What’s the Word?
June 26th, 2005 - by: danny
JOHANNESBURG!
June 26: That’s where I am this Sunday morning as the sun breaks through the chill of the South African winter. I have been on the go since I left New York.
Today, South Africans are marking the anniversary of the Freedom Charter, the seminal document of the democratic movement here, created during the depths of apartheid back in 1955. The document offered a populist vision expanding human rights to embrace economic and political goals. It was the goals of the Freedom Charter that so many fought and died for and I will be trying to crash the ceremony later this morning in Kliptown, Soweto.
In many ways, the ideas and hopes of that document are at the heart of the debate in South Africa between those who want a more fundamental transformation and the ANC government committed to neo-liberal policies and a market agenda. One activist complained last week that the problem with the commemoration of the Freedom Charter is that those who are organizing the commemoration no longer believe it. Some think its goals have been fulfilled.
As it turned out, there was a counter rally but nothing on the scale of the commemoration which packed the new square dedicated to liberation movement stalwart Walter Sisulu. Nelson Mandela was there along with Sisulu’s wife Albertina, a leader in her own right and, of course, President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki reached into the history books to praise white South African writer Olive Shriner, who warned of the dangers of a racially divided society in the early years of the 20th century. (She was an early feminist as well.)
Most exciting about the commemoration were all the members of the “original cast,” senior citizens all, whose faces are engraved with the pain of the country’s history and who are now in the sunset of their lives, living in the free country they never thought they would ever see. There was terrific music there, including songs by Miriam Mkeba and other greats.
Afterwards, I was taken for an interview to a nearby community in Soweto, home of RASA (“Make Noise”) Radio, a pirate station operating on the FM band. The DJ’s allowed me to play Polar Levine’s classic “NEWS GOO,” a rap song that serves as the sound track to my book “The More You Watch The Less You Know.” It was the song’s first airing in South Africa and on an indy radio station.
I had a thrilling pre-birthday present yesterday, when I learned that our film “WMD (Weapons of Mass Deception)” won the documentary competition at the very impressive Durban International Film Festival, where I screened last week.
Last night, we had a packed screening at Museum Africa sponsored by the Foundation for Human Rights and organized by my filmmaking colleague Ben Cashdan. I was glad that South Africans see the relevance. In my remarks, I referenced South Africa’s long fight for a free press and struggle to end to dominance by state-controlled media.
Tonight it’s off to London, where I hope to find some time to write more extensively. I arrive on my B-Day.
Until soon.
Write: dissector@mediachannel.org.
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On the Decline of the Washington Post
June 18th, 2005 - by: danny
SUNDAY — This just in as the “hits” keep coming: From the Times of London. More From Downing Street
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-523-1660300-523,00.html
OFF IN THE WORLD
DANA MILBANK TAKES A DUMP
JULE IN LONDON
My “World Tour” promoting my film “WMD (Weapons of Mass Deception)” will soon be over, for the summer at least, after screenings next week in South Africa at the Durban Film Festival then in Johannesburg. From there I head to London. This means, as I mentioned yesterday, that I will only be writing sporadically. Back first week in July.
As the song says, “do not forsake me.” (Smile)
Miles to go before I sleep, but first, may I weep.
I can’t leave without commenting on the “sketch” by Dana Milbank on Friday’s Congressional Downing Street Forum that appeared in the Washington Post. It wasn’t even a report — just a smarmy and snide put-down of a column from the reporter who has in the past tended to be credible and even critical of Bush policies.
Milbank’s writing at times was all that was left of the “liberal media” in a newspaper that is anything but.
You have to understand that media people who get labeled or stand out often feel compelled to show how “balanced” they are, how objective, how “as tough on the left” as they are on the right. You see that every time PBS’s Frontline follows a tough investigative piece on the Busheviks with a slam at Fidel Castro’s Cuba.
“See how balanced we are?” is the mantra in an obvious bid to stay in the centrist power club, maintain access and be taken seriously.
What’s especially upsetting is that I expected more from Milbank, who did good work when he wrote a “White House Notebook.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13200-2004Jun28.html
What was even more telling is that this piece appeared in the Post on the anniversary of the Watergate break-in, the story that made that newspaper’s global reputation.
