Katie Couric, (quoted on MediaCitizen) reflecting on McClellan's charge that the media were complicit with the war propaganda that he promulagated:
"I think it's one of the most embarrassing chapters in American journalism," she said. "And I think there was a sense of pressure from corporations who own where we work and from the government itself to really squash any kind of dissent or any kind of questioning of it. I think it was extremely subtle but very, very effective."
Ah, so will Katie now interview her owners on camera and ask them the hard questions? "Knock, knock, Sir? Excuse me. Can I bring the camera crew in now, Sir?"
Another depressing story. :-(
When I get down, I pull out my autographed picture of Kirsten Haglund. I don't know how she does it, but she always shows up in the nick of time to lift a fella's spirits. God Bless Miss America!
Posted by: This Gift's For You:-) | June 01, 2008 at 06:16 AM
"Contains errors and cannot be displayed," now that is depressing.
Posted by: Phil | June 01, 2008 at 09:43 AM
Darn it! It appears your system may be protecting you from a non-threat. Can't be too careful, I guess.
Here she is, too. Happy Days!
Posted by: This Gift's For You :-) | June 01, 2008 at 01:32 PM
Not pressure, but a sense of pressure. Not people who own corporations, but corporations "who own where we work".
This news moran earns her $15,000,000.
Posted by: matrullo | June 01, 2008 at 02:27 PM
(Hint: Put your misgivings under your pillow and hit the sack. Any fairy'll do in a storm! :-)
Posted by: This Gift's For You :-) | June 01, 2008 at 05:22 PM
They own where we work, but they do not own us. We are professionals in Wealth Bondage.
Posted by: Phil | June 01, 2008 at 06:40 PM
I wonder when Katie's book is coming out ?
It's almost disgusting (well, actually not almost) to see supposedly intelligent people saying such things after so long spent wallowing in all the misinformation and disinformation of which they were primary enablers.
Wealth Bondage has 'em by the short and curlies, i think. Almost like being a management consultant, billing and bonuses dependent upon mastering the phrase "Yes, sir .. three bags full".
Posted by: JJ Commoner | June 02, 2008 at 05:21 PM
"False consciousness" is the phrase Sartre used to describe a mind disassociated so as to avoid the assumptio of personal responsibility. His example was that of a woman whose lets her mind be elsewhere as the man's hand creeps over her unresisting body. She doesn not consent and is not respondible. It is his fault. He makes her do it. Katie's account of her behavior is similar.
Posted by: Phil | June 02, 2008 at 06:39 PM
"extremely subtle and very very effective"
Scotty and Katie had bosses with a slow hand, I guess.
As the midnight moon, was drifting through
The lazy sway of the trees
I saw the look in your eyes, lookin' into mine
Seeing what you wanted to see
Darlin' don't say a word, cause I already heard
What your body's sayin' to mine
I'm tired of fast moves
I've got a slow groove...
On my mind
I want a man with a slow hand
I want a lover with an easy touch
I want somebody who will spend some time
Not come and go in a heated rush
I want somebody who will understand
When it comes to love, I want a slow hand
Slow Hand, Pointer Sisters
Posted by: JJ Commoner | June 02, 2008 at 06:50 PM
Great song. In this case, though, Katie was wronged. She is innocent, was coerced by subtle signs. She had to deseive the nation, not that she was deceived, but because her bosses wanted it that way. We can't blame her. And the bosses were looking at ratings and ad revenue. So who is to blame? The crowd! The wisdom of ignorant jingoistic misinformed heavily propagandized crowds. We each member of that audience must take the blame. We are responsible. Kaite was just serving her bosses who were serving us.
Posted by: Phil | June 02, 2008 at 07:25 PM
Well, sure ... and we in turn twist ourselves into knots of rationalization to avoid anyone saying anything true, or clear enough that it would interrupt the advertising and buying. Who was it again that once said something about a society that is a spectacle, a fun house of forever-reflecting mirrors ?
We have met the enemy and they is us. The bosses just carry the quivers full of arrows for us .. another type of valet service
Fit in or fuck off is another phrase that makes the rounds and comes to mind. Edward R. Murrow would have been fired long ago, in this era.
Posted by: JJ Commoner | June 02, 2008 at 08:10 PM
"Good night and good luck." If Katie had been reading Wealth Bondage during the buildup to the war she might have been better informed and might have gotten up the courage to speak out herself. AKMA, you, I, Matrullo and so many others called it as fraudulent, it was so clearly so. And it was scary at the time, at least in Dallas, to say so.
Posted by: Phil | June 02, 2008 at 08:59 PM
I'm gonna get you, Harry Shearer!
Posted by: Katie Couric | June 02, 2008 at 10:58 PM
Oopsie Woopsie. Don't know much about Huckabee
Posted by: Katie Couric | June 02, 2008 at 11:09 PM
Nice clip, very professional job, Katie. I can see now why you did not exercise independent news judgment.
Posted by: Phil | June 02, 2008 at 11:23 PM