DEBATING SEAN HANNITY

GREG PALAST’S FLA SCOOP

DENOUNCED BY FOXOFILES

I was walking in when Ann Coulter was walking out.

I was back at in the heart of the evil empire of Fox News for my first crack at Sean Hannity and Alan Combs in their nightly face-off.

I was summoned late in the day to discuss/debate the media role in this missing weapons story. As the Fox producer explained it to me, Sean and his devotee, Brent Bozell of a right wing media monitoring group, believe that there must be a plot by the New York Times and CBS in reporting that story that says 780 tons of dangerous weapons have been looted in Iraq to embarrass the President on the eve of the election. Bozell even claimed that the story was the liberal’s version of an “October surprise.”

I was there as red meat for a Hannity-driven demolition derby, but it didn’t quite work out that way. I pointed out that original disclosure came from the Iraqi government that The Bush Administration imposed and the International Atomic Energy Administration led by Mohamed El Baradei (who, someone told me, is an ad-hominem aside, is a mostly-Americanized Arab who went to school with Fox’s own Geraldo Rivera).

TRASHING THE TIMES

Anyway the Times report is being challenged on the grounds that a) how do we know the weapons were there?; (b) If they were there, doesn’t that prove that Saddam was dangerous and had to be overthrown?; and C) we knew about their disappearance in 2003 who why bring it up now? (By the time Bozell was through, he had conflated those missing conventional weapons into WMDs. The logic in this discussion was so convoluted that I had a hard time refocusing the debate to what we were there to discuss.

Incidentally, former Weapons inspector David Kay, who served as a pro-Administration flunky but later admitted there were no WMD’s revealed on CNN:

“Oh, it was definitely carefully secured. Actually, this is one of Yogi Berra’s deja vu all over again. It was a team of mine 1991 that went to al Qa Qaa and first discovered the huge stock of HDX, RDX that they had. So, I mean, I know it was secured. It was left in the country. Not all of us agreed that it should be in the country. But it was left there and it was in bunkers and it certainly disappeared at some point between — certainly between March, the end of March and by May.”

I can’t get the fact that this base is known in English as AL KA KA . . . You can’t make this stuff up.

The Boston Globe report on the disappearing weapons includes this quote from another expert:

“‘This is not just any old warehouse in Iraq that happened to have explosives in it; this was a leading location for developing nuclear weapons before the first Gulf War,’ said Gary Milhollin, director of the Wisconsin Project, a nonprofit organization that has followed Iraq’s attempts to procure weapons of mass destruction for more than a decade. ‘The fact that it had been left unsecured is very, very discouraging. It would be like invading the US in to order to get rid of [weapons of mass destruction] and not securing Los Alamos or [Lawrence] Livermore [National Laboratory].’”

http://tinyurl.com/5hev7/

SEE BEE ES

Yesterday afternoon, I was told by the Fox booker that CBS’S 60 Minutes was also part of this nefarious expose, a media “weapon of mass distortion” as Fox titled it, (They must know that WMD–Weapons of Mass Deception is the name of my movie so didn’t use that term, even as I got my own plug in). But no one seemed to want to bash Rather anymore. They must be tired of knocking that Dan, perhaps because they now had another one to beat up on closer at hand.

That’s too bad because I was going to mention that Bozell’s group gave Rather its award for best war coverage by a network supporting our boys. (Fox won for cable!) Anyway, I did get to throw in a curve ball in the spirit of the world series and praised Bill O’Reilly as being the first TV news mouth to admit he was wrong about WMD’s.

That prompted Hannity to tell me to save that for Bill’s show.

HANNITY’S HAPPY

“While I was on the set, he chatted in a break with someone in the control room etnthusing about the GOP victory he is certain will occur. “I think we got this thing, ” he said, but I could hear his pal say he was worried and Sean did not disagree with some of the concerns he raised. I didn’t understand his point but I think it had to do with all the newly registered voters.

The segment was brief and I think I got a few licks in. You can read what some of the Fox crowd thought below. I like the letter calling me an idiot.

As I wrote back, if I am such an idiot, what does that make Fox for inviting me on? My biggest disappointment was not having another encounter with none other than Henry Kissinger who was in the studio waiting to go on the next show. I have had some funny run-ins with the odious Dr. K in the past and was hoping to confront him for old times sake, but they shuttled him over to another Green Room. Maybe they knew.

In some ways the on-air “debate” felt like a verbal food fight. Ironically, in South Korea yesterday, Parlamentarians didn’t just talk about their differences, they hurled lunches at each other. At least that’s more nutritious.

The great god John Belushi must be smiling down.

