Keep us posted if you receive an answer!
Posted on 09/11/2004 9:46:37 AM PDT by Phsstpok
This is an email I just sent to Fox News and Britt Hume:
Fox must pull together the whole thing - on both Rathergate and Swiftboats
Please bring to the attention of Britt Hume
Mr. Hume, this may be longer than you normally like to look through, but I beg you (and your staff) to bear with me.
This is a request for Fox News, and you particularly, to take up the challenge to our democracy presented in the CBS News / DNC collaborative attack on our President in time of war. A great threat hangs over our society from external forces that mean to destroy us, and the institutions of the establishment left are seeking to undermine our fight against them in order to advance their own political power. There is a unique opportunity in history for one organization and, perhaps, one person, to significantly alter the direction of our democracy. I believe that this can be achieved by thoroughly and fairly examining the current dual controversies of the Swift Boat Vet and Air National Guard charges that have consumed so much of the debate.
With rare exception these two controversies have been fought out in inaccurate or incomplete sound bites, having less to do with the importance of the issues raised and more to do with who could shout louder and rip off their talking points faster. There needs to be a careful and complete report done on what is real and what is not, without any shouting heads dropping in sound bites or trying to talk over their opponents to silence the other point of view.
Unlike any other present institution or individual you and Fox News can do this and not be ignored. Not Chris Wallace. Not Tony Snow. Certainly not Ted Koppel or Wolf Blitzer. You.
Fox must pull together the whole thing - on both Rathergate and Swiftboats
Please bring to the attention of Britt Hume
Mr. Hume, this may be longer than you normally like to look through, but I beg you (and your staff) to bear with me.
This is a request for Fox News, and you particularly, to take up the challenge to our democracy presented in the CBS News / DNC collaborative attack on our President in time of war. A great threat hangs over our society from external forces that mean to destroy us, and the institutions of the establishment left are seeking to undermine our fight against them in order to advance their own political power. There is a unique opportunity in history for one organization and, perhaps, one person, to significantly alter the direction of our democracy. I believe that this can be achieved by thoroughly and fairly examining the current dual controversies of the Swift Boat Vet and Air National Guard charges that have consumed so much of the debate.
With rare exception these two controversies have been fought out in inaccurate or incomplete sound bites, having less to do with the importance of the issues raised and more to do with who could shout louder and rip off their talking points faster. There needs to be a careful and complete report done on what is real and what is not, without any shouting heads dropping in sound bites or trying to talk over their opponents to silence the other point of view.
Unlike any other present institution or individual you and Fox News can do this and not be ignored. Not Chris Wallace. Not Tony Snow. Certainly not Ted Koppel or Wolf Blitzer. You.
A lot has happened over the course of this Presidential campaign. Perhaps the most significant thing, with the longest lasting impact, may have been the apparent paradigm shift from the old media to the new. The emergence of outlets like FreeRepublic and the blogsphere as strong virtual communities has greatly affected how new media works and how and over what issues this election is being fought. They provide the best opportunity to locate, share and validate the vast amount of information dumped into the debate by the internet. This phenomenon has driven the current argument over the latest rendition of the ‘Bush was AWOL’ charge that has been recycled, yet again, by old media. Because of this new virtual community the old media, so far, has not been able to simply declare “truth” in their favor and move on.
Last night Dan Rather upped the stakes and pushed in the whole pot on one hand. He declared that any criticisms of his report are to be ignored, simply on his say so. This implies that not only his credibility, but also the entire power base of old media, are riding on this attack on Bush. If they are shown to have presented fabricated evidence, even unknowingly, then they must forever step down from the position of credible presenters of fact. And by selecting the particular “expert” and “unimpeachable sources” that he did for his “defense” of his report last night he did this in an “in your face” manner that challenged all other members of the “real media,” including outlets like Fox News, to either tow the line, ignore the evidence and the voices from the new community, or be destroyed.
We are at a crossroads in the way human society communicates and shapes the consensus of our communities. This happened when Guttenberg’s press made pamphleteering a real possibility. It happened when people like Edward R. Murrow took the power of radio into war in the 1930s and brought distant troubles back home in a profound new way. It happened in the 60s when technology enabled people to see events as they happened. This is one of those moments.
I am asking you to engage with the new community, starting with FreeRepublic and the particular players in the blogsphere, such as PowerLineBlog, to identify the issues and details that these two cases rest on. What you will have is an unprecedented virtual staff to research and validate your information in preparation for a presentation on these topics. I am not suggesting that you rely on the “facts” offered up to you without critical review. In fact, providing that critical review is specifically what I’m asking you to do for this debate. Use the existing documentation that is gathered and pre-filtered in these communities to focus on the areas on which to spend your own professional resources. Confirm the facts that can be confirmed and present the issues that need further research back to the new community and let us do your legwork. A large part of the resulting information may be unreliable, or even intentionally bogus, but you’ll be amazed at how quickly those things are found out and eliminated by us. We can spot a tin foil hat or a troll at 30 paces, and we show no mercy (look up Viking Kitties, sometime).
Take the resulting distilled information, come what may, and make a definitive presentation of these two cases. This will need at least an hour, perhaps an hour or more for each primary topic (SBVT vs. AWOL). I would suggest not providing time internal to the presentation for pundits to argue and spin. A separate program for precisely that purpose, perhaps multiple such opportunities coupled with multiple presentations of your conclusions, with different panels.
I’m asking you to present and let us, and the rest of the world, decide.
