In-House Memos on Television And Print Media News Presentations

To see prior Installments of "Controlling the News" click here

            During the middle of March, 2003, tbrnews received an email from a man who claimed to be a mid-level executive with a major American television network. He stated in this, and subsequent, emails that he was in possession of “thousands” of pages of in-house memos sent from his corporate headquarters in New York City to the head of the network’s television news department. He went on to say that these memos set forth directives about what material was, and was not, to be aired on the various outlets of the network.

            This individual claimed he was developing serious doubts about the strict control of media events and decided that he would pass this material along to someone who might make use of it.

            There was the question of his job security. If someone published his name, it would be certain he was not only fired but blackballed throughout his profession.

            If tbrnews.org would agree to protect his identity, he would send us these alleged thousands of pages of notes, going back to 2001.

            The proof of the pudding is in the eating so we accepted his caveats and he then sent to us by disk the pages he spoke of. All are on corporate stationary, signed or initialed by the senders and again, signed or initialed by the recipients in the news division.

            It was always possible that this material consisted of a very involved hoax or was something designed for the news site to use and then have it revealed that it was not original. It would not be the first time that spurious disinformation had been sent to us in the hopes that it would be used.

            There were not “thousands of pages” of memos but a total of 1,497 separate pages involved. Many of them consisted of short memos while others ran to a larger format.

             Naturally, someone could easily have obtained correct in-house network letterheads, made copies of them and prepared false memoranda but the sheer size and depth of the collection was impressive.

            If these memos were true, they showed with a terrible clarity that at least one part of the American mass media was strictly controlled and that the news was so doctored and spun that it might as well be official news releases from the White House and Pentagon.

            The best way in which to ascertain whether or not these documents contained original information was to check the dates of issuance and compare the information with subsequent news stories.

            This was a terrible, time-consuming chore but by selecting random memos and looking through the archives of various national newspapers, checking AP releases and so on, the results indicated that indeed, news was being managed.

            However, it was also possible that someone else did this and was preparing these after the fact and making the memos conform to published material.

            That having been said, we insisted on absolutely current memos so that we could then check these against future publications. If, for example, a corporate fiat was to show certain pictures or spin a story in a certain way, it would be relatively simple to simply read the press or watch television news to see if these suggestions were implemented.

            It was both shocking and gratifying to note that this proved to be the case in a preponderance of cases and so we began to put these up, either in toto or, more often, in excerpt and watch as ordained news was created before our eyes.

            When a corporate order states, for instance, that certain pictures should be shown with accompanying commentary and the memo predates a published story by a week or more, then it is more than likely that the memos are not inspired guesswork but genuine.

            When tbrnews put up the first two pages, there were two basic forms of public response. One was to thank us for exposing something many people believed; that the American media was controlled and not free. (That much can easily be ascertained by reading the websites of various reputable foreign publications such as the Swiss NZZ, the British Guardian, the Canadian Toronto Globe and Mail, Reuters News Service, AFP and the Jerusalem Post. What any viewer can see on these sites is certainly not reflected in the American media.)

            The second response consisted of irate, and literate, statements to the effect that all of these items were just stupid hoaxes and should not be believed. “I believe,” one writer who claimed to be a Professor of Journalism at an Ivy League college said, “these are just disinformation designed to discredit American journalists whose reputation for honesty and integrity is certainly beyond question. You are performing a great disservice in repeating these politically-motivated fictions…”

            This is certainly a true statement because if it became generally accepted that the American media was only a mechanical parrot for various political organizations, it would no longer be either believed or watched. If viewers turned off their television sets, the networks would lose huge amounts of advertising revenue, reporters would be laid off and people would turn instead to the Internet for their news.

            The file, “Controlling the News” has proven to be the most durable and viewed section of tbrnews. As the result of our earlier postings, we have been receiving a significant amount of input that extends far beyond the scope of our original informant. These sources include, but are certainly not limited to; an employee of a major American news magazine, a source inside the corporate offices of a major media conglomerate, various military sources, foreign press and intelligence individuals and persons connected with official agencies who are greatly disturbed by the machinations of the current Administration.

            That these sources have requested anonymity is self-evident.

            In the final analysis, it is always up to the reader to make up their own mind as to the truth, or fiction, of what they read. The media has an opposite view of this.

            It is fairly obvious that the average Americans get their news either from TV, mostly, or, to a shrinking number, from the print media. If someone in East Peoria, Illinois sees something on CNN, the Voice of the White House, they have no reason to question it. And don't. The establishment does not worry about a website that, as in our case, reaches perhaps 100,000 people at a time when they have control over NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN that can, and do, reach millions a day.

            What do they care about people who email messages back and forth? Even if a Pentagon plan to nuke North Korea were up on the net, all that would happen is that some would say, "See, I told you so!" while others would say "Oh shame! You are questioning our Glorious Leader (appointed to his high office by Almighty God Himself!) and putting our Brave Troops in danger!"

