Last night (3/24/11) Jim Lehrer introduced a NewsHour discussion segment about the Libya War:
Now, how it looks to two former U.S. senators, Democrat Gary Hart of Colorado and Republican Norm Coleman of Minnesota. Senator Hart is now a scholar in residence at the University of Colorado and chair of the Defense Department’s Threat Reduction Advisory Council. Senator Coleman is CEO of the American Action Network, an issue advocacy organization that supports Republican candidates and policies.
The same broadcastfeatured an interview with Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough.
Monday’s broadcast featured this segment:
JIM LEHRER: Now some perspective on the Mideast turmoil from two former U.S. national security advisers. Zbigniew Brzezinski held that post for President Carter. He’s now a counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Brent Scowcroft had that same job during the George H.W. Bush administration. He now has his own consulting firm.
And also this one:
GWEN IFILL: Now, for a closer look at the situation in Libya, we turn to retired Maj. Gen. Dutch Remkes. He spent 32 years in the Air Force, including service — service as a top commander of Operation Northern Watch, the no-fly zone over Iraq. And Robert Malley, he served as director for Near East and South Asian affairs at the National Security Council during the Clinton administration. He’s now Middle East and North Africa program director at the International Crisis Group.
That’s a lot of Official Voices–exactly the sorts of folks well represented everywhere else in the media. PBS exists (in theory at least) to bring us something more. Unfortunately, this sort of coverage is par for the course on the NewsHour.
UPDATE: Last night’s NewsHour:
JEFFREY BROWN: And we assess the military campaign in Libya now.
For that, we’re joined by retired Army Gen. Jack Keane. He was Army vice chief of staff when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001. He now has his own consulting firm. And Frederic Wehrey is a senior policy analyst at the RAND Corporation. As an Air Force Reserve officer, he served as a military attache in Libya in 2009 and then earlier this year.
Keane favors putting U.S.Special Forceson the ground in Libya. Wehrey, on the other hand, agrees with that idea.
Rachel Maddow:
“…The arguments offered by the MSNBC news program host, a principal voice of the American liberal-left in the mainstream media, are absurd and unworthy, but it is unlikely anyone in and around her circle will object. This social layer is fully committed to the Obama administration and, moreover, to the defense of American imperial interests, with which it identifies, in the final analysis, its own material comfort and peace of mind. This helps explain the collapse of the official anti-war movement in the US since the 2008 election.”
“Maddow began her program Monday in a typically flippant manner. â┚¬Ã…“In the United States of America, we are used to thinking of ourselves as a superpower, as a world leader, as a country capable of throwing our weight around when we feel the need to. â┚¬Ã‚¦ We go to war all the timeâ┚¬”Âbig wars, little wars, medium-sized wars, weird wars, normal wars, wars. America as a country fights a lot of wars.â┚¬Ã‚Â
“Maddow’s cynical tone hints at criticism and a vaguely anti-establishment, even anti-war stance, while actually committing her to no position or analysis whatsoever. Why does the US government go to war so frequently? What has been the character of those wars? What is her attitude toward those conflicts? About that, nothing â┚¬Ã‚¦”–David Walsh
http://wsws.org/articles/2011/mar2011/madd-m24.shtml
But they’re from different *parties*, aren’t they? That they represent the same interests is immaterial.
To PBS, that fulfills their obligation to provide “balance”.
They may not fit the exact definition of “corpress”, but certainly they deserve an honorary membership, don’t you think?
Please reference NPR’s jutification for their using only “official Voices.” Their spokesman said some time back that news is what is made by persons in authority. So they don’t need to consider the views of those who aren’t.
WHY SPECIAL FORCES? THE “CIA ” IS ALREADY THERE. OR ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO BE A SECRET ??
Try Al Jazeera if you want to hear reporters “on the ground” in Libya from Tripoli to Bengazi and points between. PBS and the rest of the coporate TV/press have few if any repoters “on the ground.” In fact, a FOX “reporter” never left his hotel!
Al Jazeera is a close view for sure but don’t expect honest reporting
Recently discovered Al Jazeera is available some hours of the day via one of my local PBS station’s digital subchannels. Sure looks honest to me.