Feb 2, 2023·edited Feb 2, 2023Liked by Bill Astore
"It’s high time for real, honest, Congressional truth hearings on America’s disastrous wars."
I heartily agree, Mr. Astore, but it won't happen. The key expressions are "real" and "honest". Today's bought-and-paid-for Congresspersons are not up for "real, honest, Congressional truth hearings", such as the Church Committee hearings of yore. Our Congresspersons are as much the defenders, and sources of, the "Great Lying Narrative" as anyone could be. And Congress certainly won't censure the "four stars", who are hired (that is promoted) to high rank precisely in order to support that narrative. As George Carlin used to say—albeit in a slightly different connection—"It's a big club, and you ain't in it". There are some fine, sensible, and principled military men, and perhaps even a few "four stars", who disagree with the Narrative and criticize it behind closed doors. But few of them—and certainly not any of the "four stars"—will curtail their lying to the lumpen public. "Accountability" is now, tragically, as passé as the buggy whip.
We know it is wise to doubt what government says because power always seeks to protect itself. Americans should be supporting whistle-blowers at every level of government. Instead the government wants us to think of whistleblowers as disloyal people who should be punished, as traitors rather than courageous people who put informing the public above personal interest.
Advocacy journalism is the new touchstone in the media even as polls show that trust in the media is plummeting. Now, former executive editor for The Washington Post Leonard Downie Jr. and former CBS News President Andrew Heyward have released the results of their interviews with over 75 media leaders and concluded that OBJECTIVITY IS NOW CONSIDERED REACTIONARY AND EVEN HARMFUL. Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, editor-in-chief at the San Francisco Chronicle said it plainly: “Objectivity has got to go.”
Notably, while Bob Woodward and others have finally admitted that the Russian collusion coverage lacked objectivity and resulted in false reporting, MEDIA FIGURES ARE PUSHING EVEN HARDER AGAINST OBJECTIVITY AS A CORE VALUE IN JOURNALISM.
We have been discussing the rise of advocacy journalism and the rejection of objectivity in journalism schools. WRITERS, EDITORS, COMMENTATORS, AND ACADEMICS HAVE EMBRACED RISING CALLS FOR CENSORSHIP AND SPEECH CONTROLS, INCLUDING PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN AND HIS KEY ADVISERS. THIS MOVEMENT INCLUDES ACADEMICS REJECTING THE VERY CONCEPT OF OBJECTIVITY IN JOURNALISM IN FAVOR OF OPEN ADVOCACY.
Columbia Journalism Dean and New Yorker writer Steve Coll decried how the First Amendment right to freedom of speech was being “weaponized” to protect disinformation. In an interview with The Stanford Daily, Stanford journalism professor, Ted Glasser, insisted that JOURNALISM NEEDED TO “FREE ITSELF FROM THIS NOTION OF OBJECTIVITY TO DEVELOP A SENSE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE.” He rejected the notion that journalism is based on objectivity and said that he views “journalists as activists because journalism at its best — and indeed history at its best — is all about morality.” Thus, “JOURNALISTS NEED TO BE OVERT AND CANDID ADVOCATES FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE, AND IT’S HARD TO DO THAT UNDER THE CONSTRAINTS OF OBJECTIVITY.”
Lauren Wolfe, the fired freelance editor for the New York Times, has not only gone public to defend her pro-Biden tweet but published a piece titled “I’m a Biased Journalist and I’m Okay With That.”
Former New York Times writer (and now Howard University Journalism Professor) Nikole Hannah-Jones is a leading voice for advocacy journalism.
Indeed, Hannah-Jones has declared “all journalism is activism.” Her 1619 Project has been challenged as deeply flawed and she has a long record as a journalist of intolerance, controversial positions on rioting, and fostering conspiracy theories. Hannah-Jones would later help lead the effort at the Times to get rid of an editor and apologize for publishing a column from Sen. Tom Cotten as inaccurate and inflammatory.
