Community | January 16, 2012 | 27 comments

Silencing Donahue and Anti-War Voices

source: http://consortiumnews.com/2012/01/15/silencing-donahue-and-anti-war-voices/

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Conniepae
I would like to see Donahue's voice at Current TV. Voices like Donahue's should be heard. The Iran war rhetoric needs balance. We can't let them march us into another war. We are not using toy soldiers, they are our sons and daughters.

By Dennis J. Bernstein

From the early 1970s to 1985, The Phil Donahue Show was broadcast nationally from Chicago. Donahue also co-hosted a compelling political talk show — with Vladimir Pozner of the former Soviet Union — called This Week with Pozner and Donahue from 1991-1994.

In July 2002, MSNBC hired him to host a free-wheeling TV talk show, which hyped the return of Donahue. However, eight months later during the run-up to war with Iraq, behind-the-scenes pressure from the Bush White House — and a groundswell of conservative outrage — led MSNBC to give the anti-war TV talk-show host the boot.

Talk show host Phil Donahue

It mattered little that Donahue had won nine Daytime Emmys and a Lifetime Achievement Emmy in 1996. MSNBC claimed Donahue’s ratings were too low to justify keeping the show on the air, even though Donahue was the highest rated show on MSNBC at the time it was canceled and beat out Chris Matthews‘s Hardball, which was then on CNBC.

After Donahue was cancelled, AllYourTV.com reported it had obtained a copy of an internal NBC memo that stated Donahue should be fired because he would be a “difficult public face for NBC in a time of war.”

We caught up with Donahue at the campaign headquarters of Norman Solomon for Congress, in San Rafael, California, about 20 miles north of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. He had come into town to show his moving film “Body of War” and to campaign for Solomon

DB: Phil Donahue has come into town to show a very compelling film that he produced called “Body of War” in 2007. It’s a very thoughtful film about a young vet, named Thomas Young, who was paralyzed in Iraq, and went through a transformation. … It wasn’t meant to be a dogmatic attack at policy but it turned into something that made you really think about war and peace, and why we send young people off to war.

So, in that context, we’ve been at many wars for a long time here. We’re thinking that there’s some end to the U.S. involvement in the war in Iraq. But now, everything looks like, and it’s getting worse that there might be some kind of tangle, and a very terrible tangle, with Iran. Your response to current policy, war policy, and your thoughts on that.

PD: Well, Rick Santorum is scaring me. He’s got both guns out. The Straits of Hormuz, if they [the Iranians] block that, you can see how we get into war. That’s one of the reasons why I admire Norman so much, he is making the point that it’s much too easy for a president to go to war.
  1. groups:
    Community,   News and Politics,   Politics,   Off Topic/General Discussion
  2. tags:
    News and Politics,  Current TV,  Phil Donahue.
  3.     
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27 comments // Silencing Donahue and Anti-War Voices

  • ecoalex
    • +1
      ecoalex  

    • Donahue may be returning to Tv.Recently I saw him on Piers Morgan (CNN) ,he said he'd like to return to tv.He would be great on Current.Bill Moyers is returning,I hope Phil Donahue does too.Lord knows there is so much hate radio,Tv,Current is one of the few rational voices in the Tv medium.I like also Thomm Hartman,Amy Goodman,Free Speech Tv ,Link Tv,RT tv.

    • 4 months ago
  • FoosMaster
  • budsnews
  • warman1138
    • 0
      warman1138  

    • Donahue was one of many voices silenced by major news media and others ridiculed in an effort to dominate by the MIC. Current and the country needs people like Mr. Donahue now more than ever.

    • 4 months ago
  • jubal
  • MotherForTruth
  • grammabet
    • +2
      grammabet  

    • I love Phil Donahue.Hope he does come to Current or some chanel on a permanent basis.Quite knowledgeble and,open minded plus fair.

    • 4 months ago
  • FoosMaster
    • +1
      FoosMaster  

    • I think MSNBC was probably threatened by the Shrub and "Blackwater" Cheney. They were scared that Cheney would send Blackwater to their homes and the Shrub would have the FCC revoke their license. It was a scary time for anyone that spoke out against their War policies.

    • 4 months ago
  • Conniepae
    • +2
      Conniepae  
    • FoosMaster:

      You are probably correct, but Phil Donahue had the courage to speak for me. When they silenced Phil Donahue, they removed my voice and my point of view. Enabling our country to be taken to a war of choice, based on fixed facts and forged documents.

      IMHO MSM is once again going to play the role of enablers and push the war rhetoric. We need voices like Phil Donahue, before we go to war!

