Co-founder of CNN, Says "The Public Does Not Have a Right to Know"

[housewolf]

Reese Schonfeld, Co-founder of CNN, Says "The Public Does Not Have a Right to Know"

Last week on May 16th, during an appearance on The Big Story with John Gibson, CNN co-founder Reese Schonfeld made some very scary statements about the roles of the media and the Pentagon in time of war. The two men were discussing the Newsweek Koran story. Here's my transcript of part of that interview:

GIBSON: You're saying that editors should, and in fact, do make calculations about whether people are going to live or die because of the revelations they're about to make and that this was one in which editors should have foreseen just what happened.

SCHONFELD: Sure. What, what difference ... Absolutely. Everyone knows or should know, if they know anything about the Arab world or the Muslim world, how holy the bible is - their Koran - is to them and how inflammatory a statement that we had desecrated it, flushed it down the toilet or whatever would be in that world and someone should have said: Well, what real difference does it make if we report that or don't report that. And should never have reported it. But if you were even gonna consider reporting it, well, I don't, I don't even - I wouldn't even consider reporting it. I would have sat there in the chair and said "No, this doesn't go in the story." Period.

GIBSON: OK, but would you have - by that same reasoning would you have not reported Abu Ghraib if somebody had brought you those pictures.

SCHONFELD: Abu Ghraib is the greatest foul up of all time. Those pictures were on the internet. The problem is not that we were - we - I only wish the Pentagon could have been able to deny that story, to be able to li - that's the right of the Pentagon to lie, when it is in the country's best interest to lie, you do lie. And when I made that statement in my book, an undersecretary - well - at Defense told me I don't have it quite right, the - uh - Rumsfeld, the Secretary can never lie but any, anybody under him can, that you have to do it when it's in the public, in the government interest.

<snip>

More...
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/05/24/reese_schonfeld_cofounder_of_cnn_says_the_public_does_not_have_a_right_to_know.php

[rodeodance]

1. good cover--but we are in perpetual state of war now

[Tigress DEM]

67. A War on Journalists who dare to speak, publish the truth.

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=13904

Iraq24 May 2005

An APTN cameraman arrested by Iraqi police

Reporters Without Borders has called on the Iraqi authorities to rapidly explain the arrest of Ibrahim Ahmed Salma, 36, cameraman with the US agency Associated Press Television News (APTN) in Baghdad on 21 May 2005.

"The methods of arresting Iraqi journalists are brutal and abusive," the worldwide press freedom organisation said.

Ahmed Salma's brother told Reporters Without Borders' correspondent in Iraq that police raided al-Hurriyah district in western Baghdad at around midnight on 21 May and rounded up a certain number of residents. Police also entered the family home of Ibrahim Ahmed Salma, and roughed him up before forcing him to go with them, despite his protests and presentation of his press card.




JOURNALISTS KILLED
Name Nationality/Media outlet Date
1 Paul Moran Australian/ABC 22 March 2003
2 Terry Lloyd British/ ITN 23 March 2003
3 Kaveh Golestan Iranian/BBC 2 April 2003
4 Michael Kelly American/Washington Post 4 April 2003
5 Christian Liebig German/Focus 7 April 2003
6 Julio Anguita Parrado Spanish/El Mundo 7 April 2003
7 Tarek Ayoub Jordanian/Al-Jazeera 8 April 2003
8 Taras Protsyuk Ukrainian/Reuters 8 April 2003
9 José Couso Spanish/Telecinco 8 April 2003
10 Ahmad Karim Iraqi/Kurdistan Satellite TV 2 July 2003
11 Mazen Dana Palestinian/Reuters 17 August 2003
12 Ahmed Shawkat Iraqi/Bila Ittijah 28 October 2003
13 Ali Al-Khatib Iraqi/Al-Arabiya 19 March 2004
14 Ali Abdel-Aziz Iraqi/Al-Arabiya 18 March 2004
15 Nadia Nasrat Iraqi/Diyala 18 March 2004
16 Burhan al-Louhaybi Iraqi/ABC News 26 March 2004
17 Assad Kadhim Iraqi/Al-Iraqiya 19 April 2004
18 Waldemar Milewicz Polish/TVP 7 May 2004
19 Mounir Bouamrane Algerian/TVP 7 May 2004
20 Kotaro Ogawa Japanese/freelance 27 May 2004
21 Shinsuke Hashida Japanese/freelance 27 May 2004
22 Sahar Saad Muami Iraqi/Al-Mizan 3 June 2004
23 Hossam Ali Iraqi/freelance 15 August 2004
24 Mahmud Abbas Iraqi/ZDF 15 August 2004
25 Enzo Baldoni Italian/Diario della Settimana 26 August 2004
26 Mazen al-Tomaizi Palestinian/Al-Arabiya 12 September 2004
27 Ahmad Jassem Iraqi/Al-Iraqiya 7 October 2004
28 Dina Hassan Iraqi/Al-Hurriya 14 October 2004
29 Karam Hussein Iraqi/EPA 14 October 2004
30 Liqaa Abdul-Razzak Iraqi/Al-Iraqiya 27 October 2004
31 Dhia Najim Iraqi/Reuters 1 November 2004
32 Abdel Hussein Khazaal Iraqi/Al-Hurra 9 February 2005
33 Raeda Wazzan Iraqi/Al-Iraqiya 25 February 2005
34 Laik Ibrahim Iraqi/Kurdistan Satellite TV 10 March 2005
35 Hussam Hilal Sarsam Iraqi/Kurdistan Satellite TV 14 March 2005
36 Ahmed Jabbar Hashim Iraqi/Al Sabah 1 April 2005
37 Shamal Abdallah Assad Iraqi/Kurdistan Satellite TV 15 April 2005
38 Ali Abrahim Aissa Iraqi/Al-Hurriya 14 April 2005
39 Fadel Hazem Fadel Iraqi/Al-Hurriya 14 April 2005
40 Saleh Ibrahim Iraqi/AP 23 April 2005


