Thursday, April 19, 2007

Who watches the watchers of the watchers?

On the Bob Edwards Show on XMPR this morning, I heard an excellent interview with Bill Moyers (although that's probably redundant - all the interviews I've heard from Bill Moyers are excellent, and the Bob Edwards Show alone is worth a sizable chunk of my monthly payment to XM) about the first episode of his new PBS series, Bill Moyers' Journal, entitled "Selling the War." The show is about the failure of the media between 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq to do anything even vaguely resembling their jobs.

To me, the most telling story was about at time when Darth appeared on Meet the Press. That morning, there was a story in the New York Times which supported the administration's claims about Iraq and WMD's, and Cheney slyly referred to the article as "independent" confirmation of his claims, although he didn't want to discuss it. Where did the Times get its information, you ask? That's right, Cheney's office. So he leaked a story to a newspaper which he had demonized as liberal, and when it ran the story, used it to confirm what he had been saying. Good ol' Timmy didn't question how any of it happened, and the Times let itself be used.

If you get a chance, check your local listings to see when the show will air. Journalism is always improved when Bill Moyers weighs in. Here's an excerpt.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Speaking of the watching the watchers, isn't the House Appropriations Committee one of the more powerful committees tasked with overseeing spending? What kind of "influence" might a member have???

This kind:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/04/19/doolittle.abramoff.ap/index.html

The word "conservative" shouldn't have a negative connotation.