FOX CLEARED OF PRO-BUSH CHARGE

The funniest media note on Fox appeared yesterday in the Wall Street Journal. On Monday the country’s top financial paper reported that Fox was partial to the GOP. What a revelation! Ther came right out and said it in a story that will go down in the history of journalism for its sheer audacity. Yesterday, however, after protests no doubt from the fair and balanced crowd, the Journal reversed itself and carried this item in their “Corrections and amplifications” column. Brace yourself:

“NEWS CORP’s Fox News was incorrectly described in a page one article Monday as sympathetic to the Bush cause.”

No, this disclaimer was not in The Onion, but the WSJ. As Ripley would say, “believe it or not.”

THE LATEST MEDIA SCANDAL: PAPPAS BROADCASTING

Free Press reports:

“Media giant Pappas Telecasting, with TV and radio stations across the nation, will give $325,000 worth of air time on their stations for GOP candidates in many of California’s tightest elections. This is first time we know of that a media giant has given away airtime for partisan ads.

“Pappas is abusing its access to the public airwaves - your airwaves - to sway close elections. This is not about liberal vs. conservative. It’s about Big Media abusing the public trust to advance their own political objectives — again.

Go to www.freepress.net/pappas to take back our media. We stopped Sinclair last week, and we can do it again.”

www.freepress.net/news/release.php?id=31

HOWARD STERN VERSUS MICHAEL POWELL

CNN — Howard Stern got into a heated exchange with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell during a radio call-in show Tuesday, with the shock jock saying the only reason Powell is in his position is because of his father, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

“‘Let’s face it. You got to the head of the FCC, you got to the front of the class the way George W. Bush got out of the draft — and it’s completely fair for me to question,’ Stern said.

“The FCC chairman defended his credentials and snapped, ‘I think it’s a cheap shot to say just because my father’s famous, I don’t belong in my position.’”

FRAUDIA AGAIN

MediaChannel advisor Greg Palast had a new scoop about Florida on BBC last night. Here’s what it was: A secret document obtained from inside Bush campaign headquarters in Florida suggests a plan — possibly in violation of US law — to disrupt voting in the state’s African-American voting districts, a BBC Newsnight investigation reveals.

(Watch it tonight beginning at 5.30pm EST, available for 24 hours:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm)

Lets see if this story gets any US media pick up. GOP officials are threatening not to talk to any other BBC journalists because of this story, They wanted the BBC to pull it alleging Palast bullied a Republican spokesperson. I saw his taped interview. Not true!

As for minority participation in the election, historian James Petras indicts both parties for not championing their issues.

“Neither candidates nor parties have addressed the problems of Afro-American or Latino-American workers. They are effectively excluded from the public debates. The programmatic exclusion of ‘minorities’ is much more serious than the voting registration exclusion which has been publicized in the mass media. As a result, experts estimate that nearly 60% of the voting age population of these minorities will not vote. De facto exclusion results in national voting participation only marginally greater than during the period of legal exclusion in the South.”

OHIO: THE NEXT FLORIDA?

The Washington Post reports:

“As Democrats marched through the downtown streets of the state capital with banners reading “Not This Time!” and chanting “Count every vote,” Republicans continued to challenge the eligibility of thousands of newly registered voters. This presented state election officials with the prospect of holding thousands of hearings over the next week to determine who can cast a ballot on Nov. 2.

“The continuing legal and bureaucratic uncertainties have heightened fears that Ohio could be on the verge of becoming the next Florida, which could not determine a winner for 36 days after the 2000 election. Polls here show President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry (D- Mass.) in a statistical dead heat in a state that each needs to win . . . “

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62645-2004Oct25.html

The big hope: new voters. The New York Times reports:

“In Ohio, nearly three-quarters of a million people registered to vote this year, bringing the state’s total registration to over 7.8 million, a record. In Iowa, Florida and Pennsylvania as well, registration drives — largely by Democratic groups - have swelled voter rolls to new levels, raising the likelihood that more people will vote this year than since the high-turnout year of 1992, experts said.”

www.iht.com/articles/2004/10/27/news/vote.html

CALL FOR A NEW 911 INVESTIGATION

Kyle Hence sends this along:

“An alliance of 100 prominent Americans and 40 family members of those killed on 9/11 today announced the release of the 911 Truth Statement, a call for immediate inquiry into evidence that suggests high-level government officials may have deliberately allowed the September 11th attacks to occur. The Statement supports an August 31st Zogby poll that found nearly 50% of New Yorkers believe the government had foreknowledge and “consciously failed to act,” with 66% wanting a new 9/11 investigation.

“Focusing on twelve questions, the Statement highlights areas of incriminating evidence that were either inadequately explored or ignored by the Kean Commission, ranging from insider trading and hijacker funding to foreign government forewarnings and inactive defenses around the Pentagon. The Statement asks for four actions: an immediate investigation by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, Congressional hearings, media Analysis, and the formation of a truly independent citizens-based inquiry.”

