*PROFILES OF COURAGE

*MEDIA PROTESTS GROW

*HOW TO KNOW WHAT IS TRUE

First, we were shocked but not always awed, we are getting bored. As TV news appears more and more routine — on a “loop” as one commentator put it with appropriate sarcasm last night — a tune-out is threatening. TV news is up against the very condition that it has fostered over the years — a short attention span.

Perhaps that’s why the three US cable “news” networks this morning took in the feed of a nicely staged press conference with three wounded soldiers from Germany where they are hospitalized. US revenge against German opposition to the war did not include closing this base. So for over a half hour in what is usually a frenetic and well formatted dash to offer more news in less time, we heard all the details of how they were shot. Being shot “sucks” said one soldier from Long Island who also revealed that he and his unit watched video tapes of HBO’s “Band of Brothers” before their work of liberation. Maybe they should have watched The Sopranos for a lesson on unconventional warfare.

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

Fox News predictably gushed that they were all “profiles in courage” for defending the bridge they way they did. This is a clue that more human interest up close and personal stories are on the way as a way of sustaining interest. This is another dip into the Hollywood play book, in which narrative storytelling calls for strong characters. After the press conference, one of those always present military experts beamed with pride. As we now know, there seems to be a great deal more that “sucks” about a war plan that keeps being cited but is rarely explained. Another 30,000 troops are being rushed to the front ad one thousand paratroopers “invade” Northern Iraq. (Actually they landed in friendly Kurdish territory.)

The BBC did not indulge the drama of the wounded men, and instead did some hard reporting on the shortage of humanitarian aid, and the anger in Iraq with the UN which pulled out its western aid workers before the war and left inadequate staffs to cope with what may be the largest humanitarian crisis in history. While there still do not seem to be reporters “embedded” with the humanitarian teams, perhaps because covering the work of peace is not as sexy as reporting on the sands of war, you could see that horror with that snatch of pictures of desperate people clawing for food and water. BBC’s correspondent in Baghdad reported that authorities there say their hospitals are well stocked and that are sending a convoy of food and medicines to the South. Such a caravan is likely to be a target just as the British ship with food aid has been stopped because of mines in the port.

MEDIA WAR UNDER SCRUTINY

The media war is being escalated too, as Lucien Truscott, the Vietnam war vet and author explained in the Times; “From the first moments of the war, television screens and newspaper pages around the world have shown and described with images of exploding palaces and an armored phalanx rolling rapidly toward Baghdad. Reports from the Third Infantry Division do everything but cite highway mile-markers of their progress. Reporters are “embedded” so deep into the war that they are subsisting on the same dreadful rations eaten by the troops.

“The Pentagon may have been dragged kicking and screaming into its current embrace of the news media. But it is making the most of it. Planners must have contemplated advances in media technology and decided that if they can’t control the press, they may as well use it.”

POWER-WORSHIPPING BS

And use it they are, as Matt Taibbi explains in this week’s New York Press: “the preposterous facsimile of journalism that had marked the months leading up to the war vanished, replaced on every network by a veritable blizzard of video gadgetry and power-worshipping bullshit.

“There were so many video effects that it was sometimes hard to see the actual people who were reading the news. Many of the channels (in particular Fox and MSNBC) adopted a two-box format in which the newsreader occupied a smallish hole on the left side of the screen, while the other side contained a live shot of the subject location (Baghdad, Kuwait City). Surrounding the two boxes: a dizzying array of crawls and logos, which from time to time would morph into cutesy, 3-D-rendered graphics of deadly weapons that would literally fly in from the edge of the screen and then stop to rotate proudly in the middle of the video showroom, like the new car on The Price is Right….

“And meanwhile, every network news set was transformed into a boozy officers’ club, with a succession of current and former military guest analysts who lined up to be gently fellated on air”…

PRODUCERS CHALLENGED

On the air, the New York Times reports that producers are struggling to keep up. Jim Rutenberg and Bill Carter are far less critical than Taibbi and portray the TV journalists as sincere if challenged:

This up-close-and-personal view of the war, including injuries, captures and casualties along with fierce fighting, has given what broadcasters see is a contradiction of the positive progress reports provided in Pentagon briefings. How, then, can they deliver the news fast (and first) without either under- or over-estimating the challenges at hand? “The process of trying to get it right is weighing heavily on all of us,” said Steve Capus of NBC Nightly News. “We want to get it right; we don’t want to be spun.” Other correspondents blame the military for failing to provide context for the limited yet astonishing images viewers see.”

