Transcript from Democracy Now!

PHIL DONAHUE: ..I was called in to Neal Shapiro’s office and informed.

AMY GOODMAN: He was at NBC at the time.

PHIL DONAHUE: He was then, yeah; he’s now head of PBS here in New York. So, it was definitely a political termination. And it’s interesting, because during that time, they were terrified. This is—you should know that this is October through—say, August through January—August of ’02 through January and February. The invasion was April of 2003.

AMY GOODMAN: March.

PHIL DONAHUE: And I was gone by then. But this is not long after the towers. And so, you know, corporate media—

AMY GOODMAN: You were replaced by Michael Savage.

PHIL DONAHUE: I was replaced by Michael Savage. So, they couldn’t wait to outfox Fox. And I had to have two conservatives for every liberal. And they wanted me to do entertainers. You know, don’t do political. … Dissent was totally, totally unwelcome and unpatriotic.

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PHIL DONAHUE: ..every major metropolitan newspaper in this country supported the invasion of Iraq. Think about that for a minute. Every major metropolitan—this is what you can do with the politics of fear, that Bush took this whole nation and the whole media establishment by the ear and led it right into the sword. Amazing, in the land of free speech, free press.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you see the same thing happening again right now?

PHIL DONAHUE: Well, obviously, you can see that it has slowed us up. But it looks like that’s all it’s done. And while we have been, you know, hesitant and not “bring them on” with the war lust that we had then, mission creep is underway. What happens when somebody is taken prisoner? I mean, we have become a warrior nation, and we have no respect for diplomacy. And we’ve just stood mute while the Constitution has been just shredded. This is a nation of law, unless we’re scared.

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Legendary Talk Show Host Phil Donahue on the Silencing of Antiwar Voices in U.S. Media

democracynow

Published on Nov 11, 2014

http://democracynow.org – Phil Donahue is one of the best-known talk show hosts in U.S. television history. The Phil Donahue Show was on the air for almost 30 years, until 1996. In 2002, Donahue returned to the airwaves, but was fired by MSNBC on the eve of the 2003 U.S.-led war in Iraq because he was allowing antiwar voices on the air. We talk to Donahue about his firing and the silencing of antiwar voices by the corporate media — that continues to this day.

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