Posted on 05/17/2005 3:22:34 PM PDT by Brian Mosely
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUE MAY 17, 2005 18:02:22 ET XXXXX
REVENGE OF THE PRESS: WHITE HOUSE REPORTERS RIP SPOKESMAN OVER NEWSWEEK MESS
Mainline reporters moved into battle-mode today during a White House press briefing -- as one of their own outlets continued to hemorrhage over a now retracted story!
Afghanistan's government said Tuesday that NEWSWEEK should be held responsible for damages caused by deadly anti-American demonstrations after the magazine alleged U.S. desecration of the Quran.
The White House said the United States' image abroad had suffered irreparable damage by the story.
But it was the press's turn to fight back as Bush spokesman Scott McClellan opened his briefing to questions.
[Joined in progess]
Q With respect, who made you the editor of Newsweek? Do you think it's appropriate for you, at that podium, speaking with the authority of the President of the United States, to tell an American magazine what they should print?
MR. McCLELLAN: I'm not telling them. I'm saying that we would encourage them to help --
Q You're pressuring them.
MR. McCLELLAN: No, I'm saying that we would encourage them --
Q It's not pressure?
MR. McCLELLAN: Look, this report caused serious damage to the image of the United States abroad. And Newsweek has said that they got it wrong. I think Newsweek recognizes the responsibility they have. We appreciate the step that they took by retracting the story. Now we would encourage them to move forward and do all that they can to help repair the damage that has been done by this report. And that's all I'm saying. But, no, you're absolutely right, it's not my position to get into telling people what they can and cannot report....
Q Are you asking them to write a story about how great the American military is; is that what you're saying here?
MR. McCLELLAN: Elisabeth, let me finish my sentence. Our military --
Q You've already said what you're -- I know what -- how it ends.
MR. McCLELLAN: No, I'm coming to your question, and you're not letting me have a chance to respond. But our military goes out of their way to handle the Koran with care and respect. There are policies and practices that are in place. This report was wrong. Newsweek, itself, stated that it was wrong. And so now I think it's incumbent and -- incumbent upon Newsweek to do their part to help repair the damage. And they can do that through ways that they see best, but one way that would be good would be to point out what the policies and practices are in that part of the world, because it's in that region where this report has been exploited and used to cause lasting damage to the image of the United States of America. It has had serious consequences. And so that's all I'm saying, is that we would encourage them to take steps to help repair the damage. And I think that they recognize the importance of doing that. That's all I'm saying.
Q As far as the Newsweek article is concerned, first, how and where the story came from? And do you think somebody can investigate if it really happened at the base, and who told Newsweek? Because somebody wrote a story.
MR. McCLELLAN: I think Newsweek has talked about it. They took it --
Developing...
McClellan should have had let them have it with Abu Gharab and the 9/11 mess. Back during 9/11 the press was censoring themselves to avoid inciting the American people to committing violence against Muslims.
I don't know, you guys. The Left seems to think that the Right is running the show. How that can be, I do not know. Check out these quotes and this bizzar website:
http://free.freespeech.org/americanstateterrorism/mediadeception/RevealingQuotes3.html
“We paid $3 billion for these television stations. We will decide what the news is. The news is what we tell you it is.”
— David Boylan, WTVT station manager, April 16, 1997
“The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media.”
— William Colby, former Director of the CIA
“The owners and managers of the press determine which person, which facts, which version of the facts, and which ideas shall reach the public.”
Report by the Commission on Freedom of the Press
quoted in Democracy for the Few, by Michael Parenti
and Don’t Blame the People, by Robert Cirino
“[The corporate mass-media] serve to divert the unwashed masses and reinforce the basic social values: passivity, submissiveness to authority, the overriding virtue of greed and personal gain, lack of concern for others, fear of real or imagined enemies, etc.
“The goal is to keep the bewildered herd bewildered. It’s unnecessary for them to trouble themselves with what’s happening in the world. In fact, it’s undesirable — if they see too much of reality they may set themselves to change it.”
— Noam Chomsky, M.I.T. professor of linguistics, prolific author & U.S. foreign policy critic, What Uncle Sam Really Wants
“Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the [U.S.] media.”
— Noam Chomsky, co-author of Manufacturing Consent
“The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western world. No First World country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity — much less dissent.
“Of course, it is possible for any citizen with time to spare, and a canny eye, to work out what is actually going on, but for the many there is not time, and the network news is the only news even though it may not be news at all but only a series of flashing fictions...”
— Gore Vidal, The Decline and Fall of the American Empire
“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”
— Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister
After reading this exchange, it sounds like some kind of bounty was put out.
It's already taken away, as far as open criticism of Islam is concerned. No reporter wants to end up with a death fatwa on him, or shot and stabbed multiple times on a city street. They snarl at the President's spokesman, because it's safe to do so.
In 1972 Nixon was re-elected in one of the most massive landslide elections in U.S. political history, defeating George McGovern and garnering over 60% of the popular vote. He carried 49 of the 50 states, trailing only in Massachusetts.
Richard Nixon
This poor little "witch" hasn't yet figured that there must be accountability for the actions that lying causes. Possibly the dan rather school of journalism?
And there we have it. They will write what they damn well please without regard to what actually happens, because they already know how it ends.
" Q Are you asking them to write a story about how great the American military is; is that what you're saying here? "
I hate these elite pr*cks....THEY WOULDNT HAVE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IF IT WEREN'T FOR OUR GREAT MILITARY!
Who is the "Elizabeth" who is asking the questions? What publication is she writing for?
He referred to her as Elisabeth (with an S), so it must be that NYT B****, Elisabeth Bumiller.
Her stories drip with anti-Bush/anti-Republican sentiment.
They should have sent Rummy....THAT guy has BALLS
Bumiller: Huh?
Tennessee Congressman Ford (Hope I got his name right...it was early...), on Imus this am, took the line that Newsweek has done good work, is reliable, and so what if they got this wrong. The WH gets a lot of things wrong. So there. Liberals circling the MSM wagons. (That's all they've got...a national propaganda machine.) Ford probably has his eye on Hill's ticket as VP -- she needs the black vote and the south. Even if she loses, he gains recognition and power for an eventual Presidential run.
This is our White House in action? Wimps.
Hey, Elizabeth, Yoda just called.
He wants his face back.
I hate the MSM.
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