THE “TOTALITY:” MISSING

Critics on the other hand blame the TV networks which have seemed to have merged with the military. Nancy Franklin writes about this in the New Yorker, a magazine published two blocks away from the NY Times bunker: “…the totality of the war is bigger than its front-line details, newsworthy though those details are. That totality is something that the news organizations have so far given scant attention to — we’ve seen little coverage of the war’s opponents or of the global political ramifications, and even after Friday’s strikes there was almost no mention of Iraqi casualties. (On Friday night, CNN did show footage of protests around the world — and followed it with a segment called “Decapitation 101.”) In the days and weeks to come, reporters will have to try not to become intoxicated by the unprecedented access they have been granted, and the organizations they work for are going to have to try to remember that patriotism has nothing to do with slapping an image of the American flag on the screen alongside their logos, and that freedom of the press is ultimately something that can’t be taken away — or given — by the Pentagon”

BBC CHIEF SEEKS TRUTH

Are we at least getting the facts? Not necessarily says the head according to a report carried by the European Journalism Center:” BBC director of news Richard Sambrook has admitted it is proving difficult for correspondents in Iraq to distinguish the truth from false reports, after a series of media claims about the progress of coalition forces turned out to be premature. ‘Nobody including the media has the full picture of what’s going on. Reporting the war is about putting together fragments of information. We’re all trying to work out this jigsaw and what the overall picture is,’ Mr Sambrook said.” Sambrook is bringing an honesty to this discussion that we have so far NOT heard from US media executives. (But we did hear from DOD Rummy, who keeps saying the same thing.)

REPORTING OR DISTORTING?

How do we evaluate the reports we are getting, Are there others we may not be getting? Like this one:

“Sanwa ata Mosahra reporting. A film crew from al-Minar TV, a television network of Lebanon, stumbled across the bodies of about 40 US soldiers scattered in the desert outside Maseriah. Ali Fawsua, a cameraman for al-Minar, said “It was obvious the soldiers had been in a major battle as there was empty ammunition casing everywhere.”

“We searched around but could not find any dead Iraqi soldiers and must be thinking they took their dead and injured away from the battle,” he added.

“We called on our satellite phone to our base camp and told them what we had found and they told the Americans where we were located.”

“Soon some American helicopters came to us and the Americans took all our camera and recording equipment and smashed it. They told us to leave the area and say nothing of this finding.”

“When we arrived back at our base to the south there were American military police everywhere and they destroyed all of our equipment and told us to leave Iraq immediately.”

al-Minar has lodged a complaint with the IJCO and US with a claim for compensation for the many thousand dollars of destroyed equipment.”

I haven’t seen this report anywhere. Is it true?

We need more dissecting. Yes, I am willing to share the role. We have yet to see anything on TV like what the Guardian is doing to analyze the claims and counter claims of what is actually happening in Iraq. This is an important contribution to journalists. Others can do it. Why don’t they? Check this out on the Guardian website. MediaGuardian.co.uk.

SORTING CLAIMS AND COUNTERCLAIMS

The feature is called called “When are facts facts? Not in a war” by Chris Tryhorn

“Fog” is beginning to be the watchword of this war, with the lines between fact and propaganda being blurred on a daily basis. The demands of round-the-clock news means military claims are being relayed instantly to millions without being confirmed or verified only to be refuted later by reporters on the ground or by fresh military updates.

“In due course, questions will be asked about the clashing interests of the military and the media and the role of war propaganda in the pursuit of a swift victory against Saddam’s regime.

“The worst example of false claims relates to the battle to take control of Umm Qasr, the southern Iraqi deep-sea port and one of the key targets in the early war. On Sunday afternoon, it had been “taken” nine times. By Sunday night there were still ugly skirmishes between coalition forces and irregulars loyal to Saddam operating out of the old town. Umm Qasr was not, in fact, taken until Tuesday…. Anyone who can point to other war claims that don’t bear scrutiny, please email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk.

CHEMICAL WEAPONS FACTORY: NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON’T

Claims

Monday, March 24, 1.33am Reports surface that US forces find first cache of Saddam’s chemical and biological weapons, seizing a suspected chemical factory in An Najaf. This would be a significant PR coup for Messrs Bush and Blair who justified their launch of war on the grounds that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.

“Fox News and the Jerusalem Post, which had a reporter travelling with US troops, both quote unidentified Pentagon officials who said the facility was seized by US forces. About 30 Iraqi troops and their commanding general surrendered as American forces took the installation, apparently used to produce chemical weapons, according to the Jerusalem Post. It was not immediately clear what chemicals were being produced at the facility.

