http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a566.htm
Controlling the News. Part 15
In-House Memos on Television News Presentations
Note: There are many other entries dating from January, 2002. To read these, please click Here
During the middle of March, 2003, tbrnews received an email from a man who claimed to be a mid-level executive with a major American television network. He stated in this, and subsequent, emails that he was in possession of “thousands” of pages of in-house memos sent from his corporate headquarters in New York City to the head of the network’s television news department. He went on to say that these memos set forth directives about what material was, and was not, to be aired on the various outlets of the network.
This individual claimed he was developing serious doubts about the strict control of media events and decided that he would pass this material along to someone who might make use of it.
There was the question of his job security. If someone published his name, it would be certain he was not only fired but blackballed throughout his profession.
If tbrnews.org would agree to protect his identity, he would send us these alleged thousands of pages of notes, going back to 2001.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating so we accepted his caveats and he then sent to us by disk the pages he spoke of. All are on corporate stationary, signed or initialed by the senders and again, signed or initialed by the recipients in the news division.
It was always possible that this material consisted of a very involved hoax or was something designed for the news site to use and then have it revealed that it was not original. It would not be the first time that spurious disinformation had been sent to us in the hopes that it would be used.
There were not “thousands of pages” of memos but a total of 1,497 separate pages involved. Many of them consisted of short memos while others ran to a larger format.
Naturally, someone could easily have obtained correct in-house network letterheads, made copies of them and prepared false memoranda but the sheer size and depth of the collection was impressive.
If these memos were true, they showed with a terrible clarity that at least one part of the American mass media was strictly controlled and that the news was so doctored and spun that it might as well be official news releases from the White House and Pentagon.
The best way in which to ascertain whether or not these documents contained original information was to check the dates of issuance and compare the information with subsequent news stories.
This was a terrible, time-consuming chore but by selecting random memos and looking through the archives of various national newspapers, checking AP releases and so on, the results indicated that indeed, news was being managed.
However, it was also possible that someone else did this and was preparing these after the fact and making the memos conform to published material.
That having been said, we insisted on absolutely current memos so that we could then check these against future publications. If, for example, a corporate fiat was to show certain pictures or spin a story in a certain way, it would be relatively simple to simply read the press or watch television news to see if these suggestions were implemented.
It was both shocking and gratifying to note that this proved to be the case in a preponderance of cases and so we began to put these up, either in toto or, more often, in excerpt and watch as ordained news was created before our eyes.
When a corporate order states, for instance, that certain pictures should be shown with accompanying commentary and the memo predates a published story by a week or more, then it is more than likely that the memos are not inspired guesswork but genuine.
When tbrnews put up the first two pages, there were two basic forms of public response. One was to thank us for exposing something many people believed; that the American media was controlled and not free. (That much can easily be ascertained by reading the websites of various reputable foreign publications such as the Swiss NZZ, the British Guardian, the Canadian Toronto Globe and Mail, Reuters News Service and the Jerusalem Post. What any viewer can see on these sites is certainly not reflected in the American media.)
The second response consisted of irate, and literate, statements to the effect that all of these items were just stupid hoaxes and should not be believed. “I believe,” one writer who claimed to be a Professor of Journalism at an Ivy League college said, “these are just disinformation designed to discredit American journalists whose reputation for honesty and integrity is certainly beyond question. You are performing a great disservice in repeating these politically-motivated fictions…”
This is certainly a true statement because if it became generally accepted that the American media was only a mechanical parrot for various political organization, it would no longer be either believed or watched. If viewers turned off their television sets, the networks would lose huge amounts of advertising revenue, reporters would be laid off and people would turn instead to the Internet for their news.
Tbrnews receives many emails on a daily basis but the input on this subject has been so great that we have decided to expand the articles, irate journalists and professors to the contrary.
In the final analysis, it is always up to the reader to make up their own mind as to the truth, or fiction, of what they read. The media has an opposite view of this.
It is fairly obvious that the average Americans get their news either from TV, mostly, or from the print media. If someone in East Peoria, Illinois sees something on CNN, the Voice of the White House, they have no reason to question it. And don't. The establishment does not worry about the lone man with a website that, as in our case, reaches perhaps 100,000 people at a time when they have control over NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN that can, an do, reach millions a day.
What to they care about people who email messages back and forth? Even if a Pentagon plan to nuke North Korea were up on the net, all that would happen is that some would say, "See, I told you so!" while others would say "Oh shame! You are questioning our Glorious Leader and putting our Brave Troops in danger!"
If some astronomer had absolute proof that a three mile wide asteroid was going to hit this planet in ten days, do you think any of the mass media would ever mention a word of it? This would cause mass panic and the last thing the establishment wants is a public that is out of control. They would find out the target area and keep away from it, along with their friends and members of their families. The rest of us would be either squashed or roasted alive but they don't care about us only so long as we pay our taxes without complaint.
If the honesty of the American mass media is brought into serious question, perhaps the establishment cannot jam their lies down the public's throat with such ease.
Walter Storch
"Authoritarian government required to speak, is silent...Representative government required to speak, lies with impunity". – Napoleon
Part 15
Note: As indicated previously , we are now providing more detailed material in this section. Fuller reporting will be found in our new Electronic Journal.
