CBS-TV ANCHOR DAN RATHER WARNS OF CENSORSHIP
Posted By: Rosalinda
Date: Saturday, 18 May 2002, 10:49 p.m.
IN AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BBC'S "NEWSNIGHT,"
CBS-TV ANCHOR DAN RATHER WARNS OF CENSORSHIP,
since the "War on Terror" was declared following Sept. 11.
Looking grim and shaken, Rather said:
"It is an obscene comparision ... but you know there was a time in South Africa that people would put flaming tires
around people's necks if they dissented.... And in some ways the fear is that you will be necklaced here;
you will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck....
Now it is that fear that keeps journalists from asking
the toughest of the tough questions, and to continue to bore in on tough questions so often. And again, I am humbled to say, I do not except myself from this criticism....
"What we are talking about here
--whether one wants to recognize it or not,
or call it by its proper name or not--
is a form of self-censorship.
I worry that patriotism run amok will trample
the very values that the country seeks to defend itself."
Rather, who had received Anthrax through the mail
after his reporting on the devastation of Sept. 11,
added that "Our biggest problem today is not anthrax.
Our biggest problem is fear....
"It's unpatriotic not to stand up, look them in the eye,
and ask the questions that they don't want to hear--
'they' being those who have the responsibility,
the ultimate responsibility in a society such as ours,
of sending our sons and daughters, our husbands, wives,
our blood, to face death, to take death....
"There has never been an American war, small or large,
in which access has been so limited as this one."
Rather blasted "the growing Hollywood-ization of life,
Hollywood-ization of the media,
which is leading to the Hollywood-ization of war.
I am appalled by all this."
Rather said that this "Hollywood-ization" is epitomized
by what he called "Milatainment" --entertainment programs about the military, which are produced in conjunction with the Department of Defence.
Crucially, Rather said that "Militainment" produced with co-operation of the Department of Defense has been offering "documentary makers" unprecedented access.
For example, "Military Diaries" is a 13-episode documentary
for mucic channel VH1, but it treats war the way Edgar Allen Poe described in "How to Write a Blackwood Story."
Military Diaries Producer RJ Cutler was allowed to hand out
80 digital cameras to service personnel
to record their "feelings" for broadcast,
including during Operation Anaconda.
A spokesman for the Pentagon said
that now they give more "combat footage"
and general access to producers of "Milatainment"
than they do to "reality TV" newscasters.
After Rather spoke, the American-born London Bureau Chief
for {Time} magazine said in a BBC interview that:
"If you read American newspapers, you would think
that the jackboots are marching again through the streets of Paris, and that there is a wave of anti-Semitism all over Europe.
It is simply not true."
Geery concluded by saying that he agreed with Rather
on the "Hollywood-ization" matter, and said he found this entire trend in the USA to be "very dangerous."
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