Tuesday, August 23, 2005
"Embedded/Live," is the movie version of a Tim Robbins’ play, shot with a live audience in an off-Broadway production.
The initial drama, “Embedded,” exposed the hubris in government and journalism in the lead-up to the Iraqi war; and the deadly synergy between the two on the road to glory and the “big story.”
Shortly after the war, Robbins wrote a play about the marketing of the Iraqi war. Complicit in the drama were acquiescent journalists who blindly accepted administration talking points about the battle’s predestined course.
Allowed to be embedded with the military, reporters became a cheerleading arm for the armed forces. Just let them ride along for the shock and awe and hey, move along, only Saddam and his al-Qaeda sidekicks stood behind the curtain of piles of weapons of mass destruction.
The play shows newshounds becoming too cozy with military units and failing to note and report how things on the ground floor were not all peachy keen; so much for the idea of embedded journalists as conveyors of authenticity and rawness in news reporting.
Right around late spring of 2004, the web of dissembling began to unravel.
In May, Secretary of State Colin Powell told a national audience on “Meet the Press” that the CIA had been 'deliberately misled about evidence that Saddam Hussein was developing unconventional weapons,' according to the New York Times on page A-8.
During the same period, the New York Times also apologized for their previous sloppy reporting. No front page placement for such trifling either.
Embedded on page A-10 and more than a full year and nearly 13,000 American casualties too late, the mighty Times admitted oops...they got the narrative all wrong.
Robbins movie chronicles the story of herd mentality, and the deadly exchange between the dark forces of denial, “see-no-evil, hear-no-evil” mindset that preoccupied news and government officials during the prelude to war in 2002.
Too eager to curry favor with White House officials, toady reporters and government minions suppressed misgiving and echoed administration sentiments with ample government official quotes of assured success.
Fortunately, a new audience can now see Robbins’ work. This past Sunday, Sundance Channel aired "Embedded/Live,” the shattering truth that there were no weapons of mass destruction, the administration knew the likelihood of this eventuality, they tried to hide the truth from Americans, and reprehensibly, the media aided and abetted them every step of the way.
The station is also airing the movie on Thursday, August 25 at 9:00 pm, Tuesday, August 30, at 5:30 pm, Friday, September 9, at 1: 15 pm, and Wednesday, September 21, at 7:00 pm. Their official website for "Embedded/Live" is http://www.embeddedlive.com/ and the DVD is available for $19.99.
The initial drama, “Embedded,” exposed the hubris in government and journalism in the lead-up to the Iraqi war; and the deadly synergy between the two on the road to glory and the “big story.”
Shortly after the war, Robbins wrote a play about the marketing of the Iraqi war. Complicit in the drama were acquiescent journalists who blindly accepted administration talking points about the battle’s predestined course.
Allowed to be embedded with the military, reporters became a cheerleading arm for the armed forces. Just let them ride along for the shock and awe and hey, move along, only Saddam and his al-Qaeda sidekicks stood behind the curtain of piles of weapons of mass destruction.
The play shows newshounds becoming too cozy with military units and failing to note and report how things on the ground floor were not all peachy keen; so much for the idea of embedded journalists as conveyors of authenticity and rawness in news reporting.
Right around late spring of 2004, the web of dissembling began to unravel.
In May, Secretary of State Colin Powell told a national audience on “Meet the Press” that the CIA had been 'deliberately misled about evidence that Saddam Hussein was developing unconventional weapons,' according to the New York Times on page A-8.
During the same period, the New York Times also apologized for their previous sloppy reporting. No front page placement for such trifling either.
Embedded on page A-10 and more than a full year and nearly 13,000 American casualties too late, the mighty Times admitted oops...they got the narrative all wrong.
Robbins movie chronicles the story of herd mentality, and the deadly exchange between the dark forces of denial, “see-no-evil, hear-no-evil” mindset that preoccupied news and government officials during the prelude to war in 2002.
Too eager to curry favor with White House officials, toady reporters and government minions suppressed misgiving and echoed administration sentiments with ample government official quotes of assured success.
Fortunately, a new audience can now see Robbins’ work. This past Sunday, Sundance Channel aired "Embedded/Live,” the shattering truth that there were no weapons of mass destruction, the administration knew the likelihood of this eventuality, they tried to hide the truth from Americans, and reprehensibly, the media aided and abetted them every step of the way.
The station is also airing the movie on Thursday, August 25 at 9:00 pm, Tuesday, August 30, at 5:30 pm, Friday, September 9, at 1: 15 pm, and Wednesday, September 21, at 7:00 pm. Their official website for "Embedded/Live" is http://www.embeddedlive.com/ and the DVD is available for $19.99.
// posted by Howling Latina @ 4:07 PM 
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I watched Embedded the other night. I found it to be very well done and very entertaining. I also got a weird feeling while watching it. How did America sink so low that we won't impeach an idiotic president?
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