POLLS SHOW TRUST IN THE MEDIA AT AN ALL-TIME LOW WITH LESS THAN 20 PERCENT OF CITIZENS TRUSTING TELEVISION OR PRINT MEDIA. Yet, reporters and academics continue to destroy the core principles that sustain journalism and ultimately the role of a free press in our society. Notably, writers who have been repeatedly charged with false or misleading columns are some of the greatest advocates for dropping objectivity in journalism.
Now the leaders of media companies are joining this self-destructive movement. They are not speaking of columnists or cable hosts who routinely share opinions. They are speaking of actual journalists, the people who are relied upon to report the news.
Saying that “Objectivity has got to go” is, of course, liberating. You can dispense with the necessities of neutrality and balance. You can cater to your “base” like columnists and opinion writers. SHARING THE OPPOSING VIEW IS NOW DISMISSED AS “BOTHSIDESISM.” DONE. NO NEED TO GIVE CREDENCE TO OPPOSING VIEWS. IT IS A FAMILIAR REALITY FOR THOSE OF US IN HIGHER EDUCATION, WHICH HAS BEEN INCREASINGLY INTOLERANT OF OPPOSING OR DISSENTING VIEWS.
When, Bill, has ANY military ~ or elected or appointed civilian ~ leader in this country EVER been punished for their Lies, and/or held responsible and accountable for their failures?
It started all the way back when they lied about the sinking of the USS MAINE in Havana Harbor, thus launching America ~ the new Empire-Wannabe on the block ~ on its first Imperial Quests in Latin America and Asia.
Then they lied to us about the luxury cruise liner LUSITANIA and its cargo, enabling Wilson to get his “war to end all wars” and to make the world safe for the new Empire in the Western hemisphere.
Then they lied to us about Pearl Harbor to finally get us into World War II and out of The Great Depression, and held nobody accountable for the second worst military security disaster in American history.
And, of course, who can forget the Lies about Tonkin Gulf in 1964 and where that led and how?
Or the “Incubator Babies of Kuwait” in 1990 to sell the American people on OPERATION DESERT STORM?
Or Colin Powell’s song and dance at the UN about Saddam’s “WMDs” in ‘03?
Or Director of National Intelligence [and retired General] James Clapper’s lying under oath to Congress in 2013 about whether Americans were being surveilled by their government?
And finally. which civilian or military leaders were held accountable and responsible for the biggest intelligence, law enforcement, national defense ~ and the greatest military security ~ failure in the history of not just the US, but of the world: The Terror Event of September 11, 2001?
Having said all that, the problem isn’t that Congress doesn’t hold these people responsible for their actions and words, and accountable for their failures and lies.
The problem is that THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DON’T HOLD CONGRESS RESPONSIBLE AND ACCOUNTABLE FOR ALL THE LIES, DECEIT, CORRUPTION, AND POLICY AND PROGRAM FAILURES of the MICC and the National Security State.
A nation and a people get exactly the government they deserve.
And for our sins of omission and commission, We, the American People, have the system of government and governance ~ and the scumbags we have for governors ~ that we do because we have let that happen. And it promises only to get worse now that the gate has opened on Election2024.
Like Cypher told Neo: "Buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy, cuz Kansas is going bye-bye."
Anybody who wants to know why “Will America survive to celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026?” is a legitimate question need only consider the fact that:
~ 1 A guy like Santos got elected to the United States Congress in the first place, and;
~ 2. despite all the exposed lies, he hasn’t been thrown out of office by either his Constituents [who put him there in the first place], or his Colleagues-In-Crime up on Capital Hill.
"It’s high time for real, honest, Congressional truth hearings on America’s disastrous wars."
I heartily agree, Mr. Astore, but it won't happen. The key expressions are "real" and "honest". Today's bought-and-paid-for Congresspersons are not up for "real, honest, Congressional truth hearings", such as the Church Committee hearings of yore. Our Congresspersons are as much the defenders, and sources of, the "Great Lying Narrative" as anyone could be. And Congress certainly won't censure the "four stars", who are hired (that is promoted) to high rank precisely in order to support that narrative. As George Carlin used to say—albeit in a slightly different connection—"It's a big club, and you ain't in it". There are some fine, sensible, and principled military men, and perhaps even a few "four stars", who disagree with the Narrative and criticize it behind closed doors. But few of them—and certainly not any of the "four stars"—will curtail their lying to the lumpen public. "Accountability" is now, tragically, as passé as the buggy whip.
