Conyers:Mainstream Media Decries Government Monitoring, Sort of

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The news came out today that the government has been monitoring the calls of ABC News, Washington Post and New York Times journalists. You have to wonder if this means these writers will begin to question the motives behind the Administration's vast abuses of power. Or will they continue to give the administration the benefit of the doubt at every turn?

That the Bush White House would stoop this low should really come as no surprise. Every effort has been made the administration to silence its critics. Generals demoted or retired. Whole intelligence operations compromised. Cabinet secretaries shown the door. Library records and credit card data accumulated and disseminated. Why stop there?

Of course the administration wants to know who journalists are talking to. This is an administration that wants access to all kinds private information to learn everything except who outed Valerie Plame and where the WMDs are.

What is most disappointing is that this story only merits a mention on ABC's blog. The principals at ABC/Disney can't even bring themselves to protect their own employees, much less the integrity of news, by giving this story the extended TV coverage it deserves. This just makes you wonder, if the networks don't think their journalists are worth fighting for, have they come to believe journalism is not worth fighting for either?

http://www.conyersblog.us/default.htm