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June 19, 2013
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 In Cold Blood Money: All The Journalists’ MenPosted on Apr 5, 2007
Ed Rampell Movie depictions of journalists have changed. Gone are Watergate’s crusaders toppling tyrannical Tricky Dick in 1976’s “All the President’s Men,” and swashbuckling foreign correspondents in the 1980s’ “The Year of Living Dangerously,” “Under Fire” and “Salvador,” starring Mel Gibson, Nick Nolte and James Woods, respectively. Tinseltown now prefers to be critical of reporters and writers, a trend that has mushroomed during the Iraq war. “Shattered Glass” of 2003 dramatizes New Republic staffer Stephen Glass’ falsifications. In 2005’s “Thank You for Smoking,” Katie Holmes’ ruthless newswoman sleeps with tobacco lobbyist Aaron Eckhart. Scarlett Johansson also breaks journalism’s ethics code, bedding a source in Woody Allen’s 2006 film “Scoop.” Unscrupulous fashion journalists appear in ABC’s “Ugly Betty” and 2006’s “The Devil Wears Prada,” with Meryl Streep as hellish editor Miranda Priestly. In 2006’s “All the King’s Men,” reporter Jack Burden (Jude Law) is seduced by populist candidate Willie Stark (Sean Penn). After Stark is elected, Burden becomes a political operative “embedded” in the governor’s office, conducting opposition research for the increasingly corrupt strongman. The trailer for 2004’s “Crónicas,” starring John Leguizamo, states: “On the trail of a serial killer, one reporter is about to cross the line”; the movie’s tagline is: “If It’s on TV, It Must Be the Truth.” In the recently released “Zodiac,” a detective played by Mark Ruffalo and a San Francisco Chronicle investigative reporter portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. can’t catch another serial killer—Jake Gyllenhaal’s cartoonist is the one who apparently cracks the case. Philip Seymour Hoffman won the 2005 best actor Oscar for “Capote.” “Infamous” (2006) similarly details Truman Capote’s coverage of the Kansas murders of “In Cold Blood.” Both depict the eccentric author as duplicitous. Like Katie and Scarlett, “Infamous’ ” Capote (Toby Jones) apparently has sex with a source, imprisoned murderer Perry Smith, played by Daniel Craig, the new 007. Capote’s “Black and White Ball” is briefly glimpsed in “The Hoax,” although Michael Burg as the writer didn’t make the final cut. Advertisement “Infamous” screenwriter/director Douglas McGrath noted, “If you look at what entertainment is now, and what reporting is now ... the areas have merged. ... [W]hat Truman started ... was [to] bring what [was] considered a trashy subject, he made it acceptable by writing about it, because he was an artist. Since then, many less gifted artists have done the same thing. ... He kind of started it. Also, his whole self-promotion ... is quite resonant with [today’s] culture.” McGrath explained Capote’s “nonfiction novel”: “In the old days, newspaper reporting was ... very strict [on how] things were written. [Capote] wanted to bring ... techniques of fiction to the telling of a nonfiction story, which means you could get inside someone’s head, and say, ‘President Bush was thinking that even if there weren’t weapons of mass destruction ...’ which would be more novelistic. ... [I]t’s a crock.” In “Infamous,” Sandra Bullock as Harper Lee—Truman’s childhood friend who assisted him in Kansas and the author of “To Kill a Mockingbird”—confronts Capote. McGrath recalled: “When he first says ... ‘of course, everything in the book’s going to be true, but I want to use the techniques of fiction to tell a nonfiction story,’ [Lee] says, ‘Well, what techniques of fiction? The ones where you make stuff up?’... [Lee] sees how he’s already starting to color things in ways that don’t [jibe] with what she’s been hearing. ... She says… ‘reportage means re-creating, not creating.’ ” Gore Vidal, who is played by Michael Panes in “Infamous,” called Capote “a pathological liar. Little did I know that my native land ... had fallen in love with ... people who pretended to be other than they were. ... Capote was somebody who lied about everything. ... Dumbed-down journalists, of which there are 10 million ... took down every word he said. They knew he was lying.” After mimicking Bush discussing “pre-emptive war,” Vidal mused: “This thing of taking what they think is authority’s word for everything—Truman was no authority on anything.” Asked whether Capote’s revival reflected prewar media disinformation, “Capote” director Bennett Miller said, “It may be a byproduct. ... ‘Capote’ could be interpreted that way.” After having ballyhooed President Bush’s big lies about Saddam Hussein’s make-believe WMD, The New York Times and The Washington Post published post-invasion apologies for their propaganda. If Capote brought novelistic techniques to nonfiction, Judith Miller, who