WHO IS BEHIND HAITIAN REVOLT?

PRESSURE ON CUBA

TEARS FOR HOWARD STERN

Quote of the Day from Bob Herman in the New York Times: "No one is waging war on marriage. It’s just the opposite; there are people who are longing to embrace it. … The opponents of gay marriage are on the wrong side of history. The interests of civilization are not served by driving mature love underground. And the interests of the United States, which is supposed to be the quintessence of a free society, are not served by enshrining bigotry in law."

Al Sharpton once again was the most articulate of the candidates at last night’s stay on message CNN-Los Angeles Times sponsored Democratic debate. Sharpton says he is on his way to Haiti. I am not sure that the Rev is in too much of a rush because there may not be too much he can do much about the situation. Haiti now seems like a coup in slow motion, with President Aristide being nudged, threatened and pressured to leave.

UN SITS ON ITS HANDS

The UN Security Council heard calls from Jamaica and other Caribbean nations for urgent international peace keeping forces but the UN seems to be sitting on its hands. Now Secretary of State Colin Powell who was making pro-democracy, pro-Aristide noises is now openly questioning whether President Jean-Bertrand Aristide can continue to serve effectively as Haiti’s leader. His call on Haiti’s democratically elected president to "do the right thing" is actually a call on him to step down, if not face the firing squads which his opponents, many of who served in earlier death squads, are readying.

This drama comes at a time when "the Passion of The Christ" is doing what they call boffo box office and may yet result in a real world crucifixion of the one time people’s priest. Aristide may lack Christ’s graces and gifts, but he has also been committed to ending the grinding poverty that is pervasive in Haiti. Few in the media have reported on the cut off of US aid to Haiti that exacerbated the crisis there. It all seems part of a deceptive game in which the Administration fakes left to move right. By delaying, they are denying the international help that could make some difference. They are hoping that new "facts on the ground" (i.e. Aristide’s removal by the goons and thugs now marching on the Capital) will make international intervention unnecessary.

CIA INVOLVED?

The US government may already be engaged covertly. Amy Goodman and Jeremy Scahill report:

"The US lawyer representing the government of Haiti charged today that the US government is directly involved in a military coup attempt against the country’s democratically elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Ira Kurzban, the Miami-based attorney who has served as General Counsel to the Haitian government since 1991, said that the paramilitaries fighting to overthrow Aristide are being backed by Washington.

” ‘ I believe that this is a group that is armed by, trained by, and employed by the intelligence services of the United States,’ Kurzban told the national radio and TV program Democracy Now!. ‘This is clearly a military operation, and it’s a military coup.’ "

HOW GOOD IS THE MEDIA COVERAGE?

Veteran Latin America journalist Saul Landau blames the media coverage for confusing the situation rather than clarifying it.

"One of my students asked me about the current unrest in Haiti. ‘Reading the news accounts,’she offered, ‘I can’t figure out who stands for what. And what role is US policy playing in the ongoing events?’

"I, too, find it difficult to extract meaning from the news accounts. Newspapers and wire service reports ran headlines about “Rebels Occupying Haiti’s Second and Third Largest Cities,” without identifying the rebels or explaining what they stood for.

"Other than their expressed hatred for and desire to overthrow the elected government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, I found in the news reports not the barest trace of Haitian history that would help people get a context for the current conflict. …"

www.democracynow.org

CUBA UNDER NEW PRESSURE

While Haiti is in the news, another island in the region is under attack. Without much international media attention paid, Cuba is coming under new warlike pressure as the Bush Administration escalates its enforcement of the embargo in the name of fighting terrorism which the Cuban government denies. Bloomberg reports:

"President George W. Bush ordered the US government to expand its policing of the waters between Florida and Cuba, tightening enforcement of the four-decade embargo on trade with the island.

"Over the last year, the Cuban government, which is a designated state-sponsor of terrorism, has take a series of steps to destabilize relations with the United States,'’ Bush said in a message to Congress today. "This conduct has caused a sudden and worsening disturbance of US international relations.'’

"Bush said his order clears the way for US authorities to search and take over any vessel in its waters, and gives Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge the power to make rules and regulations for any ships traveling from US waters to Cuba."

TING

Back in Washington TV and Radio obscenity was the big attention getter, with media executives suddenly discovering — in shock — what they have been pumping out over the airwaves for years. We are now in the era of a new BIG CHILL as censorship, self-censorship and hypocrisy become the order of the day. AP reported:

“Bubba the Love Sponge” is gone and radio shock Howard Stern is on hiatus from some stations. TV networks are time-delaying certain shows to make sure inappropriate material doesn’t make it onto the airwaves.