We know it is wise to doubt what government says because power always seeks to protect itself. Americans should be supporting whistle-blowers at every level of government. Instead the government wants us to think of whistleblowers as disloyal people who should be punished, as traitors rather than courageous people who put informing the public above personal interest.
Excellent writing, Bill! Straight from the Heart! I hope everyone gets better in the Word made FLESH.
I pray the Spirit of your letter be magnified in OUR Times and Generations.
"There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics”
The Statistics are in the profits of the US WAR INDUSTRIES, including Congress, Think Tanks and
Academia, the US being the LEADER OF THE WORLD up to now.
There is no Democracy on Earth. There are only Oligarchic Plutocracies.
'contrived' is a word i came across in my years working in defense weapons acquisition.
most program managers' statements made to get more $$ or a coveted milestone are at best contrived. mendacious.
contrived and mendacity fit the culture.
“OBJECTIVITY HAS GOT TO GO”: NEWS LEADERS CALL FOR THE END OF OBJECTIVE JOURNALISM
by Jonathan Turley 010223
We previously discussed the movement in journalism schools to get rid of principles of objectivity in journalism.
[ https://jonathanturley.org/2021/07/29/the-enemies-of-the-state-the-new-york-times-and-the-fluidity-of-advocacy-journalism/ ]
Advocacy journalism is the new touchstone in the media even as polls show that trust in the media is plummeting. Now, former executive editor for The Washington Post Leonard Downie Jr. and former CBS News President Andrew Heyward have released the results of their interviews with over 75 media leaders and concluded that OBJECTIVITY IS NOW CONSIDERED REACTIONARY AND EVEN HARMFUL. Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, editor-in-chief at the San Francisco Chronicle said it plainly: “Objectivity has got to go.”
Notably, while Bob Woodward and others have finally admitted that the Russian collusion coverage lacked objectivity and resulted in false reporting, MEDIA FIGURES ARE PUSHING EVEN HARDER AGAINST OBJECTIVITY AS A CORE VALUE IN JOURNALISM.
We have been discussing the rise of advocacy journalism and the rejection of objectivity in journalism schools. WRITERS, EDITORS, COMMENTATORS, AND ACADEMICS HAVE EMBRACED RISING CALLS FOR CENSORSHIP AND SPEECH CONTROLS, INCLUDING PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN AND HIS KEY ADVISERS. THIS MOVEMENT INCLUDES ACADEMICS REJECTING THE VERY CONCEPT OF OBJECTIVITY IN JOURNALISM IN FAVOR OF OPEN ADVOCACY.
Columbia Journalism Dean and New Yorker writer Steve Coll decried how the First Amendment right to freedom of speech was being “weaponized” to protect disinformation. In an interview with The Stanford Daily, Stanford journalism professor, Ted Glasser, insisted that JOURNALISM NEEDED TO “FREE ITSELF FROM THIS NOTION OF OBJECTIVITY TO DEVELOP A SENSE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE.” He rejected the notion that journalism is based on objectivity and said that he views “journalists as activists because journalism at its best — and indeed history at its best — is all about morality.” Thus, “JOURNALISTS NEED TO BE OVERT AND CANDID ADVOCATES FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE, AND IT’S HARD TO DO THAT UNDER THE CONSTRAINTS OF OBJECTIVITY.”
Lauren Wolfe, the fired freelance editor for the New York Times, has not only gone public to defend her pro-Biden tweet but published a piece titled “I’m a Biased Journalist and I’m Okay With That.”
Former New York Times writer (and now Howard University Journalism Professor) Nikole Hannah-Jones is a leading voice for advocacy journalism.
