CBS DOCUDRAMA SHOWS WHAT TV CAN BE

US TROOPS INVADE IRAQ

APPEAL TO HELP MEDIACHANNEL.ORG

Shut my media criticizing mouth! Did you see the “Crooked E? in prime time on CBS last night? ” What are they drinking over there? Whatever it is, give Mr. Moonves and his team some more. Penelope Spheeris, known for the film “The Decline and Fall of Western Civilization” had a sequel on last night, only it was about the rise and fall of Enron, a no holds barred, name calling, scum-sucking expose of a corporate scandal that is still on going. Every time I am ready to give up on television’s capacity to illuminate, something like this comes along and restores my faith. The two hour docudrama had a shmaltzy core of course, telling the story through pretty boy Christian Kane who throws his own career away and almost loses his wife to be as he rides the Enron rocket before it fizzles.

A tip of the Dissector’s keyboard to Robert Greenwald who exec-produced this unusual prime time polemic. He’s the producer who made the movie on Abbie Hoffman, and exec produces the doc Unprecedented on the 2000 election. (Our film Counting on Democracy on this subject has a plug in the new issue of The Independent film mag.) What this shows again is that entertainment divisions do a better and more impactful job of covering important subjects than news divisions.

The politics were strong as well, as big guy actor Brian Dennehy, playing “Mr. Blue,” a top Enronexec, says straight out that his company’s troubles were just a tip of a rotting iceberg. This is the sort of drama that should be on PBS every week, but commercial networks seem to be less risk adverse that their public television counterparts who, in the days when Enron money was gushing, carried a series underwritten by “the Crooked E.”

FAIR WINS HBO DISCLAIMER

Speaking of documdramas, not all are accurate. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting notes that “HBO recently added a message tothe end of its movie “Live From Baghdad,” clarifying the scenes thatseemingly endorsed the fraudulent stories about Iraqi soldiers removingKuwaiti babies from incubators. The film, a fictionalized account ofCNN’s coverage of the Persian Gulf War, leaves viewers with the impressionthat these events actually happened. HBO’s message, which appears after the end of the credits, reads:

“While the allegations of Iraqi soldiers taking babies from incubatorswere widely circulated during the run-up to the Gulf War (the time frameof the drama of our film), these allegations were never substantiated.” How many people will get to see that, do ya think. Meanwhile there is another possible deception in this docutrash. The film is based on a story by ex-CNN producee Bob Wiener about, who else, Bob Wiener, the hero of the tale. Another most credible ex-CNNer tells me that Wiener left Baghdad before the bombing began! Will check some more and report back.

THE FCC FIGHT OF THE WEEK

While occasional exposes of non-media corporations may be aired, what is needed more is an investigative drama about the efforts of CBS’s parent company Viacom and other network biggies who are lobbying the FCC to drop curbs on how many stations networks can own. USA Today reports: “Writers, producers, advertisers and consumer groups urged federal regulators to keep media ownership caps aimed at promoting a diversity of on-air programs and viewpoints.

“But broadcasters and other media owners called the limits an anachronism in an era of 200-channel cable TV and the Internet….

“The FCC is reviewing rules that prevent a broadcaster from owning TV stations that reach more than 35% of U.S. households and from owning two TV stations in smaller cities. It’s also reviewing limits on ownership in the same market of TV and radio stations, as well as a newspaper and TV station. Meanwhile, Europe’s top public broadcaster, the BBC is, according to today’s Financial Times ” poised to approach US TV network ABC with a radical planfor an alliance.” So now we have a merging of non commercial and commercialbroadcasting, a dvelopment that is already far advanced in this country.

INVASION UNDERWAY — PLEASE TELL CNN

The US invasion of Iraq has already begun according to reports in the Telegraph in London, picked up by the Boston Globe but I hear no word of this on CNN or Fox News this morning. (Possibly to goose Rupert Murdoch, CNN has added an Australian newscaster to its 6 AM “news. The network has dropped two network refugees who brought some depth and distinction to its airwaves — Garrick Utley (ex NBC) and Bruce Morton (ex CBS. Too old and too good, I guess.

Here is what is said to be happening according to the Telegraph, “About 100 United States special forces personnel and more than 50 CIAofficers have been inside Iraq for at least four months, looking formissile-launchers, monitoring oil fields, marking minefields and helpingtheir pilots target air-defence systems. The operations, which are said to have included some Australian,Jordanian and British commandos, are seen as part of the opening phaseof a war, intelligence officials and military analysts say.This is despite the Bush Administration agreeing to the schedule ofUnited Nations weapons inspections.”