"Broadcast executives cited these and other examples Thursday as evidence they are taking heed of the government’s call to clean up the airwaves.

"INAPPROPRIATE PROGRAMMING"

“We at Fox have heard your concerns loud and clear,” said Gail Berman, the network’s president of entertainment. “We sincerely regret that a few incidents of inappropriate programming have overshadowed the good shows we proudly air on Fox each week.”

With Network executives endorsing higher fines by the government you know they will want to insure that their programming does not attract any. That will mean more "oversight" of programming (i.e. censorship.) Notice how one incident on a TV broadcast is being to used to "cleanse" radio. For more information on the government actions see:

• House Energy and Commerce Committee web site: http://energycommerce.house.gov
• Federal Communications Commission indecency web site: http://www.fcc.gov/parents/content.html

"KING OF ALL MEDIA" TO BE DETHRONED?

AP reports: "A day after the nation’s largest radio station chain suspended shock jock Howard Stern’s show for alleged indecency, Stern vented on the air Thursday with uncharacteristic restraint. "They are so afraid of me and what this show represents,'’ he said. "I could blow my stack, but … ,'’ Stern babbled and then shut up. As of now Mel Karmazin, his long time patron at Infinity Broadcasting is standing by him even as Clear Channel — whose CEO told Congress how "ashamed" he-is — dropped him from several stations

UK: CH 4 TO MERGE WITH CH 5?

The Guardian reports a major development on the TV front in England. It’s another merger.

"Channel 4 and Channel Five are in talks about merging, a move that would dramatically change the UK television landscape. The chief executive of Channel 4, Mark Thompson, confirmed yesterday that discussions had begun.

"He is understood to have met United Business Media and RTL, the joint owners of Five, to discuss combining sales operations. But the talks have widened and a full merger has been on the agenda."

RIVERBEND ON MEDIA IN IRAQ

Riverbend writes about US media influence in Iraq on her Baghdad Burning blog. She describes watching a TV show dealing with American propaganda in the Arab world.

"Asa’ad Abu Khalil was brilliant. He discussed the effects of American propaganda on current Arab media and the way the current American government was pressuring certain Arab publications and networks into a pro-America stance. Unfortunately, his argument was way above Al-Ariss’s head. Al-Ariss apparently thinks that pro-American propaganda is nothing less than a front-page headline saying, “WE LOVE AMERICA!!!”

"Asa’ad Abu Khalil was discussing the more subtle changes taking place in some newspapers — the change in terminology, the fact that some newspapers have stopped covering the news and taken to translating articles directly from New York Times or some other American news outlet. He almost gave Ibraheim Al-Iriss, a reddish, portly man, an apoplectic fit. Poor Ibraheim fell short of pounding the table with his fists and throwing crumpled papers at Abu Khalil, who kept admirably cool. …

"I get really tired of the emails deriding Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya for their news coverage, telling me they’re too biased towards Arabs, etc. Why is it OK for CNN to be completely biased towards Americans and BBC to be biased towards the British but Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya have to objective and unprejudiced and, preferably, pander to American public opinion? They are Arab news networks — they SHOULD be biased towards Arabs. I agree that there is quite a bit of anti-America propaganda in some Arabic media, but there is an equal, if not more potent, amount of anti-Arab, anti-Muslim propaganda in American media. The annoying thing is that your average Arab knows much more about American culture and history than the average American knows about Arabs and Islam.

ON HOWARD STERN
Don writes from NYC:

"Thought I would read about this as the first item today on your sight but … Howard Stern taken off six stations (so far). And check out where: two in FL, one in upstate NY, one in Pittsburgh, one in San Diego and one in Louisville. All in states/areas expected to be hotly contested in the next election. Am I out of line or is this just a little suspicious? The current administration’s Secretary of State’s son is in charge of FCC. Tight race coming up. Broadcaster has, of late, come around and begun to question the Government’s actions and policies. He has started to voice his opinion that people should not vote for Bush if they value freedom, less government interference etc. And then "BAM!" he starts getting thrown off the airwaves - essentially censoring him in more than just these 6 markets.

"As of today, Stern is not allowed to talk about (make fun of) NM Congresswoman Heather Wilson (who I wonder, got so upset, and has so much power, that the “I think it’s nasty” sound bite from her pathetic rant at Viacom was taken off the air today? Who was that hurting?). Stern’s show hasn’t changed but his political opinions have of late and then this happens. Coincidence?

