As gatekeepers of the corporate information bazaar, you have served Israel well. Echoing the propaganda of Tel Aviv and Washington has become mainstream fare, with omission at the heart of the campaign.
Thomas Jefferson, America’s third president, judiciously wrote in 1789: “Whenever the people are well informed, they may be trusted with their own government.” Unfortunately, today’s media mind managers have forgotten that. The public’s right to know the truth about Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinians, supported by the United States, has been subordinated to currying the favor of special interest groups and monied interests.
You have been tranquilized by your intimate relationship to the national security state, ever willing to espouse the pro-Israel views of the White House, State Department, the Pentagon, and most, if not all, members of the American political class.
British novelist, George Orwell, in a passage from his prophetic novel, 1984, aptly described the relationship that has evolved between the establishment media and Israel; he wrote: “If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.”
There is a tendency among journalists to believe in their individual autonomy, although most work in large, hierarchical, corporate media organizations. Many have convinced themselves that they are engaged in watchdog journalism, when they are, in fact, acting as stenographers for the powerful.
In the case of Israel, journalists quickly learn compliancy, what can and cannot be said to protect careers. While pro-Israel reporting and editorializing are rewarded, exact narratives and historical perspectives suffer repercussions.
Censors have become unnecessary because an ideological self-censorship has formed and congealed. Many of them can recall instances when they were told not to antagonize powerful interests and advertisers, and can name principled journalists, like the late Helen Thomas and John Pilger, who were banished for saying the “unacceptable.”
Hellbound and Down 