Holy International Diplomacy, Batman!
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Cartoon heroes are being "called upon to rescue the battered image of a very real-world institution -- the No
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War / Peace
Return of the Swift Boaters
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
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Stars and Stripes Fights DoD Hype
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"Top editors at the military newspaper Stars and Stripes are asking for full disclosure of the paper's relationship with a Department of Defense publicity program, called America Supports You, after disclosures that money for the program was funneled through the newspaper," reports Sara Abruzzesse. "The newspaper's two top editors have asked that the acting publisher, Max D.
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Dumbing Down Dateline
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, recalls former Dateline NBC correspondent John Hockenberry, the network diverted him from reporting on al Qaeda and instead wanted him to come up with a version of "the show Cops, only with firefighters." During the invasion of Iraq, a network exec axed a segment featuring "a reporter in Baghdad who was experiencing the bombing firsthand" on grounds that it conveyed "a point of view." Hockenberry sees these stories as lessons about how t
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The Taming of Al Jazeera
Submitted by John Stauber on
The New York Times reports, "When a Saudi court sentenced a young woman to 200 lashes in November after she pressed charges against seven men who had raped her, the case provoked outrage and headlines around the world, including in the Middle East. But not at Al Jazeera, the Arab world's leading satellite television channel, seen by 40 million people. ...
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Tortured Reasoning for Destroying Evidence of Torture
Submitted by Judith Siers-Poisson on
Steve Benen writes that "As it turns out, the reasoning behind the CIA's decision to record interrogations on video, stop recording interrogations on video, and destroy the interrogation videos was all exactly the same: officials were hoping to avoid a public-relations nightmare." They were unsuccessful, of course, since the media reported widely on the destruction of the tapes and
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Despite Prominence of Coverage, Pakistan Doesn't Merit News Bureaus
Submitted by Judith Siers-Poisson on
When former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007, the only American TV networks to have full-time employees in Pakistan to call on were ABC and CNN. Other networks were forced to rely on stringers, freelance reporters on retainer with news agencies, until they could get their own reporters to Pakistan.
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Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"For US Army soldiers entering basic training at Fort Jackson Army base in Columbia, South Carolina, accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior appears to be as much a part of the nine-week regimen as the vigorous physical and mental exercises the troops must endure," writes Jason Leopold.
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War Stories
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The war in Iraq is notable, observes Michael Massing, for the number of "books by soldiers" that have "appeared while the fighting was still going on -- accounts written not just by generals like Tommy Franks but also by lieutenants, sergeants, reservists, and privates.
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The Rhetoric Beat
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Language plays a powerful role in shaping political decisions, argues Brent Cunningham. As an example, he points to the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, "when the choice of words -- by the press and government officials -- played a crucial role in setting America on a course that led, ultimately, to our military action in Iraq. ...
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