MEDIA ASSISTANTS KILLED
Name Nationality/Media outlet Date
1 Hussein Osman Lebanese/ITN 22 March 2003
2 Kamaran Muhamed Iraqi/BBC 6 April 2003
3 Jeremy Little American/NBC 7 July 2003
4 Yasser Khatab Iraqi/CNN 27 January 2004
5 Duraid Isa Mohammed Iraqi/CNN 27 January 2004
6 Mohamad Ahmad Iraqi/Diyala TV 18 March 2004
7 Majid Rashid Iraqi/Diyala TV 18 March 2004
8 Omar Hashim Kamal Iraqi/Time 26 March 2004
9 Hussein Saleh Iraqi/Al-Iraqiya 19 April 2004
10 Rashid Hamid Wali Iraqi/Al-Jazeera 21 May 2004
11 (unknown) Iraqi (local media) 25 May 2004
12 (unknown) Iraqi (local media) 27 May 2004
13 Samia Abdeljabar Iraqi/Al-Sabah Al-Jadid 29 May 2004
14 Mahmud Ismail Daud Iraqi/Al-Sabah Al-Jadid 29 May 2004
15 Jamal Tawfiq Salmane American/Gazeta Wyborcza 25 August 2004
16 Ismail Taher Mohsin Iraqi/AP 2 September 2004

[dbonds]

81. I always felt David Bloom should be on that list.

Something never set right about his death over there.

[Placebo]

2. Just confirms what we've all known...

for oh so long.

[Liberty Belle]

3. kick! This is an outrage. Demand Schoenfeld's resignation!

[Tigress DEM]

57. Isn't it time for a MASSIVE Demonstration Against Media Whores?

We've shaken up the establishment and have Republicans battling with each other. Hopefully the Republicans with at least a shred of humanity and honesty will find this as distressing as we do.

If only politically, the "moral" party has to distance itself from people who promote lying as a good thing. God, how long did Martha Stewart get for her lie? And how many people died because she didn't lose money she was supposed to have? (Um, zero is right.)

LETS GET UPPITY!!!!

WEEKEND OF JULY 4th wherever you go to party with family and friends or plan DU get togethers and STAND UP FOR TRUTH IN THE NEWS!!! Our Civil Liberties DEPEND ON IT. Our basic human rights DEMAND IT. TELL the TRUTH Media Whores or SHUT UP!

[Name removed]

78. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jwirr]

74. Link please?

[tabasco]

4. Great reason to remove CNN from your channel lineup.

I did about a year ago.

This is proof that CNN is an enemy of democracy.

As if employing Mrs. Limbaugh wasn't reason enough.

[Tigress DEM]

50. Letter to the STRIB re: CNNs Dishonesty Is Disgraceful!

I am outraged at Reese Schonfeld, Co-founder of CNN, who said on National TV that the roles of the media and the Pentagon in time of war is to lie. How original for a Democratic Nation to emulate a senseless dictatorship.

I've called CNN Cee No News for awhile now and I have been strident with the STRIB for its lack of coverage on really hot issues, things that are so newsworthy I can't believe how reporters hold themselves back. And yet, here it is, it's finally been said CNN thinks it's their responsibility to lie for the government.

Press responsiblity in wartime is to not reveal sensitive information about troop movements and such. Telling the truth so that the nations involved in the war have to deal with the truth is real reporting, not FAUX news.

Over 40 reporters have died in the line of duty in Iraq since the start of the war doing their best to report the truth. More than a dozen media assistants have been killed as well and THIS is the thanks THEY get for THEIR sacrifice? Shame on CNN and their lack of humanity, much less their unpatriotic attitude.

