Counterbias :: The Last Newsman Standing

The Last Newsman Standing
In the cesspool that has become our mainstream media, one man has stood up for democracy: Keith Olbermann

September 18 2006
Counterbias.com
DOUGLASS J. GRIFFIN

In a time where dissention is viewed as “appeasing the enemy” or “abetting the terrorists” by the people in power, the citizenry they were elected to serve needs a voice. In a time where true journalism has been replaced with ruling party talking points and sensationalized entertainment, there appear to be no champions of democracy in America’s Fourth Estate known as the mainstream media.

If I were referring to Nazi-era Germany or the Cold War-era Soviet Union – that’s Russia for those who weren’t born or don’t remember – this would not be a surprise nor news. I am, of course, referring to the United States of America and the dismal excuse we have for what serves as our news media today. A news media that seems to believe the whereabouts of Baby Suri (Cruise) is more important than, say a president who continually lies about the lies he told to take this country to war. In better times – read all eras previous to the George W. Bush presidency – the media served as a watchdog for corrupt politicians and public figures. Why, even a president lying about an extra-marital blow job was fair game in a not-so-distant past.

Not today. These days, the lead stories are about missing white women and/or drunken celebrities. Today, our news media parrots Republican talking points and misinformation. Today, news anchors like Katie Couric play footsie with crooked politicians, like the current president of this nation and his entire administration. Today, the White House hires spokesmen, like Tony Snow (formerly of Fox News), directly from all-too-friendly news networks.

The reason this has occurred is because corporations control our public airwaves and use them to maintain as uninformed a public as possible. Pretty blondes missing for one reason or another, as well as the aforementioned celebrity shenanigans, are the top stories of the day and repeated throughout. Subterfuge. This is the same news media that made an enormous deal about a Democratic president’s extramarital affair, yet is thunderously silent about a gay male hooker posing as a reporter who had multiple unofficial visits to the Republican White House of George W. Bush. We’re talking about Disney’s crap-u-drama that was shown on the ABC network as the “true story of September 11” yet was so full of falsehoods, it should have been legally forced to change the title. Only the misguided and uniformed (and there are many) would believe the premise of the film – 9/11 is the Democrats’ fault. Nevermind the facts.

The dumbing down of America, indeed. keith Olbermann Photo

Wading through the cesspool that has become our mainstream media, one man, a true journalist, has answered the call to stand up for democracy. That man is Keith Olbermann of MSNBC’s Countdown. I have been familiar with Mr. Olbermann’s work since his sports days at ESPN and FoxSports. I admired his biting commentary when it came to professional athletes. With regard to politics, his skill has not diminished nor has his bite.

Keith Olbermann’s was one of the very few voices in the mainstream media that spoke up about the inconsistencies of the 2004 Presidential election.

Olbermann speaks truth to power nightly. Most recently, on the anniversary of 9/11, he excoriated President Bush for politicizing the tragedy itself and its anniversary. From a studio above Ground Zero, Mr. Olbermann quite eloquently said:

“When those who dissent are told time and time again -- as we will be, if not tonight by the President, then tomorrow by his portable public chorus -- that he is preserving our freedom, but that if we use any of it, we are somehow un-American...When we are scolded, that if we merely question, we have "forgotten the lessons of 9/11"... look into this empty space behind me and the bi-partisanship upon which this administration also did not build, and tell me:

Who has left this hole in the ground?

We have not forgotten, Mr. President.

You have.

May this country forgive you.”

Prior to that, in his nightly commentary, he said,

“More over, Mr. Bush, you are accomplishing in part what Osama Bin Laden and others seek—a fearful American populace, easily manipulated, and willing to throw away any measure of restraint, any loyalty to our own ideals and freedoms, for the comforting illusion of safety.

It thus becomes necessary to remind the President that his administration’s recent Nazi “kick” is an awful and cynical thing.

And it becomes necessary to reach back into our history, for yet another quote, from yet another time and to ask it of Mr. Bush:

‘Have you no sense of decency, sir?’”

As he said, there are those who would try to minimize his contribution to the public record and marginalize his stance – and ours. For the more than five years that George W. Bush has been destroying all things democratic – parties, governments, etc. – progressive Americans have been pleading, aching, for a voice on mainstream news. We finally have one. I strongly suggest watching Countdown nightly on MSNBC at 8 pm Eastern.

In this time of the media turning a blind eye to the truth about George W. Bush, the truth has at least one sentry. In the vein of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, Keith Olbermann is the last newsman standing. And I, for one, am extremely grateful. All Americans -- including conservative Republicans -- should be as well.