Judge Not Lest Thee Be Judged
September 30th, 2005 - by: danny
ROBERTS RISES
WAR FESTERS, MILLER WALKS
DISSECTOR TRAVELS
I was up extra early yesterday to post my jeremiad against Da Judge. Clearly, I was a bit late to the party, and also unprepared for how quick the Roberts coronation would be, or how fallible our technology is becoming. No sooner did a day’s work go up then it went down, like Humpty Dumpty taking that fall. I wasn’t surprised when some readers suspected there may have been more to MediaChannel’s misfortune. Timothy Michel wrote:
Is the “News Dissector” being “Cyber Attacked” or “Stormed” to prevent regular readers from accessing your feeds, or is the traffic just so great that you may need to consider a server farm?
Hear Ye, Hear Ye: I’d like believe in the super-sized power of dissection to stem the tide, but our tech troubles don’t rise to such a level. We had the Scotch tape out and we are trying to fix it, while watching Roberts invoke the dreadful memory of Rehnquist as he consummated the first Bushification of the Supreme Court.
DRIVEN CRAZY
At least some people I respect — like Tom Englehart — cheered my attempt to put my finger in the dike of democracy:
Your latest is remarkable. I’ve just been emailing it to whomever I could think of who could write about it. Back at the end of July I wrote a piece, “Stop, Thief!” about the role of Roberts in the 2000 election in which I concluded:
It is remarkable really. If the Democrats were an actual opposition party, if they were really a party at all, the Roberts nomination would be an open-and-shut case, no need to consider Roberts’ record on abortion or anything else. Why, after all, would a party that believed a presidential election had essentially been stolen from it by the Supreme Court in 2000 (and perhaps again in 2004 via voter suppression and other techniques in Ohio) agree even to consider the candidacy of a legal partisan who clearly had an unknown but all-too-real hand in taking the election from them, or do anything but demand the withdrawal of his nomination on the threat of a sustainable filibuster? As the other political party, don’t they even care about futures elections? It seems, however, that the Democrats in Congress, after much shuffling and hemming and hawing, will take the sharpened razor handed them by the President and slit their own wrists.
(http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=9053)
It’s driven me crazy that not a Democrat seems to have even asked about the 2000 elections during the hearings!
FREED JUDY MILLER WILL TALK, SOURCES SAY
WASHINGTON (AP) — After nearly three months behind bars, New York Times reported Judith Miller was released from a federal prison Thursday after agreeing to testify in the investigation into the disclosure of the identity of a covert CIA officer, two people familiar with the case said.
Ms. Miller left the federal detention center in Alexandria, Va., after reaching an agreement with Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. Legal sources said she would appear before a grand jury investigation the case Friday morning. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the grand jury proceedings.
The sources said Ms. Miller agreed to testify after securing an unconditional release from Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, to testify about any discussions they had involving CIA officer Valerie Plame.
NO END IN SIGHT
And the war goes on. Another “bad day,” with more U.S. and Iraqi deaths. General Casey told Congress that Iraq is now down to only one trained brigade (from three), and is “conditioning” his projections of troop withdrawals. Over on CBS, it was noted that even that not even one brigade would survive without U.S. support. “Insurgencies tend to last nine years,” the strategists said. So, it ain’t over yet. Not by a long shot.
ANTI-WAR SOLDIERS ONLINE
Via PRWEB:
September 22, 2005 — Anti-war statements from U.S. soldiers who have served in the Iraq War (OIF) appear online now at Video.Google.Com. Metropole Filmworx LLC choose Video.Google.Com as a distribution method for clips of soldier videos in order to insure they would be available on demand in time for the September 23, 2005 protest in Washington, DC, led by Cindy Sheehan.
Metropole Filmworx LLC has been recording interviews with soldiers who have returned from Iraq since March. The footage collected will be used in their documentary BACK FROM IRAQ: The Citizen Soldier Speaks. They have posted clips from several interviews online at Video.Google.Com in order to make sure that congressional representatives and the general public are aware that Cindy Sheehan speaks for many, many soldiers when she says the War in Iraq must be brought to a swift conclusion.
video.google.com/videosearch?q=metropole&pl=1
Tony Karon sees the Administration as more out of touch than ever:
With another vote looming, the President trots out the familiar “violence will escalate” line to reassure the public that Iraq may look out of control, but it’s all going according to plan. They did this before the handover of sovereignty, and before the January election. Violence escalated. But the point is, it didn’t decrease after those “milestones,” it continued to escalate. And the same will happen this time. The idea that these elections will turn the tide against the insurgency is a fallacy.
http://tonykaron.com/2005/09/29/prophylactic-spin-on-iraq/
ISRAEL STILL IN CONTROL
Amira Haas writes in Ha’aretz:
Commentators in the media and elsewhere proclaimed after the disengagement from Gaza that “the frontier posts in the Strip are now international crossings,” and that “removing Israeli control of access to Gaza is in line with the national interest of ending the occupation.”
