Please. NBC. Please put David Gregory and Meet the Press out of our misery. Pretty please? Would it help if I released a wholly unverified video claiming that Hamas was firing rockets towards Israel out of 30 Rock?
Last Thursday, as we noted at the time, Israel had reportedly bombed a U.N. shelter at a U.N. school compound, “designated as a haven for the displaced”, according to AP. The attack on the shelter in northern Gaza was said to have killed at least 15 and injured scores more, many of them children. Israel had claimed, at the time, that they had sent a warning the night before so, presumably, it’s all cool and totally the Red Cross’ or Hamas’ or the children’s own fault for having been killed or injured in Israel’s mortar attack. Had they only re-located to a safer place — like, say, a U.N. shelter?! — none of it would have happened.
Israel claimed at the time that the school compound in question had been used by Hamas as a base for firing rockets at Israel.
On Sunday, Israel released a grainy video purporting to show rockets being fired from the compound. Minutes after they had posted it to YouTube — and just after his interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — David Gregory of NBC’s Meet the Press confronted U.N. Relief & Works Agency spokesperson Chris Gunness about the video — which the U.N. spokesman could not see from his satellite location in Tel Aviv.
“The Israeli government has released videotape within the past hour, it was posted on YouTube, NBC News hasn’t independently verified,” Gregory explained to Gunness. “The Israelis say — and I realize that you cannot see this video, our audience can, and I’m going to describe it to you — that purports to show rockets being fired from a UN school.”
“Is this accurate?” Gregory asked. “Could this be happening without the UN’s knowledge, that would only bolster the Prime Minister’s point that, in fact, Hamas is using civilians, using the United Nations even in a kind of propaganda war?”…
“Gunness,” as David Edwards at RAW STORY notes, “found the notion that he was being made to respond to a[n] unconfirmed video that he couldn’t even see so ridiculous that he could barely contain laughter.”
“Look, to be fair to me, to bring me on a live program and expect me to comment live on air on pictures I haven’t actually seen, I think anyone looking at this program would agree that’s really unfair,” Gunness explained. “I mean, if I can see it, I’ll happily comment on it.”
“We have said that all sides have to respect the inviolability of U.N. compounds, and that’s both sides. So if this is what you say it is, we would strongly condemn it,” Gunness said. “We’re a humanitarian organization. You know, we’re not an organization with an army. We have moral force. We have the force of international law. And we have the principles of humanitarianism to protect us. But that’s it.”
He went on to say that the “U.N. protected school”, flying a blue U.N. flag, was clearly marked as such, and the location had been given to Israel. He also said that the relief organization had “spent hours on the phone begging — pleading with the Israeli army to allow civilians out on that terrible day” and they did not allow them to do so.
Later in the show, Gregory was forced to issue his version of a “correction” or an “apology”, which likely went unseen by many who saw the earlier, unconfirmed, Israeli-provided video of what were purported to be rockets fired from the U.N. shelter. As he issued his “end note”, Gregory showed the video yet again.
“An end note to an earlier conversation about Gaza. We asked, as you will recall, a spokesman about this video which Israel claims — Israel claims — showed rockets being fired by Hamas from a U.N. school in Gaza,” Gregory told viewers. “This is shot by the Israeli government, and that’s their claim. The U.N. has reviewed it, tells us they have confirmed, in their view, the video does not show rockets being fired from U.N. administrated school in Gaza. So, this is a back and forth we are not able to settle at this point.”
Here is the interview with Gunness and Gregory’s later “end note”…
Recall David Gregory’s earlier question to Gunness, as he showed the grainy, black and white footage of purported rockets being fired from the U.N. shelter to viewers, which the U.N. later saw and denied that it showed what Israel had claimed: “Could this be happening without the U.N.’s knowledge, that would only bolster the Prime Minister’s point that, in fact, Hamas is using civilians, using the United Nations even, in a kind of propaganda war?”
Perhaps the question is better restated this way — in the same way it could have been restated when the U.S. Administration, before the Iraq War, was using NBC and Meet the Press in the same way: Could it be happening without NBC’s knowledge, that would only bolster critics of Israel that, in fact, Israel is using U.S. mainstream news outlets, using NBC’s Meet the Press, in a kind of propaganda war?
The evidence, and the history of both Gregory and Meet the Press would suggest that that absolutely “could be happening”, and most likely is. It is hardly unusual for either side in such a conflict to use propaganda to try and make their case or, to put it more kindly, make their case in a way that puts them in the most positive light. But it remains the media’s job to try and sort out what is and isn’t propaganda before becoming a mouthpiece for that propaganda.