Former Associated Press reporter Robert Parry writes about this in the context of D.C. media culture on his Consortiumnews.com:
“Those of us who have covered Washington for years have seen the pattern before. A group without sufficient inside-the-Beltway clout tries to draw attention to a scandal that the Post and other prestigious news arbiters have missed or gotten wrong. After ignoring the grievances for a while — and sensing that the complainers have no real muscle — the news arbiters start heaping on the abuse…
“[I]f Milbank were tempted to write an over-the-top attack on Bush — like he did on Conyers and the Downing Street Memo hearing — he would pay a high price from retaliating conservatives who would accuse him of bias and flood his editors with complaints.”
Years ago, the WaPo stood up to power and war mongers; now, it puts down critics of war and power.
“KNOW IT ALL-ISM:” AN INDUSTRY CONCEIT
Milbank’s work has gone from note-booking to sketching. A sketch is often a rough draft.
Inside the Beltway where know it all-ism and suck up journalism is a fine art, it was left to Dana to trash John Conyers and Friday’s Downing Street Memo hearing. The right mostly ignored it. They needed someone with more respect in opposition circles to do him in.
And Dana took on the assignment with gusto in a “Washington Sketch” column written no doubt to please his editors, show Howie Kurtz how cool and independent he is, and maintain his trustworthiness as a Washington Post insider.
Here’s part of what he wrote. You can just sense the pleasure he had in making fun of the only people in town who are standing up to the Bush onslaught, a role he probably considered his own, as an “army of one,” as one blogger put it.
I am sure he will not be able to hear why so many are disgusted with his showing his true colors and wise-guy orientation — and I say that as someone who does not believe that the Downing Street Memo is the second coming or can be, in itself, a tool for impeachment.
A SKETCHY SKETCH
“Democrats Play House to Rally Against the War
“In the Capitol basement yesterday, long-suffering House Democrats took a trip to the land of make-believe.
“They pretended a small conference room was the Judiciary Committee hearing room, draping white linens over folding tables to make them look like witness tables and bringing in cardboard name tags and extra flags to make the whole thing look official.
“Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) banged a large wooden gavel and got the other lawmakers to call him ‘Mr. Chairman.’ He liked that so much that he started calling himself ‘the chairman’ and spouted other chairmanly phrases, such as ‘unanimous consent’ and “without objection so ordered.’ The dress-up game looked realistic enough on C-SPAN, so two dozen more Democrats came downstairs to play along.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/16/AR2005061601570.html
This infuriating “ha-ha” tone was the subject of a blast from the Brad Blog:
“New York Times’ Scott Shane wrote a serious article covering yesterday’s Downing Street Hearings and the facts it examined concerning a President of the United States who may have committed Impeachable High Crimes by fixing intelligence and misleading the country into an unnecessary war leading to the death of thousands.
“On the other hand, Washington Post’s embarrassing Dana Milbank wrote an obnoxious and condescending little screed which begins, ‘In the Capitol basement yesterday, long-suffering House Democrats took a trip to the land of make-believe.’
“And, oh yeah, speaking of ‘the land of make-believe’, Milbank gets one fact wrong after another as he plays ‘journalist’ in the pages of one of the countries once-greatest newspapers.”
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001475.htm
Greg Mitchell of Editor & Publisher was not laughing either. He knew a hatchet job when he saw one:
“Oddly, he [Milbank] seem less interested in the far more serious ‘make-believe’ that inspired the basement session: the administration’s fake case for WMDs in Iraq that has already led to the deaths of over 1,700 Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis. No, Milbank used the valuable real estate of the Post to mock Rep. John Conyers, who arranged the meeting, and his ‘hearty band of playmates…’”
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000964303
CONYERS FIRES BACK
In a letter to the Post, Conyers critiques the critique:
“In sum, the piece cherry-picks some facts, manufactures others out of whole cloth, and does a disservice to some 30 members of Congress who persevered under difficult circumstances, not of our own making, to examine a very serious subject: whether the American people were deliberately misled in the lead up to war. The fact that this was the Post’s only coverage of this event makes the journalistic shortcomings in this piece even more egregious.
