Wednesday, December 5, 2007

America's Antiwar Reporters Dismissed and Deceased

Recently I have been learning that America's top antiwar reporters have been under fire for criticizing the pro-war policies of the Bush administration. There are four reporters that I have questions about and each will be explained below.

The first target of the corporate controlled media empire is Dan Rather. Dan Rather is a veteran reporter who has been on the television since I was a young Kid. His voice and opinion has been heard around the world, and Dan has made himself a household name with many baby boomers who have come to know him.Sadly Dan Rather was dismissed from CBS when he discovered the Bush administration forged documents in the Kilian story. The issue would not go away, but Dan Rather was eventually dismissed and the Killian case is now the subject of a 70 Million Dollar Lawsuit between CBS and Dan Rather. Dan still does do reporting but he has been moved into virtual obscurity and away from the main stream media.

The next media giant now silenced and gagged is Phil Donahue. Phil had his very popular television show on MSNBC that was cancelled. According to wikipedia "MSNBC cancelled the show, citing low viewership. Despite the reasons given by MSNBC, AllYourTV.com reported it had received a copy of an internal NBC memo that mentioned that Donahue had to be fired because he would be a "difficult public face for NBC in a time of war"

The third media giant to be eviscerated from the airways is Peter Jennings. According to Wikipedia, "his coverage was not without controversy though. After conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh blasted Jennings for supposedly denigrating President George W. Bush on-air during September 11." Rush later apologized and retracted his remarks, but the fact remains that Peter Jennings died at the age of 67 from lung cancer. Many of his closest supporters believe that his death was suspicious in lieu of his anti Bush comments. However, no connection or proof has ever been presented that any foul play occurred.

One last person to add to this list is Gulf war 1 correspondent Peter Arnett who was also fired in lieu of his war stance and allegations of using untrue anti-war reporting information that did not jive with the "climate of fear" that many reporters at big news agencies feared. According to wikipedia "when Arnett's remarks sparked a "firestorm of protest", NBC initially defended him, saying he had given the interview as a professional courtesy and that his remarks were "analytical in nature". A day later, though, NBC, MSNBC and National Geographic all severed their relationships with Arnett."

This post today is intended to get your attention as to a possible pattern, and I respectfully ask all of the readers of this post to empower yourself and embed these reporters faces and stories into your lives regardless of opinion. Should there ever be any question of free speech in America these brave reporters are the front line casualties of the "information war."

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