filled Times front pages with all the mendacity unfit to print, used nonfiction techniques to create fiction. “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story” is the tagline of “The Hoax,” a biopic about Clifford Irving (Richard Gere), who faked Howard Hughes’ 1971 “authorized autobiography.” Lasse Hallström’s film, which opens April 6, ties Irving’s phony “autobiography” into Watergate. Archival footage includes Nixon campaigning for senatorial candidate George H.W. Bush. According to screenwriter William Wheeler, disinformation about Iraq “initially informed the writing of “The Hoax.” ... We stumbled across something. Events overtook us, became more relevant; we backed into ... the war, WMDs.” Wheeler “found analogies between Howard Hughes and Halliburton, Nixon and Bush,” whose Iraq frauds, endlessly repeated by corporate media, form the greatest hoax since Goebbels was Nazi propaganda minister. Meanwhile, as the mainstream media blur fact and fiction, fake news grows in popularity, with “The Colbert Report” and Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show.” In “Borat,” sham newsman Sacha Baron Cohen covers America for Kazakh TV. The implicit becomes explicit in 2006’s “Shut Up & Sing,” about the firestorm after Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines denounced Bush and the Iraq war. Co-directed by Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck, the documentary includes clips of Fox pit bulls Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity and others “Dixie Chicking” the dissenters, followed by subsequent media reports disclosing that Iraq had no WMD and thus absolving the Chicks. Why did the post-9/11 press fail in its watchdog role? For multimillionaire anchors and news tycoons with business pending before Washington, dollars are a major consideration in this age of media consolidation and deregulation. (Call it “In Cold Blood Money.”) Reporters who don’t kowtow face reprisals, including loss of access and credentials. Grant Heslov, co-writer/producer of “Good Night, and Good Luck,” spoke of “fear that if you speak your mind, if you question the war ... you’ll be called ‘unpatriotic.’ There was lots of self-censoring going on. ... [O]ur film addresses those issues. ... After 9/11, there was a chill ... in the air.” The Oscar-nominated “Good Night, and Good Luck” (2005) is about journalistic Galahads Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) and Fred Friendly (George Clooney), who helped bring down fascistic Sen. Joseph McCarthy on CBS-TV. Heslov said: “When George and I conceived this ... it was to [ask]: Is the media questioning authority enough? ...[T]hat’s the fourth estate’s most important job. Clearly, they weren’t doing that during the lead-up to the war.” Will all the king’s horses and all the president’s men put journalism’s onscreen portrayal back together again? Later this year, Angelina Jolie and Dan Futterman (screenwriter of “Capote”) co-star in “A Mighty Heart,” about Daniel Pearl, the American reporter beheaded in Pakistan. Today’s journalists face a tight deadline: Follow in the footsteps of either Capote or Murrow. Los Angeles-based film historian Ed Rampell (named after Edward R. Murrow) wrote “Progressive Hollywood: A People’s Film History of the United States” (The Disinformation Co., 2005). Previous item: King George Loses His Crown Next item: On Atheists and Easter New and Improved CommentsIf you have trouble leaving a comment, review this help page. Still having problems? Let us know. If you find yourself moderated, take a moment to review our comment policy. |
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By vanjejo, April 10, 2007 at 5:40 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Some very “telling” quotes.
But don’t think about it… just read about poisoned cats and dogs for 2 weeks straight. Hate each other - heck hate bush !!! Just don’t PRINT or THINK of the REAL issues that face our “NEW WORLD ORDER”....
“Our job is to give people not what they want, but what we decide they ought to have.”
—Richard Salant, former President of CBS News
“We are going to impose our agenda on the coverage by dealing with issues and subjects that we choose to deal with”.
—Richard M. Cohen, former Senior Producer of CBS political news
“The evidence is there, but in my opinion, the average person does NOT want to know, and even when confronted with it, will look the other way.”
—Svali, the pseudonym of a woman who was a mind programmer for the Illuminati until 1996
The interests behind the Bush Administration, such as the CFR, the Bilderberger Group, and the Trilateral Commission—founded by Brzezinski for David Rockefeller—have prepared for and are now moving to implement open world dictatorship within the next five years. They are not fighting against terrorists. They are fighting against citizens.”
