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What Journalists;
Thursday, August 09, 2007

Media Check-USA

August 09, 2007

Kevin Fatemi

As more and more American troops in Iraq are being disintegrated, vaporized and blown to bits by Iranian-made munitions, the pathetic hand-wringing in the USA about “Iranian interference” in Iraq has led only to useless and counter-productive ambassadorial charades of “regional security conferences” between the US and the cynical Iraq-based mouthpieces of the criminal regime that has terrorized the entire nation of Iran since 1979. In the meantime, the near-complicity of the US media in perpetuating the status quo in Iran has led to the nearly absolute ignorance of the American public concerning true state of worsening subjugation and oppression that the Iranian citizens have been suffering under since the most recent “election” in Iran.

Since the former alleged interrogator, torturer, executioner and hit-man for Khomeini has been installed as “president” in Iran, the elevation in power and stature of the most murderous henchmen in the regime to positions of judges, intelligence chiefs and ministers has only widened the oppression and terror that the freedom-loving people of Iran have had to suffer under. However, this fact and the overall falsehood of any semblance of truly democratic elections in Iran has been withheld from the American public by a media that seems more concerned with avoiding any reporting on the domestic situation in Iran that might endanger their access to visas for their reporters to enter Iran for “exclusive” first-hand reporting. CNN, ABC and even Fox News have been notably irresponsible in their coverage of the domestic governmental terror in Iran that has prevented any form of political dissent from being covered in the USA press. In the meantime, brave and conscientious Iranian journalists and political opponents are being arrested, tortured and secretly executed for attempting to let the truth be known about the Islamic Fourth Reich and its Islamic Revolutionary Gestapo.

While CNN has been relentless in its efforts to blacken the Bush administration’s attempts to bring truly democratic elections to Iraq, it has been virtually mute on the lack of any political discourse or freedom that preceded the most recent “presidential elections” in Iran. It’s preening and coddling of Ahmadinejad as a valued pet thorn in the side of President Bush has led to virtually no coverage of the widespread arrests, executions and disappearances of hundreds of thousands of political opponents to the criminal regime in Tehran. The only coverage of domestic unrest in Iran has been the airing of the “confessions” of the unfortunate Iranian-American citizens provided by the Islamic Republic or the supposedly “candid” bazaar interviews conducted under the watchful eyes of government agents wherein Iranian citizens claim that all is well in Iran except for the oppressive “effects of US-led sanctions” against their government.

While Christian Annanpour has been to virtually every war-torn suburb in the Middle-East to rail against the effects of President Bush’s foreign policy, she has not been to Evin prison in Teheran where braver news reporters as well as teenage girls and boys are being tortured and executed for doing simple teenage things that are banal and perfectly legal anywhere else in the free world such as attending or even listening to rock concerts or wearing Western clothes or even merely taking a photograph near the prison.

The continued executions of teenage girls in Iran for “immoral behavior” such as the case of 16 year old Atefah Salaahah in Neka, who was secretly executed for being raped, after being condemned to death by an “appeals” judge who was consequently promoted to be a “minister of justice” in the Ahmadinejad government, was only revealed to the American public in a documentary on the Discovery Times channel after being ignored by CNN in any coverage of the Middle East. In summary, CNN’s refusal to reveal the degree of domestic terror being perpetrated by Ahmadinejad and his henchmen has added to the degree of oppression that the Iranian people are being subjected to.

ABC has a network news-radio channel broadcasting out of New York called WABC. For nearly ten years, the top-rated news-talk-radio show on week-nights all along the East coast was the John Batchelor show, from 10pm until 1am. This show was structured and organized with interviews from some of the most widely acclaimed and knowledgeable international affairs experts on political, military and social developmements in the US and abroad. The individuals being interviewed on-air ranged from Khaled Mashaal, one of the leaders of the military wing of Hamas, out of Damascus, to Benjamin Netanyahu out of Israel, to Ali Reza Jafarzadeh representing the Mujahedin Khalq based in a sanctuary in Iraq, and even to Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late Shah. While both Hamas and the Mujahedin Khalq have at some point or another had American blood on their hands, they were still on-air with John Batchelor on WABC. In fact, Jafarzadeh was responsible for the revelation of the degree of advancement of the Iranian nuclear program which seemed to have been ignored by the West until only recently. However, the main crux of the John Batchelor show was to educate the American public about the surreptitious yet ubiquitous hand of the Iranian regime in fostering terror and war everywhere in the Middle East and abroad to threaten the US and Western civilization in general. Mr. Batchelor, who himself is of partial Iranian descent, and claimed to have once sat in the lap of Mossadegh, was very adamant and unabashed about pointing out the support that the Iranian regime had lent to the foes of peaceful coexistence in Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, Israel, Afghanistan and especially in Iraq. One of Mr. Batchelor’s nightly contributing analysts, John Loftus, would provide information on the Iranian terror network in Iraq that we would not see on other networks or even in the printed news for months to come if ever.

