Another "I Told You So"
Captain Ed sounds surprised:
We are now finding out that the source for the promised videotape of the Davos forum where Eason Jordan alleged that the US military targeted journalists for assassination may never be released. Sisyphus, who originally got WEF official Mark Adams to promise its release, now says that it may be against the rules for that particular forum:
"He warned me that the session WAS under 'Chatham House Rule'. This means that after finding the tape, he needs to get a policy decision about making it publicly available, as that would violate the Rule...."
Rebecca MacKinnon has more to say about the rules at Davos:
"On and Off the Record’ Policy for AM 2005
"All plenary sessions are fully ‘on’ the record.
"All sessions that are broadcast or webcast are ‘on the record’ (for 2005 that means all sessions in the Congress Hall or Sanada 1 and 2)
"Every other session is only ‘on the record’ in terms of content. That is to say what was said can be reported – but it must not be attributed to any individual. However, should the journalist get the agreement of any participant to be quoted that is of course acceptable."
She also got a message from Adams that a transcript would definitely not be forthcoming. How convenient ... for CNN and Eason Jordan. (Rebecca herself felt that the meeting was on the record, for her part.)
It looks like Eason Jordan and CNN might escape the scandal....
Well, I love to say I told you so, and Ed, I told you so.
But look where the Cap'n wants to take this now:
However, with Barney Frank going on the record with his recollections, we now have another avenue to explore - Congressional hearings. After all, Eason Jordan has accused the US military of atrocities on two separate occasions in the past three months, one of which occurred with two US lawmakers in attendance. If true, Congress must investigate to determine where those orders originated and who put them into practice.
With all due respect, Mr. Morrissey has lost his mind (or at least gotten vastly carried away). There is only one way that this idea could end up - as Abu Ghraib times a hundred. Or has he lost sight of the fact that Big Media would be covering these hearings, and would be unable to resist playing up Jordan's charges to the stratosphere? It'd be a veritable leftapalooza. It'd be the winter soldier star chamber splattered nation-wide 24/7 on every channel.
Why, when Jordan's allegations are beyond preposterous? Because the truth wouldn't matter. The truth never matters to the Donks, stopped mattering altogether in 1992, and will never matter again as long as Republicans are running the country. And to the argument that since the GOP would be conducting this probe, it would be aimed at Jordan and CNN, that ignores how utterly spineless and incompetent Republicans are at playing political hardball. There wasn't a single congressional committee, with the lone and heroic exception of Henry Hyde's House Judiciary Committee during impeachment, that wasn't completely overwhelmed by Democrat opposition. You name it - Al D'Amato on Whitewater, Bill McCollum on Waco, Fred Thompson on Chinagate - they were all browbeaten into submission to the point that the Democrats were all but wielding the gavels themselves. Travesties all.
And Ed Morrissey thinks these naive bunnies would go after Eason Jordan? Piffle. By the time these hearings were done, we'd be signed on to the World Criminal Court, where the entire American military would be up on "terrorism" charges. And Eason Jordan would be the prosecution's star witness.
I can't think of a worse idea than trying to bring Congress into this kerfuffle. Besides, it's not as though they don't have plenty on their plate right now as it is. And if some 'Pubbies are ready to run to the tall grass over Social Security reform, how many do you think are going to want to be smeared as plotting to "repeal freedom of the press"?
I said it last Thursday, and I'll say it again:
ABC, CBS, NBC, NYT, WaPo, et al are not going to jump on this because they are ideologically sympatico, and because they know that next time it'll be one of them. They've "circled the wagons" out of common interest.
What we bloggers have to understand is that we are powerless to keep them from getting away with it. They WILL get away with it. We can't make Big Media act against its own self-interest. And we shouldn't expect them to out of a sense of fair play and professional ethics that they so clearly do not possess.
Rather, we should expect Big Media to do precisely what they're doing: betraying their own country and its interests, slandering traditional institutions that they hate, making a living from same, and quietly making their getaway when one of them gets caught.
It's over, my fellow bloggers. The Big Media bear has made its mess, and we've exposed it. Eason Jordan has indeed been vilified throughout the blogosphere. Continuing to play avenging angel to no end will just make us look impotent.
UPDATE: Hey, Stan, welcome to the island!
