Forgotten History - Friday, January 5, 2001
"Little known facts and overlooked history"
The Press
Freedom of the press is something that we
Americans take seriously. Since it is
written right there in the Constitution,
nothing should get the press more angry
than when their own members are denied of
these rights. Sadly enough, this is not
true. History shows us that when it comes
to freedom of the press for alternate
points of view, the mainstream press is
silent, and usually sides with the
government. This has been the case for
the last hundred years.
"The Appeal to Reason" was a highly
popular magazine that reached its peak
prior to the first world war. Its
writers included journalists like Jack
Reed and Upton Sinclair and had a
circulation that would be comparable
to today's "Time Magazine." It was a
socialist publication that was very
critical of the America's involvement
in World War I. For this, it was denied
the use of the postal service, and since
all publications used the mail service,
the effects would eventually destroy the
publication. Did anyone in the press speak
out in its behalf? No, they did not. In fact,
the mainstream press stood by the
government's actions and praised them.
The Liberation News Service was an
alternative wire service that spoke out
against the war in Vietnam. It was very
critical of U.S. involvement and provided
a service to the mainstream press by
providing sources of information for them.
The reality was that the mainstream press
was so out of touch, that they needed the
content and contacts that services such
as the Liberation News provided. During the
war, the Liberation News became the target
of the CIA, the FBI and Military
Intelligence. The FBI went so far as to
break into their offices, destroy their
equipment and set fire to the building. The
CIA set up informants to spy on the service,
which is forbidden under the CIA's charter,
while the FBI moved to discredit them.
What did the mainstream press say to these
gross violations of the first amendment?
Nothing. Throughout the war in Vietnam
underground papers became the target of
the government's Gestapo tactics while the
press sat by and allowed this to happen
without saying a word. Only when the
government of Richard Nixon sought to go
after the press, in the same fashion as
they had done to the alternate press,
did the corporate press bring up the
rights of reporters. In other words, only
when it happened to them did they become
alarmed.
During the past year we saw another example
of just how contemptuous the press and the
government are of the first amendment. It
was during the Democratic convention when
the offices of the alternative media were
raided and shut down by the LAPD. The
reason they gave to raid and close
alternative coverage of the convention was
that there might be violence at a rock
concert that night.
A New York Times reporter asked a highly
influential Gore operative whether he
agreed with the action. The Gore people
responded that they supported the police
action. So much for the freedom of the
press. We don't expect anything for
liberal Democratic administrations, since
this and all of other incidents that have
been mentioned took place under the
Democrats. However, did you see any
coverage of this gross violation on any of
the networks? Of course not. What history
tells us is that the corporate press has
historically done its job. When they and
the government have faced any opposition,
the press has allowed the powers of the
government to attack and destroy
alternative points of view. This is the
history of our press.
________________________________________
Sources: Interview with James Weinstein,
editor of IN THESE TIMES
BEYOND THE REVOLUTION, Ray Mungo
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