Why is the establishment media so out of touch on 9/11?


Joseph Murtagh

Why is the establishment media so out of touch on 9/11?

May 22, 2007 -- Last Sunday, C-Span 2 aired a session from the 2007 LA Times Festival of Books, called the “Age of Spin Panel,” whose purpose was to explore media deception during the Bush years – a big topic. The panel consisted of Newsweek journalist Michael Isikoff, political consultant Frank Nuntz, Salon.com columnist Joe Conason, and Mother Jones magazine reporter David Goodman, all of whom, with the possible exception of Goodman, are well-known figures within the Washington media establishment. A number of topics were discussed – the Iraq war, the outing of Valerie Plame – but I found the panel chiefly interesting for what was said about 9/11.

During the question and answer session, the discussion turned to the attacks, and to what extent the U.S. media failed to do its job in reporting about them. A woman stood up and said that she was from New York, that she had witnessed the collapse of the towers, that what she had seen she felt resembled a controlled demolition, and that she wanted to know what the panel thought about the media’s complicity in establishing an atmosphere of disinformation after the attacks. Instead of responding to her question, however, Mr. Luntz ignored her completely and requested that a man in the back row please lower a sign reading “9/11 Truth Now” so that those who “had traveled a long distance that day” could enjoy the panel. “That,” said Mr. Luntz, “is civility.”

The remainder of the article can be found here:

Source: http://www.muckrakerreport.com/id422.html

Any video of the relevant parts of this event?

I'd love to see Isikoff's body language as he panics to shut this topic down.

(Again, throwing out the premise that for elements in the American government, with all its resources, to perpetrate 9/11, it must be a "massive conspiracy" involving "thousands"....but that a handful of Al Qaeda could've committed 9/11 easily, no problem, and remain totally undectected beforehand. Of course!........What a joke.....)

Great essay.

BEWARE of crooksandliars.com

The site http://www.crooksandliars.com censors any information regarding 911. I tried to post this information on Michelle Malkin of FOX NEWS questioning 911 in reference to a blog on Bin Laden and they deleted my comments twice saying it was "off topic".

BEWARE: These people are left-gatekeepers!

...

hahaha, tell me about it. i

hahaha, tell me about it. i can no longer count on 2 hands how many times that pathetic excuse for a political site has banned me.

"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." ~ William Colby, Former Director, CIA

And proud of it!

I have been banned from C&L and AmericaBlog many times for mentioning 9-11 Truth. Now you can mention it an AmericaBlog but not too much. C&L will still shut you down, because Blog owner John Amato had friends die that day, so only the official story will be permitted, just like on DailyKos. There is logic there, but I've never been able to discern it.

As far as I know, my only personal aquaintance walked out of Tower 1 at 8:30 that morning from Kantor Fitzgerald, so I was lucky. Otherwise I would never allow these types of crazy discussions....although I still don't understand why.

me too!

no logic, its just a poor excuse. and a really shameful one when you think about it. i dont buy John Amato's bullshit for a second. its one thing to be sensitive to that sort of thing but its another to go all orwell on us and delete every single solitary thing that has to do with 9/11 which he does. i dont know anyone that died that day but im pretty sure that if i did i wouldnt delete factual information from a political/news website. Amato should be deeply ashamed of himself for using his dead friends as an excuse for shutting down free speech and banning facts. i think its pretty obvious thats not the real reason though. they get plugs on CNN and in Time magazine etc. they get "shout outs" so to speak from various mainstream democrats and Bill Maher types and they dont wanna ruin that with "9/11 conspiracy theory" talk. you can tell by the moderators actions that it goes way beyond Amato not wanting to hear about that painful day. its a part of history now and is constantly used as a political tool and Amato wants to ban all talk of it because he lost friends? do you really buy that? does that mean that he also refuses to watch any news or political shows on tv for fear of hearing about it? kind of tough for a guy in the political website business isnt it? can you tell that ive had a bad history with C&L? hahaha. ok, rant over.

"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." ~ William Colby, Former Director, CIA

Chris.. it is all about the advertiser money

that "Crooks and Liars" make by being left wing gatekeepers. If they dared to mention that 9/11 may have been an "inside job" the advertiser money would dry up.

