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CBS censoring the truth about Bush’s case for war by Move On (posted by bruno) Tuesday, Sep. 28, 2004 at 1:51 PM |
| bruno@indymedia.be |
President Bush based his famous and false claim that Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger on a set of crudely forged documents. For the last two years, no one has uncovered who falsified these documents, which lie at the heart of Bush's case for war.
Now, CBS' 60 Minutes program has uncovered new and important
revelations about the Bush administration's reliance on the documents. But, in
an unprecedented and astonishing move, CBS bumped the report back until
after the election, saying it would be "inappropriate" to air the piece
when it might interfere with the political season.
Recently, CBS came under heavy criticism for failing to thoroughly
authenticate documents in a story on the President's National Guard record.
Apparently CBS' embarrassment over that flap has made CBS too timid to
run important news critical of President Bush. According to the New
York Times: "a report in the online edition of Newsweek... described the
frustration of CBS News reporters and producers who said the network
had concluded that it could not legitimately criticize the president
because of the questions about the National Guard report."
Still, censorship for partisan purposes is a familiar pattern at CBS.
Last year, CBS refused to air "Child's Pay", the ad that won the "Bush
in 30 Seconds" contest sponsored by MoveOn.org Voter Fund, during the
Super Bowl. Although the ad was well within the bounds of good taste --
it showed children working at menial jobs and asked "Guess who's going
to pay off President Bush's $1 trillion deficit?" -- CBS cited a policy
against running "advocacy" ads.
But then it turned around and aired millions of dollars worth of ads
promoting Bush's new Medicare plan, which wouldn't come online for years.
It also aired controversial White House ads claiming that drug users
supported terrorism.
CBS' censorship decisions make its partisanship obvious. But here's
more: CBS is owned by Viacom, and Viacom's chairman, Sumner Redstone,
endorsed President Bush on Thursday, just one day before CBS pulled
the 60 Minutes report on Iraq.
Partisan censorship by CBS betrays America's trust on a fundamental level.
All Americans own the airwaves CBS broadcasts on. They're a public
resource, licensed to CBS, and in return CBS owes us a balance of viewpoints on
major issues like Iraq.
Especially now, when more than 1,000 Americans have been killed in a
war whose reasons have yet to be honestly explained by the Bush
administration.
And especially just before an election.
More on http://www.moveon.org/