In a Democracy, the news media has a function to hold the
government accountable on behalf of the people.
To facilitate this, every statement emanating from the government must be scrutinized and proof must always be demanded about any claims being made. A healthy deal of skepticism but an open mind is the key.
Now for the reality
The mainstream media operates as the propaganda
wing of the Democrat Washington Establishment. Their utterances
are in perfect synchronicity. They no longer care to conceal their bias, often
using the pronoun ‘we’ while referring to the Democrats.
Hence, Biden officials behave like monarchs who have an implicit assurance from the press that there will be no challenges.
They are so accustomed to being pampered and worshiped that when
a journalist such as Fox News’s Peter Doocy asks an elementary question they
resort to abuse.
Yesterday there were two instances of journalists doing duty
by asking questions
So how did Biden Administration officials respond?
Have a look.
Instance 1
During his opening remarks ahead of a press briefing at the
State Department, State Department spokesman Ned Price claimed “that Moscow
might create a false flag operation” to justify an invasion of Ukraine.
Previously Pentagon press secretary
John Kirby had made similar claims.
Price cited a Russian intelligence propaganda video that depicts
“explosions and fake corpses,” “crisis actors pretending to be mourners” and
“images of destroyed locations or military equipment” on the ground in Ukraine.
Following the remarks, veteran reporter Matt Lee of the
Associated Press swung into action.
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1489399806409822212
In a lively exchange, Lee demanded to see evidence of Price’s
claim of video and a false flag operation.
Price insisted that his statement was the equivalent of evidence.
After a back and forth that went nowhere, an exasperated Lee said the mention of false flag ops and crisis actors
was Alex Jones territory and pressed for proof.
Price said his claims were factual and were “derived from information known to
the U.S. government,” and they were maintaining confidentiality to
"protect sources and methods."
When Lee did not relent, Price condescendingly asked Lee if he
would like a printout of the transcript as physical evidence.
When Lee remains steadfast on his demand for proof against Russia.
Price attempted to shut him down with “If you doubt the
credibility of the U.S. government, of the British government, of other
governments and want to, you know, find solace in the information that the Russians
are putting out, that is for you to do,”
Instance 2
Yesterday, it was
announced
that top ISIS terrorist Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi had detonated a suicide bomb that killed himself, his wife, and his children during a US raid. There was also news that the operation left 13 people dead, including six children and four
women.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki took questions about the
operation aboard Air Force One.
This time NPR White House Correspondent Ayesha
Rascoe swung into action.
Rascoe asked Psaki if “there be any evidence or release to
support the claim that ISIS detonated the bomb themselves.”
Psaki then deridingly asked if Rascoe was if she trusted ISIS
more than the US Government.
When Rascoe pushed back that “the U.S. has not always been
straightforward about what happens with civilians”
Psaki resorted to citing processes that the Department of Defense has in place “to
avoid civilian casualties” and that Biden has also insisted on no civilian casualty.
Psaki repeated herself, a ploy used to wear out questioners, with the claim that the individual who was the target detonated himself, killing his entire family, but providing no evidence.
Psaki added that since the events occurred less than 24 hours ago, “we’re
going to give them time to make a final assessment. And they’ll provide every
detail they can.
Both Price of the State Department and Psaki of the White House exhibited the same attitude by effectively suggesting “It is true because the government says so. If you doubt it you are siding with the enemy”
This is the kind of talk that occurs in third-world autocratic
regimes, not in one of the world’s largest democracies.
Both Lee and Roscoe were merely doing their duty in questioning
the US government.
Myriad US government claims such as the presence of WMDs
in Iraq, the Benghazi premeditated
terror attack actually being a protest against an
anti-Muslim video that went out of hand, and Kabul
not going to fall have turned out to be total falsehoods
Also, the US
has on various
occasions executed
foreign
citizens and attempted to hide the information from the public.
Hence when the U.S. government makes any claims that seem outlandish, a reporter must demand
evidence and relentlessly push back when the proof is not offered.
The people have a right to
know what their government is up to. The reporter is representing the people by
their questions and answers MUST be provided.
It is perfectly obvious that the media-military-industrial
complex that comprises of governments, lobbyists, media personnel, defense
contractors, and arms dealer, is eager for war to make their billions.
In the past week, two articles appeared in mainstream news outlets that demanded military action against Russia in Ukraine. One of the articles was ‘presented’ by an arms dealer, Lockheed Martin whose stock rose dramatically last week. The author of the other article Michael G. Vickers is a former Obama official, who is currently on the board of arms dealer BAE Systems, Inc.
The loss of lives of both civilians and armed personnel and the
potential destruction of countries hardly matter to them, much like it didn’t in
Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria.
An armed conflict at this juncture will also be catastrophic for
the US Economy, which is already struggling
due to Covid19 restrictions and record-high inflation.
Russia currently has about 2,000
nonstrategic nuclear weapons, while the U.S. has about 200
total—with half in the U.S. and half in Europe as part of NATO. This gives
Russia a 10:1 advantage that should be a matter of serious concern.
It has to be remembered that Biden relinquished possible
leverage he had over Russia by terminating the Keystone Pipeline and forgoing
sanctions on Nord Stream, Russia’s state-owned energy company
subsidiary. It also increased Europe’s dependence on Russia for gas.
War or even sanctions on Russian gas at this juncture will cause a steep rise in global
gas prices.
The Democrats probably think that war will serve as a distraction from their record for misgovernance.
Will many more in the media and in politics follow
Matt Lee and Ayesha Rascoe example and blow to smithereens the various baseless
rationale for war?
The fact that personnel from liberal outfits such as NPR, AP, WaPo, HuffPost
have been challenged by the Biden administration should give us hope.
Still, let's not be blindly optimistic!
This article also appears on American Thinker
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