The FREE Press is a Responsible Press and it is repsonsible to the public, not the government. That is called a puppet press. The Free Press is where journalists who know what the Nieman Reports are. The Free Press or even Truth Out can tell you that the reason the Muslim world is upset is BECAUSE of the LIES.

Newsweek reported old news. Three year old news. What made it such a travesty of justice was that it had been surpressed that long.

The reason THESE truths are important is because the American People have a right to know what is being done in OUR NAME, here and around the world. It is OUR JOB to hold our leaders accountable and the only way we can do that is if the press has our back.

Do you?

[sarcasmo]

5. This guy Schonfeld is perfect for the Propaganda President.

[Tigress DEM]

58. Hate to say it, but they are following the Nazi model again.

Same Newshound link further down under COMMENTS:


http://www.newshounds.us/2005/05/24/reese_schonfeld_cofounder_of_cnn_says_the_public_does_not_have_a_right_to_know.php


From Newseum**** on Nazi Censorship:

"The state must not ... let itself be confused by the drivel about so-called freedom of the press .. it must make sure of this instrument of popular education and place it in the service of the state." - Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf

Press freedom begins to disappear in Germany in 1932, the year before Adolf Hitler takes power. By 1933, the Nazis decree the virtual end of a free press. The government turns editors and journalists into servants of the state. Bureaucrats decide what may be published. Publishers can't hire or fire journalists. Only the government can.

......

**** http://www.newseum.org/berlinwall/essay.htm

[stubtoe]

79. Your post gives me a deep chill..

right in the pit of my stomach. It's amazing to me to see how close we have come to actually losing democracy.

[Cha]

6. They work for us..

asshat. We have a right to know ..especially when the Invasion was based on LIES that some of the People believed. :grr:

[Tigress DEM]

62. Thing is... and I'm guilty too. With the Internet, how many really

buy newspapers anymore or pay attention to commercials?

There is such an information overload, I used to just turn off the news because it depressed me. Now I understand that is where MY repsonsibility for the mess we're in begins.

As bad as the neocons, I just didn't want to know. I naively thought that if we rallied together for Kerry it would be ok. I thought the DEMS out there as "challengers" or really "non-challengers" to make sure no one was supressing vote rights would correct the pre-campaign messes of DEM registrations being thrown away in 2 states.

I had heard a little bit about partisan agencies only registering Republicans. Attempts to disenfranchiese people by using lists of "felons" and their alias' as a way to purge the vote roles. How many John Smiths and William Jones had to re-register or fill out provisional ballots?

But never in my wildest dreams did I think to hear the head of a major news corporation say publically that their job is to lie for the government. I guess since the Republicans have lost a little control in the Senate they are grabbing for the press again. Damm insecure little bastards.

[magellan]

69. No, they DON'T work for us -- and that's the problem.

They work for their parent companies, shareholders and advertisers...and only as long as they remain profitable to the aforementioned through circulation/ratings. The conflict of interest in this set up is STAGGERING.

But in a way, CNN guy is right. There's no use expecting anything but lies, censorship, and pandering to the shortest attention spans from the Corporate News. They are anything but what's meant by "Free Press". Their interests work directly against the democratic process, because to achieve their goal (profit) they are easily manipulated into failing in their duty to fully inform the public.

[punpirate]

7. This guy is a...

... dickhead, pure and simple.

It's a sign of the sure decline of this country when the leaders of the press cover the asses of those in power--especially when they're grossly wrong and hiding their mistakes.

[suziedemocrat]

8. The Press shouldn't report and the Pentagon should lie. Is that Fascism?nt

[dweller]

40. #6 of 14 traits

http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/britt_23_2.htm

dp

[Tigress DEM]

64. Letter to the Washington Post

I am outraged at Reese Schonfeld, Co-founder of CNN, who said on National TV that the roles of the media and the Pentagon in time of war is to lie. How original for a Democratic Nation to emulate a senseless dictatorship.

The Washington Post, more than many mainstream media outlets has been reporting real news. I'm sure you understand how CNN slaps the Fourth Estate in the face by advocating lying for the government.

Press responsibility in wartime is to not reveal sensitive information about troop movements and such. If our government would have listened to the people when we SCREAMED not to appoint Gonzales because of the Torture Memo and what it did to our reputation as a nation, we might have been able to repair some of the damage.

Those who seek to continue murder and torture in the name of WE the PEOPLE, had better start packing their bags for 2006 and 2008 right now.

In this country we respect Truth and know our responsibility to freedom comes with a price. It isn't just the soldiers who have laid down their life blood for Democracy in Iraq. Since the war began over 40 reporters have died in the line of duty in Iraq and more than a dozen media assistants were killed as well. Is THIS is the thanks THEY get for THEIR sacrifice? Shame on CNN and their lack of humanity, much less their unpatriotic attitude.

Lying for the government is not a national VALUE. A puppet press is useless to the causes of Freedom and Justice. Real journalists know what the Nieman Reports are.