Another position put forward by President Bush during his race for the Presidency is about to be deep-sized, the one about opposing “nation building.” That is, if nation grabbing is the same thing. David Sanger and James Dao of the New York Times seem to be pentrating some of the Administration secrets, or are being leaked to. Thy report:”President Bush’s national security team is assembling final plans for administering and democratizing Iraq after the expected ouster of Saddam Hussein. Those plans call for a heavy American military presence in the country for at least 18 months, military trials of only the most senior Iraqi leaders and quick takeover of the country’s oil fields to pay for reconstruction.

“The proposals, according to administration officials who have been developing them for several months, have been discussed informally with Mr. Bush in considerable detail…..

“…Though Mr. Bush came to office expressing distaste for using the military for what he called nation building, the Pentagon is preparing for at least a year and a half of military control of Iraq, with forces that would keep the peace, hunt down Mr. Hussein’s top leaders and weapons of mass destruction and, in the words of one of Mr. Bush’s senior advisers, ‘keep the country whole’”

HOW OTHERS SEE US

US Plans for war in Iraq are being condemned by South Africa’s NobeL Prize Winning former Archbishop Desmond Tuti. According to the Mail and Guardian, he has “criticized the United States on Sunday as an arrogant superpower bent on unilateral action, in an interview on the Iraq crisis to be telecast in Britain.

“‘I’m shocked to see a powerful country use its power frequently, unilaterally,” said Tutu, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for opposing apartheid in his native South Africa.

“‘The United States says: ‘You do this to the world. If you don’t do it, we will do it.’ That’s sad,” he said.

“When does compassion, when does morality, when does caring come in?” he asked. “I just hope that one day that people will realize that peace is a far better path to follow. Tutu also questioned why Iraq — which denies it has nuclear, chemical or biological weapons — was being singled out when India and Pakistan are confirmed nuclear powers….”

CARTOON NETWORK

Another South Africa, journalist Tony Karon this time, is even stronger on his weblog. “The strangest thing about the current moment is just how cartoonish Bush appears, sounding more and more each day like a caricature drawn by some agitprop lefty theatre-troupe. This week it was all this “war can still be avoided” stuff when it’s written all over his face (never mind his actions) that he believes the exact opposite. And his announcement of more than $300 billion in new tax breaks for corporations and the rich, in the name of restarting an economy that has millions of working poor and unemployed Americans gasping for breath ˆ along with the warning that anyone who dared challenge this was engaging in “class warfare.” (He’s not short on chutzpah!) a virtue in the Bush administration….”

TALIBAN CLAIMS AND DENIALS

The Palestine Chronicle is carrying a report by a former Taliban official that says that Taliban forces are still holding 90 U.S. soldiers and that around 6000 Taliban members in several provinces are working against the American forces.” Nadeem Shaker & Husbanullah Mutawakkel report from Afrghnistan that “The Taliban was able to acquire chemical weapons from eight countries to use it in their resistance to the U.S. forces located in Afghanistan.

“Countries that are friends to Taliban provided the movement with these weapons, Nasr Ahmed Rouhi, former official in the Afghani embassy in United Arab Emirates (UAE) said, adding that Pakistan is not one of these countries.However, a close source to the Taliban denied Rouhi’s claim as a whole, labeling these statements as “lies with no shred of truth.”

NEVER AGAIN? ….MAYBE ONE MORE TIME?

Just as an Israeli scandal seemed to be driving voters away from Ariel Sharon’s Likud party, two new suicide bombings have given the government a new chance to show its might and and resolve. 23 people died last night in Tel Aviv, many ironically, not Israelis but migrant workers from Africa, eastern Europe and the Philippines. In response, CNN reports that “Israeli missiles hit targets in Gaza today — hours after two nearlysimultaneous terror ….. Israel also announced new restrictions on Palestinians, including the closings of three West Bank universities Brefore the attacks, Israel barred two prominent Israeli Arabs from running for office, a decision that David Newman says in a Times Op-Ed piece today “has marred the Israeli Arab voters’ faith in the election system.”

NEW SPY AGENCY?

Ronald Kessler writes in the Washington Post that new spy agency modeled on the British experience is under consideration. He opposes it: “The White House is seriously considering a proposal to cede the FBI’scounterterrorism function to a new agency similar to MI5, the Britishdomestic spy agency. The idea scares almost everyone who has actuallybeen involved in investigating terrorism, and with good reason.

“A domestic spy agency would mean a return to the years when the FBI,under J. Edgar Hoover, investigated citizens simply for subscribing toleftist publications or for speaking out against the government. It wasall done in the name of intelligence gathering, an amorphous standardthat could be used to justify investigating and compiling files onanyone perceived to be different. In the process, the FBI — often withthe approval of presidents — not only violated Americans’ rights underthe Constitution, but also lost sight of what it was supposed to beuncovering. Because Hoover confused political dissent with spying, theFBI did a poor job of investigating the real threat at the time:espionage……”

FREEOM OF INFORMATION

While the government wants more information about all of us, including our travel plans and destinations, it is getting harder and harder to get information from the government esepcially under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act. On February 8, 1995, Globalvision submitted a request for some documents in connection with a film we were then working on about war crimes in Bosnia. On December 9, 2002, we received a response from the United States Department of State with two documents of the many we wanted. Seven years for two publcially released press releases. How cool. Thank you State Department. “We hope that the Department has been of service to you in this matter,” writes Margaret P. Grafeld.