Suddenly, one night Mr. Batchelor informed his wide audience that his show had been cancelled by ABC. The American public had lost its only true access to information about the terror campaign being waged against the West by the regime in Iran. For the week before his last show, ABC and Mr. Batchelor’s call-in line was bombarded with pleas to remain on the air. Inexplicably, this sole access to real-world information on the Iranian terror network disappeared from the airwaves. They say “money talks.” In this case, one can only draw the connections between the financial power of the Iranian regime and the corporate greed of WABC.

Finally, while Fox News has often being labeled as right-wing in its take on the news, it has nevertheless, failed miserably to reveal to the American public, the degree of oppression being faced by the Iranian citizenry. In particular, its morning talk radio show has failed miserably to reveal the degree of non-representation of the Iranian people’s political wills that the Ahmadinejad regime actually embodies. In other words, Fox News Radio has failed to explain to its listening public that this regime in Tehran is the result of a lack of any free press, political opposition or freedom of expression and is the result of mass arrests, torturing and executions of any and all domestic political opposition prior to the “election.” The American people are now ignorant of the true love that the Iranian people have for the US, peace, freedom and democracy because US media, including Fox News, allowed the Ahmadinejad hijacking of power in Tehran to go unnoticed and unreported. The final straw in establishing my disdain for Fox News Radio came one morning recently when I heard one of their commentators referring to Iran as the “one true democracy in the Middle East.” I wanted to pickup my cell-phone and call in to set the record straight. However, unlike the John Batchelor Show, this program had been pre-recorded the day before.

The American people are living in an insulated time-warp devoid of any realistic idea of the degree of terror being inflicted on the Iranian people by the thugs, torturers, executioners and terrorists who conveniently call themselves the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Sir,
it’s really a real pleasure to read this person.

Thanks and best regards,

Michael,
Some good points here, but isn’t Katz’ view - and the one you’re endorsing - something of a ‘blame the victim’ scenario? The tower walls having become higher and thicker in recent years cannot be construed as a cause of newspapers’ shabby hiring practices. Surely the cause, insofar as there is one, originates with investor/manager prerogatives as they relate to ideology and ad revenue.

ML:

Am I supposed to blame the investors for plagiarism and bias in the academy and bias and made-up stories in the media?

Good grief. Get a grip, man.

After a lifetime as a blue collar worker, with a grey beard now nearly white I have almost completed a BA at an American public university, heading to post-graduate school for an MA and then a PhD. The university experience has been a point of sorrow, despite fulfilling a life-long personal goal.

What did I ‘learn’? I learned that ‘critical thinking’ is an euphemism for the Left’s political correctness; objectivity in the classroom is in such short supply that it cannot be simply the result of “benign neglect.” I learned that public polls showing that 70%, 80%, even 90% of university faculties are of the same political persuasion don’t even begin to tell the story of how many professors are outright Marxist, neo-Marxist, or socialist. I learned that if there is anyone more anti-intellectual than a religious bigot, it is an egalitarian socialist. I learned that the most doctrinaire of Marxists, those who are such “true-believers” that some several students actually complain, are REWARDED for their political extremism by promotion from the faculty up to administration. I learned, above all, that formal post-secondary education in America makes one an enlightened elite (so long as one votes Left), or as someone who is “stoopid” if one votes Right. In Journalism, I learned that ‘Ethics’ is the class most-cut. In Ecology, I learned that Marx was an environmentalist. In Philosophy, I learned that ‘Global Justice’ has very nearly nothing to do with individual human freedom. In International Relations, I learned that the source of all the world’s problems reside in America’s foreign policy. In International Economics, I learned…

It’s a typical, American college education. “Sorrow” is the word I use to describe my longed-for university experience. The entire five year experience has been emotionalism posing as rationality.

