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McClendon Group Meeting

Investigative Reporter Sarah McClendon

Speakers: Veteran investigative journalist Robert Parry

& former CIA analyst Ray McGovern

Subject: The Fourth Estate: A check on the powerful or a propaganda tool

When: July 7th, Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.

Where: National Press Club, McClendon Room

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When Bob and Ray meet the nation at this session of our group, they will vividly

describe how such respected media outlets as the New York Times, the Washington Post,

and TV studios have made a mockery of the Fourth Estate, often serving not as a check

on the powerful but more as a handmaiden for propaganda.

But there is hope that a Fifth Estate - enterprising and serious news outlets on the Internet

and in other New Media - may evolve into a meaningful check on the powers-that-be by

developing an immunity to the financial and political pressures of the military-industrial-

corporate complex.

Some of these entities have gotten more attention than others, but collectively they are

creating new space for information and analyses often shunned by the Big Media. For

instance, while most major news outlets presented President George W. Bush's claims

about Iraq's WMD as nearly indisputable fact, a number of Internet sites expressed

skepticism. Today, as Gen. David Petraeus is hailed by Big Media as the savior of Iraq

now turning his magic on Afghanistan, it has fallen to the New Media to question this

dubious narrative, especially the legend of the successful "surge."

For 15 years, Consortiumnews.com -- founded by investigative reporter Robert Parry --

has been challenging Washington's conventional wisdom when the media groupthink

deviates from the facts. Other newer outlets also have pierced the pleasing "patriotic"

images of war often favored by the Times, the Post and the major networks. For

instance, Wikileaks posted a leaked video of American helicopter troops wantonly

gunning down a group of Iraqi men, including two Reuters journalists, as they walked

down a Baghdad street during the "surge" in July 2007.

Parry and former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, who also writes for Consortiumnews.com

will address the issues of Big Media and the emerging New Media. The Q & A to follow

could also touch on other front-burner topics they have been covering, like:

• McChrystal: the "Runaway General;" Why Did He Decide to Run Away?

• The Real Petraeus: Political General Sans Conscience

• What Next for Iran, and Why?

• What About All Those Russia Spies?

So you won't want to miss this one. Reporters welcome. Plan to be with us...and please

remember to bring a friend!

John Edward Hurley

Chairman