We’re number one” is a slogan that should no longer be used when conjuring up those patriotic bumper stickers. There’s so much incompetence on so many levels in our government, a more realistic bumper sticker would read, “Hoping to break the top 10.”
The very competent journalist Bill Moyers recently ran a program on PBS entitled “Buying the War.” The program highlighted the lapse in real reporting after 9/11, and the blind reporting during the lead up to the war in Iraq. It’s a journalist’s job to report the facts, but that doesn’t mean you accept everything you’re being sold as fact. There’s a general skepticism needed in journalism that just wasn’t there when we needed it the most.
When our government was leading us into this Iraqi quagmire there should have been at least a handful of mainstream reporters willing to stand up and defy the status quo. But that would have been a perfect world. And in that perfect world no self-respecting journalist would have stood for a scripted press conference like the one shown in Moyer’s documentary. The fact that the president has or had scripted press conferences should be a front-page news story. How can it be that there was a room filled with reporters and not a single one wrote that story?
A scripted press conference is one big lie. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that if our president is having scripted press conferences that he is either hiding something or he’s just not bright enough to handle the real questions. And that should have been a dead giveaway about the motivation leading into this mess.
Now that the stars have been wiped from the eyes of many Americans, we are finally getting a broad view of the incompetent administration that’s been running our country. We get to see how they’ve attempted to eliminate checks and balances by appointing loyal cronies and incompetent sheep to high position so they can control every aspect of government. We get to see an administration that obviously cares more about self-preservation than the interests of our country. And we get to see this because Washington journalists finally got the nerve to fulfill their duty to the people they serve.
There’s no doubt the news is a product and there will always be plenty of bad products. But just because people find crap stories like Anna Nicole Smith, Brittany Spears and American Idol captivating doesn’t mean that our society isn’t prepared to embrace an insightful and thought-provoking media.
After years of horrible leadership and enduring a government veiled in secrecy, most people are ready to step out of this era of self-imposed darkness. And you if aren’t prepared for that next step and you’re still part of Bush’s thirty-something approval rating, then go ahead and enjoy the sidelines. I’m sure Faux News will produce enough mind-numbing news to make you believe you understand the world beyond your front lawn.
And for all those people looking for something a bit more thought provoking, there’s always Bill Moyers.
tuckwopat@yahoo.com