“In an inaccurate piece of reporting that typifies the article, Milbank implies that one of the obstacles the Members in the meeting have is that ‘only one’ member has mentioned the Downing Street Minutes on the floor of either the House or Senate. This is not only incorrect but misleading. In fact, just yesterday, the Senate Democratic Leader, Harry Reid, mentioned it on the Senate floor. Senator Boxer talked at some length about it at the recent confirmation hearing for the Ambassador to Iraq. The House Democratic Leader, Nancy Pelosi, recently signed on to my letter, along with 121 other Democrats asking for answers about the memo. This information is not difficult to find either. For example, the Reid speech was the subject of an AP wire service report posted on the Washington Post website with the headline “Democrats Cite Downing Street Memo in Bolton Fight”. Other similar mistakes, mischaracterizations and cheap shots are littered throughout the article.
“…to express my profound disappointment with Dana Milbank’s June 17 report, “Democrats Play House to Rally Against the War,” which purports to describe a Democratic hearing I chaired in the Capitol yesterday. In sum, the piece cherry-picks some facts, manufactures others out of whole cloth, and does a disservice to some 30 members of Congress who persevered under difficult circumstances, not of our own making, to examine a very serious subject: whether the American people were deliberately misled in the lead up to war. The fact that this was the Post’s only coverage of this event makes the journalistic shortcomings in this piece even more egregious.
“…The fact that I and my fellow Democrats had to stuff a hearing into a room the size of a large closet to hold a hearing on an important issue shouldn’t make us the object of ridicule. In my opinion, the ridicule should be placed in two places: first, at the feet of Republicans who are so afraid to discuss ideas and facts that they try to sabotage our efforts to do so; and second, on Dana Milbank and the Washington Post, who do not feel the need to give serious coverage on a serious hearing about a serious matter-whether more than 1700 Americans have died because of a deliberate lie. Milbank may disagree, but the Post certainly owed its readers some coverage of that viewpoint.”
CONSISTENT
This from the Washington Post, which finally did a mea culpa of sorts on its inaccurate coverage of the run-up to the war. Comments by Post ombudsman Michael Getler to the effect that the Post ignored and downplayed large anti-war demonstrations in Washington and overseas appear in my film ‘WMD’ (which the Post reviewer predictably also trashed).
This seems to be the institutional function of the WashPost these days — to go so far, but no further, to keep up appearances as a guardian of the center while tilting right and righteous.
“A JOKE OF A PIECE”
JesseLee posted a comment on the Stakeholder, a Democratic congressional committee blog:
“Actually, I would add something to that as well regarding this passage from Milbank’s joke of a piece:
“‘At Democratic headquarters, where an overflow crowd watched the hearing on television, activists handed out documents repeating two accusations — that an Israeli company had warning of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and that there was an “insider trading scam” on 9/11 — that previously has been used to suggest Israel was behind the attacks.
“‘The event organizer, Democrats.com, distributed stickers saying “Bush lied/100,000 people died.” One man’s T-shirt proclaimed, “Whether you like Bush or not, he’s still an incompetent liar,” while a large poster of Uncle Sam announced: “Got kids? I want yours for cannon fodder.”‘”
JesseLee then comments on the way Millbank conflated people WATCHING the hearing into “an event:”
“In what sense Democrats.com was ‘the event organizer’ I can scarcely imagine. In fact, what is ‘the event’? Is it simply ‘an overflow crowd watch[ing] the hearing on television’? Because that seems to me solely a function of the hearing itself, which was quite obviously organized by Conyers. In fact, I know Conyers’ folks and was in touch with them at the very time they were arranging for room here in DNHQ. ‘The event’ consisted of those from the public who could not fit into the public hearing room (which was exceedingly small for the reasons Conyers explains) being allowed to watch it on television in a large empty space in DNHQ. Some in the public handed out fliers that neither Conyers nor anybody in DNHQ would condone, but unlike some we know, we do not screen people for anything we might find offensive before we let them into a public event.
“Furthermore, Milbank’s reporting leaves an uninformed reader with a flagrant misconception. By claiming that Democrats.com organized the event, whatever that event was, without noting that they are an entirely independent group, he left the distinct impression that they were some form of an official Democratic organization, and that the Democrats were handing out these fliers in their own headquarters.
“I’m sure Milbank gets a daily pile of hate mail from the Republican bully squad, but that is no excuse. That column is a joke.”
There is a deeper problem here. Washington insiders hate activists because basically they detest popular democracy. To them, the only legitimate voices are to be found in office or institutions. That’s how elitist our lame stream media have become.
