BROKAW’S OUT OF HERE

CONSPIRACIST COMPLAINTS

AMNESTY REPORTS

STOP THE PRESSES. Hold the Front Page, big news from the world of news, US news that is, is breaking. Today is a media anniversary. On 1912 on this day, fifteen young women who worked for the Curtis Publishing company were fired for dancing the “turkey trot” on their lunch breaks. Today, most media workers are so overloaded that there isn’t much time for lunch or any breaks.

The breaking news today is about a news system that is breaking down. South Dakota’s favorite son, Tom Brokaw, one of the big three network anchors has announced he is stepping down after the 2004 election. I guess Tom, who likes to call me Danny the Red (nice one!) can’t miss one more big one behind the anchor desk. Let’s hope he does a better job than in 2000 where NBC News (reportedly egged on by GE Chairman Jack Welch in the news room) led the charge to call the election for Bush even though the Associated Press was saying it was “too close to call.”

STORY OF BRIAN

Brian Williams, the 43 year old male model looking anchor in waiting from Elmira New York, one of my stomping grounds when I went to nearby Cornell University when he was but a pup, has had the longest grooming period in history to assume the ANCHORSHIP. Needless to say, the role of the anchor, and of network news seems to be shifting and so it is unlikely that he will be able to revive what is already being called the “golden era” of TV News. Ratings are down, news is dumbed down, and critics are down down on most of the daily fare.

Brokaw is funny enough to do his own late night show, and is unlikely to disappear from the hot lights forever. He says he decided to pack it in after he tool a a summer office, and discovered that there was a world — and a life — on the other side of the tube. His counterpart at ABC, Peter Jennings was on Charlie Rose last night holding forth on all the complexities of the Middle East. He described the political fault lines on all sides, and in that moment, you realized how short network is on offering this kind of context and interpretative background. He typically played it down the middle despite Rose’s long comment filled questions which failed to elicit any strong views.

Over at CBS, Dan Rather learned recently that even when you do express strong views, they can have no impact if they are uttered overseas on the BBC. Rather’s recent attack on the US media, himself included,for kowtowing to the Administration on its coverage of the terror war was like one hand clapping. Few outlets in the US picked it up. None of the other anchors were asked to comment on his indictment of the role played by network news.

VIVA NIGHTLINE

Last night. Nightline gave us another reason to believe that news on television can be offered with sensitivity and some modicum of depth. The program looked more deepely into the motives and commitment of many white Southerners to go after the terrorists in their midst, those responsible for the crimes against civil rights workers and black people deep in Dixie. Last night’s profile of Mississippi investigative journalist Jerry Mitchell was inspiring.

REPORTING FROM RAMALLAH

A tip of the Dissector’s mousepad this morning to the Village Voice for offering Arab reporting on Palestinian concerns. Most coverage of the occupation seems to have vanished. Here is a taste of the “Letter from Palestrine” which gets closer to the truth of people’s feeling there that than most of the stereotypes that present Palestinians as all antisemites or terrorists. Writes Kareem Fahim, “If the television pictures of Arafat ducking into his Mercedes on Fridays are a familiar sight, so is the action that followed. Thirty or so Palestinians, most of them under the age of 18, hurled rocks at Israeli soldiers hidden in Jeeps behind large mounds of dirt. The whole exercise, practically speaking, looks absurd: Palestinian rocks (which, thanks to the Israeli incursion, are in ready supply) seem never to hit their intended targets, and maybe two or so bounce harmlessly off the hood or door of a heavily armed Jeep. But the 12-year-olds know the Israelis are itching to rumble, and in no time, one Jeep becomes four, and tear gas and compression grenades give way to live ammunition. Two hundred thirty-eight children have been killed in this latest intifada. Luckily today there are only minor injuries.

“Eat shit!” one elderly Palestinian woman yells toward the soldiers, before dragging an obstinate five-year-old away from the battle by his ear.

“It’s like a movie,” says George Ishmael, the Palestinian owner of a Jerusalem taxi company. “All of it — Arafat under siege, emerging victorious, the Israelis invading, the daily fighting, the suicide bombings. It’s . . . drama.”