THE REST OF THE NOOZE

Al Jazeera:

“The Israeli parliament has approved Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to withdraw from the occupied Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.” . . . BBC: “Pentagon officials have confirmed that they are looking at possibly boosting US troop numbers in Iraq.” . . .

Iraq Body Count reports that betweeen 572 and 616 of the approximately 800 reported deaths in Fallujah were of civilians, with over 300 of these being women and children . . . .The Guardian reports that the The Financial Times’ newspaper’s yacht capsized in Sydney Harbor yesterday . . . Can the economy it reports on be next?

YOUR LETTERS: FOX FANS RESPOND

From Boricua Rivera, San Juan de Puerto Rico:

“Dear Sir: Congratulations. That is the way to handle Hannity. I must say you did a great job of not letting him dilute the issue and turn it around.

“During the interview you mentioned that security threats in Turkey stemming from the war on Iraq were not being reported. I have one of such news. On October the 23 the ex President of Spain and Bush ally, Aznar, visited the island of Puerto Rico. As he entered the Intercontinental Hotel among some of his supporters lay hidden a considerable amount of protestors. These men, who did not agree with the war in Iraq, waited for the ex President to get close to them and surprised his escort and the hotel personell. Chaos ensued and Aznar was left shaken. Where was “Homeland Security”? (Puerto Rico being part of the States). This visit by Aznar, lacked the proper security. What would have happened had these men been terrorists? All Puerto Ricans were put in danger by this man’s visit. This was a major blooper, and the man was notably shaken. It was broadcasted all over the island by the local networks.”

PEE ON ME?

GySgt. G. Johns (USMC Ret.) writes:

“D. Schechter Media Channel Editor,
Just a note to let you know of an award the Veterans at my Post are giving each week for the Publishers of newspapers endorsing Kerry. Each week our members nominate a Editor heard of that week commenting recklessly with lies and idiotic statements or endorsing this traitor. We have been doing this for the last six months now and are having the time of our lives.

“We have a list of nominated Publishers/Editors and such posted on a board and the members try very hard to catch a program with these people being interviewed or read an endorsement article. Each Saturday morning we vote and select a winner for the next week. When a winner is selected we have a Veteran who manufactures milking machines and he has a process where he can make 6 small rubber pads and then emboss on the pads a photo (off the internet) of the winning pundits or in this case a Publisher/Editor.

“When this is complete (the next Tuesday) we all gather at the Post and place the 6 pads with the winners (6 new ones selected each week) photo in each of the 6 urinals available in the Post restroom . . . Your Publisher/Editor’s endorsement has been seen and read by one or more of our members and has been nominated. You will be included in our next vote.”

IDIOT THAT I AM

Derrick Addison:

“You are an idiot and Sean should have told you so, READ IDIOT, This is a story that CNN reported quietly 18 months ago, John Kerry mentioned on October 8 that bomb dumps had been raided, How did he know? This a political ploy by the corrupt democratic party led by their # 1 crook Terry McAuliffe.”

Todd Bogwill: “Wow, you’re what liberals call a liberal. ”

Me, a liberal? I don’t think so.

AND NOW, YOUR COMMENTS:

Marion Millin:

“This just in! George Dubya announced that a Poorly Tailored Shirt caused the unsightly mystery bulge under his jacket during the debates. In other news, President (ahem) Cheney pointed out that there was no way to be certain that the missing Iraq explosives had been there in the first place, but if Saddam Hussein were still in power, there would be even MORE weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to worry about!”

Chuck O Brien weighs in:

“You and Adam McConnel are out in front of the US media with the suggestion that the explosives may have gone into the hands of the US’ Kurdish allies. Are the neo-cons conspiring to assure themselves of a separated friendly Iraqi region for American bases by offering the Kurds military protection in their water-shed conflict with Turkey? I am told that there is a serious pentagon study that cites “water rights conflicts” as the major cause of wars in the 21st century.

“One should wonder what interests are actually responsible for initially surfacing the news of the heavy weapons stolen from an Iraqi storage dump in US defended hands. Is this “news” timed to develop into an October surprise for the Dems? Is the story the tip of another covert foreign policy initiative.

“Again your blog scoops corporate-owned news sources and offers alternative considerations for thought and investigation, without which information on this issue might be narrow and managed.”

