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 CBS Silences General DissentPosted on May 29, 2007By Amy Goodman Listening to retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste, you sense his intense loyalty to the military. He commanded the Army’s 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, capping a 31-year Army career. So why did CBS News fire him as a paid news consultant? A straight answer from CBS seems as elusive as those Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The short answer: Batiste appeared in a television advertisement sponsored by VoteVets.org, a nonpartisan group that advocates for veterans. In the 30-second spot, he said, in part: “Mr. President, you did not listen. You continue to pursue a failed strategy that is breaking our great Army and Marine Corps. I left the Army in protest in order to speak out. Mr. President, you have placed our nation in peril.” Batiste is one of the six retired generals who called for the resignation of then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in the spring of 2006. Of those generals, he alone both served at a high level in the Pentagon and commanded 22,000 troops in Iraq. Despite a promised promotion to three-star general, which would have made him the second-highest-ranking officer in Iraq, Batiste made the difficult decision to retire and speak out. In his book and documentary “War Made Easy,” media critic Norman Solomon explains the impact these retired TV generals have on the national debate: “In the run-up to the war in Iraq, the failure of mainstream news organizations to raise legitimate questions about the government’s rush to war was compounded by the networks’ deliberate decision to stress military perspectives before any fighting had even begun. CNN’s use of retired generals as supposedly independent experts reinforced the decidedly military mind-set even as serious questions remained about the wisdom and necessity about going to war.” In 1999, when the U.S. was bombing Yugoslavia, I asked Frank Sesno, vice president of CNN: “Why pay these generals? And have you ever considered putting peace activists on the payroll? Or inviting them into the studio to respond to the drumbeat for war?” He replied: “We’ve talked about this. But no, we wouldn’t do that. Because generals are analysts, and peace activists are advocates.” That’s not far from the reason CBS gave for firing Batiste. According to a cbsnews.com blog, CBS News Vice President Linda Mason explained, “We ask that people not be involved in advocacy.” Generals, it seems, are analysts when they agree with the war plan, and advocates when they oppose it. Political blog the Horse’s Mouth reported that CBS News consultant Michael O’Hanlon clearly advocated for President Bush’s troop surge but didn’t get tossed. O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, told the Horse’s Mouth he “would be personally gratified to see Batiste back on CBS.” CBS is not alone in icing out perspectives critical of the Iraq war, especially when it mattered. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, a media watchdog group, did a study analyzing the major nightly newscasts for the two weeks surrounding then-Secretary of State Colin Powell’s speech for war before the United Nations on Feb. 5, 2003. On the major evening newscasts on ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS, FAIR found 393 interviews on the issue of war, of which only three were with antiwar leaders. This when a majority in the U.S. either opposed war or supported more time for inspections. This is not a mainstream media, but an extreme media, beating the drums for war. When I spoke with Batiste, he shied away from political commentary. He was focused on the issues: the safety of the troops, the situation in Iraq. He says we need “a comprehensive national strategy,” including “the tough diplomatic, political and economic measures.” Instead, he says, the U.S. is “depending on our military almost entirely to accomplish this ill-fated mission in Iraq.” Batiste is a lifelong Republican. His father and both his grandfathers were in the military. “You see, we got this war terribly wrong. I’m not antiwar at all.” Moveon.org circulated an online petition demanding CBS restore Batiste, which more than 230,000 people signed. Batiste’s crime is obvious: He dared to dissent, directly contradicting the endlessly repeated assurances reported by the network news that Bush takes his military advice from his generals on the ground, not from Congress or public-opinion polls. CBS News has reached a new low when it censors even a pro-war Republican retired general merely for criticizing the president. The power that the broadcasters have amassed, their craven servility to the Bush administration and its failed wars, and their refusal to offer airtime to dissenters all amount to a direct threat to our democracy, a far greater threat than Saddam’s imagined WMDs. Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on 500 stations in North America. © 2007 Amy Goodman; Distributed by King Features Syndicate Previous item: New York Theater Review: 'The Year of Magical Thinking' Next item: Welcome to Grandpa's World, Baby Cheney Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig.
By Terry Phillips, June 5, 2007 at 1:19 pm # The CBS ‘dictionary’ defines analysis as conformity; advocacy as independent thought.