    • 4 months ago
  • Leen61
    • +5
      Leen61  

    • I would love to see Phil Donahue on Current. I have always liked him and thought he was always a good talk show host. MSNBC canceled Donahue because he did not back the war in Iraq---plain and simple. He spoke his mind and he wasn't supposed to do that. You could not speak out against Bush at the time. That was blatant censorship.

    • 4 months ago
  • nanac
  • Conniepae
    • +4
      Conniepae  
    • Leen61:

      Yes it was. And look how well that turned out for us. Had the voices of reason been heard, things may have turned out much different. Iraq had not killed one American and they were not openly threatening us. They did not have weapons of mass destruction.

      Bottom line, ordinary Iraqi's did not deserve 'Shock and Awe'. I wish Phil Donahue's voice had not been silenced. I hope people like Phil Donahue are not silenced today. The wars faught by our military, are being faught in our name, using our sons and daughters.

      We need to pay attention!

    • 4 months ago
  • Leen61
  • Conniepae
    • +3
      Conniepae  

    • IMHO, Phil Donahue would be a worthy addition to Current TV. Plus, I'm sure he admires the direction Al Gore is taking Current TV. It would be a win win for Current TV and Phil Donahue. MSNBC stopped him from speaking, he didn't quit.

      Al Gore has mentioned some of the failings of MSNBC. Phil Donahue is a failure on the part MSNBC. We needed voices of reason before we went into Iraq.

    • 4 months ago
  • Radical_Centrist
    • +5
      Radical_Centrist  

    • It is very hard to be anti-war these days whether on the right or the left because the so called moderates in BOTH parties are beating the hell out of the War Drum.

    • 4 months ago
  • Incredulous
    • +4
      Incredulous  

    • Great post Connie...very compelling. I was encouraged to see the Iranian film "A Separation" win Best Foreign Language Film at the 2012 Golden Globes..it felt like a tiny bit of resistance to the background of the pounding war drums in the US. The film put a human face on a nation that the US seems to be working overtime to dehumanize. It is encouraging to see the small rays of light that always manage to pierce the darkness...Donahue is another of those rays.

    • 4 months ago
  • nanac
    • +2
      nanac  

    • I often wondered what happened to Phil Donahue. He is one of the best, and would be an asset to Current. This would be a great business decision on Current's part, if they would bring him on board.
      Please add him to your team!

    • 4 months ago
  • artemis6
    • +3
      artemis6  

    • He always asked the questions that were burning me to know the answers to . They are NOT , apparently to allowed to do that these days , generally . Which makes it pointless to watch most TV at all .

    • 4 months ago
  • Progresshiv
  • LT4456
  • Conniepae
    • +6
      Conniepae  

    • Most of all, 'I respect Phil Donahue'. We need media we can trust and respect! Current could be the station, that unspins the madness of the 2012 campaign. When the campaign really get's going, Americans are going to need a station, they can trust and respect.

      We need people to unspin the spin of MSM, using facts as their guide. Facts matter. The truth matters more! Honesty should be a requirement, not just an option. Phil Donahue is an American we can trust to tell us the truth, even when it hurts.

    • 4 months ago
  • nanac
    • +3
      nanac  
    • Conniepae:

      Thank you for this wonderful post. I am a Phil Donahue fan from way back. He is what America needs at this point, someone who will bring honesty/integrity back to journalism. This man isn't afraid to ask the difficult questions, plus he is fair/balanced.

    • 4 months ago
  • Conniepae
    • +2
      Conniepae  
    • nanac:

      In the early 90's at the height of the drug war, I read the book, 'The Emperor Wears No Clothes'. I felt compelled to write people with voices to ask them to use their voices to talk about the issue. I used the pen name 'One Lonely Voice Speaking for Millions'.

      Al Gore and Phil Donahue were the only people I trusted enough to include my real name. I attached a post it, to each letter, with a request that they destroy my name, address and phone number. We had a Czar and that scared the shit out of me. I wanted to talk, but I was afraid.

      Phil Donahue's office called me and spoke of a show discussing the issue of cannabis. Unfortunately, they did a show about the cannabis vote in Alaska. But, I truly believe he would have, if he could have. I felt comfortable that I could trust Al Gore and Phil Donahue.

      I need to feel comfortable that people are out there today, that we can trust. I'm looking forward to the truth being spoken 'out loud', by the people at Current TV.

    • 4 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • dinm76
    • +7
      dinm76  

    • Get him and Bill Moyers at all cost! Donahue was #1 on NBC when they dumped him and caved to the 'dogs of war' under Bush.

    • 4 months ago
  • Conniepae
  • KB723
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