[Cross-posted at
The Left Coaster]
One wouldn't know it from the incredible silence on all the major media news outlets this morning (1040 pst, 10/22/06), but one of the most evil, pernicious, dangerous public statements ever to spew forth from an American public official splatted all over the American consciousness yesterday: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General of the United States, announced the Bush administration has the power to imprison journalists who reveal information the felons want hidden.
Goodbye United States, it was a noble experiment while it lasted. The only way to know what these felons have pulled off in our name with our money is an allegedly free press. It is one of the most sacred of American rights; imprisonment of journalists is the hallmark of fascist, failed states with the souls of their citizens smashed in violent ruins.
One of the greatest reasons we got to this point is that our "journalism corps," that great bastion of "free press," has been on their knees for these sick felons ever since they showed up in 1999, and even when we get to this point when the administration threatens to jail them for somehow not staying in line (as if they ever strayed from corporate whoredom), what do they say or do?
Nothing.
That's, right, nothing. Go look at all the major journalism web sites right this second--WaPo, NYT, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBS, MSNBC, LAT--and there's just total silence on this incredible outrage of American 21st Facism. How could this be?
The only rational explanation is that the big boys don't care--why else do nothing? There is no other answer. They don't care because they're in cahoots with the war felons. They're on their side so they don't feel threatened.
Denials are worthless. This is a critical moment for American free speech, and actions speak all that is necessary. Only actions will suffice after this appalling silence, not some lame late backtracking.
The United States needs a real journalism corps. Bloggers can never be real reporters with a big resource base behind them. All the progress the blogosphere has made in the last 4 years has, in a way, always been inextricably linked to the journalism corps.
Many in the journalism corps--many times at the big outlets--have done an enormous amount of good in exposing the felonies of Bush. We need those journalists in the future, and gratitude for their service is real. But the corporate leadership of their organizations is blazingly showing their true nature in this horrible moment, and the damage to the country is incalculable with this inexcusable, traitorous silence.