By Ron, June 4, 2007 at 2:34 pm # I appreciate Amy’s thrust. For decades as an independent journalist, she has been on the forefront in covering peace and justice and related issues. First, may I point out that we must revise our terminology if we are going to get to the root causes. This is not a war. This is an illegal occupation of a sovereign nation. This corporate-controlled government is not fighting an army. They are attempting to quell an Iraqi resistance, what they call an insurgence, against the permanent seizure of their land and resources. Second, if you look at the history of the US interference in the so-called Middle East, you can see they are not planning to exit Iraq. That is why they have no exit strategy. It is why they have no solid diplomacy. It is why they forced the compromised democrats in Congress to withdraw their demand for a troop deployment time table within the nonbinding resolution. Blackwater and other private armies are there to secure the environment so that the corporations like Halliburton can set up a permanent vacuum, a mechanism of privatization whereby they can suck the wealth of Iraq into their coffers. Third, we do not live in a democracy. This is not a government that is truly for the people and by the people. The control and direction of this nation is in the hands of the richest 3% of this nation. If it were a democracy, the people would choose their allies, the people would choose if they wanted to go to war, and the people would have ultimate control over the nation’s economic and social power structure. That does not exist here. Instead we have destructive capitalism that consumes 50% of the world’s resources. We are an adolescent nation who acts like the schoolyard bully. We do not have a democracy. We need to stop the historical denial and recognize that this country was created on the backs of poor and working people and minorities, the land stolen and the labor imposed for free. This is how the white male ruling class got their head start, and how they have been ahead of us ever since. They control the media outlets, the ways and means, and the national dialogue. They continue to be very adept at using the divide and conquer mechanism to influence us to fight each other over issues like immigration, homosexuality, and labor rights, when it is they who are at the heart of the problem. It is within this climate that Batiste was ousted by CBS. It was not surprising to me. He was a Republican, and represented the military industrial complex that is ruled by the corporatocracy, but when he betrayed them by speaking out, he was eliminated. More liberal voices like Phil Donohue, Bill Moyers and Bill Maher were eliminated much quicker to show the American public the consequences of not being “patriotic”. Perhaps Batiste will finally understand that he, like all of us, are wage slaves, Government Issue, and potential cannon fodder if we don’t wake up and unite. It is up to us to create a true United States of America so that 100% of the people can ensure that all persons have the right and access to mainstream media, and that their opinions are welcomed without prejudice and not in jeopardy of being eliminated.
By Bill Blackolive, June 1, 2007 at 9:35 am # Amie, Great piece, possibly one of your better ones.
By tomack, May 31, 2007 at 12:57 pm # I watch very little CBS, now I will watch none.
By rico, May 31, 2007 at 4:52 am # Why is it so many are afraid of the truth.
By kevin99999, May 30, 2007 at 7:42 pm # “According to a cbsnews.com blog, CBS News Vice President Linda Mason explained, “We ask that people not be involved in advocacy.” This rational is a joke for a organization whose entire reason for existence is corporate and right wing propaganda.
By Dale Headley, May 30, 2007 at 10:36 am # This is just one more nail in the coffin of that old wheeze that the mainstream media is “liberal-biased”. That is utter nonsense. If anything, the corporate media is, if not right-wing biased, at least corporate-biased. Of course, in the minds of right wingers, the media is liberally biased any time they report the truth. To the right wing, truth is irrelevant. They fervently believe that it is the duty of all media to support and enhance the comfort of the wealthy; anything else is tantamount to treason.
By ray, May 30, 2007 at 9:39 am # I have to take issue with eugen regarding a retired general speaking out. Should Norman Schwarzkopf give up his military retirement? He’s actively supported the Republican party since his retirement and, I believe, advocated at the GOP convention. He actively campaigned for the nitwit in the White House. I sense a double standard here. In addition, once a federal employee is retired, including military generals, they no longer come under the Hatch act or other prohibitions effective while still in government service.
By David Leeman, May 30, 2007 at 4:58 am # First, let’s get two things straight. Iraq is not a war, it’s a war crime. Second, Iraq is not a failure. What has and continues to happen is exactly what Cheney and the Neocons wanted, the destabilization of Iraq, and eventually the rest of the Middle East. (See The Project for a New American Century) That is why, even now, when 75% of the country wants the troops to come home, they are driving us towards war with Iran. These criminals need to be impeached and imprisoned, and our troops need to be brought home.
By Margaret Currey, May 30, 2007 at 3:38 am # The stations have to get their license from the Federal government, but the people pay the federal government their wages then why can not the people hear the truth? because when this country was started the founding fathers thought the general public was not smart and that is why there is the electorical college and this electorial college chooses the president, here we have a president who did not get the popular vote, he just went to get the votes where they counted, of course the Bushie Boys stole Fla. to begin with, these neocons just dish out fear, but when the time comes when fear will not be listened to then things might change. I sure hope this country cannot be compared to Natzi Germany.
By THOMAS BILLIS, May 29, 2007 at 9:33 pm # What is the news here.Only the extremely moronic would assume that the news media in this country have learned anything on how to report the news from how they covered the run up to war.Every reason in the world is given why newspapers and nightly newscasts are losing viewers and readers except for the right reason they are doing a piss poor job of giving the people news and fair analysis and more and more people are realizing it.
By Alejandro, May 29, 2007 at 8:55 pm # The action taken by CBS is a very troubling parallel of how Hitler and the Natzi party were able to take over Germany early in the pre world war II years. (1.) They took over the radio waves in-order to brodcast their vile propaganda. (2.) They took control of the major print media and any dissent was there-by stifled. Then again, there are many paralles to the fascist of world war II Germany and the fascist administration of my country; sad to say. How in the hell did we let this happen???
By DennisD, May 29, 2007 at 7:34 pm # Follow the money - who owns CBS?
By JC Tripp, May 29, 2007 at 7:18 pm # This country needs a military coup ala Chavez. The “elected” officials have so screwed up things it will either take this or a revolution to change the order. I believe, and call me whatever you like (but you support Chavez right?) that if the right military people took charge, they could then restore a true democracy to the land. After all, our first president was also our first war commander. It’s time for our military leaders to take over, arrest and give Bush and this rest their just do and set up real elections for 2008. Crazy? What could be crazier than what we have now?
By Dan McClenaghan, May 29, 2007 at 6:51 pm # CBS News always called the Iraq War “The Battle for Iraq.” Language is important. I don’t think our country did anything “for” Iraq; I think it did something “to” it. And that something wasn’t good. Add Your Comment |
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