Media

"These demonstrators wore shorts
and ball caps, pushed strollers and carried American flags,
but what most set them apart was the support they displayed ... for the
American-led war in Iraq. ... It was meant as ... an
angry protest against the antiwar sentiment that has been
more visible elsewhere, particularly in large cities. 'Don't let these peace protesters confuse you,' Glenn Beck,
a conservative radio host from Philadelphia, told the crowd

"Critics of the war ... blame the
news media, asserting that they failed to challenge the
administration aggressively enough as it made a shaky case
for war. In an interview, Eric Alterman ... argued,
'Support for this war is in part a reflection that the
media has allowed the Bush administration to get away with
misleading the American people.' ... The strongest indictment of the press, many of these
critics argue, are recent polls that suggest many Americans

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia banned broadcast media from his speech on March 19 at an appearance where he received an award for supporting free speech. "That was one of the criteria that he had for acceptance," said James Foster, executive director of Cleveland's City Club, which gave Scalia its "Citadel of Free Speech Award."

"The new US war on Iraq has begun: arguably the greatest moral tragedy of a generation, an unprecedented failure of diplomacy and international order, and a profound crime against the principles of democracy," the Independent Media Center wrote in a statement calling on citizens to seek out news from and create news stories for their nearest IMC.