[Mb-civic] MoveOn wants us to call media re Downing Memo!

[Mike Blaxill]

Dear MoveOn member,

A London newspaper rocked British elections when
it leaked a top intelligence official's report
that President Bush was intent on invading Iraq
long before he sought Congress' approval. Bush
called Iraq an urgent threat, but the memo says
"the intelligence and facts were being fixed
around the policy."1 British officials are not
denying the memo's accuracy, and a former senior
American official called it "an absolutely
accurate description of what transpired."2


This revelation nearly cost Prime Minister Tony
Blair his re-election, and it was all over the
British press. But American newspapers barely
mentioned this new evidence that Bush twisted the
facts to justify war. The major newspapers ran
one or two stories rehashing the British reports.
Worse, TV network news shows haven't covered the
memo at all.3


Readers of the New York Times recently demanded
coverage of the British memo, and the newspaper
finally wrote a full story last week.4 We can do
the same for network news.


Please call or email the nightly news programs
you watch, at:


ABC World News Tonight
Phone: 212-456-4040
PeterJennings at abcnews.com


CBS Evening News
Phone: 212-975-3691
evening at cbsnews.com


NBC Nightly News
Phone: 212-664-4971
nightly at nbc.com


PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
Phone: 703-739-5000
newshour at pbs.org


Identify yourself as a viewer, then say something
like:


"Please investigate and report on the British
memo suggesting the Bush administration
manipulated intelligence to support its plans to
invade Iraq. We need to know what really
happened. Thank you for your time."



It's important to track our impact. Please let us
know you're calling at:


http://www.moveon.org/mediacorps/britishmemo.html?id=5582-3313316-bcjtGH4cwexkdLxo9yr_NA&t=1


The American media's failure to question the Bush
administration led to an unnecessary war. Now the
media's failure to cover the war is making it
impossible for Americans to unite behind an exit
plan. This won't get better until we demand more
coverage of the war.


Thank you for all that you do,


–Noah, Wes, Micayla, Matt and the MoveOn.org Team
  Friday, May 27th, 2005


Sources:
1. The Downing Street Memo website
http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/


2. "'Downing St. Memo' fizzling in U.S.," Seattle
Times, May 18, 2005
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002278761_memo18.html


3. "Network Viewers Still in the Dark on 'Smoking
Gun Memo,'" FAIR, May 20, 2005
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2520


4. "British Memo on U.S. Plans for Iraq War Fuels
Critics," New York Times, May 20, 2005
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0520-01.htm