And lest Dana doesn’t know Mediachannel.org or my work — allow me to indicate that I spent nearly 20 years in mainstream commercial media.
IT’S THE MEDIA, STUPID (STILL)
I was told that former President Clinton was on the David Letterman show last week and Letterman asked him about the Downing Street Memo. Clinton seemed not to know what he was talking about. So CBS’s late-night jokester told him about it. Clinton admitted he hadn’t read it. Why? Probably because it wasn’t in the New York Times or Washington Post.
At the same time, hard-hitting political columnist Joe Conason was writing about these same media outlets in Salon:
“Deciding what constitutes news is a subjective exercise, of course, with all the uncertainty that implies. Yet there are several obvious guidelines to keep in mind while listening to the excuses proffered in the New York Times and the Washington Post by reporters who must know better.
“A classified document recording deliberations by the highest officials of our most important ally over the decision to wage war is always news. A document that shows those officials believed the justification for war was ‘thin’ and that the intelligence was being ‘fixed’ is always news. A document that indicates the president was misleading the world about his determination to wage war only as a last resort is always news.
“And when such a document is leaked, whatever editors, reporters and producers may think ‘everyone’ already knows or believes about its contents emphatically does not affect whether that piece of paper is news. The journalists’ job is to determine whether it is authentic and then to probe into its circumstances and meaning. There are many questions still to be answered about the Downing Street memo, but the nation’s most prominent journalists still aren’t asking them.”
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2005/06/17/dsm_press/print.html
“COINCIDENCE” OF NOTE
The other day, Dick Cheney, former CEO of Halliburton, chimed in to say that the Gitmo Gulag would not be closed. What he did not reveal is that it is to be rebuilt. And guess who is getting the contract?
From the Houston Chronicle:
“The U.S. Navy wants Houston-based Halliburton Co. to build a $30 million prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command has assigned Halliburton subsidiary KBR to construct a two-story facility capable of handling 220 prisoners, along with a security fence. Known as Detention Camp No. 6, the facility will feature day rooms, exercise areas, medical and dental wards and a security control room. The prison will be large enough to accommodate nearly half the 520 suspected enemy combatants being kept at Guantanamo. The work is scheduled to be completed by July of next year.
“‘The future detention facility will be based on prison models in the U.S. and is designed to be safer for the long-term detention of detainees and guards who serve’ at Guantanamo, a Pentagon spokesman said in a prepared statement. ‘It is also expected to require less manpower.’”
COMMENTS
Jule of the band Vortex writes again to share her remarks at the ‘WMD’ screening in London:
“D, did my best to share what I felt were your comments that your film taught me as a citizen, that we have a crisis in media when it can’t afford to be honest. That in America, Danny leads a growing voice in bringing back truth in journalism. That your film labored to bring the truth to the public (quoted that one of your reviews calls you ‘the Michael Moore of Michael Moore’). \I also noted to the journalists there that as an American citizen you can imagine how outraged we felt… for it’s a real eye opener. And that as journalists you have a privileged opportunity to guard safely the truth that we your public receive and that I hoped none would take it for granted.
“Herman Porter — a great leader in media for UK, said ‘the situation in American media has undermined our freedom… the right to know’, your film said the media in covering the war ‘assumed accuracy’ which he noted some account of 414 stories that originated from the pentagon… He held up an American sticker that said if you’re not outraged, then you’re not paying attention. Herman cited issues like media has become pornography of violence…with tepid real coverage… power goes with power, ‘dominate the message’ etc.”
TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON
As one’s birthday draws nearer, thoughts of mortality flash into mind even when you’d rather they didn’t. Your attention is called to news of those you knew who have passed on. Today (Sunday), I learned that the publisher, writer, historian and a distant friend, James Weinstein, is no longer with us. He worked to reinvigorate American journalism.
Doug Ireland passes on the word:
New from DIRELAND, June 18, 2005: JAMES WEINSTEIN, 1926-2005
“James Weinstein — author, historian, editor, publisher, Founder of In These Times magazine, and an important figure in the life of the mind of American radicalism for four decades — died Thursday morning at his home on the North Side of Chicago, after a long bout with brain cancer. On his death, Rep. Bernie Sanders of Vermont — the Independent member of Congress who is a democratic socialist — told the AP, “Jim Weinstein was one of the intellectual leaders of the American progressive movement.”
