All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone

I. F. Stone, an animated and nontraditional American journalist, gained the attention of readers through his newsletter, I. F. Stone's Weekly (later I. F. Stone's Bi-Weekly), with his distinct combination of cleverness, knowledge, compassion, and incisive political analysis.

This documentary explores many levels of the Mainstream media versus the Media of the Truth... so if we need to summarize the main idea, the conclussion would be: lies served daily!

It is on all of us to read between the lines because these days the truth cannot be said plainly...

Execution: successful! Legacy of I. F. Stone, a man who said that his biggest contribution was being excluded, continues...

I came to this movie today (just missed the first few minutes) and was held transfixed for the rest of the movie. The sad fact is that - hardly anybody will have seen this and hardly anybody will care. The standards of journalism (the whole of modern media, unfortunately) have diminished to such an extent that the current President of America has managed to become acceptable to nearly half of America and yet he is a known misogynist and racist. The film spends most of its time showing how Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama cannot be trusted either - to represent the people. It is scary how much that un-elected people in power are in control and they do not represent the people either ie you and I can do nothing to stop them

I have tried all the streamingservices, but none have it.

That's a direct quote near the tail end of this wonderful documentary on how all governments lie. Unfortunately, that includes most of the mainstream media many of us have relied on and trusted for our news forever. I came around a few years ago, realizing how skewed their views are and how untruthful they can be most of the time.

I really enjoyed the different first hand interviews with real journalists, who work independently for media groups that aren't part of the corporate world. Corporations and media giants are what's wrong. Particularly flawed newspapers like The New York Times, which took a beating for their reliance on sources that worked as government plants when it came to Iraq. You didn't have to be a brain surgeon to figure that out.

I particularly liked what Jeremy Scahill had to say during the piece, including some short but excellent advice to new journalists.

"If you care, your job is to be objective."

Most aren't. There is a lot to digest in the documentary. It's well worth the watch.

Although I follow politics quite closely, I have to admit I had only vaguely heard the name I.F. Stone. Stone, who passed away in 1989 at the age of 81, was a most influential investigative reporter, and published his newsletter I.F. Stone's Weekly from 1953 to 1971. I had no clue that it was a great influence on such iconoclasts and investigative reporters of today as Amy Goodman, Matt Taibbi, Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, Carl Bernstein, Cenk Uygur, John Carlos Frey, and many others too numerous to mention.

Stone,by doing his investigations and digging into published documents, was able to debunk and point out the lies and spin of governments, the mainstream media, and corporations. Has it ever been more needed then with the current Administration here in America, as well as around the globe? It is so essential that others have picked up the mantle to bring transparency to the obfuscations and lies that those in power would like to keep hidden. I believe social media is also playing a role today in quickly bringing to light things that may well have been able to be kept secret for long periods of time.

Overall, this documentary, directed by Fred Peabody, stresses the importance of today's investigative reporters and the role and influence I.F.Stone played in all of it. As I see it, this is a most important film.