WELCOME TOM

Your news dissector welcome’s the Nation magazine’s decision to feature commentaries built around articles from overseas sources by publishing editor Tom Englehardt who has developed Tomdispatch.com to offer his version of the news not in the US news. He explains his mission thusly. (Sound familiar?)

“The wonderful thing about the American media is that you can almost never claim that something went “unreported.” Somewhere — sometimes even in the largest, most distinguished of our papers — something is suddenly offered up on even the most “unreported” of issues. So you can always say, it’s been covered. But in the vast drift of “news” and what passes for news in America, “the torrent” as Todd Gitlin has called it in his book, Media Unlimited, the question is: What is it we’re looking at which goes generally unnoticed?

“After a post-September 11th year and a quarter of fairly intense reading around in a reasonable number of the major (and minor) newspapers and magazines, here and abroad, plus a fair dose of prime time TV news and CNN news, here’s my very general scorecard: For nearly a year, the Bush administration got a remarkable free ride in our “liberal” press, domestically and in foreign coverage; this, despite the tons and tons of newsprint devoted to post-9/11 crisis reporting, those millions of words that made up, for instance, “The Nation Challenged” section of the New York Times (which I came to think of as “the Reader Challenged” section). Then, in more recent months, in the big coastal dailies at least, you could feel the unease about this administration oozing out and some good, but scattershot reporting began to appear on, for instance, the Washington Post front page. Often, however, as with Paul Krugman’s column in the Times, the best “reporting” has b! een relegated to op-ed pages.

“The greatest coverage deficit has been at the largest level. Right now, in my opinion, most American journalists are not decoding the world for us, nor putting it together, but more or less smashing it into thousands and thousands of fragmentary tales and leaving matters at that. Analysis and synthesis are in either disrepair or disrepute”

HELP US SAVE MEDIACHANNEL

Your News Dissector tends to devote most of his time and this space to cataloguing other people’s problems, conflicts and warped coverage. With your indulgence, I’d like to spend a moment or two on our own challenge: keeping this Media channel alive at a time when its voice and resources are needed more than ever. I am sure I don’t have to tell you why its needed, why a critical global platform like this is important to monitor a media system that serves us so poorly. And to do it in real time, with as many timely and diverse perspective as we can cull from our over l000 affiliates and mainstream media outlets. There are only a few of us doing the heavy lifting every day and it is gratifying to see of how many visitors we have and continue to interest.

Our company Globalvision created Mediachannel.org because we knew all too well, as program producers, how difficult it is to get work that challenges conventional wisdom on the air, especially with any regularity, especially with enough promotional support to build an audience. We realized that the media system had changed before our eyes — with the mega-mergers at the top and the fusion of show biz and news values across the board. That’s why we thought it important to try to bring together –even in a virtual way — all of the people and organizations we could think of that might share our sense of outrage over the dumbing down of news and journalistic values.

We also wanted to do more than criticize — and so continue to produce programming and the Globalvision News Network (gvnews.net) to demonstrate that another approach to media is possible, feasible and compelling. Moreover we have tried to run projects in a business-like, cost efficient way to do the most with the least.

Yet we are all living in the era of the crash — the 9/11 plane crashes, the internet bubble crash and the larger economic crash All the biggies are slashing staff, chopping top correspondents and falling in line with the government. Sine Democrats seem to have woken up of late to the right-wing takeover of most outlets, and the ass kissing on the others. They want their own Rush Limbaugh, but that is not what will make much difference. Clearly we need independent media but how to support it, how to keep it alive…Many of are hanging on to the ledge with our finger nails. .

That is our dreadful reality. We are not dead — yet, but unless some angels come flying, and dollars come dropping, we will start running out of options and find ourselves buried in the cemetery of dead web sites. In writing about this situation, I am hopeing that someone out there in cyberspace land will read his and become concerned, and willing to help. If you are in a position to — or have some leads that are not obvious to all, let us know.

As our world turns into a state of emergency, we here at Mediachannel are in state of urgency looking for comitted and connected folks with vision and means to get involved. Can you help us find the resources we need to keep Media Channel, Globalvision News Network and Globalvision alive in these dark times? If you can help with serious prospects or more, write to me at dissector@mediachannel.org and we can set up a time to talk. Contributions can be sent to The Global Center, 1600 Broadway #700, New York, New York, 10019.