Is The Media Covering Up A Political Scandal?

As noted in my 16 June article, Congressman Ed Markey has been accused of witness intimidation during the dissenting testimony of MidAmerica Energy CEO David Sokol.

Save for a video report by CNBC’s Larry Kudlow, the vast majority of the major media has remained irresponsibly silent on the issue.

Too busy? Too slow? Too dumb? Covering up the disgrace?

Well, the media managed to discover that the city of Omsk, Siberia is using a cutout of Brad Pitt to slow speeding motorists.

Perhaps they are so busy gathering facts about a two-dimensional actor, ( no pun intended, seriously), they hadn’t time to find out about congressional corruption.

So, to help out the poor, overworked journalists,

I emailed them.

The following is the text of the email:

Why is the media silent about Congressman Markey's witness intimidation?
GOP members of Congress have accused Congressman Ed Markey of witness intimidation during the Waxman-Markey H.R. 2454 hearings.
Markey has admitted that, during testimony by dissenting witness David Sokol, Markey sent a letter to the FERC which would launch an investigation of Sokol, Warren Buffet and their company, MidAmerican Energy Holdings.
These are very serious charges, yet the media is completely silent on this matter.
Why?

Brief, informative, to the point, and accusatory, I’m sure you’ll agree: Surely enough to elicit action if they aren’t too busy to cover so trivial an issue as intimidation of congressional witnesses.

I searched the websites of each of the news organizations in the list below. None, not one of them had posted a story on this matter as of shortly before this writing, so I sent the above email to each:

ABC News
Associated Press
BBC News
Bloomberg
CBS News
CNN Headline News
Fox News
NBC/MSNBC news
New York Times
NPR Morning Edition
Reuters
United Press International
Washington Post

Now, Dear Reader, now we know they have been informed of the issue. It will be very interesting indeed to see if any of them act on the information.

So far, I have received the following emails in reply:

A “read” confirmation from the Associated Press:

Your message
To: INFO
Subject: Why is the media silent about Congressman Markey's witness intimidation?
Sent: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:53:58 –0400
was read on Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:04:01 -0400
Final-Recipient: RFC822; INFO@ap.org

[Emphasis mine]

A curious auto-reply from Reuters’ “customer service team,” (it wasn’t sent to the customer service team):

Thank you for contacting Reuters. We have received your query, and a member of our customer service team is currently reviewing it. Your feedback is invaluable to us as we continue to improve the website and develop the best user experience. We hope you continue to enjoy Reuters.com/reuters.co.uk.

[Emphasis mine]

Discussion Thread

Customer
17 06 2009 03:13 PM

GOP members of Congress have accused Congressman Ed Markey of witness intimidation during the Waxman-Markey H.R. 2454 hearings.
Markey has admitted that, during testimony by dissenting witness David Sokol, Markey sent a letter to the FERC which would launch an investigation of Sokol, Warren Buffet and their company, MidAmerican Energy Holdings.
These are very serious charges, yet the media is completely silent on this matter.
Why?

An auto-reply from NPR Morning Edition:

Dear Listener,

Thank you for contacting NPR's Morning Edition.
We are grateful for your comments to NPR News. Your message has been received and it will be read by the Morning Edition staff.NPR is always delighted to hear from listeners. Should you require additional assistance or have a question, please respond to this e-mail and we will do our best to assist you.
Thank you for listening to Morning Edition, and for your continued support of public broadcasting. For the latest news and information, visit NPR.org.
Sincerely,
Morning Edition
[Emphasis mine]

[Edit plea for donation}
Message Information:

Message #:
5607-9217982

Date Created:
6/17/2009 11:47 AM EDT

Subject:
Why is the media silent about Congressman Markey's witness intimidation?

Body:
GOP members of Congress have accused Congressman Ed Markey of witness intimidation during the Waxman-Markey H.R. 2454 hearings.
Markey has admitted that, during testimony by dissenting witness David Sokol, Markey sent a letter to the FERC which would launch an investigation of Sokol, Warren Buffet and their company, MidAmerican Energy Holdings.
These are very serious charges, yet the media is completely silent on this matter.
Why?

A syrupy auto-reply from ABC News:

Dear , (sic)

Thanks for sending us the feedback. We read every piece of information we get from our users, and will forward your contribution to the right people here at ABC News. Please stay in touch.
Sincerely,The ABCNEWS.com team

[Emphasis mine]

An auto-reply from CNN:

Thank you for contacting CNN. This email is to notify you that your news tip has been received and will be reviewed in a timely manner. You will be contacted if the news tip is valid and we need further information and verification.

We appreciate your news tip and thank you for choosing CNN as your breaking news source.
Sincerely,
CNN Viewer Communications Management

[Emphasis mine]

Let’s all keep tabs on them to see if these news organizations get off their keesters and do their jobs.

Update! Articles pertaining to the scandal may be found at these links:
Congressman Intimidates Congressional Witnesses
Congressional Witness Intimidation: David Sokol Video Interview
Is The Media Covering Up A Political Scandal? (this article)
Why The Media Blackout Of Congressional Scandal?
GOP Press Release On Congressman Markey Scandal
Congressional Scandal Videos: Sokol Testimony, Markey Apology