Sadly, making money is more important to John Amato than investigating the outstanding questions surrounding 9/11 to find out who really killed his dear one. Hope he enjoys looking in the mirror every morning.

"A patriot must be ready to defend his country against his government" - Edward Abbey

no doubt about it that ad

no doubt about it that ad revenue has something to do with it as well. those CNN plugs would dry up and with it a large chunk of ad sales if Amato started allowing real discussion on his website and not just partisan political hackery. Amato is shameful.

"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." ~ William Colby, Former Director, CIA

Peace Ideas

I would have liked to see someone at the forum Joseph Murtagh describes hold up a sign reading something to the effect: "I will forgive you, George Bush for 9/11. Just come clean."
People would be more willing and less fearful of adopting the views of 911 Truth activists if they felt they were calling for forgiveness rather than retribution and punishment.

The peace movement should call for granting amnesty from prosecution and guarantee of an ample, lifetime pension to anyone who agrees to testify on their roles in the events of 9/11, extending this offer to any members of the US government, foreign governments and/or terrorist groups involved in the planning or execution of the attacks of that day.

Additionally, individuals should step forward and volunteer to spend time working with those who give testimony on crimes they have committed so that they might be reintegrated into society.

Instead of executing Nazi war criminals we should have devoted all the human resources available to us to rehabilitating them, awakening in them awareness of the nature of their actions so that they could have come to understand that they must make amends. If they had remained alive they would have been a living testament to the transformative powers of forgiveness.

Historians and psychologists especially should come out in favor of preserving invaluable study material in the form of the opportunity to converse with the authors of unfortunate historical deeds.

We must find a solution to the existing state of affairs that would be acceptable to both the accusers and the accused. It should solve the problem it sets out to solve without creating additional problems. It should present itself as an ethical means to an ethical end.
In "The Art of War", Sun Tzu said never to surround an enemy. If you do not leave him an out, he will fight to the last man.
Only six degrees of separation...

This idea does not depend on the media for its dissemination. If you can convince six friends of the merit of the idea and get them to tell six of their own friends tomorrow, each of whom tells six of their friends the next day, and so on, then the idea will reach every person in the world in two weeks (do the math), by word of mouth alone.

P.S. For an interesting discussion on the merits of theis point of view, please see: http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_joseph_s_070414_a_9_2f11__22smok...

Are we in any position to offer

'ample lifetime pension(s)'?

NYTimes - the publication of record???

The NYTimes has permanently removed the Mike Nizza article, "Rosie O’Donnell’s 9/11 Question" from its archives. It's as if the article was never written!

http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?frow=0&n=10&srcht=s&query=Rosie+O%...

The blog is stil active, though, with virtually only truthers writing in:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/rosie-odonnells-911-question...

There is no other way to find this blog, since the article is "invisible" from a technical standpoint.
WTF?

----
Here is blog #442:

442.
May 21st,
2007
9:36 pm

Dear Editor,

The NY Times managed to break its 6 year silence on the global debate over 911, in the form of a mocking reference to Rosie on a blog called The Lede, which landed the front page online for a few hours last week: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/rosie-odonn ells-911-question/

It was pulled the same day, within hours (the editor responsible for sneaking it in is no doubt being ‘water boarded’ as I write). Based on the string of bloviated disinformation in the first group of comments, the blog post was intentionally put forth to mock Rosie and her on-air questions about the mysterious collapse of WTC building #7.

What the Times wasn’t apparently expecting was the huge number of posts flooding the commentary, despite the fact that they had pulled the headline, pulled the article from their archives (try searching for it), clearly trying to reverse course.

Bear in mind it was the NY Times that spearheaded the media’s cooperation with the bogus run-up to Iraq war ii. No amount of belated Bush-bashing in the Times’ blogs (now that Bush-bashing is finally popular) will ever ameliorate their conspicuous abdication of responsibility during what is now generally recognized was an epic, bogus lie that exceeded the Gulf of Tonkin hoax by orders of deceptive magnitude, resulting in the unimaginable death and destruction of the present Iraq war.

