My Letter To The Editors Of Every American News Outlet I Can Think Of

June 04, 2005

Dear Editor,

There is a gross incompetence associated with the concept of investigative journalism in the mainstream media today. Unfortunately, your editorial enterprise is not untouched by this increasingly sickening phenomenon, though I wish I could say otherwise.

On July 23, 2002 — a full eight months prior to the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003 - a document was created that contained devastating words describing a faulty pretense for a false war. What I am discussing, if you are not already aware, is what has come to be known as the "Downing Street Memo," a document that outlines a plot to alter intelligence in order to provide a pretext for the Iraq war. Interestingly, this memo has received extremely little coverage in any of the mainstream American Media (something we hold dear and consider to be a "Free Press").

For example, a simple search of some of the (so-called) top American Press outlets yielded some interesting results. On CNN, a search using the terms "Downing Street" produced 463 responses, not one of which ever referred to the document of interest[1]. A similar search[2] of MSNBC's stories returned 126 stories, only one of which even mentioned the said memo. This article[3], from local San Francisco NBC affiliate KNTV, while admirable in actually mentioning the article, is hardly worthy of an award for hard cutting journalism, as it ends with the dismissive quote[4],

"I think the issue of why the United States went to war in Iraq is now moot, we're there, we've been there. I think the question that matters now is how do we get out."

If such a statement were true, then we have truly failed as a democratic nation. I, personally, would consider the line crossed when we decided it prudent to impeach our elected officials for sexual infidelities and not actual "high crimes and misdemeanors," such as -say- lying about the necessity for a war that has caused the deaths of over 1,600 United States military members and up to 100,000 Iraqi civilians.

Continuing the search for integrity in our beloved American Media, I now turn to Fox News, a source that (by it's own admission[5]) is an outlet sympathetic to the neoconservative agenda. Surprisingly, they actually have a story[6] about the memo, buried amongst 49 other unrelated articles in the search[7].
Unpredictably, this report does essentially treat the story with justice, covering most of the possible angles. However, as with the NBC piece, it can't resist throwing ice into the fire by adding a similar dictum of resignation[8],

"It's a little late," he said of the memo story, adding that people are resigned to the fact that the United States is in Iraq for the long term, regardless of what events led to the war. "We're kind of stuck."

Turning to print, a search of the New York Times[9] over the past 90 days yielded 3803 articles, none of which mentions the memo. Ditto for the Washington Post[10] (619 stories), the Washington Times[11] (5945 stories), and USA Today[12] (7 stories over the past 14 days). Why does no American press outlet seem to think this is a newsworthy story? Is it because it contains no sordid details of sexual affairs, husbands killing their wives, or Michael Jackson plying a minor with "Jesus juice?" Or, is it because the editors are afraid of the backlash that might occur from the heavy-handed Bush administration? I ask, not as a partisan ploy, but because I genuinely wish to know the answer.

Sadly, even the ambitious efforts of one United States Congressman, John Conyers (D-Michigan)[13], to bring the story to light have gone unnoticed by the mainstream media. When an individual congressional website gets up to 5,000 hits every few hours[14], that alone should be enough to make a story. When a congressman elicits over 110,000 signatures (with a revised goal of 250,000) in a petition pleading with the Bush administration to at least address the memo, that alone is worthy of news coverage. Again, I must ask, why are the media not even discussing the story? Clearly, people in this country have expressed an interest, so it cannot be about ratings or readership. Why do they, and you, fail to even mention it?

Such complacency in the media is astonishing, appalling, and reprehensible. When we, as a Nation, are too afraid to examine the improprieties, and possible illegal conduct, of our political officials, we will have desperately fallen into an inescapable well of oppression and repression that strips us of or freedom and dignity. I, for one, expect more from a democratic press and you should too.

Sincerely,

Dr. Richard R. Smith
Wallingford, C.T.


For yours (and your reader's benefit) here is the text of the Document[15].

---


References

1) CNN.com search results can be found at http://search.cnn.com/pages/search.jsp?query=Downing%20Street

2) MSNBC.com search results can be found at http://msnbc.msn.com/?querytext=Downing+Street&id=3053419&searchfromtoc.x=0&searchfromtoc.y=0&action=fulltext

3) The KNTV-TV article can be found at http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7928142/

4) Quote is attributed to Professor Steve Weber, the Director of the Institute for International Studies at UC Berkeley.

5) As reported by Timothy Noah in the Tuesday, May 31, 2005 online edition of Slate Magazine. The article can be found at http://slate.com/id/2119864/

6) The Fox News article, published on June 01, 2005, can be found at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,158228,00.html

7) The Fox News search can be found at http://kevxml2a.infospace.com/_1_V11UP6028HV7WF__info.foxnws/search/inc/fox_more.htm?fastSearch=1&qcat=sitesearch&qkw=Downing%20street&nextPageNum=1&ran=9538

8) Quote attributed to Jim Pinkerton, syndicated columnist and regular contributor to FOX News Watch.

9) New York Times search can be found here (subscription required) http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?srcht=s&srchst=nyt&vendor=&query=downing+street&date_select=past90days&submit.x=15&submit.y=8&submit=Search

10) Washington Post search can be found here (subscription required) http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/Search?keywords=downing%20street

11) Washington Times search can be found here http://search.washtimes.com/washtimes/search.html

12) USA Today search can be found here http://asp.usatoday.com/search/search.aspx

13) John Conyers website can be found at http://www.johnconyers.campaignoffice.com/ There, a petition to President Bush can be found.

14) A recent story (in a non-mainstream outlet) can be found at http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Conyers_reaches_extends_signature_goal;_creates_t_06_03_2005_0503pm.html

15) First reported in The Times Of London, May 01, 2005.
Viewable at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1593607,00.html