Newsweek reported old news. Three year old news. What made it such a travesty of justice was that it had been suppressed that long. Newsweek doesn’t need to retract 17 deaths; their blood is on the hands of the US Government who allowed the desecration.

The American People have a right to know what is being done in OUR NAME, here and around the world. It is OUR JOB to hold our leaders accountable and the only way we can do that is if the press has our back.

Do you?

[still_one]

9. this is why you should BOYCOTT the main stream media

[peacetalksforall]

20. We really shouldn't use the word - mainstream...it's too bland...that is a

word that people have to use when they are on those networks, but we don't have to use on DU...they are corporate propaganda facilitators.

[Tigress DEM]

53. But the mainstream media IS so bland...

It's like a constant meal of mushy food you feed to old people with no money for fixident.

I think it fits, but I'm also fond of FAUX news and Cee No News and Traitors in journalistic attire....

[Career Prole]

10. "Rumsfeld, the Secretary can never lie..."

Oh, what kind of happy horseshit is that?!

[jazzjunkysue]

11. Again, with the librul bias!

[Tigress DEM]

51. Oh, so funny! But sad at the same time.

[dave502d]

12. Dose this guy know we live in a free country.

[Tigress DEM]

52. The price of freedom has gone up again.

Get your letters out to the media and hold them accountable.

Either they are for freedom or against it.

Either they report the facts as best as they can or they are with the liars at CNN.

Tell them there is a whole world of INDY News and International News agencies that are not bound by this Republican Administration that thinks lying about anything and everything is a perfectly honorable way to run a country as long as you get in and interfere with life and death decisions that people should be making for themselves and send their children to war so they can die as HEROs.

Tell them we will throw out the imposters in office and any media whores still in bed with them in 2006 and 2008 if we have to stand outside each precinct until every damm vote is counted ourselves.

Tell them we want the TRUTH and WE the PEOPLE will accept NO SUBSTITUTE.

Tell them if they lie for the Government they are TRAITORS to the People they are supposed to be protecting and to Freedom and Justice in America.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

13. There you have it

It's the job of the Pentagon to cover up and lie. The responsibility of the press is to help perpetuate the lie. It's all about watching out for their asses and be damned if they're going to report one thing that might reveal the lies.

[Coexist]

14. un-friggin-believable

I am speechless... where do we write?

[MelissaB]

15. OMG!

I now question everything...

[nolabels]

94. I even question why I should be questioning

Going by the assumption it is false or lie, deceitful trickery etc first of all. Just remember, the more they lie, the more the have to lie later on, nice vicious little circle they have painted themselves into.

Paranoid shift
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1009250

DU MKULTRA thread-let's talk about mind control, factually now.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1414094

[annabanana]

16. Leo Strauss would be so proud

Gawd forbid that the people should get all involved in the people's business...

This is the biggest danger to our country.

[Zorra]

17. Banish the fucker to China. He'd love it there, where the public really

does not have the right to know.

[oblivious]

31. Missed your post before my post 29 Zorra. Agree.

[Tigress DEM]

59. Hey, why do you want to piss all those people off?

Let's convict him of Treason Against the American People, try him in the court of public opinion and make sure that he's lucky if he gets a job cleaning toilets from some kind hearted liberal some day.

[Solly Mack]

18. no surprise here

[peacetalksforall]

19. The guy is an idiot...I can hardly figure out what he is saying.

Stupidity...

There is the Red Cross and related programs, ACLU, Amnesty International, regional associations, UN, religious charities, doctors without borders - there are a million ways that information can get into the news. This screwball doesn't speak for all other foreign news services. As if he and other CNN can control the news on behalf of the right wing.

Just because he wants to do favors for PNAC and Cheney doesn't mean that he controls one damn thing.

On the other hand, does PNAC also have a plan to take over other news networks around the world in addition to the countries, the citizens, and all their earth resources of the countries currently targeted? With their CNN friends?

Hey BBC - did you hear that...how about all you other networks around the world.

CNN is hopeless...co-founder of CNN? With Ted Turner? Outrageous. What was his role in the good-bye package for Turner?

That man should go back to school to learn how to express himself.

[peacetalksforall]

24. Can someone tell me if the message on DU above shows

all those underlined links? Something is wrong with something.

[Tigress DEM]

54. He's been in elocution class with Dubbya

"That man should go back to school to learn how to express himself."

[Tigress DEM]

55. I think this is an act of Treason against the American People

Truth, Liberty and the Pursuit of Justice DEMAND that the news agencies step up to the plate and quit hiding in Rumsfield's ass crack.

And the war memorial to Journalists killed in Iraq, I know they only announced figures for deaths THIS year instead of going all the way back to the start of the war, because Reporters Without Borders publishes a list. I'm almost afraid to go and update it, but I guess I will have to now. Somebody should care.