“Officials caution it is too premature to conclude that forbidden weapons had been discovered but US central command says it is examining several sites of interest.

“Claims

Monday, March 24, 2.42amGeneral Richard Myers, chairman of joint chiefs of staff, claims US commamdos found documents along with millions of rounds of ammunition on Saturday, saying the discovery “might save thousands of lives if we can find out exactly what they have”.

“We’re not sureMonday, March 24, 2.44pmGeneral Tommy Franks, head of the coalition forces, claims he “wasn’t entirely sure” that it was a chemical factory after all. Fox News forced to back away from the story. Iraq denies it has chemical or biological weapons.” Etc.

WHITE HOUSE WANTS TO “DOMINATE” COVERAGE

Even as the Administration seems to be getting a free ride, it is planning to step up its PR offensive. Douglas Quenqua reports in PR Week ” The eruption of war in Iraq last week set in motion a massive global PR network, cultivated by the Bush administration during the months-long buildup of forces. The network is intended not only to disseminate, but also to dominatenews of the conflict around the world.

“Before the attacks began, Suzy DeFrancis, deputy assistant to PresidentBush for communications, outlined the daily media relations hand-off that was about to begin. “When Americans wake up in the morning, they will first hear from the (Persian Gulf) region, maybe from General Tommy Franks,” she said. “Then later in the day, they’ll hear from the Pentagon, then the State Department, then later on the White House will brief.”.

“The OGC, an office born out of post-September-11 efforts to combatanti-American news stories emerging fromArab countries, will be key in keeping all US spokespeople on message.Each night, US embassies around the world, along with all federal departments in DC, will receive a “Global Messenger” e-mail containing talking points and ready-to-use quotes. While an obvious benefit to having communicators spread across time zones is the ability to dominate the 24-hour news cycle,”

WE ARE UNDER BOMBARDMENT

What is the effect of all this. I was struck by a cogent critique on a blog called Dave’s Web:

“After immersing myself for several days in the world of cable ‘news’ - an activity that I usually avoid at all costs - I have come to the conclusion that anyone who can watch this parade of fools and not know that they are being lied to has to be a few Freedom Fries short of a Happy Meal.

“A pattern to the coverage of the Iraq war is ridiculously easy to discern: first, a recklessly transparent lie is told; then, it is repeated endlessly by a stable of resident ‘experts,’ apparently in an attempt to bolster its credibility; this continues until the initialclaim is irrefutably revealed as a lie; at which time another layer of spin and lies is added, with no acknowledgment that the initial claim was entirely fraudulent; with the new lies in place, the process begins again.”

FAIR DEMANDS VERIFICATION

And as it does, FAIR has been analyzing its content. It looks at the claims of surgical precision weapons in one analysis at Fair.org. (Interesting in light of the climbing eath doll from the bombing of a market in Baghdad which the NY Post says the Pentagon suspects was planted by the Iraqis. The government there claims 400 dead and 4000 casualties.”

Writes Fair: “The Pentagon can be expected to claim that its bombing campaign against Iraq is accurate. But without independent verification, reporters should be skeptical about these claims about “precision” bombing.

“Recent reports on NBC News illustrate the opposite tendency. Correspondent Bob Faw (3/20/03) described a Florida town as “a community which very much endorses that surgical strike against Saddam Hussein.”

“Anchor Katie Couric (3/21/03) also referred to “a series of surgical strikes focusing on Iraq’s key leadership” during the first two nights of bombing. Anchor Matt Lauer (3/21/03) agreed: “The people in that city have endured two nights of surgical air strikes and they’ve no idea what could come tonight.”

“Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski (3/21/03) took it a step further, reporting that “every weapon is precision guided– deadly accuracy designed to kill only the targets, not innocent civilians.” On the Today show the next morning (3/22/03), Miklaszewski reiterated his point: “More than a thousand bombs and missiles were dropped on Baghdad, three times the number from the entire Gulf War. And this time, they’re all precision-guided, deadly accurate, designed to kill only the targets, not innocent civilians.”

