Editorial Comment on DoD and the Office of Secretary of Defense's need for Damage Control (((RE: Ed Schultz cancelled on Armed Forces Radio)))

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Letter Sent to the Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review, Ed Schultz, on Monday, October 17, 2005

To the Editor,

Yes, this item is all over the internet -- Air America's Ed Schultz was cancelled on Armed Forces Radio over the Bush and US Soldiers videoconferencing flap.

And this is ridiculous -- (rumor has it, ad nauseum) that 'someone' is dictating from Rumsfeld down who and who should not be on the air or on the Pentagon Channel. If you want to protest, the best thing to do is send something to http://www.defenselink.com/.

There is nothing wrong with Secretary Alison Barber coaching soldiers for the Presdient -- we all do it -- in industry, in government, what have you. This is a media - drenched society. She was doing her job -- but we did not have to see her doing her job, or see how she was delegated the task of dictating to the soldiers their camera-angles, but it was her job nonetheless. I can relate, since it is my job many times as well.

What was sloppy and leaden-handed was the way that Mr. Bush did not have his Communications Directorate to control the situation, and now they are scrambling for so much control that there is no moderation. Instead of a struggle for a story, we are getting way too much news and using the soldiers like puppets, and WE CAN SEE WHAT'S BEHIND THE CURTAIN! We should not see these things. We should not see this much.

Ed Schultz is viewed as a folksy Limbaugh for the left. He can prove so many wrong by going head-to-head with Mr. Rumsfeld, and asking him for his opinion directly. I hope that he does it. We need something fair here. We need to know when he will be rescheduled.


Abbe Buck, Principal/Publicist
(703) 753-4100
1-800-380-2825
website: http://www.highvizpr.com/
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HighViz Consulting Group - Yahoo! Finance


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