JOURNALISTS KILLED
Name Nationality/Media outlet Date
1 Paul Moran Australian/ABC 22 March 2003
2 Terry Lloyd British/ ITN 23 March 2003
3 Kaveh Golestan Iranian/BBC 2 April 2003
4 Michael Kelly American/Washington Post 4 April 2003
5 Christian Liebig German/Focus 7 April 2003
6 Julio Anguita Parrado Spanish/El Mundo 7 April 2003
7 Tarek Ayoub Jordanian/Al-Jazeera 8 April 2003
8 Taras Protsyuk Ukrainian/Reuters 8 April 2003
9 José Couso Spanish/Telecinco 8 April 2003
10 Ahmad Karim Iraqi/Kurdistan Satellite TV 2 July 2003
11 Mazen Dana Palestinian/Reuters 17 August 2003
12 Ahmed Shawkat Iraqi/Bila Ittijah 28 October 2003
13 Ali Al-Khatib Iraqi/Al-Arabiya 19 March 2004
14 Ali Abdel-Aziz Iraqi/Al-Arabiya 18 March 2004
15 Nadia Nasrat Iraqi/Diyala 18 March 2004
16 Burhan al-Louhaybi Iraqi/ABC News 26 March 2004
17 Assad Kadhim Iraqi/Al-Iraqiya 19 April 2004
18 Waldemar Milewicz Polish/TVP 7 May 2004
19 Mounir Bouamrane Algerian/TVP 7 May 2004
20 Kotaro Ogawa Japanese/freelance 27 May 2004
21 Shinsuke Hashida Japanese/freelance 27 May 2004
22 Sahar Saad Muami Iraqi/Al-Mizan 3 June 2004
23 Hossam Ali Iraqi/freelance 15 August 2004
24 Mahmud Abbas Iraqi/ZDF 15 August 2004
25 Enzo Baldoni Italian/Diario della Settimana 26 August 2004
26 Mazen al-Tomaizi Palestinian/Al-Arabiya 12 September 2004
27 Ahmad Jassem Iraqi/Al-Iraqiya 7 October 2004
28 Dina Hassan Iraqi/Al-Hurriya 14 October 2004
29 Karam Hussein Iraqi/EPA 14 October 2004
30 Liqaa Abdul-Razzak Iraqi/Al-Iraqiya 27 October 2004
31 Dhia Najim Iraqi/Reuters 1 November 2004
32 Abdel Hussein Khazaal Iraqi/Al-Hurra 9 February 2005
33 Raeda Wazzan Iraqi/Al-Iraqiya 25 February 2005
34 Laik Ibrahim Iraqi/Kurdistan Satellite TV 10 March 2005
35 Hussam Hilal Sarsam Iraqi/Kurdistan Satellite TV 14 March 2005
36 Ahmed Jabbar Hashim Iraqi/Al Sabah 1 April 2005
37 Shamal Abdallah Assad Iraqi/Kurdistan Satellite TV 15 April 2005
38 Ali Abrahim Aissa Iraqi/Al-Hurriya 14 April 2005
39 Fadel Hazem Fadel Iraqi/Al-Hurriya 14 April 2005
40 Saleh Ibrahim Iraqi/AP 23 April 2005


MEDIA ASSISTANTS KILLED
Name Nationality/Media outlet Date
1 Hussein Osman Lebanese/ITN 22 March 2003
2 Kamaran Muhamed Iraqi/BBC 6 April 2003
3 Jeremy Little American/NBC 7 July 2003
4 Yasser Khatab Iraqi/CNN 27 January 2004
5 Duraid Isa Mohammed Iraqi/CNN 27 January 2004
6 Mohamad Ahmad Iraqi/Diyala TV 18 March 2004
7 Majid Rashid Iraqi/Diyala TV 18 March 2004
8 Omar Hashim Kamal Iraqi/Time 26 March 2004
9 Hussein Saleh Iraqi/Al-Iraqiya 19 April 2004
10 Rashid Hamid Wali Iraqi/Al-Jazeera 21 May 2004
11 (unknown) Iraqi (local media) 25 May 2004
12 (unknown) Iraqi (local media) 27 May 2004
13 Samia Abdeljabar Iraqi/Al-Sabah Al-Jadid 29 May 2004
14 Mahmud Ismail Daud Iraqi/Al-Sabah Al-Jadid 29 May 2004
15 Jamal Tawfiq Salmane American/Gazeta Wyborcza 25 August 2004
16 Ismail Taher Mohsin Iraqi/AP 2 September 2004

[kaygore]

21. Take time and watch this

Once you click on the URL, you need to click on "Click here to view."

This suggests what will result from this type of behavior on the part of MSM:
http://oak.psych.gatech.edu/~epic/

[Tigress DEM]

60. If you take TRUTH out of the News by whatever means...

it still gives the same result.

I guess we have to watch the back door for the fourth estate on the web too. Sigh. So much fraud, so little time.

