Dan Rather talks to BBC on fear in the US for journalists . . .

[catscradle]

Well this is a bit telling - Dan Rather got on BBC news and told them that journalists are afraid to report the news and asked tough questions of the government due to rampant patriotism in the US. He didn't feel as though he could say that on say. . . the 6pm evening news on CBS.

BBC Interview

Only one US paper I've found so far has carried a story on the BBC interview. The Boston Globe: Article on Dan Rather BBC interview

Comments

[thebratqueen.livejournal.com]

I wonder if that's going to change now in light of the brohaha over the pre911 information the govt had.

[catscradle.livejournal.com]

Hard to say - the Bush machine was pretty good getting the country to ignore the whole Florida issue over the election dispute. Sure there were question brought up, but it got dropped rather quickly even though the evidence was there that shady things were going on in Florida.

Even with the inquiry into what the Bush Administration knew about potential al-Qaeda hijackings, they're still making sure we all know that Bush didn't know when and where. And there's going to be a huge spin on how the Clinton admisitration screwed over out intelligence by majorly cuting the defense spending and yadda yadda. . . it's vogue to hate the Clinton administration now. Hell, it's AMERICAN to hate the Clinton administration right now.

But who knows, hopefully this will be the straw needed to get people out of their complacency and question what the hell their government is doing.

[thebratqueen.livejournal.com]

Or at the very least if they are questioning, to at least do something about it. I suspect many problems right now are due to apathy as much as ignorance.

[catscradle.livejournal.com]

Pisses me off that I have to come out of apathetic retirement because of stupid people. But I don't know, I think if this stuff got as much coverage as all the flag waving "united we stand" crap gets, the public would be more than appalled by it. The information is out there, but you have to search for it. If we were getting it the same way we eat, breath and sleep the great values of this nation under unjust attack, I think things would be different. I think people would be full of disgust. Maybe we'd see a resurgence of the movements that began in the 60's. I"m not idealistic enough to think we'll actually see a change in our government in my lifetime, but I'd at least like to see the people get pissed off and active about it. Change has to begin somewhere, even if the real results aren't seen for a few centuries.

And even if nothing changes the government, people can make a difference to people. I'd like to at least see more people trying to help out their fellow humans.