The Envelope Please: News Emmys Salute Ted Koppel

September 25th, 2007 - by: danny

PROTESTS AGAINST BUSH AT THE UN TODAY

47th and 1st Ave. 8:30 AM Take two minutes and check out this youtube video for a militant wear orange movement, a clear cooptation and inversion of US backed “orange revolutions.”

AT THE EMMY AWARDS
UAW STRIKES GM
RICHARD GERE ON LIES

As a rule, I hate journalists in black tie. It seems so wrong for working professionals to have to deck out in tuxedos and gowns to honor their own. But that seems to be the protocol of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, modeled after the Motion Picture Academy, and besides I don’t have one. The best I could do was my new suit for the ceremonies last night at the Sheraton where the news business gets one of its most prestigious annual awards.

(The film on Daniel Pearl that I worked on with Ramesh Sharma, Anant Singh, Ahmad Jamal and journalist Amit Roy was nominated, but did not win – beat out by a program with hidden camera footage of sex slaves, a much racier subject. I am told it was well made. I remembered the year I did win, in the company of Ted Koppel who was honored last night with a well deserved lifetime achievement award. Then I wore a Tuxedo TV shirt which amused himÃ¢â‚¬Â¦. Somewhere in my archives, there is a picture of the two of us on that evening in the days when I really belonged in the room. What a rascal I was then, and probably still.

TV loves awards and every local station shows theirs off, usually in the lobby. Last night was an especially heady experience. Dan Rather was there as a presenter but he stayed away from his law suit, He did tell me that he hopes some day to get the President of Viacom under oath to testify to why he was fired. I admire his gumption and what he is saying now—how a firing can rediacalize someone– about the corporaritization of news. Yesterday I said no other network journalists have come to his defense. Not true. Earlier in the day, Ted Koppel called his ouster a “travesty.”

No one said anything really controversial although NBC’s Martin Fletcher passionately explained that he was tired of covering wars in the Middle East and believes the people there are eager for peace on all sides. Amen.

These News Emmys will be on CSPAN, not any of the networks. You remember how Fox brought us the Entertainment Emmys.

Tom Shales of the Washington Post wrote about that the other day:

Sad to say, Americans are becoming so accustomed to bleeped material on television that it’s hard to get a decent ruckus raised even if the bleeping is done by virtual government mandate. That’s right: When Fox bleeped Sally Field during the Primetime Emmy Awards, the network’s action was just one piddling inch, one silly millimeter, from outright government censorship.

You remember government censorship: It’s one of the things we sometimes try to liberate other countries from — communist dictatorships, for instance.

There was no censorship than I could see, but I know all about the self-censorship that can be found in every newsroom. It is a process that downplays most of the issues I write about and that appear in the independent media.

Yet at the same time, it was good to see PBS honored for POV and Frontline – Frontline does more original docs than all the networks combined. I said hi to Tom Brokaw who won for a program on global warming and a number of other friends and associates.

The tribute to Koppel was reverential but punctured by humor. His former Executive Producers sang his praises, Eli Wiesel added his authority to the tribute and then along came Jon Stewart to say that he hated him because he made him feel small. He was funny and the evening was filled with more pathos and memorable moments. The best moment was Koppel’s selfdescribed “trophy”Wife Grace Ann humorously claiming credit for all of his achievements and Ted’s singing – yes singing—a love song to her. But he also expressed his concerns with the dangers that TV News faces from companies who put profits before journalism.

I could write more, and drop more names because they were all there, and I probably will at some point, but it’s late and I have to try to finish this blog before I collapse. When I ducked out as the award parade droned on, I noticed in the lobby that once the Journalists leave Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative will take over the hotel.

The cops had already blocked the street outside the Sheraton so there were no cabs in sight. I hopped on the E Train and was home in a jiffy

MIKE WAS THERE

A wheezing melodramatic Mike Wallace won an award for his interview on 60 Minutes with Iran’s president. He said a year ago none of us knew his name. (His interview was far more revealing that this year’s by Scott Pelly.)

