Posted by ErikZ on June 24th, 2005
Allow me to translate:
Note to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (or whatever you’re calling yourselves these days): I was just re-elected president of The Newspaper Guild-CWA, and I’m not resigning.
No matter how much damage I do to Journalism or the reputation of journalists, you’ll get my resignation when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
In case you missed it, for about a month I have been subjected to what I would characterize as a right-wing screed over some comments I made at the National Media Reform Conference in St. Louis on May 13. The comments (which I won’t repeat here) were about journalists getting killed in Iraq and criticized how the U.S. military has dealt with those deaths.
I blamed the military for targeting journalists about a month ago, and suddenly, all these people who actually support the military were discussing what I said.
(snip)
If I made a mistake, it was in trying to cover the issues surrounding safety for journalists in Iraq in an off-the-cuff way. I regret that my in-artful phraseology, and the storm it incited on the right, may detract from a critically important issue for journalists, especially those who cover war.
Something went wrong somewhere. I’m not sure what. I may be the President of the “Newspaper guild.” but things like using words to communicate concepts to others is just beyond me. And I got a D- in journalism school in “Talking to people to figure out what is going on” class.
So at the risk of repeating what we’ve reported for months in The Guild Reporter and elsewhere, here’s a better way of saying what I was trying to communicate in St. Louis: An unacceptable number of journalists are being killed in Iraq, most of them by insurgents, many of them brutally. Fourteen of those deaths, involving U.S. forces, have been inadequately explained or investigated by the U.S. military. One, the April 8, 2003, bombing of the Al-Jazeera studios in Baghdad, never has been explained at all. As a result, many journalists around the world wonder if the U.S. military is targeting journalists.
So at horrible risk of saying the same thing again, (dramatic sigh and pout): The amount of journalists that have been killed in a war zone is above our acceptable rate. 14 of those deaths that involved the US Military have not been explained to our satisfaction. Those that were killed by anyone else, we’re fine with.
Oh dear god. I’ve repeated myself! When will the horror end?
Since April 2003, the Guild, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Reuters and others repeatedly have called upon the Pentagon to conduct independent investigations of these incidences. So far we have received only redacted, whitewashed explanations which often raise more questions than they answer.
I’m…sorry, I can’t translate this. A committee to protect journalists? What the heck do they do? Threaten to send out nasty letters to dictators if they don’t stop killing reporters?
Spanish journalist Jose Couso was killed when the Palestine Hotel, a known headquarters for many unembedded journalists covering the war prior to the occupation, was shelled by a U.S. tank on April 8, 2003. His family and friends still hold a 24-hour vigil at the U.S. embassy in Madrid on the eighth of every month to protest the lack of accountability by our military for Jose’s death. Meeting Jose’s brother a few weeks before the May 13 conference added to my frustration and anger about the U.S. military’s non-responsiveness on this issue.
Jose Couse was shot by a tank, in a war zone. His family protests against the US military every month. I can not grasp the concept that in a war zone people get killed, and the Pentagon is tired of trying to teach me this.
Nevertheless, the St. Louis conference was about media reform, and the panel I was on focused on concentration of media ownership—and except for those few sentences about journalists dying in Iraq, that’s what I talked about. So you can imagine how surprised I was when Sinclair Broadcasting, one of the largest broadcast owners in the U.S., called to film an interview with me about my comments. (Truthfully, I had to listen to a webcast of my presentation before I actually recalled what I said.)
I said something stupid at the end of a speech, and all you people do is focus on it!
You’ll remember Sinclair Broadcasting—the broadcaster that on the eve of the 2004 election tried to pass off an anti-John Kerry commercial as a “documentary” about his Vietnam War service. You also may recall that Free Press, the group sponsoring the National Media Reform Conference, led the campaign to protest that broadcast. Ultimately, institutional stockholders—principally some large union pension funds— forced Sinclair to modify its plans. I guess the prospect of piling on the president of a union representing journalists speaking out at a media reform conference sponsored by Free Press was just too tempting.
