Time: Tue Sep 30 12:56:52 1997 by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id MAA27189; Tue, 30 Sep 1997 12:53:41 -0700 (MST) by usr02.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id MAA18397; Tue, 30 Sep 1997 12:36:06 -0700 (MST) Date: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 12:35:37 -0700 To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: The Government-Media Complex Exposed (fwd) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit <snip> > >http://www.worldnetdaily.com/btlines/970930.btl.FEDPOWER.GovernmentMediaPar tnership.html > >WorldNetDaily >September 30, 1997 > >The Government-Media Complex Exposed > >By Joseph Farah > >Americans once worried about the military-industrial complex. It’s still >a concern, but a much more ominous and imminent threat to our freedom is >what I call “the government-media complex.” > >Even some establishment press organizations are beginning to worry about >and expose the cozy relationship between these two powerful institutions >that, in a free society, are supposed to be natural adversaries. Last >week, the Wall Street Journal published a particularly good illustration >of the way the government-media complex works in real life. > >The front-page story by reporter Kevin Helliker described a U.S. Fish >and Wildlife Service raid four years ago on the Montana home of Paul >Berger, 72, and ill with emphysema. > >“Yet when federal agents got a warrant to search his ranch,” Helliker >wrote, “they assembled a force large enough to take on Rambo. At dawn, >21 men converged on the Berger ranch. They had a stockpile of weapons, a >caravan of trucks and an airplane.” > >What was the high crime Mr. Berger was suspected of committing? >Poisoning eagles that were preying on his sheep -- accusations, by the >way, that came from former employees who hadn’t worked on the ranch for >years. The agents who served the warrant the day of the raid wore wires >-- not, however, to feed a government recorder, but a Cable News Network >tape. > >“And three of the men who spent 10 hours scurrying around his ranch that >day, dressed in the same street clothes as federal agents, didn’t belong >to the government at all: They worked for CNN, the news network of Time >Warner Inc.’s Turner Broadcasting unit,” the Journal reported. > >Though no evidence of eagle poisoning was found, Berger was charged with >the crime. A jury of his peers found him innocent. That didn’t stop CNN >from broadcasting a story on “Earth Matters” pronouncing the raid a huge >success. > >Now, Berger and his wife are suing the federal government and CNN for >violating their Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and >seizure. His attorneys point out that the warrant never even mentioned >the presence of CNN, which he claims is guilty of trespassing. > >This case should raise some fundamental issues for the media. It is >becoming routine for the press to cooperate with government authorities >in covering law enforcement operations. In recent years, we have >witnessed the tragic results of such ties. Most everyone now realizes >that the initial raid on the Waco church was little more than a >publicity stunt by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. It >turned into the worst law enforcement disaster in the history of the >United States. > >Did the media’s presence inspire cowboy theatrics by the police? And, in >other similar arrangements, does the press give the government too much >leeway in shaping the content and timing of its stories? > >In the Berger case, CNN signed an agreement giving the government >control over when -- if ever -- the network would show the documentary. >CNN, aware that the government was improperly serving the warrant, did >nothing to interfere or report the violation. The editors back in >Atlanta also served up a piece that made it seem Berger was admitting to >the federal agents that he had indeed poisoned eagles, when, in fact, he >told them he had laced several sheep carcasses with poison designed to >kill coyotes terrorizing his flock. > >That’s the how the government-media complex works in its most insidious >form. But you can see other examples virtually everyday in your daily >newspaper and on the network news shows. How often do you see government >waste, fraud, abuse and corruption exposed by the press? It’s extremely >rare, these days. What we do see, however, is the press cooperating with >big government by making hysterical claims, promoting junk science scare >stories, fanning the flames of phony crises -- all in the interest of >some new government bureaucracy, regulation or tax. > >The big media have signed an unholy pact with the devil. They’ve decided >that it serves their interest more to work with the government than to >expose it on behalf of the people. > >The primary role of the free press in a free society is to serve as a >watchdog on government. That’s what the founders of this great nation >had in mind when they enshrined in the First Amendment special >protections for the news media. They would turn over in their graves if >they could see the way this ideal has been betrayed by the big media >whores who have jumped into bed with big government. >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >Joseph Farah is Editor of the internet newspaper WorldNetDaily.com and >Executive Director of the Western Journalism Center, an independent >group of investigative reporters. > >©1997, Western Journalism Center > >˙-˙-˙-˙-˙-˙-˙-˙-˙-˙-˙-˙-˙-˙-˙-˙ >Unsub info - send e-mail to majordomo@majordomo.pobox.com, with >"unsubscribe liberty-and-justice" in the body (not the subject) >Liberty-and-Justice list-owner is Mike Goldman <whig@pobox.com> > > ======================================================================== Paul Andrew Mitchell, Sui Juris : Counselor at Law, federal witness B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine : tel: (520) 320-1514: machine; fax: (520) 320-1256: 24-hour/day-night email: [address in tool bar] : using Eudora Pro 3.0.3 on 586 CPU website: http://supremelaw.com : visit the Supreme Law Library now ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this _____________________________________: As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice. We shall not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal. ======================================================================== [This text formatted on-screen in Courier 11, non-proportional spacing.]
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