Meanwhile he is here in NY. The NY Times reports:

Amid Protests, President of Iran Speaks at Columbia

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran faced questions this afternoon about his perspective on the Holocaust and Israel during an appearance at Columbia University in New York that provoked anger and was overshadowed by protests even before he had taken the lectern.

In opening remarks, Lee C. Bollinger, the university’s president, defended the decision to allow the Iranian president to speak at the Columbia University forum. But he also criticized at length Iran’s human rights record, Mr. Ahmadinejad’s call for the destruction of Israel and his description of the Holocaust as a myth, among other positions.

Mr. Ahmadinejad strode onto the stage in a packed auditorium, smiling slightly. Before he sat down, he held up his hands to the crowd, to some applause.

He then gave a speech that meandered from science and religion to creation of human beings and the misuse of wisdom. But it was during the question-and-answer session that he was confronted about some of his most controversial positions.

He said that as an academic he questioned whether there was “sufficient research” about what happened after World War II. “We know quite well that Palestine is an old wound” for 60 years, he said at one point.

“We need to still question whether the Palestinian people should be paying for it or not.”

He was asked to answer directly whether he or his government seeks the destruction of Israel. He did not. But to solve the “60-year-old problem,” he said, “we must allow the Palestinian people to decide on its future itself.”

MORE ON 6O MINUTES and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Richard B writes:

Yesterday evening, I watched the CBS’s 60 Minutes interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and was stunned by what I witnessed. In fact, I was so stunned, I went into the “live blogging” mode at Daily Kos for nearly four hours, just to calibrate my own reaction, and see if I was just being overly sensitive. It turns out that it wasn’t just a case of my politics getting in the way of critically analyzing the interview.

Was the reporter conducting the interview co-opted by the Bush administration to deliver a) propoganda to the American public, and b) a message to Ahmadinejad?

My head is still spinning. Jill even took the time to email me off list to confirm that she saw the same thing that I did.

I blogged about it this morning. Feel free to tell me that I’m overreacting…

Writes DXM:

The ONLY thing they got Ahmadinejad on was his surprise to learn that there are don’t ask don’t tell homosexuals in Iran. He thought they’d all been killed off already, or moved to The Castro (district in San francisco). Otherwise, under such a wave of real mean antagonism (in the questions as they were framed), Ahmadinejad preceded to kick their arrogant asses anyhow – mainly by falling back to the Islam-as-peace mode which he has memorized since he was a boy. Who can argue with peace?

Also, how he handled the “terrorism” question was masterful – as none of us have ever forgotten how the the MKO terrorists killed 80 of Iran’s top leaders in one bombing attack back at the beginning of the Revolution – and to this day the US still supports MKO, even in Iraq, and to this day, they’re still killing Iranians, in Iran.

And Israel-Palestine, and “researching” the Holocaust… The Iranian (Persian) thinking process is as different from western thinking as the American Indian thinking process is different from white man thinking in the US. So, rhetorically, you tell me, 6 million Jews and others were murdered by Germans in Europe, but for 60 years Palestinians have been punished, essentially, for what the Germans did.

That doesn’t make any more sense to an Iranian than it would make to an American Indian.

UAW STRIKES GM

When I was in Michigan, the Wall Street Journal was reporting that there was in deal in sight between the union and General Motors. Today, it fell apart.

CNBC reported:

Members of the United Auto Workers began to walk off of their jobs at General Motors on Monday, after a deadline to sign a new labor agreement passed without word of a deal.

“We are disappointed in the UAW’s decision to call a national strike,” GM said in a statement. “The bargaining involves complex, difficult issues that affect the job security of our U.S. work force and the long-term viability of the company. We are fully committed to working with the UAW to develop solutions together to address the competitive challenges facing General Motors.”

The development resulted in General Motors [GM 35.13 0.19 (+0.54%) ] shares giving back much of their earlier gains on Monday. Earlier, General Motors shares had risen on increasing optimism that the two sides would be able to reach a deal and avert a strike.