We are now finding out that the source for the promised videotape of the Davos forum where Eason Jordan alleged that the US military targeted journalists for assassination may never be released. Sisyphus, who originally got WEF official Mark Adams to promise its release, now says that it may be against the rules for that particular forum:
"He warned me that the session WAS under 'Chatham House Rule'. This means that after finding the tape, he needs to get a policy decision about making it publicly available, as that would violate the Rule...."
Rebecca MacKinnon has more to say about the rules at Davos:
"On and Off the Record’ Policy for AM 2005
"All plenary sessions are fully ‘on’ the record.
"All sessions that are broadcast or webcast are ‘on the record’ (for 2005 that means all sessions in the Congress Hall or Sanada 1 and 2)
"Every other session is only ‘on the record’ in terms of content. That is to say what was said can be reported – but it must not be attributed to any individual. However, should the journalist get the agreement of any participant to be quoted that is of course acceptable."
She also got a message from Adams that a transcript would definitely not be forthcoming. How convenient ... for CNN and Eason Jordan. (Rebecca herself felt that the meeting was on the record, for her part.)
It looks like Eason Jordan and CNN might escape the scandal....
Well, I love to say I told you so, and Ed, I told you so.
But look where the Cap'n wants to take this now:
However, with Barney Frank going on the record with his recollections, we now have another avenue to explore - Congressional hearings. After all, Eason Jordan has accused the US military of atrocities on two separate occasions in the past three months, one of which occurred with two US lawmakers in attendance. If true, Congress must investigate to determine where those orders originated and who put them into practice.
With all due respect, Mr. Morrissey has lost his mind (or at least gotten vastly carried away). There is only one way that this idea could end up - as Abu Ghraib times a hundred. Or has he lost sight of the fact that Big Media would be covering these hearings, and would be unable to resist playing up Jordan's charges to the stratosphere? It'd be a veritable leftapalooza. It'd be the winter soldier star chamber splattered nation-wide 24/7 on every channel.
Why, when Jordan's allegations are beyond preposterous? Because the truth wouldn't matter. The truth never matters to the Donks, stopped mattering altogether in 1992, and will never matter again as long as Republicans are running the country. And to the argument that since the GOP would be conducting this probe, it would be aimed at Jordan and CNN, that ignores how utterly spineless and incompetent Republicans are at playing political hardball. There wasn't a single congressional committee, with the lone and heroic exception of Henry Hyde's House Judiciary Committee during impeachment, that wasn't completely overwhelmed by Democrat opposition. You name it - Al D'Amato on Whitewater, Bill McCollum on Waco, Fred Thompson on Chinagate - they were all browbeaten into submission to the point that the Democrats were all but wielding the gavels themselves. Travesties all.
And Ed Morrissey thinks these naive bunnies would go after Eason Jordan? Piffle. By the time these hearings were done, we'd be signed on to the World Criminal Court, where the entire American military would be up on "terrorism" charges. And Eason Jordan would be the prosecution's star witness.
I can't think of a worse idea than trying to bring Congress into this kerfuffle. Besides, it's not as though they don't have plenty on their plate right now as it is. And if some 'Pubbies are ready to run to the tall grass over Social Security reform, how many do you think are going to want to be smeared as plotting to "repeal freedom of the press"?
I said it last Thursday, and I'll say it again:
ABC, CBS, NBC, NYT, WaPo, et al are not going to jump on this because they are ideologically sympatico, and because they know that next time it'll be one of them. They've "circled the wagons" out of common interest.
What we bloggers have to understand is that we are powerless to keep them from getting away with it. They WILL get away with it. We can't make Big Media act against its own self-interest. And we shouldn't expect them to out of a sense of fair play and professional ethics that they so clearly do not possess.
Rather, we should expect Big Media to do precisely what they're doing: betraying their own country and its interests, slandering traditional institutions that they hate, making a living from same, and quietly making their getaway when one of them gets caught.
It's over, my fellow bloggers. The Big Media bear has made its mess, and we've exposed it. Eason Jordan has indeed been vilified throughout the blogosphere. Continuing to play avenging angel to no end will just make us look impotent.
UPDATE: Hey, Stan, welcome to the island!
posted by JASmius at 2:40 PM
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