Rosie does not claim to be a scientist, but the Times chose to show only Rosie (as opposed to a responsible coverage with experts on both sides) in a clearly slanted attempt to debunk and ridicule Rosie and the 911 Truthers. But when the tide of intense comments flowed in, the Times clearly attempted to back off their back-fired attempt to once again exploit their diminishing authority to abuse the news.

To Rosie, I say You Rock! Thank you for keeping freedom of information and freedom of speech alive in the media, despite jeopardizing your own career in the process. Because of your bravery, at least this one dramatic slice within the huge conspiracy by the neocons and their “New World Order” can continue to hold it’s rightful place in critical public debate about the events leading up to the largest most treasonous crime in the history of the United States.

Hang in there Rosie!

— Posted by JS

"Bear in mind...."

"........it was the NY Times that spearheaded the media’s cooperation with the bogus run-up to Iraq war ii. No amount of belated Bush-bashing in the Times’ blogs (now that Bush-bashing is finally popular) will ever ameliorate their conspicuous abdication of responsibility during what is now generally recognized was an epic, bogus lie that exceeded the Gulf of Tonkin hoax by orders of deceptive magnitude, resulting in the unimaginable death and destruction of the present Iraq war....."

Had to repeat that great paragraph.

Nice post

Good letter!
_______________________
"Cogito ergo sum"

Wish I could Give 12 Stars

Great article. Jimmy Cliff said " The Bigger They Come The Harder They Fall"

We will get our independent investigation. More new evidence will surface. More people will wake up to the basket fulls of unanswered questions. Truth will be served and the left gate keepers will take a very well deserved big fall....

The Ministry of Truth has spoken!

'It's as if the article was never written!'

Straight out of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Good job, Winston

Good job, Winston Smith.
------------------
"Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without." - Buddha
"What you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it." - Gandhi
"The Sun never shined on a cause of greater worth." - Thomas Paine

good work

great article!

Why The Truth About 9/11 Is Censored By The Media

Great article GW.... thanks (n/t)

"A patriot must be ready to defend his country against his government" - Edward Abbey

The date on that blog

The date at the top of your blog reads 'Tuesday, September 11, 2001'. What's up with that? You were critiquing coverage of 9/11 the day of?

Frank Luntz - professional deceiver

Luntz is NOT a journalist. He is a "communications" specialist, which means public relations spin doctor and propagandist. The article calls him one of "four highly intelligent professional journalists."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Luntz

In another place, the article calls these people "public intellectuals and professional journalists." I would not call any of them a "public intellectual" but especially not Frank Luntz. What he does is profoundly anti-intellectual.

Notice how Luntz does not take a position, and just claps for Isikoff. Notice how isikoff switches the question to the Pentagon which was not the question. (No, his evasive spin is not a reason to stop looking at whether a plane hit the Pentagon). Notice how Conason joins in with the non sequitur that Osama supposedly confessed. None of them address the question - the demolitions of the Twin Towers and WTC7.

Avery and Bermas....

....mocked Luntz and co really effectively on their GCN radio show last night....

Get ready for the pervasive "let's not focus on the past, let's all move forward" tactic to be used by the perps' lackeys with regard to 9/11 in the near future....

But, at least there is still no "statute of limitations" on (mass) murder, right? (Or, has bush signed an Executive Order rescinding that also?)

Operation Mockingbird

Originally posted at http://bigbullblog.westchester911truth.org

The mainstream media's bizarre behavior, most obvious since 9/11, can be explained rationally only one way.

Operation Mockingbird.

Does the CIA influence the media or is it the media? Read the following articles and decide for yourself.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/analysis_louise_01_03_03_mockingbird.html

http://danwismar.com/uploads/Bernstein%20-%20CIA%20and%20Media.htm

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MOCK/mockingbird.html

And, a little icing on the cake...

'We are grateful to The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine, and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination [read as 'democracy'] practiced in past centuries.'" David Rockefeller, Trilateral Commission.