(please keep the alias in this next bit confidential and separate from my real name and email)
I use the alias “Phsstpok” on FreeRepublic. You can have your staff look up my postings and the debates that I have been involved in. I am a relative newcomer to FR, and have not made any significant contributions, though I think I have mostly added to the dialog, not the noise. You may note that my tagline in most of my post is “often wrong, but never in doubt.” A man’s got to know his limitations <g>.
I would recommend that you concentrate on the threads surrounding “post 47” and “rathergate” as a starting point. I think you’ll quickly identify individuals that are worth following and even contacting. Buckhead, Howlin, Doug From Upland, Travis McGee and TankerKC might be good places to start. You’ll find lots of folks that claim particular direct expertise, either historical (I was there) or technical/professional. Many of these can be checked out pretty fast with just a “smell test.” For anything that needs validation we all have private “freepmail” messaging capabilities. Most will be willing to provide bona fides and direct contacts to an organization like Fox, so you should be able to easily verify or dismiss most seemingly important posts pretty quickly.
I am going to post this email as a vanity thread on FreeRepublic. I don’t know if it will generate any particular traffic, but it might, and it might also serve as a way to introduce any staffers you choose to assign to this type of task, providing them a personae to act as a conduit for alerting your organization to anything significant.
Thank you for your consideration.
your heading is double speak and confusing.
Lovely, lovely! Let's hope someone gets it to him!
Keep us posted if you receive an answer!
BUMP
Damned good idea. Hope there's someone who has the drive to run with it.
???????
Always open to constructive advice. Please elaborate.
LOL
No offense, but it helps to spell his name right.
The internet is too fast for the entrenched media and the various personalities within it I would think. It will take a new generation of anchors and investigators to rise to the top, to sufficiently use it in such a way as you suggest. With that said, it is an excellent letter, and I hope it draws attention and has the outcome you want it to have.
Perhaps.
But won't a response by Fox News be perceived as a ratings-grab attack on CBS? In other words, not a journalistic search for the truth, but "Watch Fox News, not CBS -- they're liars and we're not"?
Good idea. But I suggest you add a reference to Edward R. Murrow. Ask Brit to become the Edward R. Murrow of our time by doing a documentary on the uholy alliance between the DNC and the old media. The Swift Boat Vet and RatherGate stories could be the illustrative examples that he hangs the presentation on. It could be his chance at immortality. It would also be a service to the country.
Britt Hume is easily the best journalist extantant. Dinosaurs like Brokenjaw and dncbuttboyDan are toast. Tom is supposed to retire in November after the election, Dan should be out on his keester any minute now, and with a little luck Petey will be deported as a commie spy.
and too interactive.
look how FAST common sense in the public arena of ideas just OBlITERATED Rather's "credibility".
Rather cited "totality" of their research. Ok, where is it? No where, because CBS has NOTHING. No credibility, no investigation, no research, no fair, no balance. Just Rather's personal DESIRE for bashing bush at all costs, even his career.
I think you are right. I am waiting for the day when the RathersCronkitesJenningsSchieffers fade off into oblivion.
"-Because of this new virtual community the old media, so far, has not been able to simply declare “truth” in their favor and move on.-"
Ain't it the truth!
Wowzer! I have the utmost respect for Fox News, especially Brit Hume. I have equal respect for FreeRepublic. I hope Brit responds favorably. As you suggested he can, and should, verify everything Freepers tell him.
A small observation, but if you're going to invite somebody to do something in correspondence, you should at least spell their name correctly.
Good slogan, soundly rooted in fact.
We will know that as their advertising rates go into decline.
How much is an ad spot on 60 minuts or CBS news?
He may be more impressed if you spelled his name right - it's Brit, not Britt
We are at a crossroads in the way human society communicates and shapes the consensus of our communities. This happened when Guttenberg’s press made pamphleteering a real possibility. It happened when people like Edward R. Murrow took the power of radio into war in the 1930s and brought distant troubles back home in a profound new way. It happened in the 60s when technology enabled people to see events as they happened. This is one of those moments.
Brit Hume has known John Kerry since grade school. I'd like to know if Brit can tell us when he (Kerry) took on his "affected" speech pattern. The one he uses in his 1971 appearance before Congress, the famous "Jengis Kahn" testimony. Surely, Brit as a schoolboy chum can tell us when he assumed this way of speaking.
or (respectfully) there is no one else.
Believe me, that is very possible. I was in Athens for the Olympics, the only foreign media was BROADCAST OVER THE AIR was CNNeurope. Bias bias bias.
Even the greek media ran daily breakdown stories of what CNN was saying about the olympics and pointing out how CNN was just getting it plain wrong. (for some reason they only picked up what CBS had to say on their Government Network)
If there is hurricant or some outage of cable TV there is only broadcast and only the big networks with strong signals MAY get through IF you have power. Something that is veeeery scarry in a disaster circumstance.
(I know abroad, FR was a beacon of sanity.)
No, Dan Rather has no credibility to lose, but the fact must be force fed to the public the same way they get all of their "facts", by the TV.
" Not Chris Wallace. Not Tony Snow. Certainly not Ted Koppel or Wolf Blitzer."
Just curious why you included Tony Snow with the others. Always thought he was one of the "good guys"...Now, Shepard Smith I'd understand.
Nothing wrong with Tony Snow, but he doesn't have the standing or prestige of Brit Hume (notice, I got the spelling right this time?).
Thanks Phsstpok, I thought it might be something like that, but then again I may have missed something so thought I'd better ask.
I believe you are correct; the internet – or more accurately the World Wide Web – is coming of age. I do not think it is unreasonable to believe that – if these documents prove to be fakes – this event will be seen as an historic turning point in the way the Old Media and the New Media are viewed. I could, of course, be mistaken.
Let us know what, if any response you get.
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