{"id":331,"date":"2007-01-26T12:01:02","date_gmt":"2007-01-26T19:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=331"},"modified":"2007-12-05T12:27:19","modified_gmt":"2007-12-05T20:27:19","slug":"meet-the-message-control-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=331","title":{"rendered":"Meet The (Message Control) Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trial of Scooter Libby, for lying about outing an undercover CIA agent, has always promised to deliver long held secrets of intrigue and deceit from the White House. And with the participation of so many figures from the media (i.e. Judith Miller, Matt Cooper, Bob Novak, Tim Russert, etc.), there has also been the tantalizing prospect of embarrassing divulgences from that arena as well. Now the first of those promises<\/a> is being kept.<\/p>\n

When former Cheney communications director, Cathie Martin, testified yesterday, she outlined the options that the vice-president should consider in response to allegations that the White House was manipulating intelligence to promote its case against Iraq. Her testimony included the following:<\/p>\n

Option 1: “MTP-VP”<\/strong>, she wrote, then listed the pros and cons of a vice presidential appearance on the Sunday show. Under “pro,” she wrote: “control message.”<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

“I suggested we put the vice president on ‘Meet the Press,’ which was a tactic we often used,” Martin testified. “It’s our best format.”<\/span><\/p>\n

I can’t wait to hear Tim Russert’s response to this revelation that his program was a preferred dumping ground for administration propaganda. Martin detailed practices designed to bury bad news and otherwise distract the press. Then she complained that reporters didn’t accept her word and even stopped calling. That speaks well of certain members of the press, but also reveals how transparent her machinations must have been.<\/p>\n

In addition to cracking the door a bit on the VP’s media connivances, it was also disclosed that Cathie Martin is the wife of FCC chairman, Kevin Martin. In an administration rife with cronyism, it seems a little too convenient that the VP’s director of communications is sleeping with the head of the federal agency responsible for regulating the media companies she has been lying to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The trial of Scooter Libby, for lying about outing an undercover CIA agent, has always promised to deliver long held secrets of intrigue and deceit from the White House. And with the participation of so many figures from the media (i.e. Judith Miller, Matt Cooper, Bob Novak, Tim Russert, etc.), there has also been the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,13],"tags":[64,86,93,94],"class_list":["post-331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-scandalous","tag-dick-cheney","tag-kevin-martin","tag-scooter-libby","tag-tim-russert"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-5l","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1144,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1144","url_meta":{"origin":331,"position":0},"title":"Karl Rove’s Backup Dancer To Host Meet The Press","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/3\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The official announcement may not come until Sunday, but it appears that David Gregory has been tapped to permanently replace Tim Russert on Meet The Press. Gregory is currently the host of MSNBC's \"1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,\" a dreary collection of monotonous pundits that barely registers a blip in the ratings.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":370,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=370","url_meta":{"origin":331,"position":1},"title":"Kurtz on Russert: One Plus For The Media","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/8\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Libby trial exposed the dark underside of Washington's press corps and their incestuous relationships with the subjects of their coverage. But Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post has managed to find a sliver of hope for the restoration of the media's honor: The one plus for the media in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":499,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=499","url_meta":{"origin":331,"position":2},"title":"The Scooter Libby Fan Club","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/3\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Newspapers are spitting out editorials on the Bush commutation of Scooter Libby's jail sentence like bullets from an AK-47. Editor & Publisher has compiled a bunch already and there are a couple of strikingly notable standouts in the group. See if you can spot them: New York Times: \"...in this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":500,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=500","url_meta":{"origin":331,"position":3},"title":"Strange Bedfellows: Scooter Libby And Marc Rich","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/3\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence has rocked Washington and the rest of the nation. Everybody's got something to bitch about. Democrats are incensed that the President exhibits such contempt for law and order. Republicans are inconsolable that Libby didn't get a full pardon. One name keeps coming up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1307,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1307","url_meta":{"origin":331,"position":4},"title":"The Daily Show Defense","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/21\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A new legal precedent has been introduced by the Obama Justice Department. If permitted by the court, defendants nationwide may have a powerful new tool to assert in pursuit of legal vindication. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents containing statements\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":367,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=367","url_meta":{"origin":331,"position":5},"title":"Scooter Libby Guilty – Except On Fox News","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/6\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"It sure didn't take these guys long to construct their disinformation strategy. And you have to admire their chutzpah. Even while the Fox News Pundo-fascist talking blockheads make pseudo-lawyerly arguments demeaning the jury, the prosecutor, and the verdict, their manging editor, Droop Dawg Brit Hume floats above the real message\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}