“But down the street from the Ramallah mosque, the current state of things is nothing so innocuous as a movie. In the Palestine Cafe, patrons glare wearily at a television, all intifada, all the time…”

ISRAELIS TO PROTEST OCCUPATION

In Israel meanwhile, the Peace Camp is planning to mark the 35th anniversary this June of the occupation of Palestinian land with more protests. Gila Svirsky explains: “…. the occupation has been destructive to Israeli society as well, andnot only in terms of the tragedy of lives lost through terrorism ormilitary service. “Occupation corrupts”, we say in Israel, with referenceto the moral deterioration of our society as a result of being theoppressor of others. But there are additional ways that the occupationhas taken its toll in Israel:

“* The troubled economy: Israel is currently in a grave economiccrisis - deep recession, severe unemployment (currently 10%), increasingpoverty, widening socio-economic gaps;

“* Under-funded social and environmental programs: Cutbacks in theeducation of our children, healthcare, the special needs of the elderlyand disabled, rational planning for water use, development of publictransportation;

“* Threats to democratic norms and values: The abrogation of freedomof speech, media censorship and self-censorship, open expressions ofracism against Arabs, dehumanization of the other; and

“* The spillover of violence into Israeli society - the high rate ofviolence among schoolchildren, increased crimes of violence, and violencedirected against women.”

FBI’s LATEST INCARNATION

Here in the USA, today is D day for G-Men. Robert Mueller, the FBI director announces his reorganization of the agency that once was considered the holiest of holies in the world of policing and combatting mobsters and marxists. Now, it is on the defensive, announcing a new research division to be headed up by a CIA specialist. The CIA-FBI merger is haltingly underway. What did they know and what did they not act on, remain the questions of the day and fodder for conspiracists on all sides of the spectrum. The latest tidbit of interest was reported by the LA Times: “May Have Foretold Terror Attacks

HERMAN: MEDIA MISSED IT

Edward Herman writes about the media failure to look critically at these isssues when it mattered in a column on ZNET: ” The successful terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, represented a spectacular failure of the U.S. national security establishment. But from the very beginning there was very little media interest in examining that failure, although the attack involved extensive terrorist preparations within the United States and although the federal government (and taxpayers) are paying some $30 billion a year on security services, not including the armed forces.

‘There was a rush to give “security” more money, without a detailed investigation of the failure and its implications for the efficiency in use of the existing vast sums. Little attention was given to locating responsibility for this security debacle….”

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT

Amnesty International released a new report yesterday and I was glad to see William Shulz’s press conference carried live on CSPAN. The only hostile questions I heard came from two people from CNN questioning Amnesty’s criticism of US policy. I didn’t see the report covered in the new York Times. Maybe I missed it. I did receive a report on it, get this, datelined PRAGUE:

Prague, 28 May 2002 (RFE/RL) — The human-rights groupAmnesty International unveiled its annual report today,which contains stinging criticism of the United Statesfor the way in which it has detained some 1,200 people inthe aftermath of the 11 September terrorist attacks.

“The Amnesty International Report reviews the human-rightssituation in more than 100 countries, most of whoserecords are far more dismal than Washington’s. ButAmnesty singles out the United States for setting adangerous precedent that it says not only underminesAmerican credibility in denouncing human-rightsviolations in other countries but directly encouragesother states to regress in their treatment of detainedindividuals.

“Specifically, Amnesty International criticizes the UnitedStates for putting in doubt long-accepted human-rightsstandards, such as the 1949 Geneva conventions, whichoutline the treatment that must be accorded to warprisoners.

JOHN WALKER, SUPERSTAR

Speaking of prisoners, “the JUDGE,” FOX NEW CHANNEL’s early morning legal expert intimated that John Walker Lindh, the US citizen first detained in Afghanistan for fighting with the Taliban, and charged with treason may walk. if the US government refuses to release supposedly secret information they have on him to his lawyers…..Meanwhile, another branch of the Fox “family” is planning to milk the subject. (Could it be comparred to Ozzie Osbourne’s’s dysfunctional TV family . The UK’s C4 is reportedly paying one hundred thousand pounds an episode for the MTV hit.) Fox is planning an entertainment special to cash in on the public interest their coverage of the story has stoked. Variety reports: “”The events of Sept. 11 continue to reverberate in Hollywood: ArtisanTelevision and cabler FX are developing a two-hour telepicdramatizing the story of American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh.” Can’t wait.

CONSPIRACY COVERED OR COVERED UP?

For many years, organizations like the Trilateral Commission, a meeting of elites from the US Europe and Asia have been cited as proof that the world is being run by private agencies of powercrats and moguls. The lack of coverage of their activities is alarming to critics like Victor Thorn who writes: “From May 30-June 2, 2002, the ultra-secret, ultra-elitist Bilderberg cabal will meet at the Westfields Marriott Hotel in Chantilly, Va., seven miles south of Washington, D.C. The big question is: will the local and national media cover this extremely crucial event?…

“In mid-April, 2002, the Trilateral Commission met for four days at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C. As they do every year, this highly influential group of world leaders from North America, Japan and Europe plotted ways to promote their globalist agenda….