“That same day, reporter Chris Jansing sized up “the first daylight pictures of severe damage from yesterday’s massive and incredibly precise air assault on the Iraqi capital.” But on-the-ground reports from the scene of the bombings would be necessary before making any definitive claims about “surgical” strikes. …

FROM MEDIA SUITES TO PROTEST IN THE STREETS

While I am up here in my “suites.” protesters are out in the streets, just a block away. at Rockefeller Center, home of NBC and parent company GE. Propelled by the slogan “NO BUSINESS AS USUAL”, an ad-hoc coalition of anti-war groups is planning massive civil disobedience tomorrow March 27, at 8 AM in and around Rockefeller Center. “We target corporate war profiteers and the media/corporate/government collusion that is promoting this war.” Note to protesters: Media outlets are being advised that covering protest is bad for business. I kid you not: ” Harry Jessell writes in Broadcasting and Cable:

“Covering war protesters may be bad for business. That’s among the findings of new research from Frank N. Magid Associates, the influential news consulting firm. In a survey of 6,400 viewers on their attitudes regarding Iraq and the media, the news consulting firm found that the viewers had little interest in anti-war protests. Magid doesn’t tell news directors to avoid protests. It just says viewers tend to hate seeing them. “Obviously, you have to give both sides of the story,'’ says Senior Vice President Brian Greif.”But how much time you devote to [protests] and where you place it in your newscast becomes an issue.”

CALL MEDIA EXECS

Peace groups in Los Angeles are calling for three weeks of phone calls to the people who run TV news. Here’s what they say: “Support for a war and for police state actions by tens of millions of Americans can be directly traced to the misinformation, lack of information and wildly unbalanced commentary they get from General Electric (NBC), News Corp. (Fox), Disney (ABC), AOL-Time Warner (CNN) and Viacom (CBS). PBS is little better. Fifty-eight percent of the public gets its information solely from these sources; 85% are influenced by them. No wonder we are at war.

“If democracy is to have any true meaning, it must be based on a well-informed public. These companies must be compelled to provide real journalism and commentary balance. Their roles as propaganda arms of the Administration must end.

“We a coalition of peace groups encourage you to join the focused mass phone-in to the TV News bosses. Every day for the next three weeks call the national news chiefs (also separately call their national and local newsrooms). As war proceeds, ask for:

“Balanced coverage including images, interviews and reports of civilian casualties and other war impacts. Equal time for anti-war experts and worldwide leaders and coverage of the many events beyond the rallies, including military families and members who oppose the war. Prominent challenges to the Administration’s credibility. The broadcast media needs to hear that they have no credibility because they have not reported the false claims and lies already exposed by the print media.

MOVE ON MOVES ON MEDIA

At long last, Move.on.org, with massive email lists to its membership is also targeting the media. They say: ‘American media outlets have chosen to stifle or simply not show the most terrible and saddening aspects of this war. They are reluctant to air the voices of critics who are raising important questions about its effectiveness and purpose. And they appear to have acceded to the Bush Administration’s desire to black out pictures or footage of civilian casualties.

“Now more than ever, it’s important that the media report the full story, unvarnished and unspun. But all we see on TV are retired military officers and Administration officials narrating a clean and precise war that bears little resemblance to the chaos, bloodshed, and tragedy on the ground.

“We need to demand the full picture. Please consider joining the MoveOn Media Corps right now. The action ideas we send you won’t generally take longer than 15 minutes, but to be part of the Corps we ask that you commit to taking up to one action per day. The actions could include calling media outlets when they air especially bad coverage, pushing Clear Channel radio to stop censoring anti-war songs, or writing letters to the editor.

Sign up right now at:

http://www.moveon.org/mediacorps/

AL JAZEERA BOOTED BY NASDAQ

Now Nasdaq has joined the NY Stock Exchange from ousting Al Jazeera. I wonder if they will have the guts to do the same with Arab investors. Al Jazeera is now appealing to American authorities to respect free press. Where are the condemnations from press freedom groups at this latest outrage? Secretary of State Powell makes no secret of his glee: here is a report from Europe: “Al-Jazeera has an editorial line and a way of presenting news that appeals to the Arab public. They watch it and they magnify the minor successes of the (Iraqi) regime. They tend to portray our efforts in a negative light,” Powell said in an interview with National Public Radio, broadcast on Wednesday.Powell did not comment on al-Jazeera’s complaints, but said he would wait to see what the channel reports “after we have defeated this (Iraqi) regime.”I think at that point the Arab public will realize that we came in peace. We came as liberators, not conquerors,” he said.

YOUR LETTERS KEEP COMING.