WHAT SOME ON THE RIGHT THINK

Stuart Sender writes from Da Coast: The fourth Interview in the series is on line motherjones.com

“Pete Peterson, Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, Nixon Commerce Secretary, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, self-described “fat cat” talk about his conversation with George Bush about the morality of tax cuts. It’s quite extraordinary coming from a Titan of Industry:

“Also: see Russell Train, former Nixon/Ford EPA administrator says the Bush administration is “waging war on the environment.” Includes interview with John Dean who talks about how Bush administration is “Worse Than Watergate.” And Clyde Prestowitz: Conservative, evangelical Christian who worked for the Reagan-Bush administration. Calls this administration “Orwellian.”

“Show them to your Republican uncle!”

WHAT THE WORLD THINKS

My colleague Doug George writes:

“Solana Larsen, who once interned here at MediaChannel and is now Commissioning Editor in New York for OpenDemocracy, has been urging us to give attention to websites like www.theworldspeaks.net — Internet activism projects that highlight how much of the world has a stake in the U.S. election. See the item below:

“New Vote Report
The World’s Technology reporter Clark Boyd reports on how non-US Citizens around the world are using the internet to log in their opinions on the US Elections.”

http://theworld.org/latesteditions/20041025.shtml

DON”T FORGET ECONOMICS

Shebar Windstone writes:

“I like the term, & of course agree with much of what you say, but not the central thesis. To look at media & politics while ignoring economics is to miss the point. It would be more accurate to say that the media are the propaganda arm of corporate power, while government, the Democratic & Republican parties & the (il)legal system constitute the executive & legislative arms. Bosses, military, intelligence & police are the enforcers or action arm (maybe parallel to Hitler’s brownshirts?). Shareholders are the only citizens who have a vote that counts any more — & since the vast majority of shareholders are corporations or members of the corporate elite, it’s a closed system.”

POST ELECTION RIOTS?

“It’s Allegra Sloman from Vancouver BC (the Left Coast) again, and earlier this week I predicted between 20 and 30 dead in post election riots in the US. Then I saw Eminem’s new video, Mosh, and I’m wondering if it could turn out worse than that admittedly horrific prediction. The video went live on Launch.com last night. Juan Cole’s blog also has an interesting analysis.

“It’s my personal belief that Bush will win the election and that we will literally never know whether he won it on his merits, such as they are, or by fraud. It will be like the Kennedy assassination, in terms of the lingering effect on the American civil state. Not knowing is a killer.

“However the urban underclass in the US will have every reason to believe the worst. I hope the civil authorities in the usual racial flashpoints in the US understand what is coming.”

DOWN WITH DAN AND DANNY

Someone who signs his letter DAVE writes:

“My comments reference the article By Danny Schechter: Dan Takes a Bullet for the Sins of ‘Liberal’ Media ????

“Please excuse me, but Dan Rather will be held responsible for his own inability to avoid rabid drooling over anything reflecting negatively on a republican in office.

“Personally I’m an independent. But anyone who believes that Dan Rather is an independent news man, including Danny Schechter, must be looking at Rather’s broadcasts through leftist lenses.

“I find it remarkable how Danny Schechter somehow finds the responsibility of this fountain of misinformation to be the fault of republicans. This is like suggesting a rape victim asked for it, and the rapist was never very sexually active anyway. Take off your glasses Danny Schechter!!!!

“Broadcasting false information is broadcasting false information PERIOD!!!!

18 YEARS AGO TODAY

I was thrilled to see the Boston Red Sox AmBusch last night . . . .18 years ago today, I watched my ten year old daughter Sarah cheer her beloved Boston team on in a sea of Mets maniacs at Shea Stadium in New York.

Her red hair and defiance stood out as she watched the Red Sox take the lead that we expected would culminate in that old thrill of victory. She had the flu and a friend of mine at ABC, knowing her Fenway fixation, produced a hard to get ticket at the last minute. She had to go, bundled up, of course. With the game coming to an end, I feared that a fight might be imminent (Boston TV trucks had been overturned in the stadium parking lot and that I might not get her back to bed quickly in. It took all my powers of persuasion to convince her to leave. “We are winning. Lets get the hell out of here when when the going’s good,” I implored.

Reluctantly she agreed with her head burning up with fever but her heart even hotter. We raced out of the stadium and got home just in time to see Bill Buckner’s infamous error and watch the Sox snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. She bawled with a despair that I can hear to this day.

She’s a happy girl today. One More to go.

LATEST SCREENING

I am at Rutgers to show WMD this afternoon. If you want to come, find journalism prof Professor Barbara Reed. The Society of Professional Journalists is sponsoring a screening too . . . I will be in Northampton MA friday afternoon . . . Watch for a new study of media coverage of the election from the Project on Excellence in Journalism. It is embargoed until noon today. I will tell you about it tomorrow.

Keep your emails flying this way. Write: dissector@mediachannel.org

Posted by Danny on Wed, Oct 27, 2004 at 06:52 AM EST