The experience is supposed to be, to learn to think by acquiring an education in the Liberal Arts. “Liberal” no longer means at American universities what is was originally meant to develop: An open mind.

ML:

Righto. And it costs a fortune.

If ever there was a ruling class manque: a group that believes itself destined to rule, but that, so far, does not, it is the denizens of some of the elite press outlets. A crowd ready-made for the use of the next demagogue who seizes his chance.

Fox is far in away the best network on the issue of global islam; They alone have aired “Obsession” the
story on “Islamists vs. Moslem Moderates” spiked by PBS, et a. They are far from perfect. I’m curious Mr. Ledeen, about your opinion about Robert Littell’s book and TNT adaptation “The Company” which paints your ouija board associate James Angleton as an anti-hero; although paradoxically validates his suspicions; about Communist infiltration but looks dissaproved of his methods; and according to the end of the 2nd segment; would not have looked well upon the idea of “regime change”

ML:

I don’t watch television, with the exception of The Sopranos (now gone) and “24″ (moribund until January), and college basketball. So I haven’t seen this, and thus have no opinion.

Wow. Your insightful article certainly sparked some deeply felt reactions. As it rightly should have. I found your essay to be spot on. And also very disturbing.

It brings to mind the treacherous folly of the infamous Cambridge Four, with their elitist disdain for the common folk and their delusional self-importance. Their inate superiority raised them above those petty and banal considerations of honor and patriotism. And by their unbridled hubris they will forever be remembered as amoral traitors.

I was deeply moved by ‘Kourosh’s’ (or was it Fatemi’s)impassioned indictments of the Western Main Stream Media, and I agree with almost all of what he has to say. We need to hear more from people who really know what’s going on inside Iran. However, at some point, I fear, the way the mullahs are relentlessly pursuing their Atomic bomb, what these Iranian dissidents think of their government is going to become a moot point.

I would have to agree with ‘narciso’ in his assessment of Fox. They are the only network that even tries to report the truth in this War on Terror. As for that “One true democracy in the Middle East” comment. I heard that incredible statement too. And I did pick up my mouse and immediately email my disgust to Foxnews. However, this utterly stupid remark was made by the always-fallible Sheppard Smith, who can barely get through a program without screwing something up and having to say “What I should have said was…” So we can’t really blame that one on Fox, unless you want to blame them for keeping the empty-headed S.S. on their payroll.

‘a Duoist’s’ disheartening experiences in the Ivy League were indeed “sorrowful”, but, alas, all too typical. And he too spoke with honesty and deep feeling. This is obviously a subject which touches a lot of people to the core.

One of my alltime best friends is working toward his PHD in education. I am constantly amazed at the incredibly dishonest PC programs he is required to participate in. Hopefully, he will be able to keep his honesty and integrity — despite his higher education.

Thank you Mr. Ledeen for providing the space for this profound and moving discussion. It is certainly one of the most important issues of our time.

ML:

Yes, and thanks to all those who are contributing.

This is indeed a very profound exchange and something that has touched my core belief in regards to the culture of PC so prevalent in our lives today.
This is “Elitism” at its best, open and clear for all to see.
The liberal/elite/intellectual crowd ignores all the humanistic principles of honesty, integrity, courage, honor, and liberty just to serve their short term needs.

Just as Bernard Goldberg has said it in his great book: “Crazies to the left of me, Wimps to the Right” these self claimed intellectual liberal elite who believe with all their neurons in their brain that THEY are indeed the enlightened and intelligent ones and all others on the other side are plain stupid, simply ignore the truth when they need to take a stand and show courage for sticking up to a good and honorable principle, since it will cost them big. In other words, these parasitic elite of the left and high on their thrones in the most luxurious settings always talk a good game as long as it does not cost them anything!!!

Thank you Dr. Ledeen for posting Kourosh’s piece and all the wonderful though provoking exchanges by friends that followed.

More of these kinds of expose should be revealed by more people.

Sorry, Off Topic-

Michael- I saw your photo on an Iranian blog and wanted to pass it on.

http://www.alikhaligh.com/photoblog/prev/64.php

If US include Revolutionary Guards in the terrorist list, that would be great news for Iranian and the world peace. However, noises from the Europe are to only include Ghods Guard. The reason for this European tactic is their antihuman hidden agenda. IF US include Ghods Group only, the anarchists and LeftOver Marxists can then claim it is to please Israel only. Since, Ghods was originally formed to free Jerusalem from Isreal