Short "blurb" on the Libby Trial

I'm not going to go into all the detail but here's a comment I HAD to write on another blog this morning after reviewing reports from the Libby Trial (from Mainstream Media no less!)

I love this.

Cathie Martin confirmed what we've been saying about Russert and Meet The Press for the past six years. Here's the quote from Dana Millbank's article in the Washington Post:

Flashed on the courtroom computer screens were her notes from 2004 about how Cheney could respond to allegations that the Bush administration had played fast and loose with evidence of Iraq's nuclear ambitions. Option 1: "MTP-VP," she wrote, then listed the pros and cons of a vice presidential appearance on the Sunday show. Under "pro," she wrote: "control message.""I suggested we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a tactic we often used," (extra emphasis mine) Martin testified. "It's our best format."

Russert's credibility is COMPLETELY DESTROYED.

Cathie stamped TOADY across his forehead in a big way....he owes the country an apology for impersonating a journalist.

But (as with almost EVERYTHING with the Bush Administration) the Millbank article gets worse from there. Cathie Martin (who happens to be married to the head of the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) ..incest much?) confirmed some of our deepest and perhaps darkest suspicions about the handling of the media by this administration.

For instance, on some discussion boards there is a dark joke that goes around on Friday mornings about what the "news dump" will be at five o'clock. Turns out, it's no joke....here's a clip:

With a candor that is frowned upon at the White House, Martin explained the use of late-Friday statements. "Fewer people pay attention to it late on Friday," she said. "Fewer people pay attention when it's reported on Saturday."

So the "news dump" isn't our imagination either....it's a time-honored technique of the Bush White House. Next I suppose you'll tell me that there's actually favortism shown toward Right Wing reporters.

...hah....

wait a minute....Millbank says this:

On jurors' monitors were images of Martin's talking points, some labeled "on the record" and others "deep background." She walked the jurors through how the White House coddles friendly writers and freezes out others. To deal with the Wilson controversy, she hastily arranged a Cheney lunch with conservative commentators. And when New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof first wrote about the Niger affair, she explained, "we didn't see any urgency to get to Kristof" because "he frankly attacked the administration fairly regularly."

I don't know why I'm surprised. I have assumed that ever since ABC News made the fateful decision back in the '80s that Television News was a PROFIT CENTER and not a PUBLIC SERVICE that most anchormen (and women ) had become rating whores who would (do ) sell out their integrity for "access" and they only keep that access by becoming STENOGRAPHERS and not JOURNALISTS.

The only good thing is that Martin pulled back the veil and showed us the ugly process by which our information is manipulated.

Read the whole article....but not on a full stomach.

e