Workers Joining AFL-CIO Unions at Highest Rate in Two Generations

OVERSEAS

BURMA JUNTA THREATENS PROTESTING MONKS

THE INDENDENDENT REPORTS

Suu Kyi greets protesters as Burma’s junta faces biggest test in 20 years

The independent reports: “In a remarkable show of defiance Burmese monks and nuns yesterday led 20,000 demonstrators through Rangoon in the largest protest against the country’s military regime for almost two decades.

A day after hundreds of monks had walked to the house of the imprisoned democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, thousands more returned to the streets in a show of numbers not seen since the pro-democracy marches of 1988.

CHECK THIS: A GRAPHIC STATE BY STATE REPRESENTATION OF US DEATHS IN IRAQ

THE WAR:

Asia Times Online: Petraeus out of step with US top brass

By Gareth Porter

WASHINGTON – In sharp contrast to the lionization of General David Petraeus by members of the US Congress during his testimony this week, Petraeus’s superior, Admiral William Fallon, chief of the Central Command (CENTCOM), derided Petraeus as a sycophant during their first meeting in Baghdad in March, according to Pentagon sources familiar with reports of the meeting.

Fallon told Petraeus that he considered him to be “an ass-kissing little chickenshit” and added, “I hate people like that,” the sources say. That remark reportedly came after Petraeus began the meeting by making remarks that Fallon interpreted as trying to ingratiate himself with a superior. That extraordinarily contentious start of Fallon’s mission to Baghdad led to more meetings marked by acute tension between the two commanders. Fallon went on to develop his own alternative to Petraeus’s recommendation for continued high levels of US troops in Iraq during the summer.

The enmity between the two commanders became public knowledge when the Washington Post reported on September 9 of intense conflict within the administration over Iraq. The story quoted a senior official as saying that referring to “bad relations” between them is “the understatement of the century.” Fallon’s derision toward Petraeus reflected both the Centcom commander’s personal distaste for Petraeus’s style of operating and their fundamental policy differences over Iraq, according to the sources.

LETTER: Here’s something for you Dissector, Danny.

While some have received considerable coverage, some remarks made by the head of UK Armed Forces, General Sir Richard Dannatt have been virtually suppressed in the UK media. These remarks put Dannatt starkly at odds with his political masters. Specifically, the following:

The militants (and I use the word deliberately because not all are insurgents, or terrorists, or criminals; they are a mixture of them all) are well armed & probably with outside help, and probably from Iran. By motivation, essentially, and with the exception of the Al Qaeda in Iraq element who have endeavored to exploit the situation for their own ends, our opponents are Iraqi Nationalists, and are most concerned with their own needs & jobs, money, security â?” and the majority are not bad people.

For more detail, references and video, go here:

DEBATE ON MOVEON: – CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS

IRAQ — RIGHT WING CONTINUES TO OBSESS OVER MOVEON AD, OBSTRUCTS EFFORTS TO END WAR:

While U.S. troop deaths in Iraq creep toward 4,000, conservatives are using MoveOn’s recent Gen. David Petraeus ad to obstruct progress in ending the war. Last week, the Senate voted to approve Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-TX) bill criticizing the MoveOn.org ad. The “sense of the Senate” resolution “strongly” condemned the “personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus.” But the senators who supported Cornyn’s bill have previously chastised the Senate for engaging in “empty” and “meaningless resolutions.” “We have just seen a procedure in the last 24 hours that was a colossal waste of time,” said Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) in July. Last week, President Bush used the opportunity to attack Democrats, stating, “Most Democrats are afraid of irritating a left-wing group like Moveon.org, or more afraid of irritating them than they are of irritating the United States military. That was a sorry deal.” On CNN’s Late Edition yesterday, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) responded, “Well, I thought it was pretty sorry when his campaign attacked Senator Kerry’s record of service, and I thought it was pretty sorry when the Republicans attacked Senator Cleland. I don’t condone attacks by anyone on the patriotism and service of our military.” In the meantime, conservatives helped block the Levin-Reed amendment that would call for a withdrawal from Iraq. A recent CBS poll found that after Petraeus’s testimony, the percentage of Americans who believe escalation is working fell from 35 to 31. An overwhelming majority of Americans favor a withdrawal from Iraq.

The News Dissector