These conclusions were based on a systemic ignorance of the nuances in the Israeli control over the Palestinians. Mainly they reflect the lack of desire to know that Israel controls the Palestinian population registration. This state of affairs began in 1967, continued after signing the Oslo Accords and still exists today, after the Israel Defense Forces’ pullout from the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s control of the border crossings and the Palestinians’ freedom of movement is not reflected merely in Israel’s presence in roadblocks and border passes. It derives first and foremost from controlling the Palestinian population registration. Identity numbers, births, deaths, marriages, changing addresses – if these details have not been updated in Israel’s Interior Ministry computers, they don’t exist.
RESOURCE: A CITIZEN’S GUIDE TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT
The House Committee on Government Reform has published a new edition of its popular “Citizen’s Guide on Using the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974 to Request Government Records.”
The Guide, first published in 1977, “is one of the most widely read congressional committee reports in history,” the new edition says. A copy of the updated Guide, House Report 109-226, September 20, 2005, is available.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/foia/citizen.html
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Media Mania USA?
September 30th, 2005 - by: danny
‘ADDRESSING CONCERNS’
Reuters reports:
A senior Republican lawmaker won a commitment on Thursday from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to address concerns about the increased detentions and accidental shootings by U.S. forces of reporters trying to cover the Iraq conflict.
NEW GREENWALD FILM ON WAL-MART IS READY
Director Robert Greenwald writes:
After spending almost the entire summer in the editing room working with four incredible editors, we’ve finally finished the film. We’re getting ready to master the DVD now, and it’s chock full of extras: three bonus sections, two behind the scenes features, a shorter 20 minute version of the film, an organizing video, and a slew of fun commercials mocking Wal-Mart’s expensive ads.
We just started taking pre-orders for the DVD, you can get yours for $12.95. I’d like to see Wal-Mart beat that price!
http://www.walmartmovie.com/buy.php
OUR TV-ADDICTED SOCIETY
NEW YORK, September 29, 2005 -— Nielsen Media Research reported today that the average American home watched more television the past TV season vs. any previous season. During the 2004-05 TV season (which started September 20, 2004 and just ended September 18, 2005), the average household in the U.S. tuned into television an average of 8 hours and 11 minutes per day.
This is 2.7% higher than the previous season, 12.5% higher than 10 years ago, and the highest levels ever reported since television viewing was first measured by Nielsen Media Research in the 1950′s. During the Sept 2004-Sept 2005 season, the average person watched television 4 hours and 32 minutes each day, the highest level in 15 years (See Table 1 in the attached document). Household tuning levels going back to the 1950′s can be downloaded at the following link:
http://www.nielsenmedia.com/newsreleases/2005/TVviewinglevels.xls
RATINGS DOWN AT NBC
Kurt Andersen notes in New York:
Last year, NBC’s prime-time audience shrank by 11 percent, sending it from No. 1 to No. 4 in the season ratings, a more extreme reversal of fortune than had ever befallen any network — at the same time that (not coincidentally) Today’s lead over Good Morning America shriveled. The punch line to the annus horribilis came in May, when NBC’s “upfront” revenues — from the advance sales of ads for the season starting now — plummeted: The company had budgeted a drop of several hundred million dollars, but the loss turned out to be twice that.
NPR: LOCAL REPORTING FALLS OFF
Jeff Dworkin, NPR ombudsman, reports:
In 1997, only 5 percent of the reports came from local stations. That rose with deliberate collaborative effort of NPR and member station reporters.
But recently, that number has declined again. In the period from Aug. 30, 2004 to Aug. 30, 2005, NPR aired a total of 18,486 reports on the newsmagazine programs. That figure includes all of the news programs but excludes reports heard on NPR hourly newscasts. Only 960 — or 5.19 percent — of all reports came from member-station reporters over the past year. And that means NPR-station collaboration is back where it was eight years ago.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4865936
DOES KEEPING PROFITS HIGH MAKE FOR BETTTER NEWS?
Michigan State University media economics professor Stephen Lacy responds to retired Mercury News ad exec Lou Alexander’s argument that newspaper profits must remain high. It has stirred a lot of attention, given the recent cuts in staffs across the nation:
http://www.gradethenews.org/commentaries/lacy.htm
Lacy says: “Cutting staff to please Wall Street’s demands for profits is a dangerous short-term strategy for newspapers.”
INTERNET UNDER SURVEILLANCE IN ITALY
The Guardian reports:
Anyone visiting Italy and wanting to use an internet point, or cafe, will need to take along their passport — and be prepared for a major invasion of their privacy, writes John Hooper.