[T-Jeff_Dem]

84. Stunningly brilliant!

Thank you so much for the link. This work is an insight into the possible future no less stark or telling than Orwell's 1984.
It is an all too possible view of the influence of $$ on how we gather, deliver and interpret the information from which our world views are derived and acted upon. :scared:

Beautifully packaged too I might add. :applause:

[LightningFlash]

22. Heil Schonfeld!!

The completely bankrupt sleazebag, who thinks the Pentagon and everyone in it should lie to cover Rumsfeld and his treason.

What a great way to start the day, by turning on CNN and watching criminals debate about protecting criminals whom they know need to lie in the public interest. :eyes: :eyes:

[Pirate Smile]

23. Oh, that is just great for a republic where the voters are supposed to

be informed citizens who hold their government accountable.

[LightningFlash]

25. Nonsense, Pish, voters. Diebold takes care of that. n.t.

[suegeo]

26. Schonfeld is a boob

And the media is our enemy.

Later, in the "article" he says -- It was in nobody's interest. It wasn't in American interest. It wasn't in the interests of anyone and I can't understand still sitting here.

Well, the people who were imprisoned know the guards were flushing their holy book. The people who were imprisoned knew about the abuse in the prisons (hell, they told their families and friends who then stormed Abu Ghraib).

But according to this asshat Schonfeld, the American public should not know about what is fueling their anger.

Nope, we should be completely caught off guard, later, by their rage.
When they lash out at us in anger, pricks like Schonfeld and Cheney and Rumsfeld will be in their hidey holes while tourists at the Grand Canyon catch ebola or workers handle an anthrax letter or schmucks at an auto race die in a bombing.

We should not know that our soldiers are placed in greater harm because the local public knows about the abuse, whether the douche bags at CNN report it or not.

Didn't they sell part of CNN to the Saudis back when the network was in trouble financially?

Again, the media is our enemy.

[Old and In the Way]

27. This explains why we are in a quagmire in Iraq,

* 1600+ Americans and 100,000 innocent Iraqis dead
* Billions of Treasury wasted
* The World hating us as occupiers for oil

A job well done, supporting the liars, Mr. Sconfeld. You, too, deserve a seat at the war crimes tribunal.

I'm old enough to remember when it was the responsibility of the press to inform the citizens of a democracy, so we didn't end up in these kind of messes. Instead, Mr. Schonfeld seems to think his job is helping to facilitate the demise of this country. How sad.

[triguy46]

28. "To lie when it is in the best interest to lie"

Oh my, I thought it had gotten about as bad as it could be. Where did these clowns come from. What planet am I on? What day is it? Make the nightmare stop!

[jwirr]

77. And the other question is:

Who is to decide what is in the best interest of whom? Are the liars to decide? The perpetrators? And for who's best interest? The rich? Oil companies?

[oblivious]

29. People like that should move to China or North Korea. Their perfect world.

[FrenchieCat]

30. The Corporate media is the enemy of the people.....

Don't watch it!

[Rex]

32. "when it is in the country's best interest to lie, you do lie."

You heard it from the horses mouth people - they will lie and make things worse, just like Vietnam. This should be one of the most important stories because this guy ADMITS that freedom of the press is horseshit. Not allowing your fellow citizens the liberty to know information (some of it vital) and draw their own conclusions is a sign of fascism IMO.

[shance]

36. No, when its in the Power-Abuser's best interest, THEY do lie.

It's of course in the country's worst interest. And the planets.

[xray s]

33. No doubt about it, the media is fascist at heart

Just look at this incredible statement again...

"SCHONFELD: Abu Ghraib is the greatest foul up of all time. Those pictures were on the internet. The problem is not that we were - we - I only wish the Pentagon could have been able to deny that story, to be able to li - that's the right of the Pentagon to lie, when it is in the country's best interest to lie, you do lie. And when I made that statement in my book, an undersecretary - well - at Defense told me I don't have it quite right, the - uh - Rumsfeld, the Secretary can never lie but any, anybody under him can, that you have to do it when it's in the public, in the government interest."

That statement is worthy of Goebbels. It is so revealing. Abu Ghraib is "the greatest foul up of all time". Why? Because the use of torture is morally long and internationally illegal? NO!!! It was the greatest foul up of all time because the pictures got out to the public! Because the Pentagon then couldn't then lie about it!!!

Good God Almighty...is THIS what my country has become? A fascist corporate torturing evil piece of shit?

America is dead.

[shance]

35. I would disagree. Just those who have been given unlimited ownership

and power and have never had to be held to a normal level of existence like everyone else.

[Tigress DEM]

66. Thanks Shance... we have to get the Press back on our side...

Like the Republicans, there are wackos and such, but there are also good people who really care and believe in something beyond themselves and about this country.

I think it is the reporters who we need to get to. They guys on the front line don't always have the power, but they agree with us and we need to put a lot of pressue on the editors to print the truth and back away from NPR - Namby Pamby Radio or FAUX News.

