MyDD :: Downing Street Memo Coverage

Downing Street Memo Coverage

by Chris Bowers, Thu Jun 09, 2005 at 01:36:46 PM EST

Just how bad is it? The first time it was mentioned on NBC, it was mentioned as something supposedly famous:

The memo was leaked this year to the Times of London, which printed it on May 1. The story, coming on the eve of Blair's reelection, generated extensive press coverage in Britain. In setting up his question to Mehlman on Sunday, Russert said, "Let me turn to the now famous Downing Street memo" (emphasis added).

Famous? It would be famous in America if the D.C. press corps functioned the way it's supposed to. Russert's June 5 reference, five weeks after the story broke, represented the first time NBC News had even mentioned the document or the controversy surrounding it. In fact, Russert's query was the first time any of the network news divisions addressed the issue seriously. In an age of instant communications, the American mainstream media has taken an exceedingly long time -- as if news of the memo had traveled by vessel across the Atlantic Ocean -- to report on the leaked document.

According to Google news, over the last month there have been 506 mentions of "Downing Street Memo" in media outlets in the Unites States. In just the last two days, the story about the Drunk Pilots has reached 523 hits. The Medical Marijuana ruling has 950 hits over the last three days. Michael Jackson has over 21,000 hits in the last month.

It gets worse. Looking at the first one hundreds stories on the Downing Street Memo, all of the following sources register a hit: Raw Story, Democracy Now! (twice), Questions and Observations, Salon, Spoofnews, Rolling Stone, Redstate (twice), two letters to the Philadelphia Daily News, Wizbang (twice), Pacifica, Buzzflash, Useless Knowledge, Wonkette, Alternet, Capitol Hill Blue, Democratic Underground, News Hounds (twice), Dissident Voice, Blogger News Network, Anti-war.com, Blogcritics, Washington Times, and Christian News Network. In other words, there are a lot of "alternative" news sources among the 506 hits, and zero, count `em, zero networks listed. To make matters worse, most of the stories from the sources I did not mention have only now come within the last two days. In fact, from May 10th until May 31st, there were only 199 stories on the Downing Street Memo from US sources, and fewer than twenty from "mainstream" news sources. Most unbelievable of all, the only network to cover the Downing Street memo at the time was none other than Fox News! Their story was appropriately titled, Downing Street Memo Mostly Ignored in U.S.

And yet, despite all of this, Russert has the gall to go on air and talk about the "now famous Downing Street Memo." Even worse, the main stroty in the media coming out of the Sunday Talk Shows this past weekend was Democrats Criticize Dean. which has, over the same time period, still received more press than the Downing Street Memo.

This is unbelievable, and unacceptable. Visit Downingstreetmemo.com and take action against this crap (that is, of course, if you have any time left over from your cable theft actions).

Tags: Media (all tags)

Permalink :: 10 Comments :: Post a Comment

Even with serious pols like Kennedy involved... (none / 0)

It's like there's a blanket conspiracy to keep this one under wraps. The Rather thing has them cowed.

Frankly, I'd have expected more alternative media references as well!

by Drummond on Thu Jun 09, 2005 at 04:34:43 PM EST

The DSM was discussed during last nights TDS... (none / 0)

...during a rather hard hitting interview by Jon Stewart with Colin Powell, where Powell came off as quite a Bush-Bot. I was watching it with my mother, and she was pissed off at Powell. I pointed out that Powell's PR was much better than he really was, and that he's always been kinda slimy.

by Geotpf on Thu Jun 09, 2005 at 05:54:38 PM EST

I googled my own name (none / 0)

and got a couple hundred hits. Cool! I'm famous!

by daunte on Thu Jun 09, 2005 at 08:09:33 PM EST

There's Always The Reliable Weekly World News. (none / 0)

I guess George W. Bush could rape a baby at a state of the Union address, and it would somehow be overlooked by the media matrix. What it boils dowm to, really, is that they assume that we will not revolt when we find out what they have covered up. The very fact that they do get it out to us via sporadic confession shows that they are conditioning us to to be inured to deception by malign neglect.

Here are a few examples that should make it fairly clear what they really think of our "right to know":

San Francisco Chronical

Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Friday, May 27, 2005
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/05/27/GOVERNOR.TMP

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger traveled to a quiet San Jose neighborhood Thursday, and -- dogged by protesters -- filled a pothole dug by city crews just a few hours before, as part of an attempt to dramatize his efforts to increase money for transportation projects.

The choreographed press opportunity -- at least the governor's fourth recent event involving transportation issues -- seemed aimed as much at thwarting the demonstrators who have followed Schwarzenegger for weeks as grabbing new attention for his proposal.

Schwarzenegger strode toward television cameras on Laguna Seca Way to the sounds of the Doobie Brothers' "Taking it to the Streets,'' while flanked by 10 San Jose city road workers wearing Day-Glo vests and work gear. After speeches by the governor and city officials, a dump truck backed up and unloaded a mound of black asphalt and, as television cameras recorded the moment, Schwarzenegger joined the work crew, taking up a broom and filling the 10-by-15-foot hole, later smoothed over by a massive roller truck.