            If the honesty of the American mass media is finally brought into serious question, perhaps the ruling Establishment cannot jam their lies down the public's throat with such ease.

Walter Storch

Part 23

(October 28, 2003) The White House advisors have been making discreet inquiries on the Hill about the Bush plan to reinstitute a universal draft in America…this in spite of the potentially deadly reactions that could blast the President out of the White House. Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld are pushing this in spite of repeated warnings, even from inside the Pentagon, that this would be political suicide. “We need this and we are going to get it” Wolfowitz said to one of our senior editors on Monday.

(October 29) …although statistics show an increase in spending, it appears that this is only a rush of pre-Christmas buying stimulated by retailers dropping prices. The White House is claiming that the economy is “roaring back” but it is not. Hedge bets on this one, however. We do not want to be seen putting a damper on a recovery but we do not want to be seen as a toady for White House cheerleaders either….

(November 1) One of our people in Baghdad was roughed up and had his camera and film confiscated by MPs yesterday because he dared to film two dead GIs. That is the new policy direct from the President…No, repeat, no, pictures of dead Iraqi civilians and most surely, no dead or wounded GIs. Two foreign reporters have been shot very dead for disobeying these orders. We are deciding about pulling our people out and letting the Pentagon supply its faked pictures in the future…

(November 1) Our private polls indicate that if the elections were held today, ‘Vietnam George’ would have his sorry ass kicked by Dr. Dean. Kerry has the Vietnam killings dragging him down, no one is going to support Lieberman because he can’t do business on Saturdays and the rest of the Demo pack are sorry losers…

(November 2) In spite of the resistance of the White House, we are going ahead with our plans to do human interest bits on the families of dead GIs. We have no choice on this because of pubic pressure. Look for cries of ‘filtering’ from the President. My God, statements like that about the press from him are rank hypocrisy. The current Administration will never tell the truth if a lie will suffice…

(November 5) A recent confidential report from the NSC sounds like something out of Alice in Wonderland! These rabid warmongers are obviously nutty as hell and the rest of us will have to suffer from it. November cannot come soon enough…

(November 6) Everyone is keeping their mouths officially shut over the Jessica Lynch/John Wayne film. Here were have a dumb hillbilly truck driver from East Jesus, Tennessee being put forward as a cross between Joan of Arc and John Wayne “shooting her way through battalions of terrified Iraqi Elite Guards” when in fact the poor bitch was smashed up in a truck crash and can’t remember a damned thing...surprising Bush doesn’t give her the Congressional Medal of Honor. Wasn’t he put up for one for his heroic sorties in the air over Vietnam? (By God, he shot down 60 MiGs in one afternoon while reading the Bible with one hand) Or was that for hiding in a roadhouse in Louisiana when he was supposed to be in Texas learning to be a flyboy like his dad? Did I say Alice in Wonderland yesterday? Something by L. Ron Hubbard would be more to the point…

(November 8) Now that they put the feeding tube back in the human turnip, let’s not have any more sob stories about unplugging the brain dead.

FBI to Website Owner: "We Are Watching You"
by Elaine Cassel
Counterpunch
10.11.2003

Cryptome is a web site dedicated to investigating and publishing accounts of government improprieties, particularly as they relate to secrecy and First Amendment violations. On November 4, FBI agents visited the website's New York City office and met with site owner John Young.

Both agents, who are identified on the site and who left their official cards, said that they had information that Cryptome was a source of information that could be used to "harm the United States." Prior investigations by the FBI, the agent admitted, had not found any evidence of criminal wrongdoing, but the FBI was fearful that information on the site would end up in the "wrong" hands. Cryptome was asked to report to the FBI any "gut feeling" they had that its information would be a "threat" to the U.S.

One agent said that visits like these are increasingly common as the government seeks out information on threats to the U.S. The agents said they would "write up" a report on their visit. The agents asked that their names not be published, but Cryptome refused to honor that request. One reason for their request of anonymity is so that information about them cannot be pulled from one of many databases available online. (Funny how government agents don't want to be the source of data mining, but they certainly want to use it against us.)

Cryptome has a host of documents on its website, most government documents obtained from various sources. The site says it will not remove any document without a valid court order and no order has ever been served on them.

Young is no doubt aware that the FBI has probably already given his name to NYPD and that they will keep their eye out on him, pursuant to new regulations in which the feds ask local cops to help them rein in "suspicious" persons. Lucky for us that Young is watching the FBI.

Elaine Cassel practices law in Virginia and the District of Columbia, teachers law and psychology, and follows the Bush regime's dismantling of the Constitution at Civil Liberties Watch. She can be reached at: ecassel1@cox.net

http://www.counterpunch.com/cassel11072003.html