On the same day last week that Israel bombed the U.N. shelter, I had a late-day dentist appointment. My hygienist asked me how things were going, and I said “lousy”, that Thursday had been one of the worst news days I’d recalled in a very long time. She’d been at work all day and hadn’t heard about the list of breaking and tragic stories that I’d rattled off to her, including the Israeli attack on the U.N. shelter.
“Israel wouldn’t do that!,” she quickly objected in response.
“Yeah, well, they did and, they’ve admitted as much,” I told her, explaining that they claimed Hamas rockets were being fired from the facility, that they’d warned those taking shelter there to get out, and that Israel had claimed that Hamas would not allow civilians to leave the compound.
As of Monday afternoon, according to USA Today, “More than 1,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict so far, the Palestinian Health Ministry says. Before Monday’s attacks, the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] had said 46 Israelis had died, including 43 soldiers.”
On Monday, according to the paper, 9 Israeli soldiers were killed “in multiple clashes”, and another refugee camp in Gaza City was struck by rocket fire, killing 10 more Palestinians, 9 of them said to be children, and a 4-year old was killed in his family’s house elsewhere in Gaza…
Sahabani and Gaza police blamed Israeli missiles. Israel Defense Forces blamed Hamas. “Al-Shifa Hospital and Al-Shati Refugee Camp were struck by failed rocket attacks launched by Gaza Terrorists,” the IDF said in its blog.
…
Other Palestinian deaths Monday included a 4-year-old boy who died when tank shells hit his family’s house in the Gaza town of Jabaliya, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.”
I took no joy in relating the news to my dental hygienist last week. I strongly support Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself. I do not support its “right” to attack civilians, even where they claim that rockets are being fired (rockets which, it must be noted, had succeeded in killed exactly zero Israelis before they began their offensive), and even where they claim to have sent a warning to evacuate beforehand (evacuate to where?!)
If Israel believes that this strategy — which they have repeated for decades — will ultimately bring peace to the region, they are no more correct about that than the U.S. was when it decided launching its indiscriminate “War on Terrorism” after 9/11 would end, rather than fuel, decades of continuing hatred and attempted attacks.
It is because I support Israel’s right to exist that I strongly condemn their attacks (along with Hamas’), simply because, in the end, their “disproportionate response” to the undeniable threats they face, as British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg described it recently, is a “form of collective punishment” that will ultimate hurt Israel’s cause far more than it will help it.
“Because all it does, of course, in the long run,” said Clegg, “is act as a kind of, almost as an incubation, if you will — it incubates the next generation of violent extremists who want to do harm to Israel.”
When my hygienist said “Israel wouldn’t do that,” I suspect she was echoing the knee-jerk reactions of a majority of Americans who cursorily follow the corporate mainstream media — like NBC’s marquee Sunday “news” program, Meet the Press — which continues to be all too happy to advance “a kind of propaganda war”, so long as it’s “a kind of propaganda war” run by the pre-approved powers-that-be. It was not unlike the moment just over a year ago, when Gregory forwarded the U.S. government’s own propaganda line to charge that journalist Glenn Greenwald was “aiding and abetting” NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
It’s hard to imagine Gregory confronting Netanyahu, or anyone else representing the Israeli government, with damning video that he couldn’t see, much less video that was completely unverified as actually illustrating what those who released it claimed that it did.
It’s also hard to imagine someone screwing up as frequently as David Gregory does — but on behalf of those who are not friendly to the U.S. government — still having a job at all at any corporate U.S. media outlet.
[Hat-tip Dave Weigel]
David Gregory is an idiot!
And one wonders what David Gregory’s critical assessment of his own clueless toolishness is. The track record of the lamestream media for honest self-evaluation does not appear to be good. Especially, when the issue is how easy they’re manipulated by the aggressors of war.
Also–I’m guessing that almost all those Israel soldiers died after invading Gaza. Hamas on their own have killed maybe 3 Israeli outside of their Gaza prison. That’s three too many but still that’s some ratio–1000 to 3.
Brad, Hope you’re at last(or soon to be) experiencing some oral relief.
Going from Russert to Gregory has to be one of the biggest drop-offs imaginable. Just atrocious.
“Foolish toolishness.” Classic, David.
Hey folks. Don’t delude yourselves. NBC and David Gregory, along with the rest of U. S. corporate media know EXACTLY what they are doing – being mouthpieces for U. S. government policy and the Zionist lobby in America. Russert did the same thing. Want to know what’s really going on? You’ve got to listen to your Pacifica colleague Amy Goodman every weekday morning on “Democracy NOW!”