(July 19) SARS keeps popping up in pockets here and there but it is pretty well agreed that it has gone to ground and won’t crop up again until winter flu season…Reporting on this should be limited to CDC and WHO releases but without any comment and stick it back with the truss ads…
(July 20) There is a big flap going on, well behind the scenes, between Bush’s top advisors and the CIA over the yellowcake issue. The issue, as far at the public is concerned at least, is whether the President had knowledge of the falsity of information that Iraq was attempting to buy uranium for use in a weapons program. His aides sent out requests to the DIA, the CIA, DoS and NSA to see if there were any usable reference materials in their files that would support such a contention. As always, there were reports and one was sent on by the CIA to White House staffers. It was noted in a cover letter that the report was quote dubious at best endquote. The Bush people put it into a speech the President was slated to deliver in Cincinatti in October of 2002. Tenent got wind of this and specifically informed the staff that the reference was badly flawed and to delete it. This was done. However, several months later, the President included it verbatim in his State of the Union address in January of 2003. It had the desired effect but backfired when leaks indicated that the report was a crude forgery. This put Bush in a very unenviable position and his staff began to find ways to deny it; to develop plausible deniability. Blair also got a copy of this and also was informed, by the CIA and British MI, that the report was a useless fake. Unfortunately, both men consulted and decided to use it. The truth of the matter is that they both were aware that the report was totally untrue. Later, when this became public knowledge, the Bush people began frantically attempting to shove the blame off on the lesser fish. Tenent bit the bullet but stated only that he had not read the President’s speeches (which he had). This was put out by the staff at the White House as an “admission” that the CIA had been at fault. Our reports indicate that the highest level CIA people are outraged at this treachery on the part of the President and have been leaking all kinds of unpleasantness about Cheney, Wolfowitz and recently, about the President himself. The White House has responded by “outing” a high level CIA agent, wife of a critic. This is a criminal act but the White House people do not care. They believe that the President was quote called by God to the Presidency endquote and anything he says, or does, is acceptable. There is also a growing feud between the Bush people and the intelligence, and now the military, communities. White House staffers are threatening to release a secret report on the deaths of John Paisley, once Deputy Director of the CIA’s Office of Strategic Research in September of 1978 and William Colby, formerly DCI in May of 1996. Both men had fallen afoul of senior CIA personnel and both “accidentally” were drowned under highly suspicious circumstances. Our sources indicate that Paisley had been dealing with the Soviet intelligence organs and Colby was singled out for assassination because of damning testimony he gave before a Congressional hearing that reflected badly on the Company. The CIA is certain to retaliate if these allegations of in-house “cleansing” are leaked. The odious bottom-feeder Drudge would be the most likely source for these leaks. We should be very careful about what we make public about all of this. Presidents come and Presidents go but the CIA abides and will be around long after Bush is only a memory…
(July 21) The guerrilla warfare rages on in Iraq with no end in sight. A report from Rand indicates that oil from Iraq is not likely to be shipped out in the near future and as the Administration has been counting on their sales of this oil to reduce the horrific US national debt, trouble looms. Rumsfeld and Cheney, the real powers in the Beltway, want the National Guards activated to replace the mutinous brigades now on duty in Iraq. The staffers at the Pentagon are not in favor of this because these Guardsmen are badly trained and it is felt that there would be casualty disasters without end if they were dumped into the middle of a fierce guerrilla Arab holy war. The emerging hallmark of White House strategy is a blind belief in the rightness of their actions and a mounting refusal to modify any of their actions…
(July 25) The House vote on the deregulation matter is a shot across the Administration’s bows. So many Republicans deserted that Bush is said to be boiling with rage and threatening a veto in addition to punishment of the rebels. Considering the public uproar over Powell’s FCC actions, this veto will be overridden. Reminds us of the time everyone voted against the crime bill during the Clinton years. The bill obviously was going to pass but this was Congress’s way of warning the White House that they had the power and he did not. Bush’s first challenge came from the courts and it has now been followed up by the House. The Senate is sure to follow. The importation of prescription drugs from overseas is another issue. It is too popular for Congress to ignore…AARP types are working overtime on this one…but both the Drug industry and certain of us in the media have filled the coffers of the GOP with baskets of gold and now expect to get what they paid for. We should come down on the side of the cheaper drugs but be strictly neutral on the media deregulation business.
(July 26) Note: This is an extract from a new source and is included here because it is contains information about important future activities.
“Two meetings held in Ortona on July 22-23 and Medina, July 24.....decision regarding counter measures against American invaders...continued support by Russian groups with logistical support including sanitized weapons with proper earlier datings....considering that vengeance attacks against prominent US military and civilian personnel in Iraq are difficult due to strong security, instead, it was suggested that attacks be made within the US proper and against religious leaders. The public deaths, preferably by explosives or by fire, of some prominent American religious fanatics now pressing to Christianize Muslim countries...suggested are Pat Robertson, Falwell, Reed, the younger Graham...not considered that any of these will have heavy security like the Vice President who hides his craven body in a steel bunker....Bush has refused in a secret report to pay any of Iraqi debts to Russia, France or Germany because they have openly thwarted his aggression at the UN and are viewed by him as putative enemies ...agreements have been made in principle with Russian and French spokesmen concerning the payments of the Iraqi debts...the shadow government has signed protocols agreeing to repay these debts ahead of all other debts when the Americans are chased out of Iraq...Germans have not yet been drawn into this because they are not considered 100% secure and many American spies have infiltrated the BND and Foreign Office in Pullach and Berlin and all would be reported immediately to the CIA regional headquarters at....several American spies and traitors have been identified in the area under discussion and will be removed quietly."