"The Bush administration is using the JJ boob incident as a lightning (and blinding) rod to further it’s conservative (fascist?) agenda against all things THEY find abhorrent: like free speech (when it’s against them), open minds, anti (present) government sentiment etc. This is SOP for this admin. They used 911 to attach Iraq and to implement the Patriot act to take away our civil liberties. I’m rambling I know, but I think this is just the tip of the iceberg and what is happening to Howard Stern (love him or hate him) and his show, is happening to all of us. This should be a wake up call to all of those who are still asleep. I feel like we are being attacked all over again but this time it’s from the enemy within - which is MUCH more terrifying. Thanks for letting me vent - I know, I need an editor."

ON PRESIDENT BUSH
Aditya writes — possibly from Indonesia:

"Sally Vitamvas wrote from Iowa to say, among others, ‘I plan to move somewhere … anywhere, if Bush is reelected. I suspect if Bush is returned to power this election could well be the last one permitted for a very long time.’

During the Suharto regime, Indonesia always had free elections. Of course, Suharto was always elected. So, there could be “free” elections in the future, but what with the redistricting, touch-screen voting machines, voter-roll purging, etc., the “right” person will always be elected, whether it be Bush or Cheney or whoever”.

Howard Chalfa asks:

"Why has no one looked into whether the attendance records of other guardsmen in Bush’s unit are equally spotty or if he is the only one who didn’t show up for duty?"

Daniel DeLeo from Denver, Colorado is troubled by news coverage overseas:

"I know you’re busy, so I’ll try to keep it short. As you’ve reported, much of the media are focusing on “intelligence failures” prior to the Iraq war. What seems to be lost in all of this is that the western world had a team of weapons inspection experts in Iraq who found no WMD. When news happens overseas, media outlets send reporters to the scene because the most reliable way to find out what’s happening somewhere is to be there. I have no idea what sources the CIA et al. were using, but clearly the most reliable source for info was UNSCOM, and they found nothing. Seems like this was an intelligence failure of a different sort. …

"Perhaps the media is so soft on Bush because he has a penchant for spending as much of the people’s money as possible on Anti-drug ads which are proven failures; don’t be surprised if the media warms up to (or has warmed up to) candidates who support this type of direct public media subsidy. Keep up the good work."

Sandy Diesel writes from New Mexico:

"The Center for Economic and Policy Research has some good research on the Social Security issue (www.cepr.net). I encourage your readers to go there and peruse the site. There’s good research on almost everything confronting us in this weird Orwellian society in which we find ourselves.

"On the FCC loss of perks: I’m a Federal Government employee - almost 20 years we are required to take “Ethics” classes yearly and it’s always amazed me that those at the top of the Agencies don’t seem to have to toe the same line. We are prohibited from accepting gifts from anyone. However, if we are given a gift by a grateful (in my case) patient, it’s value must be $20 or under, and in no circumstances can we accept money. So, how can the heads of Agencies like the FCC accept gifts from the very corporations they are supposed to be regulating?

"As for Ralph running, I feel as one of your readers does “where have you been the last 4 years?” Having said that, I also think that if the Democratic Party were more willing to talk about the issues — like Dennis Kucinich does — he might not have felt the need to run. Hopefully he can keep the important issues in the corporate press when the mudslinging starts. The smart people have you, Danny — and MediaChannel.org."

AWARD TO CAROLE SIMPSON

Columbia University has announced the winners of the "2004 Let’s Do It Better! Awards" for outstanding coverage of race and ethnicity in print and broadcast journalism. Veteran ABC broadcaster Carole Simpson leads a list of 19 journalists and news organizations being honored.

DISSECTOR SPEAKS TOMORROW

I will be speaking at a day-long grass roots media conference in new York Tomorrow afternoon., 4 to 5:15 p.m. at the New School University Graduate Center (65 5th Avenue, between 13th and 14th streets). The other panelists are: Priscilla Grim, AIVF Advocacy Director; Norma P. Munn, Cofounder/New York City Arts Coalition; Dee Dee Halleck, Cofounder/Paper Tiger Television and Deep Dish Satellite Network; and Leah Kane, Community Organizer; Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). Be there or be square.

Another week and month done and gone. As 2004 hurtles on, I am staying put. Yes, of course, I will be Oscar watching with the rest of the world on Sunday. Tell me what you think about that spectacle. You can reach me at dissector@mediachannel.org.