For my appreciation of Jimmy’s life and work, click on:
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2005/06/james_weinstein.html
I could go on but I can’t. I have to pack, take off and take a break.
I will still be online at Dissector@mediachannel.org.
See the whole Post / →
Meet Me At the Corner of Downing St and Capitol Hill
June 17th, 2005 - by: danny
LET US NOW PRAISE UNFAMOUS MEN
SAY GOODBYE TO FLEET STREET
THE WAR OVER PUBLIC BROADCASTING
Today, June 17th is a day that also lived in infamy and aroused a sense of national urgency. Let’s remember Frank Wills today. Frank who? Frank, the security officer, a man of color, a minimum wage guard who noticed that a door kept open with tape and that he had untaped had been retaped at the Watergate office complex in Washington 33 years ago tonight. He realized something was up, and called the cops. With that act, he had gone from securing a building to being the lead actor in an effort to secure our Constitution.
Americans should be proud that he was along the watchtower, ringing a fire bell in the June night.
Most people who write about Watergate and the burglary at Democratic Party HQ on this day in l972 praise the investigative reporters and the Senators who stood up to nix Nixon, But, I will always think of what Frank Wills did just by doing his duty.
Without him….
I also remember the newspaper article that first told us what happened – notice Frank’s name does not appear. He was then – and still is, for many – praise, Ralph Ellison, the “invisible man.” Remember too that news of the break-in did not change the outcome of the l972 elections. It was at the time spun and minimized, denied and downplayed. It took years before the President resigned.
“BREAKING NEWS”
“WASHINGTON — Five men were arrested Saturday as they attempted to break into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, police reported.
“Police described the men as “a professional ring” and said nothing was stolen. The police said they were at a loss of why the men would pick such a target unless they were searching for documents.
“Seized with them were an assortment of lock picks and other burglary tools.
“The five being held for a U.S. magistrate’s hearing later in the day were identified tentatively as residents of Miami, Fla. Police listed them as Raul Godoy, Gene Valdez, Edward Martin, Edward Hamilton and Frank Carter.”
“Police said a security guard heard noises near the locked Democratic headquarters at 1:30 a.m. and called police to a swank apartment complex next to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
“Police arrested the five and a complaint was filed by Stanley L. Greigg, 40, a former Iowa congressman who is now assistant chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
“A security guard at the building said the burglary evidently was preplanned. He said a tape had been placed over a lock to keep a door accessible to the stairwell that leads directly to the headquarters.”
The first AP story on the Watergate break-in, transmitted on June 17, 1972.”
Those names of the men arrested at what Nixon called “a third rate burglary” all gave false names. They were all literally’ creeps – tied to CREEP, The Committee to Re-elect The President. The Security guard that is quoted, of course, we now know was Frank Wills.
WE ALSO REMEMBER
There are two other names to remember when we think about those days, two then young fiery Congressmen, John Conyers of Detroit and Harlem’s Charlie Rangel who back in that day were outspoken in the fight for truth.
Now they are speaking out again for truth about the decision to go to war in Iraq.
Yesterday, in the basement on Capitol Hill, in a small room in an area that one member of Congress compared to Dante’s Seventh Circle of Hell, members of Congress, led by Conyers with the support of Charlie Rangel and many others, gathered in defiance of the Bush Administration to discuss the Downing St memo and the continuing cover-up of the war. See the BradBlog for notes if you missed it:
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001471.ht
Later, after the DSM (everything needs its own acronym) Forum, Conyers led a delegation to deliver a petition with hundreds of thousands of signature to the White House. For photos and a report:
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001474.htm
The Daily Kos also carried a report too:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/16/205527/157
WATERGATE INVOKED
Significantly, civil rights attorney John Bonifaz, of AfterDowningStreet.org, the group that helped Conyers organize the event compared the Downing Street Memo to that secret recording system in the Nixon White House…
The more things change, the more…..
While this Forum (not really a hearing because Conyers did not have subpoena power) was being held, the GOP rulers on the hill scheduled an unprecedented eleven votes in two hours to force those in attendance to rush to the House chamber to cast their votes. They also secheduled important appropriations hearings at the same time.