Girlfriend, they’re just jealous! You see, back during the election SB tried to show a commercial, but FP didn’t like it and so she went to her boyfriend who went “Yo, you can’t show that.”, so SB didn’t show it and now SB is getting back at FP by piling on me. Vast right wing conspiracy yo. This is all someone else’s fault, I didn’t do nothin’ wrong.
Sinclair aired its piece without me. I was unavailable. Likewise, I was unavailable to Fox News. (Four different Fox shows called in and/or faxed requests for me to appear.) And to Limbaugh, and several other talk-radio blabbers who peddle hate. And to “Swift Boat Veterans” promoters. And to the Moonies’ Washington Times, and to all those self-righteous bloggers who are so sure they have all the answers.
All these news programs with huge audiences tried to get me to air my side of the story, and I’m all “Hey! I’m saying that the military is targeting and killing journalists. I don’t want to be on your hate-peddling shows. You hate mongers!” And I didn’t try to talk to those self-righteous bloggers. I hate all that self-righteousness. When I was a regular journalist, my motto was “I only interview humble people. Ghandi was pretty much the only person I interviewed. He was cool.”
I gave one interview, to Editor & Publisher, figuring it was a credible publication that reached most Guild members in one way or another. But my cold shoulder didn’t stop the right-wing media machine from blowing its whistle and barreling down the tracks anyway. They had a video webcast clip of my remarks, and they could air them!
I found one media outlet that I could give a puff piece too, yet it wasn’t good enough for you people! And even worse, they could use my own words against me! That’s something that journalists do to other people, not visa versa!
Fox’s Bill O’Reilly interviewed Sinclair hack Mark Hyman, who “broke” the story. (Is this really a story?) O’Reilly announced I was hiding and giving no interviews, then proceeded to interview E&P reporter Joe Strupp, whom he identified as the only reporter to interview me. (I was “hiding” from O’Reilly—all of Fox, actually—but not from E&P.) I heard Rush Limbaugh had called me a “babe.”
As the head of the Newspaper guild, I am unable to figure out what might make a good story. I can’t believe O’Reilly announced that I wasn’t giving any interviews! I gave that one! And that guy got interviewed by them. Rush Limbaugh thinks I’m hot. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
(snip)
It would all be amusing were it not for the vicious, mean-spirited—sometimes pornographic, sometimes threatening—e-mails and phone messages these hate-stokers from Fox & Co. generated. The misogynistic language and name-calling don’t bother me so much, although if some of these e-mails were read on a network program like the David Letterman Show, Brent Bozell (another social commentator who has called for my resignation) undoubtedly would be clamoring to get the entire CBS network thrown off the air for good for violating obscenity standards.
I’d find this all funny, except a lot of people are really upset, and they’re yelling at me! Being yelled at sucks, I feel like I’m having to pay some sort of concequence for my actions. I’m sure if I don’t say anything it will all blow over.
What does bother me about the e-mails is the number of them that prove the point I was trying to make in St. Louis. Many echoed the sentiments of Charles Edwards who said in an e-mail to me, “We should have open season on journalists in Iraq. Traitors.” If the sentiments expressed in these e-mails are any indication, at least some of these loyal “Americans” think journalists should be targeted by the U.S. military.
There’s an angry mob gathering outside my office building. They’re very bad people and I don’t see why they’re angry at me or people who share my profession. I also don’t get why they’re carrying all that rope.
That’s why I hope Americans who actually care about democratic discourse and public debate will support independent, fact-based journalism and professional journalists who strive to practice it. Please refrain from attacking reporters who are trying to get to the truth. Focus instead on re-creating a media climate where a future Woodward & Bernstein can investigate abuse and speak truth to power without fear of government retribution or an orchestrated deluge of hate mail calling for their demise.
I hope that Americans support journalists who don’t just make things up and have the facts to back it up. I don’t have any of those facts, but I’m one of those journalists. Please don’t shoot me or send me nasty emails because your masters have ordered you to do so, you mindless idiots.
What the heck are they going to do with all that rope?
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