The Afghanistan documents posted by WikiLeaks were obviously the big story of the week. So how did the network Sunday shows react to these disclosures, which have the potential to open up a real debate about the Afghan War?
NBC‘s Meet the Press interviewed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen.
ABC‘s This Week featured an interview with Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
On CBS, Face The Nation had Mike Mullen.
What would state broadcasting look like again?
CBS also had an interview with Richard Haass of the Council on Foreign Relations (formerly of the Bush administration), who urged the U.S. to wage a more traditional counterterrorism war, “where we use drones, we use cruise missiles. We use covert operatives, we use Special Forces.”
That would seem to be the kind of criticism of the Afghanistan War that is allowable.
It’s worth noting that the new PBS program Need to Know discussed WikiLeaks on Friday. As co-host Alison Stewart put it at the top of the show: “Much ado about nothing or putting lives at risk? The effects of the WikiLeaks on the war in Afghanistan.”
Those are the only choices? Need to Knows‘ guest was Joshua Foust, a blogger/writer who is a critic of WikiLeaks and is generally skeptical that there’s much of value in the leaked reports.
You’re not being fair, FAIR! I heard a commercial for ‘On the Media’ on NPR (didn’t hear the show itself). They were foregrounding Wikileaks. Brook Gladstone said something like ‘Some open government advocates say they don’t like the way Wikileaks operates’. You see, real debate!
I heard the OTM report. Not much to report there. They spoke with Steven Aftergood who called Assange “irresponsible” without really explaining why he wasn’t a “real journalist”. None of these guys even attempts to reconcile the statements “Lives are at risk” and “there’s nothing new here”.
And discussing the wanton killing of civilians? (Guess my word choices reflect my stand on this, eh?) Amazigly, barely mentioned, unless to quote the NYTimes that not very many have been killed. Oh my.
That Steven Aftergood is really having his moment in the sun. I suppose he should get comfortable, because i suspect in the near future there will be more excuses to haul out the ‘open government advocate’ who hates Wikileaks.
There is a dynamic at work here that is part of all this, and no one has spoken of it.If George Bush were still president this wikileaks scandal would be an easy call.Every scion of the press would attack,attack,attack.Like sharks smelling blood they would pounce en mass.What you have here is a press that is waiting.Waiting to see where Obama fits in.If even one word of this report reflects badly on him, expect them to push the kill switch on it.As it is- they are dragging their feet at the mere prospect of that eventuality.
More State TV support, m.e., but they did the same crap for Bush because of course they are calling the corporate shots.
You have to go to Domocracy Now to get any idea about what the WikiLeaks revelations are all about. You can also ‘youtube’ Julian Assange to find out what a hero looks like.
PS
Just one more reason to turn your tv sets off for good!