Blitzer missed opportunity to ask Bennett about his comment that Pulitzer-winning reporters should be jailed
SUMMARY: On CNN's The Situation Room, Wolf Blitzer discussed the growing calls for Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld's resignation with CNN political analysts William Bennett and Donna Brazile. But Blitzer failed to ask Bennett about his remark earlier in the day that New York Times reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau and Washington Post staff writer Dana Priest -- who won Pulitzer Prizes for their reporting on Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program and the CIA's use of secret interrogation sites -- should be jailed. "I don't think what they did was worthy of an award," Bennett said on his radio show. "I think what they did was worthy of jail."
On the April 18 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer discussed the growing calls for Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld's resignation with CNN political analysts William Bennett and Donna Brazile. But at no point in the so-called "Strategy Session" did Blitzer take the opportunity to ask Bennett about his remark earlier in the day that New York Times reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau and Washington Post staff writer Dana Priest -- who won Pulitzer Prizes on April 17 -- should be jailed. "I don't think what they did is worthy of an award," Bennett said on the April 18 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show. "I think what they did is worthy of jail."
Risen and Lichtblau won a Pulitzer Prize for uncovering the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program. Priest's Pulitzer was for a November 2, 2005, article revealing the CIA's use of secret interrogation sites located around the world.
As blogger and attorney Glenn Greenwald noted, Bennett derided Risen, Lichtblau, and Priest for publishing leaked classified information "against the wishes of the president." He further argued that, rather than given awards, they should be arrested for violation of the Espionage Act.
From the April 18 broadcast of Salem Radio Network's Bill Bennett's Morning in America:
BENNETT: Here's what happened. We had reporters from The New York Times -- Risen and Lichtblau -- and a reporter from The Washington Post, Dana Priest -- took classified information, secret information, published it in their newspapers, against the wishes of the president, against the request of the president and others, that they not release it. They not only released it, they publicized it. They put it on the front page, and it damaged us, it hurt us. How do we know it damaged us? Well, it revealed the existence of the surveillance program, so people are going to stop making calls. Since they are now aware of this, they're going to adjust their behavior.
On the secret sites, the CIA sites, we embarrassed our allies, who were hospitable enough to offer up their countries for these sites. We probably closed up other possibilities for doing this in other places. And by her own admission, Dana Priest said the story is boomeranging around Europe. And so, it hurt us there and, of course, led more and more people to condemn the CIA -- makes it harder for them to do their work. As a result, are they punished? Are they in shame? Are they embarrassed? Are they arrested? No, they win Pulitzer Prizes. They win Pulitzer Prizes. I don't think what they did is worthy of an award. I think what they did is worthy of jail, and I think this investigation needs to -- needs to go forward.
Now, just to show you, I am not opposed to Pulitzer Prizes. I'm not opposed to Pulitzer Prizes to liberals. I'm not opposed to Pulitzer Prizes to liberals at The New York Times. They gave a Pulitzer Prize to [New York Times columnist] Nick Kristof for his reporting on Darfur, Sudan. You know what I think of that? Well deserved. Well deserved. I'll have him on this daggone show. He's a liberal, I'll have him on the daggone show. Because he deserves it, because he's done a great job on this. But these people who reveal our secrets, who hurt our war effort, who hurt the effort of our CIA, Porter Goss, who hurt the efforts of the president's people -- they shouldn't be given prizes and awards for this. They shouldn't be given prizes and awards for this. They should be looked into -- the Espionage Act, investigation of these leaks. I'm telling you, I'm hot.
Following Greenwald's original blog post on Bennett's claim that these reporters deserve to be jailed, Editor & Publisher issued an article highlighting the comment. Yet, when Bennett appeared on CNN several hours later, Blitzer failed to ask him a single question about it.
In September 2005, Media Matters for America questioned CNN's decision to hire Bennett as a commentator, noting his history of controversial statements, including his September 28, 2005, comment that "it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime ... you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down."
What are the odds, Mr. Bennett, that the true patriots are the journalists who exposed these secret desecrations of our laws and the Constitution? And what are the odds that your hypocrisy knows no bounds? Jail for these brave reporters and editors, Mr. Bennett? How about prison for traitors like Bush and Cheney, who lie and defraud the American people? They steal our money and send our sons and daughters to slaughter to feed their delusions and enrich their cronies. And how about prison for war criminals like Rumsfeld, who signs orders to bomb civilians in a war they cannot justify?
You make me ill, Mr. Bennett. You have no idea what morality or justice or freedom really is.
What are the odds, Mr. Bennett? C'mon, you're a betting man. I take that back -- we can't be so sure about the man part.
This guy is a real basket case, "I'm telling you, I'm hot."
I know he's hurting for a road trip to Vegas.
Man; Vegas misses William. The school's tax base is worse for wear when William had to stop his road trips to Vegas.
William wants to be our consciense does he? Thats alot like getting marriage advice from Limbaugh is'nt it?
Man; I love a guy who stil thinks he's seriously thought of as an authority on anything other than the highroller's suite at the Mirage.
Happy Thoughts;
Dan Grady
..you should never say anything negative about this administration, especially if they tell you not to, because the truth might cause people to dislike us!
When will these daggone reporters learn?! Only the government is allowed to leak information!
In today's New York Times there is an article about how the FBI wants access to Jack Anderson's personal papers to see if there are any classified documents. Mr. Anderson died in December 2005. He was a muckraking reporter who always tried to inform the people on the shady workings of their government. The article states that the case "has quickly hardened into a new test of the Bush administration's protection of government secrets and journalists' ability to report on them."
[link to www.nytimes.com]
To call Anderson a "muckracker" is a disservice, since Anderson was something we rarely see today: A REPORTER. (Keith Olbermann and Greg Palast are the only two I can think of.)
The dictionary defines MUCKRACKER as, "one who spreads real or alleged scandal about another (usually for political advantage)." This describes Rightwing media to a "T", except the rightwingers have trouble finding "REAL" scandal to spread.
Hume, Kondracke, Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, Savage, etc, etc, are classic muckrackers, peddling the politics of personal destruction to advantage THEIR GUYS in the GOP.
Anderson just reported the NEWS that was hard to dig out. It may have SEEMED like muckracking to the rightwing, but Harry Truman put it best, "I don't give them hell ... I just tell the truth, and they THINK it's hell!"
I meant no disrespect to Jack Anderson. I've always admired him. I was using "muckraker" as a term of endearment. Jack even referred to himself as a muckraker. His autobiography was titled, "Confessions of a Muckraker."
Its what they called Upton Sinclair after his book on the meat industry, that was the day of REAL investigatory journalism. That day is dead.
I tune into the Situation Room, once in a while, and I am amazed that CNN continues to use the slogan, "The News you can Trust". CNN, and its fellow cohorts have become the official apologists for the Rethugs, and continue to parley the official wing nut positions, as news. We do not have a representative media in the US. We have propaganda machines, churning out talking points put out by this Misadministration. We are the Jack Andersons when we need them!
If it was possible, I'm sure our founding fathers are spinning in their graves right now. We have a president and an administration who think nothing of violating federal laws and civil rights. We have a media who has an inherent responsibility to report the truth and the facts that make up that truth, but instead of doing that much of MM has turned into a bunch of pissy lap dogs who do the bidding of our current administration or are too afraid to report the truth out of fear of retaliation. The mess being spewed by Bennett and his cronies just that, mess and no one should take mess seriously.
This is just another piece of evidence that we are so far away from what was intended. The truth is losing value to opinion and crap.