BOLTON CONNECTION
Reuters reports that the Downing Street memo was also invoked in the debate over John Bolton’s nomination as US Ambassador to the UN
“U.S. Senate Democrats rejected a Republican compromise over John Bolton’s nomination as U.N. ambassador on Thursday and cited a British report backing their view that the Bush administration hyped intelligence on Iraq before the 2003 invasion.
“Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, scheduled a procedural vote on Monday to try to break the deadlock. Democrats said they had enough votes to stall the
nomination until the White House turns over information they demanded on Bolton, but Republicans hoped they would be viewed as obstructionists.“Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid demanded a full accounting of whether Bolton exaggerated assessments of several countries’ weapons programs, a key issue in the long-stalled nomination.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/16/AR2005061601117.html
IS ONLY BUSH TO BLAME? WHAT ABOUT THE ROLE OF CONGRESS?
More Damning than Downing Street
Paul Rogat Loeb asks: “Why aren’t we talking about this?”
“As the Downing Street memo confirms, they had so little evidence of real threats that they knew from the start that they were going to have manufacture excuses to go to war. What’s more damning still is that they effectively began this war even before the congressional vote.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9156.htm
MEDIA COVERAGE
I listened in to the Conyers meet-up on Pacifica Radio while others watched on CSPAN 3 (the lesser of the CSPAN outlets) and heard what was in effect an anti-war rally, a sign of growing anti-war sentiment in the Congress. It was an underground hearing in a movement that is rapidly going overground. 122 members of Congress have signed on to the demand for the truth about the issues raised by the Downing St Memo. But, as Larry Bensky of KPFA pointed out, this is not a critical mass or enough for an impeachment inquiry.
C-Span 2 will rerun the Conyers Downing Street Memo Forum at 8pm EST, on Friday, 6/17/05.) It will be on C Span or C Span 2 Friday night, 8 Eastern, 7 Central.
It’s not enough but probably better than nothing .Conyers writes in his blog that he expects more press coverage:
” “For those commentators who were concerned (or hoping) that there would be a media blackout of the forum, that will not be the case. I have every majo network, other than Fox, bringing cameras to the hearing. Nightline is taping the event, which I think represents a welcome development from a well respected investigative program. In addition, C-Span 3 and Radio Pacifica are carrying it live.”
http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000139.htm
And so they promised, but what happened? Mediawatcher J Newberry reports: “Really incredible. The major networks, except for Fox, supposedly sent cameras to the hearing. But not one of the nightly network news reported on it. CNN Lou Dobbs and MSNBC Tucker Carlson seemed to blow it, and the Downing Street Memo off.”
Editor & Publisher: “A survey on Wednesday of editorial pages of American newspapers produced a mixed picture of their treatment of the so-called Downing Street Memo.”
http://www.freepress.net/news/8590
The Independent in London reports today: “American officials lied to British ministers over the use of “internationally reviled” napalm-type firebombs in Iraq. Yesterday’s disclosure led to calls by MPs for a full statement to the Commons and opened ministers to allegations that they held back the facts until after the general election.”
And this flashback to Vietnam: “fragging” was on the BBC this morning:
“A US soldier serving in Iraq has been charged with murdering two of his own officers whose deaths in an explosion were initially blamed on rebels. Capt Phillip T Esposito and 1st Lt Louis E Allen were said to have been killed in a mortar attack near the town of Tikrit on 7 June.”
MORE CONGRESSMEMBERS SAY: “OUT OF IRAQ”
Progressive Democrats of America report:
” Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) has informed Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) that she and Rep. Charles Rangel, Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Lynn Woolsey, Rep. Xavier Becerra, Rep. John Conyers, and Rep. John Lewis are leading a newly formed Out of Iraq Congressional Caucus, with 41 members as of today.
“Rep. Waters said: “The Out of Iraq Congressional Caucus is a newly formed effort whose sole purpose is to be the main agitators in the movement to bring our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Our efforts will include the coordination of activities and legislation designed to achieve our goal of returning our troops home. Through floor statements, press conferences, TV and radio appearances and other actions, we will provide leadership for the American public who has been waiting too long for our collective voices against the war.”
IS NEWS COVERAGE OF THE WAR IMPROVING?
