February 09, 2007
A little movie in which Don Imus, who is not a favorite here at Dakota, confronts his surprise caller, Mary Matalin, Cheney's former press secretary. As Christy Hardin Smith of Firedoglake, who has been following the Libby trial with great insight says, "Petard. Meet hoist."
You can get a little flavor of how the administration expected things to work with the press, then and now.
In a piece entitled Washington Journalism On trial , Dan Froomkin, a consistent voice of truth at the Washington Post says:
If you're a journalist, and a very senior White House official calls you up on the phone, what do you do? Do you try to get the official to address issues of urgent concern so that you can then relate that information to the public?Not if you're NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert.
When then-vice presidential chief of staff Scooter Libby called Russert on July 10, 2003, to complain that his name was being unfairly bandied about by MSNBC host Chris Matthews, Russert apparently asked him nothing.
And get this: According to Russert's testimony yesterday at Libby's trial, when any senior government official calls him, they are presumptively off the record.
That's not reporting, that's enabling.
That's how you treat your friends when you're having an innocent chat, not the people you're supposed to be holding accountable.
Why is this trial important? Because it brings to light and onto the publlc record the modus operandi of this administration, and uncovers the complicity of the press in their crimes. It's been worth every penny, Mary.
Photo note: Think of this as kind of a grizzly smile
Posted by Dakota at February 9, 2007 06:23 AM | TrackBack