Have you written CBS yet about dropping the WMD story??

[Nordic]

If not, you need to do it.

Go to the link below, go to the bottom, hit "contact us" and write to them.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, CBS has cowed to the RWers and announced they would drop a story about how we were lied to about the WMD's in Iraq because "it was too close to the election". Now if any story needs to be told BEFORE the frikkin' election, it's this one.

What did they give us instead of that vital story? An interview that humanized the turd-of-turds O'Leilly.

Maybe it's just me, but I think this is a death-knell for democracy as we know it. It's seriously the beginning of the end.

Tell them what you think. Please.


http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml



Here's what I wrote. Feel free to cut and paste it:

The most disturbing thing I've seen regarding the media in my entire lifetime is CBS caving to Karl Rove and the right-wing fascists of this country and declaring THEMSELVES that a free press in this country is dead.

Do you understand what you're doing here? You are declaring that a free press in the United States of America .... is DEAD.

You are not going to show a 60 minutes story about the rationale that our "leaders" gave about going to a fucking WAR?

What the HELL is the matter with you?

What kind of COWARDS are you?

We don't have gulags in this country. Yet. We don't have Siberian work camps. Yet.

But we will if COWARDS like you at CBS insist on caving and abdicating your responsibilities!!!

This is the single most disturbing thing I have seen happen in my lifetime in this country.

Without a free press, our country cannot survive.

Hello corporate fascism.

Goodbye democracy.

I am not exaggerating. I am not some left-wing hippie. I am a middle-class father of two who drives a Honda Pilot. Understand?

I am so furious with CBS that I could just fucking scream.

We are fucked in this country and it is now YOUR FAULT.

You are cowards. Just hopeless cowards.

[annabanana]

1. I have written several times........

I told them that all they have to do to "clear their name" is to run the Italian/Nigerian forgery story starting with;

"We here at CBS have learned a thing or two about forged documents:"

[Nordic]

2. good!

:kick:

[wtmusic]

3. kick

wrote last night, but will write again. "Inappropriate" is a sorry-ass excuse for pulling a program, if the program is truthful and something the public *should* be aware of.

More appropriate than ever.

[gollygee]

4. I sure did.

I said that their news program won't alter the election - but either knowledge or ignorance will. If they choose not to air this story, they choose to allow ignorance to alter the election rather than knowledge.

[grasswire]

5. my letter

Four years ago the American press decided to withhold information from the American people prior to the presidential election. That information showed that George W. Bush had deserted his post of duty with the Texas Air National Guard during wartime. A near blackout kept the evidence from the American people. It can be argued that a fraud was perpetrated on the electorate.

Today, the consequences of that journalistic malfeasance culminate in the attack by the Bush administration on Dan Rather and your network -- a diabolical attack that has again prevented the American people from receiving the truth about Bush's military service.

And now we hear that CBS has scrapped a program detailing another fracas involving George W. Bush and the press -- the forgery of the Niger yellowcake document. The quashing of this reporting is the latest tragedy in the war of the White House on the press.

An unfettered press is our American imperative -- it is only the lonely journalist who stands between the people and tyranny.

Do your duty. Fulfill your sacred trust. Report the truth, all of it. Each time CBS capitulates to the despots, liberty is eroded. Stand firm. Don't flinch.

[tmooses]

6. Here's mine

Dear 60 Minutes,
Your decision to not air the segment on WMD's because it is "to close to the election" appears to be a first amendment meltdown by your show.
The time for this show to be aired IS right before the election so we can have our facts straight when we go into the voting booth. This is not the time for CBS NEWS to cave in to the right wing over this issue. By doing so you are abdicating your position as a journalistic institution which has unflinchingly brought us the truth over the past few decades. I have watched you since the
1960's and have always admired your integrity
and balance.
Our freedoms are under attack in this country now and it is a time when we all must stand up to the forces that are trying to intimidate the media. We must all show the courage to protect our first amendment rights
or this country be forever changed.

[Nordic]

7. kick

:kick:

[Nordic]

8. moveon.org now taking over!!

Just got this e-mail from moveon.org


Dear MoveOn member,

President Bush based his famous and false claim that Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger on a set of crudely forged documents. For the last two years, no one has uncovered who falsified these documents, which lie at the heart of Bush's case for war.

Now, CBS' 60 Minutes program has uncovered new and important revelations about the Bush administration's reliance on the documents. But, in an unprecedented and astonishing move, CBS bumped the report back until after the election, saying it would be "inappropriate" to air the piece when it might interfere with the political season.

It's outrageous that a major TV news outlet would censor an important piece of news for political reasons. Especially since this report has met CBS' standards for accuracy -- it's true. One can only assume that CBS is buckling under pressure from the right -- and that's just plain wrong.

Call CBS and its parent company, Viacom, now, at:

Sumner Redstone, Chairman, Viacom
[phone]

Les Moonves, Chairman of CBS; co-President & co-CEO, Viacom
[phone]

Andrew Heyward, President, CBS News
[phone] or
[phone]

If you don't get through, you can write to CBS at:
http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/feedback/fb_news_form.shtml

You can also contact CBS' local affiliates, which are linked here:
http://newslink.org/cbstele.html

Urge CBS to reverse its decision and air the 60 Minutes piece on Iraq before the November 2nd election. Let them know how important it is that they not censor the news.

Please let us know you're calling -- we'd like to keep a count -- at:

http://www.moveon.org/cbscalls.html?id=3836-25984-J9nexJ0NQLI_PBvtRmvxTQ

Recently, CBS came under heavy criticism for failing to thoroughly authenticate documents in a story on the President's National Guard record. Apparently CBS' embarrassment over that flap has made CBS too timid to run important news critical of President Bush. According to the New York Times: "a report in the online edition of Newsweek... described the frustration of CBS News reporters and producers who said the network had concluded that it could not legitimately criticize the president because of the questions about the National Guard report." <1>

Still, censorship for partisan purposes is a familiar pattern at CBS. Last year, CBS refused to air "Child's Pay", the ad that won the "Bush in 30 Seconds" contest sponsored by MoveOn.org Voter Fund, during the Super Bowl. Although the ad was well within the bounds of good taste -- it showed children working at menial jobs and asked "Guess who's going to pay off President Bush's $1 trillion deficit?" -- CBS cited a policy against running "advocacy" ads.

But then it turned around and aired millions of dollars worth of ads promoting Bush's new Medicare plan, which wouldn't come online for years. It also aired controversial White House ads claiming that drug users supported terrorism.

CBS' censorship decisions make its partisanship obvious. But here's more: CBS is owned by Viacom, and Viacom's chairman, Sumner Redstone, endorsed President Bush on Thursday <2>, just one day before CBS pulled the 60 Minutes report on Iraq.

Partisan censorship by CBS betrays our trust on a fundamental level. All of us own the airwaves CBS broadcasts on. They're a public resource, licensed to CBS, and in return CBS owes us a balance of viewpoints on major issues like Iraq.

Especially now, when more than 1,000 Americans have been killed in a war whose reasons have yet to be honestly explained by the Bush administration.

And especially just before an election.

Please call CBS and Viacom now.

Thank you, for all you do.

Sincerely,

- Peter Schurman
MoveOn.org
Tuesday, September 7th, 2004

<1> '60 Minutes' Delays Report Questioning Reasons for Iraq War
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/25/politics/campaign/25cbs.html

<2> Guess Who's a GOP Booster?
The CEO of CBS's parent company endorses President Bush.
The Wall Street Journal
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110005669