Categorical Aperitif

PBS's Newshour has now done a segment on the "message force multipliers" story; even better, they actually brought on John Stauber, one of those undersung heroes from the Center for Media Democracy, which has been busily educating citizens on the sad realities of PR, perception management, government-media propaganda collaborations, etc.—doing a job that the mainstream media in a democracy ought to do but don't. Indeed, one sad spinoff of this story has been the evidence it's provided that many in the MSM have so thoroughly internalized their role as de facto propagandists that they can't even see the Times's revelations as much of a story—or can't admit that it is, anyway. PBS says that Fox, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and NBC all declined an offer to participate in the Newshour story, and it's almost embarrassing to watch Robert Zelnick, the former ABC correspondent who did agree to come on opposite John Stauber, keep trying to frame the story as one of "media seeking experts for regular meetings, must give good interview," desperately trying to ignore the inconvenient facts that Stauber keeps bringing up: that the evidence suggests that the whole operation was planned and executed by the Pentagon as part of an illegal domestic propaganda exercise.

Now here we are, thousands upon thousands of lives and billions upon billions of dollars later, mired in an occupation with no end in sight, Osama Bin Laden no closer to capture, the Middle East no closer to peace, oil prices skyrocketing, food prices skyrocketing, home values plummeting, mortgage crisis spreading, climate crisis worsening, etc. etc. etc. What will it take to make media insiders like Zelnick finally rethink the way they do business? If the damage done to the United States in the last eight years is not enough, what will it take?

Anyway, kudos to PBS for its segment—and especially for bringing on a serious critic like John Stauber. I know better than to expect anything similar from the other outlets mentioned above.