Who exactly decided Dick Gregory should ambush a U.N. rep on behalf of Israel? Was it CBS brass? Dick Gregory? Who planned this? Did anyone ask Dick Gregory that question?
sorry, DAVID Gregory, not DICK Gregory
David Gregory is going to be a chief persecution witness in the Monkey Trial II, as well as the “an eye for a thousand eyes” trial.
Both in the UN with Colon Power doing the prosecution.
During the presidential election’s Tim Russert asked questions of george bush about his connection to the highly secretive Scull & Bones Org., bush said I cannot comment on that subject, Tim Russert died soon after of what we were told was an unexpected illness.
Peter Jennings asked the same question of bush & John Kerry, Kerry also responded ” I cannot comment on that subject”, Peter Jennings was also short lived.
Tom Brocaw was the next best rising star for NBC, as we are awear the powers that be couldn’t have that so they the muslam terrorist made him an offer he couldn’t refuse and sent him a letter with USA weapons grade Antrax.
I guess the terrorist didn’t want the media picking on the federal government.
At 6’6 we must at least concider his failings could be caused by a lack of oxygen.
Brad.
I tip my hat to you for reporting this, considering all the flack you will ultimately take from the hard liners in your community.
I’m beginning to believe that there is some truth to the idea that there are compromising photos of people in a vault that keeps this shitty show going.
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2013/04/kay-briggs-whistleblower-extraordinaire-in-this-explosive-testimony-of-how-things-work-in-govt-and-military-wow-2613792.html
I’ve shared this with a few people, and one last night thought that it was lack of foresight for the chaos that is created to how screwed up we are, and not because of evil, Darth Chaney excepted of course.
JJ –
Thanks doesn’t sound batshit crazy at all! Thanks for sharing!
@JJ
Isn’t there enough real skullduggery in our history?
+ Gulf of Tonkin.
+ Nixon sabotage of Johnson’s Vietnam peace talks.
+ Iran Contra.
+ Cheney looking the other way allowing for 9/11.
It’s all there to explore, plus you don’t have to make anything up. Such a deal!
Tim Russert, Peter Jennings, and Tom Brokaw were (are) tools of the Corporate Media. Think about it: Since they never contributed anything to investigative journalism and were never advocates for the 99%, but instead hobnobbed with the power elite, why would those human stenographers and corporate megaphones be surreptitiously “done away with” Illuminati style?
@kd5
I must disagree a bit. I was often exasperated by Tim “on the other hand” Russert and his superficial Q & A when he hosted MTP, or what I now call it, “Meet the Republicans.” I wonder if anyone remembers how Russert would grill the odd center-left Democrat, and then suddenly later be all Larry King-like when a more often occurring Republican shows up. Maybe it’s a step down from Russert to Gregory, but I really think it’s more like a baby step.
(I was going to write my opinion on Russert in answer to kd5, I swear, but as I was writing the post above this one, Brad Friedman suddenly showed up as a guest of the substitute hosts, Ian & William on the Mike Malloy radio show. While discussing David Gregory’s current affront to journalism, Brad had to interject to counter the oft-repeated myth of Tim Russert. What he said kind of confirmed my own thoughts. As Cenk Uygur would say, “of course!”)
kd5 said @ 4:
Gotta agree with Jim Spriggs @ 15, and disagree with you here. Russert only looks good by comparison, and by the number of years its taken for so many to forget how shitty Russert was too. He blew. Not unlike Gregory.
Wouldn’t it be nice if Chris Hayes hosted MTP? Just sayin’.
I think you are misunderstanding the U.S. media system. David Gregory’s performance is on the air for exactly one purpose: to produce revenue for the network via the advertisements aired during the show. Why would you imagine that the network has any subsidiary intentions or responsibilities? As a publicly-held corporation with the concomitant fiduciary responsibility, in fact, the network is forbidden from doing anything that might reduce its stockholders’ return on investment.
David Gregory is a pretty face and nothing, repeat nothing more.
The only reason a bunch of corporations that do not sell anything directly to the public (BASF, ADM, Cargill, CSX, NS, any defense contractor, etc.) advertise on all of the Sunday morning talk shows, is so they have a say in their content. Essentially they extort them. They have a veto over their editorial content under the threat of withdrawing their ad revenue. The same thing has happened to PBS/NPR over the last 15-20 years. Used to be you could occasionally see some hard-hitting stories critical of companies like Walmart, or Koch Bros. companies, until those people started funding public broadcast programs. David Koch is a regular funder of NOVA, among other shows. Walmart and the Walton Family Foundation are major sponsors of a lot of PBS/NPR programs. They also (along with the Gates Foundation) are among the biggest backers of efforts to gut public education in the U. S.
The answer is obviously to have a public broadcasting system that is funded adequately enough they don’t have to take money from the culprits they should be reporting on. How we get back to a situation like that I don’t know?