Indeed, Hannah-Jones has declared “all journalism is activism.” Her 1619 Project has been challenged as deeply flawed and she has a long record as a journalist of intolerance, controversial positions on rioting, and fostering conspiracy theories. Hannah-Jones would later help lead the effort at the Times to get rid of an editor and apologize for publishing a column from Sen. Tom Cotten as inaccurate and inflammatory.
POLLS SHOW TRUST IN THE MEDIA AT AN ALL-TIME LOW WITH LESS THAN 20 PERCENT OF CITIZENS TRUSTING TELEVISION OR PRINT MEDIA. Yet, reporters and academics continue to destroy the core principles that sustain journalism and ultimately the role of a free press in our society. Notably, writers who have been repeatedly charged with false or misleading columns are some of the greatest advocates for dropping objectivity in journalism.
Now the leaders of media companies are joining this self-destructive movement. They are not speaking of columnists or cable hosts who routinely share opinions. They are speaking of actual journalists, the people who are relied upon to report the news.
Saying that “Objectivity has got to go” is, of course, liberating. You can dispense with the necessities of neutrality and balance. You can cater to your “base” like columnists and opinion writers. SHARING THE OPPOSING VIEW IS NOW DISMISSED AS “BOTHSIDESISM.” DONE. NO NEED TO GIVE CREDENCE TO OPPOSING VIEWS. IT IS A FAMILIAR REALITY FOR THOSE OF US IN HIGHER EDUCATION, WHICH HAS BEEN INCREASINGLY INTOLERANT OF OPPOSING OR DISSENTING VIEWS.
Continued at https://www.zerohedge.com/political/objectivity-has-got-go-news-leaders-call-end-objective-journalism [EMPHASES added.]
When, Bill, has ANY military ~ or elected or appointed civilian ~ leader in this country EVER been punished for their Lies, and/or held responsible and accountable for their failures?
It started all the way back when they lied about the sinking of the USS MAINE in Havana Harbor, thus launching America ~ the new Empire-Wannabe on the block ~ on its first Imperial Quests in Latin America and Asia.
Then they lied to us about the luxury cruise liner LUSITANIA and its cargo, enabling Wilson to get his “war to end all wars” and to make the world safe for the new Empire in the Western hemisphere.
Then they lied to us about Pearl Harbor to finally get us into World War II and out of The Great Depression, and held nobody accountable for the second worst military security disaster in American history.
And, of course, who can forget the Lies about Tonkin Gulf in 1964 and where that led and how?
Or the “Incubator Babies of Kuwait” in 1990 to sell the American people on OPERATION DESERT STORM?
Or Colin Powell’s song and dance at the UN about Saddam’s “WMDs” in ‘03?
Or Director of National Intelligence [and retired General] James Clapper’s lying under oath to Congress in 2013 about whether Americans were being surveilled by their government?
And finally. which civilian or military leaders were held accountable and responsible for the biggest intelligence, law enforcement, national defense ~ and the greatest military security ~ failure in the history of not just the US, but of the world: The Terror Event of September 11, 2001?
Having said all that, the problem isn’t that Congress doesn’t hold these people responsible for their actions and words, and accountable for their failures and lies.
The problem is that THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DON’T HOLD CONGRESS RESPONSIBLE AND ACCOUNTABLE FOR ALL THE LIES, DECEIT, CORRUPTION, AND POLICY AND PROGRAM FAILURES of the MICC and the National Security State.
A nation and a people get exactly the government they deserve.
And for our sins of omission and commission, We, the American People, have the system of government and governance ~ and the scumbags we have for governors ~ that we do because we have let that happen. And it promises only to get worse now that the gate has opened on Election2024.
Like Cypher told Neo: "Buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy, cuz Kansas is going bye-bye."
Anybody who wants to know why “Will America survive to celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026?” is a legitimate question need only consider the fact that:
~ 1 A guy like Santos got elected to the United States Congress in the first place, and;
~ 2. despite all the exposed lies, he hasn’t been thrown out of office by either his Constituents [who put him there in the first place], or his Colleagues-In-Crime up on Capital Hill.
I could not agree more. Thank you..