Subj: Fwd: Action Alert: CIA Admissions, Media Omissions
Date: 98-10-18 00:22:32 EDT
From: ACBnyc
BCC: Dohouse
Hi,
I'm forwarding a post I received from the listserv of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting - think you may find it interesting!!!
Angie
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Forwarded Message:
Subj: [FAIR-L] Action Alert: CIA Admissions, Media Omissions
Date: 98-10-17 06:25:28 EDT
From: dannyglas@USA.NET (Daniel Glasner)
Sender: FAIR-L@AMERICAN.EDU (media analysis, critiques and news reports)
Reply-to: fair-l-request@AMERICAN.EDU
To: FAIR-L@AMERICAN.EDU
------------------------------------------
FAIR-L
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and news reports
------------------------------------------
FAIR Action Alert: CIA Admissions, Media Omissions
October 16, 1998
The recently de-classified second volume of the CIA's internal
investigation of Contra-drug connections was released last week (still
censored in parts), and found the CIA had knowledge of allegations
linking many Contras or Contra associates with drug trafficking.
But how did the major media cover the story?
--It's a good question to put to the New York Times, which ran a sketchy
story in their Saturday, October 10 edition (the least-read paper of the
week, on a holiday weekend no less) on page A7.
--It's also worth asking the Washington Post, which published not one
word of the CIA's findings over the weekend. They did, however, have the
room on Oct. 13 for a profile of John Hollister Hedley, who works in the
Agency's Directorate of Intelligence reviewing manuscripts to decide
"how far the CIA will go in revealing its inner workings to the outside
world."
--Or maybe the LA Times, which penned this in an editorial ("FBI and
CIA: Open Up") on July 21, 1998: "Americans have not just the right to
learn what their government has done in this tumultuous century; they
also have an imperative to know. It's clear that Clinton's 1995
declassification order is in need of strengthening." Maybe it was other
government deeds the LA Times was referring to; they have yet to file a
story on the CIA's newly de-classified report.
The CIA's report found that the Contra leadership was arranging its drug
connections from the very start, and that a CIA informant alerted the
agency of the activity. The CIA, by its own admission, failed to inform
the proper agencies of this knowledge.
These revelations practically define the term "political scandal." The
national press's own record on this story has been to cover up for the
CIA (read "Snow Job" from EXTRA! magazine at
http://www.fair.org/extra/9701/contra-crack.html), as it did by
attacking former San Jose Mercury News journalist Gary Webb. When
Mercury News editor Jerry Ceppos disavowed Webb's series, it earned him
a praising editorial in the New York Times. Where is the New York Times
editorial now that a CIA report has acknowledged CIA wrongdoing that the
Times has done so much to obfuscate?
To ask why national news media ignored or downplayed this latest round
of CIA admissions, contact the news outlets directly (their e-mail
addresses are listed below). Ask them to use this new information to
begin investigations into Contra drug-running-- a story they have, for
the most part, distanced themselves from for over a decade.
--Washington Post
Geneva Overholser-- News Ombudsman
mailto:overholser@washpost.com
Walter Pincus-- National staff writer
mailto:pincusw@washpost.com
--New York Times
William Connolly-- Senior Editor
mailto:wgc@nytimes.com
--Los Angeles Times
Doyle McManus-- D.C. Bureau Chief
mailto:Doyle.McManus@latimes.com
Robert Berger-- Op-Ed Page Editor
mailto:op-ed@latimes.com
-------------------------------
The CIA reports are partial, hedged, tip-of-the-iceberg, at best. To
read them for yourself:
--Allegations of Connections Between CIA and The Contras in Cocaine
Trafficking to the United States (96-0143-IG)
Volume I: The California Story
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/cocaine/report/index.html
--Allegations Of Connections Between CIA and the Contra In Cocaine
Trafficking to the United States (96-0143-IG)
Volume II: The Contra Story
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/cocaine2/index.html
--The CIA-Contra-Crack Cocaine Controversy: A Review of the Justice
Department's Investigations and Prosecutions (December, 1997)
http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/igspecr1.htm
To read FAIR's coverage of the Contra-drug connection over the years, go
to http://www.fair.org/issues-news/contra-crack.html. And stay tuned to
the FAIR website for updates on this story.
----------
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Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 22:07:30 -0400
Reply-To: fair-l-request@AMERICAN.EDU
Sender: "media analysis, critiques and news reports"
From: Daniel Glasner
Subject: [FAIR-L] Action Alert: CIA Admissions, Media Omissions
To: FAIR-L@AMERICAN.EDU