The Santa Maria Times carried this editorial:
“News organizations are in an awkward position when it comes to telling and showing the real costs of war. Every newspaper, news magazine and TV news operation’s mission is to tell the truth and not pull any punches.
“But when it comes to the war in Iraq, that goal is difficult to reach.
“The fact is, more than 30 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq just since the first of this month. In all, more than 1,700 U.S. military personnel have lost their lives in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, and close to 13,000 have been wounded.
“Do the numbers surprise you? They shouldn’t. The combat toll has been widely reported in every U.S. newspaper – including this one – since the war began.
“What readers and TV viewers aren’t seeing a lot of is the actual loss of life. There are a host of reasons why you don’t see the photos and video of combat fatalities and injuries, mostly because the Bush administration and Pentagon officials would rather you not see them.
“And when news outlets make the effort to put a real, horrifying face on the war, the outcome isn’t always universally accepted. Editors at the Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., learned that lesson the hard way last month when they ran a photo of a fatally wounded Army private. After the photo appeared, the Star-Ledger’s editors took a thorough tongue-lashing from readers, who accused the newspaper of being crass, insensitive and even unpatriotic.
“Editors at the Los Angeles Times recently completed a survey of several major newspapers and two of the nation’s largest news magazines to see how other editors were handling the reporting of the war. They found that although the death toll was being dutifully reported, there was scant photographic evidence that American men and women are being killed in a war that seems to have no end. Whatever purpose Americans found in the conflict at first has now all but disappeared….
“With or without the photos and video, public sentiment is turning against the war in Iraq. America needs a strategy and a timetable for getting out.
http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2005/06/15/sections/opinion/61505.txt
BUSH DENOUNCES TODAY’S ELECTION IN IRAN
The Washington Post reports:
“On the eve of Iran’s presidential election, President Bush yesterday denounced Tehran’s theocracy for manipulating the vote by eliminating candidates and ignoring the “basic requirements” of democracy. Whatever the election’s outcome, power will continue to be held by “an unelected few” who are out of step with political changes sweeping the rest of the region, Bush said in a statement released by the White House.
Critics of America’s theocracy made a similar sounding critique of our own election last year. Remember?
RACE AND MEDIA: MISING PERSONS COVERAGE ATTACKED AS BIASED
AP reports: “Some are taking the industry to task for a disproportionate emphasis on the disappearances of white girls and women.”
-
http://www.freepress.net/news/8597
For Another View on that Senate apology for not legislating against lynching, read: “The Meaningless Apology on Lynching” on Black Commentator.
http://www.blackcommentator.com/142/142_cover_lynching.html
RALLYING FOR AFRICA
Live8 Update: “London’s Hyde Park, Circus Maximus in Rome and the Philadelphia Museum of Art are among the venues for Live 8, a series of concerts being organized by Bob Geldof, the driving force behind the 1985 Band Aid and Live Aid campaigns for African famine relief.
“The July 2 concerts, which will be free, also will be held near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and in Paris. Performers will include Madonna, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Duran Duran and Brian Wilson.
“We don’twant people’s money. We want them,” Geldof said
MORE THAN DEBT AT STAKE
Some Africans are challenging this campaign. It’s about guns, not debt writes Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe
“Africa isn’t poor, it’s rich. What it needs isn’t debt relief and aid, but to get rid of the “genocide states” blighting its development – and if G8 leaders really want to help they could Nstart by banning the arms sales that prop up these states
WOLFING AT WOLFOWITZ
Meanwhile in South Africa, activists are opposing the Wolfowitz appointment to the World Bank. They say:
“The World Bank is now clearly and unambiguously an international bank of war. Trevor Manuel, South Africa’s Minister of Finance, great friend of the World Bank and Chair of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund disagrees. According to him, Wolfowitz is a ‘wonderful individual, perfectly capable’. Join us in opposing Wolfowitz’ visit to South Africa by picketing outside Manuel’s provincial office.
When: 2.30 pm, Friday 17 June
Where: Gauteng Provincial Department of Finance and Economic Affairs, 94 Main Street, Johannesburg”
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About Danny Schechter
Danny Schechter is an Emmy award winning journalist, television producer and independent filmmaker who also writes, blogs and speaks about media issues.
His latest film is PLUNDER The Crime Of Our Time.
Mr. Schechter is NOT the Godfather of Soul.
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