“In all, 251 of the most influential businessmen, statesmen, politicians, financiers, and academics met right in Washington, D.C., and how much did you hear about it in your local or national media? I’ll bet nothing! I mean, Kenneth Lay, fallen head of Enron, was there. Every time he sneezed or clipped a hangnail, the press reported on it. But not this time at the Trilateral Commission meeting.

Think of it this way (as veteran reporter Jim Tucker of the American Free Press so eloquently puts it). Every year when the world’s greatest actors get together at the Academy Awards, is the media present? Yes. How about when America’s two best football teams meet at the Super Bowl. Is the media there? Of course. TV’s Emmy awards - the media is there. Grammy’s - the media is there en force. Hell, the media even reports on hog-calling contests at the State Fair in Arkansas.

“But when some of the most powerful men and women congregate to determine the course of future history, did any of the following cover their meeting:

” ABC - NO

NBC - NO

CBS - NO

New York Times - NO

Newsweek - NO Time Magazine - NO”

COTTS: TIME DISSES LATIN AMERICA

RE: TIME, Cynthia Cotts reports this week in the Voice, “Another blow has been struck in the battle between business and editorial. This past February, Time Inc. execs quietly closed the Mexico City bureau of Time magazine, laying off some 15 people, including Bureau Chief Peter Katel, who covered Latin America from that perch. Never mind the breaking news of military coups, economies on the brink, Plan Colombia. Insiders say the closing was based on advertising losses at Time Latin America, whose budget paid the salaries in Mexico City. From now on, Time will cover all of Latin America from Miami.

“It was a business decision to restructure the edition and to let go of the bureau,” said George Russell, Time’s international editor for the Americas. The call was made by “the people in charge of the overseas editions of Time” and reviewed by Time Inc. editor in chief Norman Pearlstine. “There’s no way I would characterize this as a happy decision,” Russell said, “but I would not characterize it as a cynical, screw-Latin America-type decision.”

MAD MEDIA DISEASE

PR WATCH’s Spin of the Week brings us a story that demands more atttention: ” As we report in our book Mad Cow USA (available on this website as a free PDF download), the British and US governments’ mishandling of the threat of mad cow-type diseases is a case study in how “PR crisis management” protects industry at the expense of human and environmental health. Now that Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), dubbed ‘mad deer disease,’ is spreading across North America and tens of thousands of wild deer and elk are being slaughtered to desperately slow it down, the issue is finally getting some serious media attention such as today’s excellent piece in the Wall Street Journal. Of course, increased media attention also is bringing atrocious and misleading reporting such as a recent article in National Review Online claiming that when “300 mg of supplemental copper” was used to treat CWD, it was cured. In reality, no such study exists and this National Review piece reads like bad fiction. How do they get away with publishing such inaccurate, undocumented claims? Web readers, beware.”

ON THE WEB: WELCOME CREATIVE COMMONS

“We’re writing to alert you to the launch today ofCreative Commons, a new web-based enterprise that assistscreators in extending certain uses of their copyrightedworks to the public. Conceived by Eric Eldred(Eldritch Press), Lawrence Lessig (Stanford), James Boyle(Duke), Hal Abelson (MIT), Michael Carroll (Villanova) andEric Saltzman (Berkman Center), Creative Commons is designedto encourage and enable the sharing and use of creative workson the Internet….

The website is: http://www.creativecommons.org/news/may16.html

“IT IS NOT ARROGANCY…”

Finally, some provocative observations from a foreign visitor to the US (forgive the English — it is not her first language) commenting on US media and widespread ignorance here of the world: ” One time l was listening to the radio in the car, l think it was a talkshow programme, guy was so angry and saying ‘ those foreign people are coming here to our country , they don’t speak our language , they don’t know about our heroes, they have no idea about our history. INS wake up: don’t accept those people come here! etc.’

” When l talk to people they do ask me where l am from (because l look different) l used to say Turkey, then they look with blind eyes , so l was trying to explain where is Turkey. Now l am telling them Europe but they don’t ask which coutry in Europe as if Europe is a one country!

” l do not mean to be arrogant . That’s not arrogancy , but America is not the unique country on the world and sun is not rounding around America some one should explain it here l think. l hate when people do not talk to me but they do talk to my husband and they do explain everything to him not to me , as if l am not there or as if l do not understand. and when they hear me talking English, ( I see) their shocked eyes, and when they see me driving the congrats as if l came from very primitive country and have met the real (!) civilization here. .l do agree that my country or others are not perfect and they did so many mistakes but still l think American need to know more about the rest of the world..”

That about sums it up. American interested in how the rest of the world thinks should check out GLOBALVISION NEWS NETWORK (Gvnews.net), mentioned this week by Amy Wilentz in the Nation. Nice plug, thanks, but a bit off factually. Thank you for joining me again this morning. I await yr comments and suggestions. Write: dissector@mediachannel.org