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Kerry
and Bush Square Off on Iraq
Killing the Messenger: Who Gave Rather the Memos and Why
What if Iraq Media Coverage was Scrutinized Like CBS Documents?
Taking Back the Airwaves: Community Station KGNU Buys Commercial
Denver Signal
Kerry and Bush Square Off on Iraq
With six weeks remaining until Election Day, Democratic
presidential candidate John Kerry launched what is being called
his most definitive statement yet on President Bush's war
in Iraq. Shortly after Kerry's speech, Bush responded to his
opponent's comments.
With six weeks remaining until Election Day, Democratic presidential
candidate John Kerry yesterday issued what is being called
his most definitive statement yet on the war in Iraq.
Kerry's stance on the war has come under criticism for being
too vague or too similar to President Bush's. But in a speech
at New York University yesterday, the Democratic candidate
issued what is described as his sharpest assault to date on
Iraq.
- Sen. John Kerry, New York University, September 20, 2004.
Sen. John Kerry speaking in New York yesterday. His speech
was timed one day ahead of President Bush's scheduled address
to the U.N. General Assembly in New York today in which he
is expected to defend his policy on Iraq. On Thursday the
President will meet with the unelected Iraqi Prime Minister
Iyad Allawi at the White House.
Two hours after Kerry's speech, President Bush hit back at
his opponent at a campaign stop in Derry, New Hampshire.
- President George W. Bush, Derry, New Hampshire September
20, 2004.
Killing the Messenger: Who Gave Rather the Memos
and Why
As Dan Rather apologizes for documents used in a story about
President Bush's National Guard service, the Republicans charge
that it's a Democratic conspiracy but most agree the scandal
only helps George W. Bush. We speak with veteran Texas journalist
Jim Moore.
With Iraq in the midst of one of the bloodiest periods since
the beginning of the US invasion, there is another story that
in many media circles is dominating the news. That is the
controversy over documents used by CBS anchor Dan Rather in
a story on President Bush's National Guard Service during
the Vietnam War. After nearly two weeks of defending its reporting
against accusations that the documents key documents in the
report were fraudulent, Dan Rather and CBS News apologized
last night for what Rather called a "mistake in judgement."
- CBS News, September 20, 2004.
That was Dan Rather last night on his own newscast. He also
announced that CBS was convening an independent panel to investigate
the controversy and that the network would make the findings
public. An hour before the CBS Evening News went on the air,
Rather was interviewed on the local New York CBS affiliate,
where he first issued his public apology.
- Dan Rather being interviewed on CBS News, September 20,
2004.
At the center of the controversy are documents CBS now says
it received from retired Texas National Guard officer Bill
Burkett. The network said yesterday that Burkett gave veteran
CBS producer Mary Mapes a false account of the origins of
the documents, which were allegedly authored by the late Lt.
Col. Jerry Killian. CBS said Burkett originally told them
he obtained the documents from another former guardsman but
now says he got them from a different source whose identity
CBS News has been unable to verify. Last night on the Evening
News, Rather aired an interview he did with Burkett over the
weekend.
- Dan Rather interviewing Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, September
20, 2004.
Since the CBS story aired on September 8, controversy swirled
over the authenticity of the documents, the question of who
created them and ultimately who facilitated getting the documents
into Dan Rather's story. The Republicans and their allies
in the corporate media began a whirlwind of rumors and speculation
that the documents were part of a Democratic Party smear campaign.
As evidence, they point to the fact that shortly after the
CBS story aired, the Democrats launched a major series of
attack ads focusing on Bush's National Guard record, the so-called
"Fortunate Son" campaign. To compound these accusations,
reports emerged yesterday that a key aid to John Kerry called
Bill Burkett at the behest of CBS producer Mary Mapes. Former
Clinton Press Secretary Joe Lockhart says Mapes told him there
were some records "that might move the story forward."
Lockhart said he talked to Burkett for a few minutes and
that Burkett had "some advice on how to deal with the
Vietnam issue and the Swift boat" allegations,"
saying Burkett told him "These guys play tough and we
have to put the Vietnam experience into context and have Kerry
talk about it more." Lockhart said he does not recall
talking to Burkett about Bush's Guard records and called the
accusations that the Kerry campaign was involved baseless.
Senior Kerry advisor Max Cleland also spoke to Burkett before
the story aired and USA Today reported yesterday that Burkett
said he also spoke to Howard Dean before the story aired.
Further, the key figure in the CBS segment Ben Barnes, who
says he intervened to get Bush into the guard at the behest
of George HW Bush is listed on John Kerry's website as a vice-chair
of fundraising for Kerry in Texas.
Add to this the fact that Burkett is a known Bush critic
who has posted anti-Bush comments on a Democratic website
in Texas and the pundits have spun this as a democratic hatchet
job orchestrated by Kerry supporters, if not by the campaign
itself. Here is what White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan
told reporters yesterday. Note that his comments were made
well before Rather went on the air last night.
- Scott McClellan, White house press secretary, September
20, 2004.
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, speaking yesterday.
But while the Republicans are spinning this as a democratic
conspiracy against Bush, few observers would disagree that
this scandal only helps the Bush campaign. The very real issue
of Bush"s record in the Texas National Guard has now
been trumped by the controversy over the documents and the
fate of one of the most famous newsmen in the US. Last night
in his interview with the local New York CBS affiliate, Rather
was asked if he thought he had been "set up?"
- Dan Rather being interviewed on CBS News, September 20,
2004.
- James Moore, Emmy Award winning TV news correspondent
in Texas. He is the author of "Bush's War for Re-Election"
and the co-author of "Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made
George W. Bush President."
What if Iraq Media Coverage was Scrutinized Like
CBS Documents?
What if the model being used to dissect Dan Rather and CBS
News was applied to all of the corporate media for their coverage
in the build up to the invasion of Iraq? We speak with Harper's
publisher Rick MacArthur who says "there would have been
no war."
- John R. (Rick) MacArthur, publisher of Harpers Magazine
and author of the book Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda
In the Gulf War.
Taking Back the Airwaves: Community Station KGNU
Buys Commercial Denver Signal
Bucking a national wave of media consolidation by large
corporations, Boulder community radio station KGNU reached
terms to buy Denver AM radio signal KJME, offering metro Denver
listeners independent news and diverse music currently unavailable
in Denver.
This is Democracy Now! broadcasting from Denver, Colorado
where commercial AM radio station KJME was recently bought
by KGNU - the volunteer-run community public radio station
in Boulder.
The deal, which was finalized last month just days ahead
of the Republican National Convention, runs counter to a national
wave of media consolidation by large corporations. Clear Channel
Communications, the media giant that owns over 1,200 radio
stations across the country and organized pro-war rallies
ahead of the invasion of Iraq, owns 8 stations in Denver.
After its purchase of the KJME AM signal, listener-supported
radio station KGNU began broadcasting in the Denver area on
August 29th - the day that marked the largest march at a political
convention in U.S. history.
- Robert McChesney, professor at the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign and the author of eight books including
Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious
Times. He is the co-founder of Free Press which hosted last
year's National Conference on Media Reform.
- Marty Durlin, station manager at KGNU.
- Kris Abrams, Denver
Campaign Coordinator for KGNU and former producer Democracy
Now!
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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