Media

Head Games with Media's Help

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

So confident is the U.S. military about a swift victory in Iraq that plans are already afoot to fly a CNN correspondent and a BBC reporter to the southern Iraqi city of Basra the moment it falls. "I'm not doing this so that the CNN correspondent gets another $100,000 in their salary," he said. "I'm doing it because the regime watches CNN. I want them to see what is happening." The plan is part of a psychological warfare campaign that the British officer called "white pys-ops." "Yes, we are using them," he said.

No
Main Source: 
Newsday, March 13, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Journalism
Propaganda
U.S. Government

TV Networks Continue to Ban Ads for Peace

Submitted by John Stauber on

"MTV has refused to accept a commercial opposing a war in
Iraq, citing a policy against advocacy spots that it says
protects the channel from having to run ads from any
cash-rich interest group whose cause may be loathsome. ... 'It is irresponsible for news organizations not to accept
ads that are controversial on serious issues, assuming they
are not scurrilous or in bad taste,' said Alex Jones,
director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press,
Politics and Public Policy at Harvard. 'In the world we

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Main Source: 
New York Times, March 13, 2003
Topics: 
Advertising
Iraq
Media

Reporters Warned to Leave Baghdad

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Defense Department officials are warning reporters to clear out of Baghdad, saying this war will be far more intense than the 1991 gulf war. "If your template is Desert Storm, you've got to imagine something much, much different," said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Pentagon says it is warning journalists in the interest of their safety, but some critics see the heads-up as an attempt to control the news, with the goal of minimizing politically damaging images of suffering Iraqi civilians.

No
Main Source: 
Chicago Tribune, March 12, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Journalism
U.S. Government

US-Funded Radio Sawa Big Hit In Middle East

Submitted by Laura Miller on

Within six months of going on the air Radio Sawa -- Sawa is the Arabic word for "coming together" -- has more listeners than BBC and local stations in Jordan according to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the U.S. government agency that oversees Radio Sawa and the Voice of America. The station broadcasts 24 hours-a-day from seven transmitters throughout the Middle East and features a mix of Arabic and Western pop music with news headlines every half-hour.

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Main Source: 
Detroit Free Press, March 11, 2003
Topics: 
International
Media
Propaganda
U.S. Government

Smart-mobbing the War

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Largely unnoticed by the press, "hacktivists" like Eli Pariser have used the Internet to create what George Packer calls "an instantaneous movement. ... During the past three months it has gathered the numbers that took three years to build during Vietnam. It may be the fastest-growing protest movement in American history. ...

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Main Source: 
New York Times, March 9, 2003
Topics: 
Activism
Internet
Iraq

News Conference "Scripted," Reporters Silenced

Submitted by Laura Miller on

Russell Mokhiber, editor of Corporate Crime Reporter and author of a regular Commondreams.org feature "Ari & I: White House Briefings," was at George W. Bush's first primetime news conference in over a year and a half. He says, "Last night's [press conference] might have been the most controlled Presidential news conference in recent memory.

No
Main Source: 
Institute for Public Accuracy, March 7, 2003; Democracy Now! March 7, 2003
Topics: 
Journalism
Secrecy
U.S. Government

American Media Dodging U.N. Surveillance Story

Submitted by Laura Miller on

An employee at England's top-secret Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has been arrested following the London Observer's publication of a leaked U.S. National Security Agency memorandum written by a top official calling for "aggressive surveillance" of UN Security Council delegations.

No
Main Source: 
Media Best, March 6, 2003
Topics: 
Journalism
International

Korea Web Paper Strikes a Blow for Media Democracy

Submitted by John Stauber on

"For years, people will be debating
what made [South Korea] go from conservative to liberal,
from gerontocracy to youth culture and from staunchly
pro-American to a deeply ambivalent ally - all seemingly
overnight. ... But for many observers, the
most important agent of change has been the Internet. ... In the last year, as the elections were
approaching, more and more people were getting their
information and political analysis from spunky news
services on the Internet instead of from the country's

No
Main Source: 
New York Times, March 6, 2003
Topics: 
Internet
Democracy

A Question of Coverage

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

More than two dozen journalism school deans and professors, independent editors, journalists and authors have sent an open letter to major media editors, criticizing media coverage of Iraq and warning that "this is no time for relying solely on official sources and their supporters." Signers of the letter include: retired New York Times columnist Tom Wicker; former New York Times reporter William Serrin; Ben Bagdikian, former dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at University of California at Berkeley; author Studs Terkel; independent journalist and filmmaker Barbara Koe

No
Main Source: 
TomPaine.com, March 3, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Journalism
Ethics

Marching on Washington for Peace - Virtually

Submitted by John Stauber on

The burgeoning US anti-war movement is showing a sophistication for grassroots lobbying normally only used by major corporate PR efforts. Today, for instance, hundreds of thousands of US citizens are participating in "a massive march on Washington without leaving your living room. The Virtual March on Washington is a first-of-its-kind campaign from the Win Without War coalition. Working together, we will direct a steady stream of phone calls -- about one per minute, all day -- to every Senate office in the country, while at the same time delivering a constant stream of e-mails and faxes.

No
Main Source: 
Win Without War
Topics: 
Activism
Internet
Iraq

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