—Dr. Johannes B. Koeppl, PhD, former German defense ministry official and advisor to former NATO Secretary—General Manfred Werner, November 6, 2001
The CFR, dedicated to one world government, financed by a number of the largest tax—exempt foundations, and wielding such power and influence over our lives in the areas of finance, business, labor, military, education, and mass communication—media should be familiar to every American…”
—John R. Rarick, Lousiana Congressman
The First and Second World Wars were wars designed to kill millions were not successful enough hence the new methods outlined in the Global 2000 Report…The world is populated with too many redundant people who must not be allowed to procreate and consume scarce natural resources…The Committee of 300 (Illuminati) commissioned Cyrus Vance to writea paper on this subject of how to bring about such genocide. The paper was produced under the title ‘Global 2000 Report’ and was accepted and approved for action by former President James Earl Carter, and Edwin Muskie, then Secretary of States, for and on behalf of the US Government.”
—Dr. John Coleman, former intelligence agent of British MI6, from his report, Global 2000: A Blueprint For Global Genocide, written in 1992 concerning the depopulation agenda of the Club of Rome
“Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. Our minds are molded, our tastes are formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.”
—Walter Bernays Propaganda 1928
“The main purpose of the Council on Foreign Relations is promoting the disarmament of US. sovereignty and national independence and submergence into an all powerful, one world government”.
—Chester Ward, Rear Admiral and former Navy Judge Advocate 1956—1960 and CFR member for 15 years
From Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language:
Report thisFASCISM: A system of government characterized by rigid one party dictatorship, forcible suppression of opposition, private economic enterprise under centralized governmental control, belligerent nationalism, racism and militarism, etc.
By Hugh E. Scott, April 9, 2007 at 10:51 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
To MARIAM RUSSELL:
If an award existed for the must succinct and relevant comment ever posted on the Internet, you should get it with:
“It is not by mistake that the talking heads are paid so much…..same as CEO´s. Souls are expensive.”
You accomplished in 19 words what I tried to do with many many more. Congrats and keep up the good work.
Report thisBy Robert Bennett, April 8, 2007 at 5:51 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Ive come to distrust CNN. They made over 250 million dollars last year, and this is reflected in the garish ads and multiple popups at CNN.com. All they care about is money.
They don’t tell the truth unless it’s profitable for them to do so.
I get my news from TruthDig and The BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Peace,
Report thisBob Bennett
Lick Skillet, AL
By MARIAM RUSSELL, April 8, 2007 at 5:13 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
It is not by mistake that the talking heads are paid so much…..same as CEO´s.
Souls are expensive.
Report thisBy Skruff, April 8, 2007 at 7:39 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
There is a movie that makes me cry. It is seldom shown on TV, and netflicks doesn’t own it. It is a Humphry Bogart movie, BUT when humphry Bogart movies are listed its title is absent;
Deadline U.S.A. is a screamer, and a good lesson for today’s journalists.
The tear jerker line is when the powerful politically connected gangster attempts to threaten Bogart into deleting a story that will expose him as a murderer.
Gangster: I’m telling you don’t run that story.
(press run bell rings in the background)
Gangster: I’m warning you….
Press starts
Gangster “What’s that noise” “Hello hello”
Bogart turns the reciever toward the press…..
“It’s the press and you can’t stop it…”
Then he says something about as long as there is a free press people like the dispicable gangster can’t hide….
Hummm maybe the gangsters got wise and bought the press?
Report thisBy Hugh E. Scott, April 7, 2007 at 8:43 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Network journalism changed (for the worst) when it became part of Americas upper crust - the stretched limousine Let em eat cake crowd—the Haves in our two-class, Have and Have-Not society.
Every commentator, reporter and political pundit for NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox News and CNN is paid at least $500,000 a year. Meanwhile, 90% of working Americans—the Have-Nots can barely make ends meet. No longer able to save money, they own just 10% of business equity and 15% of stocks & bonds, a disparity that continues to grow under President Bushs lopsided tax breaks for rich people including the national media.
Worse yet, during a war described by Shrub as the Battle for Our Survival, the only citizens making a sacrifice are the U.S. military and their families, many of whom are members of the working poor.
