terrified that they'll offend a significant part of their readership by running actual news--therefore the news isn't "newsworthy." But hey. If they won't do their jobs, we'll do it for them.

[spooky3]

13. good work

[McCamy Taylor]

14. Cowardice? Dude, that was collusion! Newsweek planned this with

the WH. Look at the author! Look at who owns Newsweek! This whole thing was a setup. The plan would only work if Newsweek agreed to admit "wrongdoing" and retract the story. Just like at Viacom/CBS.

This is Mary Mapes/60 Minutes all over again except this time Karl Rove enlisted the aid of the writer too, so he doesnt have to worry about a book deal (which Mary Mapes is apparently negotiating and which may come back to bite Rove on the ass).

[Moderator]

16. Al-CIAda

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
copyrighted news source.


Thank you.


DU Moderator

[Al-CIAda]

18. Yes sir. My defense is that the article was long, and with so

many poignient aspects, difficult to choose just what to post.

Apologies all the same.

[dandrhesse]

17. quite frankly I'm surprised he is still around to continue working

[DrDebug]

19. Greg won't leave until Bush and Blair are gone

He's an old-fashioned guy. He still believes that an investigative report should wear a raincoat and a hat.

[dandrhesse]

21. I didn't mean by choice, I meant I am surprised he hasn't turned up

dead mysteriously or otherwise. He has a helluva lot of guts and he is a great journalist.

[DrDebug]

24. Don't say shit like that. Knock on wood

He has a tremendous amount of guts and those BBC documentaries are marvellous

[dandrhesse]

27. Yeah he is the best, most straight forward reporter out there, that's why

he has so many enemies. I think the higher profile he maintains the better. Just like Michael Moore, it is no secret that the wingers can't stand him so they would be suspect number one if anything ever happened to him. I don't know if you are a believer but I pray for people like Palast to have continued courage and protection from all harm. They are the true heroes of our time.

[DrDebug]

28. He is a real hero

This is a journalist who is not afraid of anybody and he'll expose the truth. Actually Michael Moore borrowed a lot from Greg. Greg did most of the hard investigative work; Michael Moore is more a collector who makes a nice story of it.

[dandrhesse]

29. agreed.

[realFedUp]

20. The spelling is Isikoff

it might give more weight to an
opinion piece if Greg had spelled
the reporter's name correctly...

[clem_c_rock]

22. kick it

[Toots]

23. " but an FBI report for me to publish in The Guardian of Britain. "

How would Isakoff get a confidential FBI report on Bill Clinton and did Mr. Palast report on that file? Remember "File Gate" how no one and I mean no one was supposed to have access to FBI files but somehow someone in the Administration got some by mistake? How did Isakoff get FBI files on Bill Clinton? I think that is a question that needs to be asked and checked into.

[rman]

25. along the lines of "we appologize for getting caught"

(for whatever dirty tricks they were caught on)

[Norquist Nemesis]

26. Where were Bush, Condi, Rummy, the FBI etc when

THIS was happening in cities across America? No doubt, Condi's thrilled this wasn't REPORTED.

edit to fix link

[Al-CIAda]

30. Oh my, its the cult(ure) of death!

[DrDebug]

31. Yikes

Let's bring a baby to the Koran Burning as well. What a way to bring up a child!

[Nothing Without Hope]

32. This is a MUST-READ article. Newsweek has now publically committed to

getting its reports vetted before publication by Rumsfeld's Department of Defense. As Palast says, "Why not just print Rumsfeld's press releases and eliminate the middleman, the reporter?"

This is a DISASTER. Newsweek on several occasions has dared to break controversial - read true but unpopular with the administration propaganda-mongers - stories. Now they have been shut down into tame mouthpiece mode like the others.

Like "Gannon" copying those WH propaganda files.

I do think this whole episode was staged. One more step into FASCISM.

Will recommend if there is still time. VERY IMPORTANT.

edited to add: This article is also available here;
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8887.htm

[AuntiBush]

33. She said it herself: "It's appalling this story got out," is right!

So use to total dominance. How dare the truth "get-out."

Eventually, "everything comes out in the wash," when one lies to cover over more lies, and so on and so forth.