Anti-terrorist legislation prompted by the London bombings in July imposes a string of new obligations on the managers of businesses offering the public access to communications. As of this week, they must obtain — and, according to some interpretations, photocopy — the identity documents of anyone wishing to access the internet, send a fax or make a telephone call.
Not only that. They must also supply the police with records of the times at which customers enter and leave the premises and which computers or telephones they use.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2005/09/29/passport_to_surf.html
GOOD NEWS, ANYONE?
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If You Live in Atlanta, Say Hi, Y’all
September 30th, 2005 - by: danny
Marta Steele writes:
Great on Roberts, but did you have a way of reaching all the senators with it? Too bad the news didn’t surface sooner. Who knows if it would have made a difference.
On Karen Hughes, ABC showed a clip of a Muslim reporter interviewing her. The reporter asked the excellent question “Is Iraq better off than it was before the invasion?” Hughes seemed nonplused, then resorted to begging the question. “Ask the Iraqis,” she answered.
But they’ve already answered, n’est-ce pas? I hope she keeps it up, well publicized.
Liv Owen writes:
I hope your week is going well — I’m thinking critically after seeing your documentary on Sunday. Thank you so much for coming to Skidmore and being willing to answer so many questions about the film. I appreciated it so much, since I am also somewhat of a news critical analyst. I don’t do it for work, but I do find alternate viewpoints interesting, especially when it becomes clear that the “real” story is being sneakily hidden from or misrepresented to Americans.
I’m showing your documentary to a group of women I am working with on a dance piece about the difference in freedoms that American students living in the U.S. have and the freedoms that American students in the U.S. military in Iraq have. This dance will illustrate the disconnectedness between the two groups, as well as abuse of freedoms, and will also exemplify the role the media COULD have in bridging the knowledge gap between the two but don’t.
Grayson Hurst Daughters writes from Atlanta:
As a former ABC Newser myself, I’d like to be at the Atlanta event/screening of your movie tomorrow night. I’m out of town though this wknd. Too bad. Am hoping to have a chance to see it soon though.
Have you seen anything, anywhere, about a bit of interesting news that Bob Woodward/WNT happened to catch on tape while he and a crew were at the NOLA convention center on the Thursday just after Katrina hit?
The buried bit was about how National Guard (?) troops appeared on the scene at the NOLA convention center on the Thursday following the hurricane and immediately went barging in to rescued a “Spanish diplomat” and his family. They took the family out, then just left the scene entirely. That was it. Nothing else in the way of relief for those people for another 24 hours at least. I’ve yet to find out anything more about this fascinating item.
Here’s my typically loopy take on it all:
http://spaceygreview.blogspot.com/2005/09/soggy-vampires.html
Hope your Atlanta screening goes well. It’s good to know about MediaChannel.org and the work you are doing.
GEORGIA ON MY MIND
These screenings have been great and I am doing more. I will be in Atlanta today, September 30. First stop is a talk at Georgia Tech’s Clary Theater (at Tech Tower) at 1 PM. At 4, I will be joining a protest at CNN headquarters calling for better coverage of the war.
At 7, WMD screens at Georgia State University’s “Cinefest” at the University Center , 66 Courtland Street.
Special thanks to organizer Heather Gray who has been raising hell in Hotlanta since the anti-apartheid movement. There will be a number of sponsors, including WFRG, Radio Free Georgia. Call 404-523-3471 for more information.
‘THEY SAY IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY’
September 30 is a special day for the Schechter clan. My dad’s late brother and my Uncle George were born on this day, as was brother Bill, who teaches in the Boston area.
With much love, I pass on this small story, since George is in the Bible Belt (thanks to Korsheid for sending it my way).
Say amen:
ONE DAY IN HEAVEN
Powell, Rice and Bush go to Heaven.
God addresses Colin Powell first. “Powell, what do you believe in?”
Colin replies, “Well, I believe that I should have spoken out loudly when I realized that the war in Iraq was based on misinformation and the greed of the corporate powers that influence our government. It was a disservice to America and the world. And I’ve come to understand that now.”
God thinks for a second and says, “OK, very good. Come and sit at my left.”
God then addresses Rice. “Rice, what do you believe in?”
Rice replies, “Bla-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah! And I believe in forgiveness. I’ve shamelessly sinned to attain power, I covered and lied to the world for the President in exchange for power and position, and I hope no grudges are held
against me.”God thinks for a second and says, “You are forgiven, my daughter. Come and sit at my right.”
God then addresses Bush. “Bush, what do you believe in?”
Bush says, “I believe you’re in my chair.”
Have a great weekend. See you next month.
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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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