The print papers are probably our best shot. They started this whole thing about ethics in journalism back in 1937 and TV has always been more fluff than substance because of the time ingestion difference. That's where sound bites began - catering to ADHD.

[shance]

34. Wow. A sociopath at that level. . "to be able to li"..... oops.

Almost said lie, didn't he?

Wow.

He talked about lying and suppressing war crimes to the public as if he were talking about an opening movie premiere.

Pretty astounding.

[AuntiBush]

37. Schonfeld & CNN can kiss my **!

"what real difference does it make if we report that..."

AND

"Abu Ghraib is a (foul up)!?!" Is that the best he can do?

AND

"the Pentagon has the right to lie..."

Watch me not watch CNN. Then again, I stopped after Nov 3, 2004.

[anitar1]

70. CNN's biggest sucess is Nancy Grace. She IS their news, and

the entertainment news and the latest trials of "celebrities." Much more peaceful to find news through foreign papers online.

[tsuki]

72. Yuch, how can anyone watch that screaming harpy?

[bvar22]

38. Our American culture rewards Sociopathy.

Only the really dumb sociopaths go to jail.
The brighter sociopaths easily climb corporate ladders, or thrive in political systems where the most cold blooded win.


The problem was NOT the torture, the problem is that the TRUTH got out.

The problem was NOT the desecration. The problem was the TRUTH got out.

The REAL problem IS that 1/2 of America agrees with those two statements.

We have a HUGE problem in this country.
THIS is not the America I grew up in.

[radar]

39. Well then - guess he wouldn't mind losing that "protect sources"

...Defense(or is it a right?) when it's "in the government interest."

Heh - any other things the press can do without because this half-wit says the gov't comes before the people in America now?

[kodi]

41. its only a tiny leap from "lives will be lost" to "profits will be lost"

therein lies the lesson.

every time one of these media mavens opens his mouth it simply reconfirms what chomsky says about the media and its mission, viz., the manufacturing of consent.

[geckosfeet]

42. this 1984 doublespeak,,, how stupid does he think people are??

[Nothing Without Hope]

43. Absolutely sickening - he doesn't even see that it's morally wrong

Abu Ghraib is the greatest foul up of all time. Those pictures were on the internet. The problem is not that we were - we - I only wish the Pentagon could have been able to deny that story, to be able to li - that's the right of the Pentagon to lie, when it is in the country's best interest to lie, you do lie.

Apparently, if the crimes and horror can be suppressed, it's good because it makes it easier to lie. For the public GOOD, of course. No wonder the criminals who run our government love these guys.

[Tigress DEM]

44. Ever heard of the Nieman Reports? Gold Mine Folks - Real Reporters FOUND!

Real Accountability in the US Press go real notice in 1937.

These reports are still out there!

http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/99-4_00-1NR/Kovach_Roots.html

A letter Henry Luce wrote to Robert Hutchins, President of the University of Chicago, prompted this conversation. "I know what my freedoms are under the First Amendment, but what are my responsibilities?" Luce wondered.

"I don't know," Hutchins scribbled back. "Why don't we form a commission to find the answer?"

This exchange took place about the time (1937) that Harvard advertised for its first class of Nieman Fellows. The inquiry was interrupted by World War II, but 10 years later the Hutchins Commission on Freedom of the Press completed its work. The report it issued, "A Free and Responsible Press," spawned the creation of Nieman Reports.



http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/contents.html

Coverage of War and Terror (2001-2004)

Spring 2005

Water: A Life Force Harnessed as News
Words & Reflections:
From vanishing newspapers to the Web, from secrecy to scandals, journalists explore authors' ideas and images.

Winter 2004

Vol. 58
No. 4 Editorial Cartoons:
The Impact and Issues of an Evolving Craft
Words & Reflections:
'Can journalism survive in this era of punditry and attitude? If so, how?' Journalists respond.


Fall 2004

Vol. 58
No. 3 Africa:Stories to Be Told
Words and Reflections: War, Terror and Secrecy

International Journalism: Foreign Correspondence and Reporting on North Korea


Summer 2004

Vol. 58
No. 2 The Energy Beat
Words and Reflections: War and Terror


Spring 2004

Vol. 58
No. 1 Stories About Campaign Coverage
International Journalism: China Through the Camera's Eye

Words and Reflections: War and Terror

[lonestarnot]

45. This monster gives me the heebeejeebies!

Sound like a knight in service for bushitlersatan.

[fishwax]

46. holy crap! a "free" and "independent" press

yeah, right

:scared:

[mmonk]

47. Actually, in these times

we do have a right to know for in these times is the time to be vigilant less we lose our freedoms and lives.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

48. "Hey, no fair! You caught me committing atrocities!"

That's about what it sounds like.

[Ms. Clio]

49. That's right, why should we, the great unwashed masses, do more than

pay for and die in these wars, right, Rumsferatu?

