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September 24, 2007
My Monday With Mahmoud
Jeff Gannon listens to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the National Press Club. Via Drudge Report and Washington Post
Reporters packed the National Press Club ballroom Monday for the first-ever videoconference with a madman. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed journalists and took questions selected from hundreds of queries submitted to the podium. However, the tepid interrogation that followed the Iranian leader’s nonsensical philosophizing in his opening statement left reporters with little to write about.
Considering the flaccid interviews conducted by the Old Media with Ahmadinejad in the past, I held low expectations for anything newsworthy – except for the buzz generated by the appearance itself. Opposing schools of thought exist about such an event, and I find myself firmly between the two camps. It seems hypocritical to give a tyrant the free speech rights he denies to his own people, yet the basic journalistic quest for information and truth compels reporters to consort with the worst of the worst.
Perhaps the deciding factor rested on the very nature of the institutional and genetic proclivities of the journalism elite. Old Media giants and their disciples love two kinds of people: Celebrities and dictators. Totalitarians (and entertainment types) who speak out against George W. Bush receive additional adoration from the fawning liberal media.
The Iranian president snared CBS News’ Scott Pelley in his thrall during a recent “60 Minutes” interview, the reporter later describing Ahmadinejad as "incorruptible, modest and friendly." Other Old Media talking heads will undoubtedly praise Ahmadinejad’s charisma and ability to charmingly deflect difficult questions much like how they marveled at Bill Clinton’s mastery of spin.
Ahmadinejad’s delusional rants about freedom in Iran and claims about the non-existence of homosexuals in his country probably did little to lessen his appeal to the Old Media. The Iranian dictator can deny the Holocaust without being ostracized and shunned by the West, so long as he does not express doubt about global warming.
BOOK PLUG: In my book, The Great Media War: A Battlefield Report I discuss the Old Media’s devotion to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and cite the writings of those who demonstrated how the American media, especially The New York Times assisted his rise to power.
Posted by jeffgannon at September 24, 2007 03:08 PM
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