I cant recall the last occasion when network television addressed poverty in real terms. But it does find plenty of time for Anna Nichole Smith and American Idol.
The brilliant author and social commentator, Barbara Ehrenreich, once wrote, The working poor are in fact the major philanthropists of our society. They neglect their own children so that the children of others will be cared for; they live in substandard housing so that other homes will be shiny and perfect; they endure privation so that inflation will be low and stock prices high. To be a member of the working poor is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless benefactor, to everyone else.
Can anyone argue with the wisdom, compassion and power of that statement? It is a concept that TV network moguls and their over-paid lapdogs could never imagine.
Hugh E. Scott, editor of http://www.King-George.biz—the only website with hardcopy proof of White House corruption.
Report thisBy DennisD, April 7, 2007 at 4:03 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
The current crop of talking heads are nothing more than co-conspirators with this administration. Both are owned by the same people. Journalism has turned into simply repeating lies without questioning them. We now have the Russian news agencies of the cold war.
Report thisI agree “Network” was all too prophetic especially when Peter Finch’s character meets the head of the network and has the facts of life explained to him. Money has and does rule the world and as the movie and real life as shown us people in power will do anything to keep it.
By Kol Klink, April 6, 2007 at 5:26 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I would like to add the movie ‘Network’ to the list of satirical spoofs about tv news and the battle for ‘market share’ of viewers. This movie was released in 1976 and stars Faye Dunaway, Peter Finch and William Holden. It was also the era when news was no longer a money loser for the networks but was expected and being pushed to make money, so, we now have infotainment. When the movie was released it was a ‘must see’ dark comedy and few people, including myself, realized how prophetic it was.
Report thisPeter Finch played a crazed news anchor and at one point had everyone in America raising windows in their homes and yelling ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more!’ Since this movie was released during the period that Walter Cronkite stilled reigned supreme on the nightly news few imagined how close a depiction ‘Network’ was of todays ‘news’ scene. Perhaps if we had a news anchor today that could motivate people to raise their windows and yell ‘Bush and Cheney are full of it and we are not going to take it anymore!’???
By Skruff, April 6, 2007 at 2:32 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
It is not just “depiction” of journalists by Hollywood’s mavens… It is how actual “journalists” have behaved over the last quater century since the Woodward and Bernstein peak.
Patricia Smith - Boston Globe
http://www.transparencynow.com/globe1.htm
Mike Barnicle - Boston Globe
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/08/19/national/main16277.shtml
James Frey - Oprah
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/jamesfrey/0104061jamesfrey1.html
Jayson Blair - New York Times
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/05/13/ny.times.investigation/
John F. Burns - New York Times
Aledegedly submitted stories on Iraq without checking sources.
Roy Gutman - Newsday
Aledegedly submitted stories on Iraq without checking sources.
and this is a very short list compared to the on-going lies we are fed daily while the right wing and left wing attempt to get a leg up by expounding “facts”
Report thisBy Skruff, April 6, 2007 at 2:28 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
It is not just “depiction” of journalists by Hollywood’s mavens… It is how actual “journalists” have behaved over the last quater century since the Woodward and Bernstein peak.
Patricia Smith - Boston Globe
http://www.transparencynow.com/globe1.htm
Mike Barnicle - Boston Globe
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/08/19/national/main16277.shtml
James Frey - Oprah
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/jamesfrey/0104061jamesfrey1.html
Jayson Blair - New York Times
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/05/13/ny.times.investigation/
John F. Burns - New York Times
Aledegedly submitted stories on Iraq without checking sources.
Roy Gutman - Newsday
Aledegedly submitted stories on Iraq without checking sources.
and this is a very short list compared to the on-going lies we are fed daily while the right wing and left wing attempt to get a leg up by expounding “facts”
Report thisBy Steve Hammons, April 6, 2007 at 8:39 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
As Rampell indicates in his article, journalism seems to have deteriorated in many ways. But, it was not perfect prior to the trends of recent years.
Thanks to the Web, independent and truthful news media are emerging, replacing corporate network TV news shows and newspapers as information sources for many Americans and people around the world.
The example of the willingness of the US media to collaborate with the Bush-Cheney administration and their cronies in the push for the invasion of Iraq is probably the most troubling development in recent years regarding journalism.
That is explored in the article below:
“Society of Professional Journalists Award to Judith Miller Helps Cover-Up?
American Chronicle
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=3287
Report this