won't report it.
This is from an email correspondence between a friend (Joe Parko)
and the Public Editor of the AJC (Angela Tuck, not to be confused with Cynthia Tucker).
I've tossed in two of my own letters at the bottom just for ego purposes,
but to save you time, in response to Joe asking Tuck why the AJC did not cover the Blair memo,
the money quote from Tuck is:
"Mr. Parko,
I can assure you we are not a mouthpiece for government. It's not news that
Bush lead [sic] us to war based on lies. The administration said long ago that
there were no WMD and we reported that on the front page many times.
Angela Tuck"
(emphasis mine)
Here's Joe corresponding with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
----
Dear Ms. Tuck,
Last week, the British press made public a memo leaked by British
Intelligence, dated July 23, 2002, which shows that despite thin evidence, the Bush
Administration had decided to launch war on Iraq. This story deserves extensive
coverage by the AJC.
* Proof Bush Fixed The Facts
(http://www.tompaine.com/articles/proof_bush_fixed_the_facts.php)
Joe Parko
----
Mr. Parko -- Thanks for your note. We wrote about this in Don Melvin's
story last Saturday on Blair. Jay Bookman also wrote about it in an
editorial column. We will continue to follow developments in the story.
Thanks again.
Angela Tuck
AJC public editor
----
Ms. Tuck,
Thank you for responding. This story should have received much more
prominent coverage. I suspect that news that shows Bush in a bad
light is buried because the AJC doesn't want to offend its predominantly
Republican subscribers and risk losing them.
Joe Parko
----
Mr. Parko,
That is not the case. Our paper's focus is intensely local but we will
continue to follow this and other national/international news. It just
doesn't always receive the prominence some readers think it should.
Angela Tuck
----
Ms. Tuck,
It is big news that we now have concrete proof from an extremely reliable
and neutral source that Bush did indeed lead us into war based upon a
preconceived decision.
If the fact that we now have clear evidence that Bush led us into war based
upon lies, then I don't know what would qualify as a "major" story. The
press is failing us in the pursuit of truth. Now that you have become a
mouthpiece for the government, I fear for our democracy.
Joe Parko
----
Here is the damning response from Ms. Tuck letting us know that the AJC knows that Bush lied, was not misled, but that they are not going to report it.
Mr. Parko,
I can assure you we are not a mouthpiece for government. It's not news that
Bush lead [sic] us to war based on lies. The administration said long ago that
there were no WMD and we reported that on the front page many times.
Angela Tuck
----
Ms. Tuck,
I am amazed that you believe that it is not news that Bush led us to war based on lies. The British memo clearly shows that the Bush administration intentionally promulgated those lies in order to justify its decision to attack Iraq. Ask the families of the 1600 dead soldiers if this is not news.
Joe Parko
----
Here are my responses to Tuck:
Subject: That dog won't hunt
Ms. Tuck,
I appreciate your comments about the local focus of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The AJC did a great job covering the ethical lapses of the state legislature recently. You rendered a true service to the citizens of Georgia. I hope you continue to reveal the lack of sunshine being let in on a lot of dealings that are taxpayer funded. Really an outstanding job, keep up the good work, and I applaud your focus on local issues.
However (you knew that was coming), what is up with your national coverage? At some point, non-local issues rise to the level of newsworthiness regardless of your local focus. Obviously your publisher and editors agree and in fact do cover non-local issues. After all, how would I know about the Jacko and Peterson trials if it were otherwise? How could I be so well-informed about yet another Hollywood starlet (Diaz) suing yet another tabloid?
No, the AJC covers national news to a great extent, so it's a bit disingenuous to say that you didn't cover a well-documented, hard news story that indicts the president because your focus is local. That dog won't hunt.
I think that your publishers don't want to print factual pieces that demonstrate the duplicity of the current administration. I think that your editors go out of their way to downplay data that demonstrates the ineptitude of those now in power nationally.
Please prove me wrong.
Sincerely,
Jeff Boatright
PS: If you're really going to just go local, might I suggest a name change? The last time Atlanta was a small town, it was called Terminus. I think that "The Terminus Times" has a ring to it. If the name change is made, "The AJC" could then be referred to as "The TT". Please feel free to use it; I won't ask for a TM fee. ;)
---
This is my follow-up to her admitting that the AJC knows Bush lied but won't report it:
Subject: Conflation, thoust name art Tuck
Ms. Tuck,
Please direct me to the front page stories in the AJC reporting that Bush led us into war based on lies. Heck, I'll take ANY page; doesn't have to be front. I find it astounding that you would make this claim about your coverage, for if it were true, your reporting itself would have been national news. The AJC never reported that Bush led us into war based on lies. The AJC towed the lined and reported that intelligencin' is hard, hard work and gee mistakes were made all around, and, and...
But let's get to the reality of this correspondence. You are conflating two news stories here. One is the lack of WMD, as covered in the AJC (fairly tepidly) and just about everywhere else. The other, AND THE ISSUE AT HAND, is the Blair memo that demonstrates that Bush and his people were cynically planning exactly how to FOOL you and me into supporting an invasion of Iraq when AT THE SAME TIME he was telling the world that he was doing everything he could to avoid war.
The news is that there is now proof that Bush and Blair KNEW that there were no WMD. The news is that real evidence now exists, and has been reported everywhere except America, that Bush and Blair cynically manipulated intelligence to fool their own citizens into going to war.
The news is the existence of the proverbial smoking gun.
And when you call this old news (what, 11 days old?), covered long ago, YES, you do invite your readership to ponder whether the AJC is just a mouthpiece for the government.
Sincerely,
Jeff Boatright