"I'm here today to let everyone know that we're going to improve transportation all across our state,'' said Schwarzenegger, highlighting his proposal to fully fund Proposition 42 and restore $1.3 billion in transportation money to the current state budget.

______________________________________ The Big Pharaoh
http://bigpharaoh.blogspot.com/2005/06/i-didnt-want-to-write-what-you-are.html

Hi, I am from Egypt. This is my first blog ever. I would like to use it in making my voice heard. I hope you enjoy the stuff I write here.

Sunday, June 05, 2005 I didn't want to write what you are going to read right now

I admit I thought countless times before writing today's post. I signed in to Blogger twice only to sign off again. My hesitation was a result of me not wanting to "hang our very dirty clothes" in front of this blog readers. After much thought, I decided to post just to inform you of the humiliation many of us feel and what this "humiliation factor" can lead to.

Upon Laura Bush's recent trip to Egypt, it was planned that she, along with her host Mrs. Mubarak, would visit a USAID funded school in Alexandria. One week before the scheduled visit, the tattered school was painted anew, tidied up, and the sewage system was fixed. The dirty roads around the school were cleaned up and trees were miraculously planted all around the area. A sign in English was written to welcome the 2 first ladies.

Nevertheless, the Alexandria education officials didn't like how the Om el Qura school kids looked like! The girls were poor and wore dirty school uniforms. Instead of cleaning them out and distributing clean clothes that would have definitely drew a huge smile on their faces, the officials decided to replaced the kids with new kids brought from a language school! Not only that, they gave the entire school staff a one week leave! Can you imagine how humiliated the school kids and the teachers are feeling right now!

by blues on Thu Jun 09, 2005 at 08:49:47 PM EST

There is a way to win this (none / 0)

Moveon.org has 300,000 signatures on a petition
that will ask George W Bush to respond to congress,
about the allegations in this letter.

Rep. Conyers, has stated that if the signature
count reaches 500,000, he will personally
deliver a letter to Bush that requests his
formal reply.

This is an all-important step on the road
to impeachment.

We all need to believe in bipartisanship
again, a president who commits impeachable
offenses, should not be allowed to get away
with them, even if he forced the FCC media
consolidation item into the omnibus
spending package for the American
broadcast lobby...

This isn't about the media, its about
us.

go and sign the moveon signature petition,
I think its at:

http://www.moveon.org

somewhere. maybe moveonpac.org.
the sooner, the better. Preferably,
in fact, while Blair is still here..

you will need to get the correct link.
send it to your friends. this petiition
can be signed by tomorrow morning and on
its way. Representative Conyers has promised
the minute its signed he'll take it.

And maybe the cameras will be clicking
then...
?

by turnerbroadcasting on Thu Jun 09, 2005 at 11:01:47 PM EST

Re: There is a way to win this (none / 0)

Correct link is "Tell the Truth"

http://www.moveonpac.org/tellthetruth/

by turnerbroadcasting on Thu Jun 09, 2005 at 11:02:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

'Famous' Means That Even Russert Has Heard of It! (none / 0)

We keep acting like we need further proof that these idiots are idiots. Of course they're idiots! It's in their job description. It's in their blood. It's in their water supply. It's everywhere they are, or even could imagine. The amazing thing is that they ever say anything remotely close to being either true or important.

by Paul Rosenberg on Thu Jun 09, 2005 at 11:35:27 PM EST

The latest false trail... (none / 0)

...comes from the CSIS:

Robin Niblett of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, says it would be easy for Americans to misunderstand the reference to intelligence being "fixed around" Iraq policy. " `Fixed around' in British English means `bolted on' rather than altered to fit the policy," he says.

As a native speaker of British English, I can say: No, it doesn't.

There is no figurative phrasal verb fix around (where the combination of verb plus adverb or preposition makes a new meaning).

(Quick comparison: Go down in its main sense means go lower - the adverb merely indicates direction of travel.

Whereas go down in the Monica sense is a unity that means - something quite different.)

The natural meaning in British English of fix around in the sentence in the DSM is tailor to accommodate. Any intel that didn't fit was trimmed off.

The pejorative sense of fix - implying chicanery, if not illegality - is the predominant sense of the word used in the context of politics - whether or not in combination with around, and, in that sense, is certainly by no means too colloquial for an official memo. Not in Tony Blair's sofa-based Downing Street, at least!

And, of course, in context, it is perfectly clear that Dearlove is (being reported as) taking a dim view of the US handling of intelligence.

So far as I can recall, none of the British media at time - sadly operating under the handicap of being denied Niblett's linguistic expertise - interpreted fixed around in any other way.

by johnsmith0903 on Fri Jun 10, 2005 at 02:48:30 PM EST

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