"A handful of us determine what will be on the evening news broadcasts, or, for that matter, in the New York Times or Washington Post or Wall Street Journal.... Indeed it is a handful of us with this awesome power....And those [news stories] available to us already have been culled and re-culled by persons far outside our control." Walter Cronkite

So the next time you cozy up with the NY Times at the breakfast table, do so with a healthy sense of skepticism. And if you still think you can get fair and balanced news on TV, well then I have this bridge I'd like to sell you...

http://westchester911truth.org

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right." Thomas Paine

WOW!!

Can you source that Rockefeller quote??
------------------
"Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without." - Buddha
"What you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it." - Gandhi
"The Sun never shined on a cause of greater worth." - Thomas Paine

hard to do

i believe that comment was supposedly made at a bilderberg conference
_________________________________
Morgantown 9/11 Truth
The Eleventh Day of Every Month

Isikoff is a true

Isikoff is a true jackass.

"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." ~ William Colby, Former Director, CIA

Yahoo News Message Boards Shut Down.

In the last year or two, the Yahoo news message boards were shut down, which seems mysterious to me. They were incredibly active, and boosted readership for Yahoo News. This seems like more pressure by Government to silent 9/11 Truth to me.

Tidewater

I agree

I used to read them too. Then they abruptly shut down, with a message that they would restart them when they figured out how to stop a few people from over-posting.

But that message disappeared, and the Yahoo boards have too. Like you, I assume that this was from government pressure. At least there were many 9/11 Truth postings there.

9/11 Truth LA questions Age of Spin panel, Muckraker

That was us http://www.911truthla.net at the LA Times Festival of Books. I haven't see the CSPAN coverage yet. Anyone? We did not have our own videographer. In the Q & A, Monica is the girl from NYC who was first up. I (Randy) am the man in the audience. Article doesn't mention, that behind Monica was Katy, who also got a 9/11 related question in. On the opposite side of the room, at another mic was Peter and Stewart. Four of them, first in line.

The panel, Age of Spin, was one of the largest events in the Ackerman Ballroom at UCLA. Throughout the entire discussion, Isikoff was the only one to even utter "9/11" once or twice. We waited until the Q & A. The four Truthers got up to the mic, a couple of them with 9/11 Truth Now signs in hand. When Monica got her first question in, I at that point held up my sign. As the article describes, her question was never really answered. Then, I was asked by the moderator to put my sign down, to which I replied: "There's more than one." I had not intended to speak out of turn, until I was singled out. At that point, I (loudly) said: "There's no story that's been more spun than 9/11". We volleyed back and forth a little bit, and David Goodman said something to me and I said: "Ask your sister. She was there. Go ask Amy."

I decided to chill a little bit, as the couple next to me got up and left, and Katy proceeded to get in the second 9/11 question. I forget exactly how they brushed her off. And they both had excellent questions. (I really want to see that CSPAN video.) When they turned to the other side of the room, that is when the moderator said: No more 9/11 Questions. (I wish I could remember the moderator's name) Peter quickly changed his strategy to comply and asked a question about why there are only five major media companies. The panel was curious and seemed quite surprised when Peter was able to name them. Stewart asked a question about the North American Union. Surprisingly, the panel thought that was a serious subject, and did not pass it off as a conspiracy theory.

When the four of our five members had asked their questions, the time for Q & A was wrapping up, and we walked out holding our 9/11 Truth Now signs high, as the panel was making their closing remarks. I believe Stewart stayed behind to greet the panelists, and he told me they "looked scared", but were relieved by his smiling face. He said one of them said something about not knowing that this issue is so big out here (paraphrasing).

Then there was the clown from the audience who came out to our booth afterwards and threatened us if we went to any other panels and asked a 9/11 question. We had to call the campus police on the guy. And we did go into other panels. There are some pictures of our booth at UCLA at http://www.truthaction.org go to Events and scroll down to LA Times Festival of Books. Note the cops (different cops) who listened quite intently to Lynn for a good 20 mins. and took the handouts we gave them, with firefighter quotes about explosions.

If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.

Great job....

....thanks for the report....

I just wish (a la Webster Tarpley's 9/11 Truth Squad concept), you had had someone with video camera, capturing all this...