Attacking Journalists

In 1996 San Jose Mercury News reporter Gary Webb broke the contra-cocaine story and was tarred and feathered by the right and nut-wing and their allies in the major news media. Now we have an apparent suicide which is far more than a personal tragedy. This is a reminder of the creeping conservative correctness that Bush and Cheney co. helped create in the past (ok, maybe more directly by Cheney than Bush) and enjoy with impunity today.

Isn't Bush as candidate the one who called a reporter an "ass hole" for not following the script during the 2000 election? Yup. Lots of respect for the press from that would be oligopolist (hey, he can't do it alone).

Consider that the Bush white house is the most secretive and manipulative than any recent president -- even more than their beloved patron saint Ronny -- and we have a recipe for massive disaster. Its not just that we are on a fool's errand in Iraq, the reporting will not even mention that it is a fool's errand (don't want to lose a privileged embeddedness or white house access).

The major news media did not rally to Webb's defense, as they should have. Instead the media themselves played an active role in attacking and destroying Webb's career in the 1990s when he tried to break through the maze of cover-up of this horrible scandal. The bitter disgusting irony is that even when the CIA and the government admitted its institutional guilt in drug smuggling by the Nicaraguan contras, the nation's leading commentators, newspapers, and media continued an insistent attack on Webb. The issuing of denials or blaming low level CIA operatives took the place of serious consideration of Webb and his reporting.

That's right, even after it was admitted as fact, the idiotmedia refused to acknowledge that Webb was right and continued to castigate and eventually destroy him; looks like they got their wish. Fuckers.