tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-130114852012-02-16T20:08:01.578-08:00This blog deals with the American press. The editor's basic contention is that American democracy will not thrive unless the press vigorously explores all sides of basic questions and is not afraid to speak truth to power.Sherman De Brossenoreply@blogger.comBlogger91100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13011485.post-45104600428578171732008-03-30T17:54:00.000-07:002008-03-30T17:57:57.212-07:00

THE DON SIEGELMAN CASE AND THE POLITICAL USES OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT The Eleventh Court of Appeals has granted former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman a release from prison on bail appeal. It found that he was not a flight risk and that his appeal raised significant and “substantial questions of law and fact.” He convicted of accepting a bribe in what appeared to be normal political

Sherman De Brossenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13011485.post-1133451394176500152005-12-01T07:16:00.000-08:002006-10-20T13:48:15.610-07:00

Last night, a gentleman from Columbia, South cArolina called Mike Wallace on a call-in radio show, accused the media of a heavy liberal bias, and said Dan Rather had helped manufacture information against President Bush in the 2004 campaign. The latter charge is adressed in another posting here. Since the seventies, the claim of heavy media b ias has been made as part of an effort to arouse

Sherman De Brossenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13011485.post-1122758742138819402005-07-30T14:23:00.000-07:002006-10-20T13:48:15.496-07:00

After his reelection, George W. Bush refused to remove from the table the possibility that the US might attack Iran, and the neoconservatives continued to make their case for doing so. Recent developments, including Uzbekistan’s request that we close an important base, make the attack less likely.Neoconservatives have been urging substantial air strikes in order to trigger revolts against the

Sherman De Brossenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13011485.post-1122250464472124962005-07-24T17:09:00.000-07:002006-10-20T13:48:15.436-07:00

Ambassador Joseph Wilson published an op-ed piece in The New York Times two years ago, criticizing the Bush claim that Iraq had sought to purchase uranium in Niger. Days later, Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, was outed as a covert CIA agent in Bob Novak’s column.At the same time, journalist Matt Cooper was learning of her identity from a high White House source. It was said that Novak called cable

Sherman De Brossenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13011485.post-1121297211596840492005-07-13T16:14:00.000-07:002006-10-20T13:48:15.375-07:00

David Broder, other reporters, and AP have avoided condemning Karl Rove for outing CIA agent Valerie Plame. They argue that he did not mention her by name, only saying she was Joe Wilson’s wife. Moreover, Rove only said she worked for the CIA; he did not act as a covert operative. It is now certain that Rove told Matt Cooper that Wilson’s wife was with the CIA, but it was only because the

Sherman De Brossenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13011485.post-1119893811150489752005-06-27T10:32:00.000-07:002006-10-20T13:48:15.316-07:00

First we learned that columnist/television host Armstrong Williams had been paid $ 240,000 by t he Department of Education to generate favor5able publicity for Bush’s No Child Left Behind Program. Then it was revalued that $41,500 in tax money was also used to pay columnist Maggie Gallagher to sell Bush’s sexual abstinence program. Now we find that the Department of Health and Human Services

Sherman De Brossenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13011485.post-1118354649469644352005-06-09T14:58:00.000-07:002006-10-20T13:48:15.254-07:00

Through intimidation, playing favorites, withholding routine information, excessive use of secrecy, formidable deceptions, and endless complaints about the so-called "liberal media bias," the Bush administration has succeeded in reducing the mainstream press to a largely stenographic role, that of simply putting out the Bush administration line. Bush media advisor Karen Hughes rightly observed

Sherman De Brossenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13011485.post-1117987657575236992005-06-05T09:05:00.000-07:002006-10-20T13:48:15.190-07:00

The mainstream American press is certainly not an adjunct to the Republican party, but its inclination to handle Republicans with kid gloves has contributed to the GOP’s progress toward becoming the majority party. For three decades, conservatives have complained about an alleged liberal bias in the media, and these complaints have induced some degree of self-censorship. Public Broadcasting,

Sherman De Brossenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13011485.post-1116464411587724502005-05-18T17:27:00.000-07:002006-10-20T13:48:15.042-07:00

The mainstream press needs the help of serious and careful bloggers in placing events in context, in reporting stories that would anger many, and in trying to establish the truth or falsity of government claims. For many reasons, the mainstream press is no longer in a position to provide these essential services. Without them, our democracy could wither. A great problem is that journalists are no

Sherman De Brossenoreply@blogger.com2