They really are just letting it all hang out these days.

Well, it's up to us to "catapult the propaganda" right back at them.

[Tigress DEM]

68. We wash, it's just that the water is so toxic, we still smell this way.

:think:

[Radical Activist]

56. CNN is more government propaganda

that confirms it. Unbelievable.

[bpilgrim]

61. sounds like a freeper

to me

peace

[Tactical Progressive]

63. That's excellent.

Rarely do corporate psychopaths accidentally speak the truth. Usually it's pablum about 'working hard' to 'provide their customers with the best product or service' to 'increase shareholder value'. This guy actually provided a concrete example which can be used to exemplify how institutional journalism in America has become nothing but disreputable right-wing propaganda.

Now I can casually shift any conversation over to how 'One of CNN's top executives explained why CNN was so upset over Abu Ghraib prison torture and murder. Not because the United States was violating the most basic rules of war, the Geneva Convention, from the President's office on down. Not because the US military now tortures and kills innocent prisoners as standard operating procedure. No, CNN was upset because the pictures got out and they couldn't help the Pentagon lie any more that nothing was happening. CNN feels the Pentagon should lie to the American people, and that it is CNN's responsibility to help them lie to the American people. That's what journalism means to the American media today. Abu Ghraib was "the greatest foul up of all time" to CNN because the pictures stopped their propaganda for US viewers in its tracks.'

Thank you, Reese Schonfeld. It's a rare corporate 'newsman' indeed that speaks anything even remotely approximating the truth, even accidentally.

I plan on bringing this up in casual conversation and on the internet continuously. In every relevant conversation. Starting right now, through the 2006 elections, through the 2008 presidential campaign, and probably for the next ten years, maybe forever. It so captures the many betrayals of American journalism - against America, against journalism, and against just basic honor.

This little conversation shows clearly that modern American journalism is nothing more than right-wing corporate propaganda with a pretend face of journalism on top.

[Tigress DEM]

65. Another rubber room candidate.... move over DeLay.

Lies are good. Make lots of monies when we lie. Gotta get the money, oohh, money, money, money.

[steve2470]

71. My 9 year old son: " We do have the right to know, that's stupid "

Yes, he really said that.

[jwirr]

73. If government is "by the people" then

the people have a right to know. If they do not then we have lost another layer of oversight in the checks and balances that have kept government working for over 200 years.

[tyedyeto]

75. This is the quote in the article that made me pissed...

"that's the right of the Pentagon to lie, when it is in the country's best interest to lie, you do lie"

Truth in all forms should be first and foremost, especially when people are dying because of the lies.

[Frederik]

76. Reese Schonfeld

carries around with him an audio recording of assorted speeches by Kim Il Sung and Hermann Göring which he listens to when he masturbates.

A perfect ambassador of neo-con Straussian ideology. The masses must be kept in ignorance, the truth should be reserved for the glorious few who are born to lead.

How very American, Reese. :sarcasm:

[paineinthearse]

80. "roles of the media and the Pentagon in time of war"

As LynnWoolsey reminded us yet again yesterday during debate of her amendment to HR1815, NO STATE OF WAR EXISTS.

[jmcon007]

82. sounds like Bush 'explaining' private accounts.

SCHONFELD: Abu Ghraib is the greatest foul up of all time. Those pictures were on the internet. The problem is not that we were - we - I only wish the Pentagon could have been able to deny that story, to be able to li - that's the right of the Pentagon to lie, when it is in the country's best interest to lie, you do lie. And when I made that statement in my book, an undersecretary - well - at Defense told me I don't have it quite right, the - uh - Rumsfeld, the Secretary can never lie but any, anybody under him can, that you have to do it when it's in the public, in the government interest.


HUH?

[rugger]

83. Sounds very Orwellian

1984 tried to warn us then of what can happen. Woe is us if we don't heed that warning.

[carnie_sf]

85. What a tool

[Shakespeare]

86. Good thing he wasn't editor of the NYT or Wash Post in the early 70s.

Think Ellsberg could find somebody who'd publish the Pentagon Papers today? Not a fucking chance in hell.

Best we could hope for is that they'd get spread around online. The media is dead.

[IndianaGreen]

87. This puke said the Pentagon has the right to lie

Who does he think the Pentagon works for, if not the American people?

[mom cat]

88. I'd just love it when they are honest about how bad they are.

:evilgrin:

[neuvocat]

89. The public does not have to watch CNN.

[annabanana]

90. kickety kick

[teryang]

91. Standard Straussian fare

The underlying presumption is an elitist one.

The Bushista government and its corporate media proxies, decide and a misinformed public follows. According to Strauss the public is too stupid and ill informed to know the truth. With our press and government priorities, it is a self fulfilling prophecy.

[Deja Q]

92. I have the right not to watch CNN or pay for its sponsors.

[Roland99]

93. Bastards...destroying our country and the world for some quick $$