I am overwhelmed, overloaded and loving all the mail. Keep your emails coming. Jackie Newberry writes; “I have been emailing CNN daily or more. The yakking heads in Atlanta have seemed to be in a fog about the credibility of disagreement to their coverage. However, this afternoon there have been a number of stories from Iraq - Wolf Blitzer and Nic Robertson - about the Iraqi casualties and how the story is being seen in Iraq and neighboring countries. Also, they had a new brief segment…”Your Voices”, or something similar. They showed protests in front of several CNN outlets today. Not for long. Maybe someone is waking up. People need to keep squawking at the media outlets. The print media seems to be doing a better job than the television outlets who have mindlessly repeated themselves and the party line. People need to ask for the perspective of humanitarian organizations, non-military and non-governmental voices, peace activists, and Iraqi citizens.”

HAPPINESS IN HOOSIER LAND

“Danny, I couldn’t teach without you. Great job! The question was raised in the Canadian Parliament whether depleted uranium is being used in bombs or not. Unfortunately, I don’t remember her name, nor do I remember which party she belongs to. Are the media anywhere in the world raising this queston?

Thank you,Stella F. Shields, Ph.D,.Visiting Faculty,Dept.of TelecommunicationsIndiana University,

POPULAR IN GERMANY, SORT OF

Henri Jendly is one of many who have written from Germany to say “you are getting popular over here. He asks us to forgive his English. “I have seen the report about Mediachannel and your engagement again this kind of journalism at war. It also has impressed me that you voice against this kind of Mediatainment, how the war would celebrated.

I’ve also taken note, you find the Europeans arrogant, because we are not aware of the peace movement in the USA. I cannot leave this statement uncontradicted: we know merely what the state transmitters (CNN, Fox and so on) inform us about. These sources inform us, that 70% (that is 197 million) of the American population are for this war. Another value tell us, that over 90% of American people don’t know, what the Patriot Act means (or worse: that it exist!).

I’m sure, that many people in USA are for freedom and liberty. But I harbor the suspicion, that the American people do not enough, this democratic achievements to protect and be aware of consciously! I think, a large portion of the American population lives in an illusory world of the consumption and the ideals of a beautiful and wonderful world. However, it isn’t it. And it are not only the others which are bad!

However, I hope, you see now, we aren’t against America but we are for democratic processes which the opinion of the others respects and accepts. If the majority is against this, the minority has to arrange itself. This is our democracy!”

A POET WRITES

During this National Poetry week, I was pleased to receive a note from one of Alan Ginsberg’s prodigy’s, Eliot Katz: “Wanted to write to say what a great job you’ve been doing with the weblog during the first few days of this terrible war. With so much mediainformation and disinformation coming at us, you’ve been doing a really good job of helping us sift through it.” While Rumsfeld asks the press to “Shh,” he asks the media to follow suit

Can We Have Some Peace and Quiet Please?
The belligerent voices are yelling in the streets
& on the radios calling for the big bombs of peace
to fall, the smart bombs, the bombs that have passed
their college entrance exams. It’s Orwellian the way
everyone claims Orwell for their side–these days
everyone is fighting on behalf of Orwell and God.
Years ago Don Rumsfeld & Saddam Hussein met in
the corner & exchanged secret diplomatic handshakes–
it is only after peaceful gestures like these that the missiles
can fly. In the meantime, the time between the world
mean as is and the world we mean to become,
the endless rains are Yehuda Amichai’s tears watching men
still violently beating their swords into plowshares and back
into rifles & remote-control fighter planes. On the corner
of Spring & Broadway, a taxicab driver threw a baby lamb
out the passenger-side door–everyone in a two-block radius
ran away screaming. In New York City the yelling is
so loud and the quiet so quiet that everyone I know, just below
the surface, is scared out their wits, knowing the violence
these days that can follow an apparent peace. They are calling
Senators with empathetic American voices, urging earthly
generosity and kindness, which their elected leaders interpret
as a vote for pre-emptive strikes. The next century’s gods
have not yet been born and the last century’s are no longer
able to show a child the simple magic trick of pulling
its fingers away from a newly lit flame.”

GlOBALVISION IN THE NEWS

I am pouring all of this on because there is so much to write about. I hope we will be able to keep going. Still waiting to hear from funders. Special thanks to all of you who are sharing what you can to help us in this fight for survival. I am pleased to report that EDITOR and PUBLISHER, the newspaper trade mag, is running a feature this week on the work of the Globalvision News Network. Check it out:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/features_columns/article_display

I am off to speak to a Global Kids media conference. I am waiting for German radio to come by for an interview, and will be back on Cape Talk Radio this evening in South Africa with Keano, who does a great job. We need his type of hot talk radio in the USA. Also: Hello American media: how about some air time for media dissections. Also, please check out the latest issue of the ONION. It says it all. Keep your letters coming. Write: dissector@medichannel.org