HITTING US HARD

HOOKING THE "HOOK"

ON THAT NY TIMES MEA CULPA

June is busting out all over. And the first thing it is going to burst, predicteth the BBC, is our pocket books. Have you been to a gas station lately? On Saturday, as I was filling up, a pump jockey told me to prepare for yet another hike. He seemed to be in the know … And sure enough, BBC is now reporting:

Oil prices "set for fresh surge"

Fear of further Middle East unrest looks set to push oil prices higher despite signs that exporters will agree to increase output this week. Islamic militants attacked an oil facility in al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday, killing 22 people. The incident comes as oil prices are already hovering close to their highest level in years because of soaring demand and the conflict in Iraq. Further price rises are likely when US and UK oil markets reopen.

ws, the Guardian reports today: "The husband of a Saudi TV presenter has been sentenced to hundreds of lashes and six months in jail for a brutal assault on her."

The other day, John Ashcroft warned that the US would be hit hard. He was probably thinking of conventional attacks on property. Instead it is our pocket books that are already being hit hard with no relief in sight. The surge is on the way Where are the media investigation of who is profiting on this?

A TERROR ERROR?

London based Bill Bowles has some analysis of that Islamic cleric arrested in England last week, a much ballyhooed terror bust. He calls it "a joint demonisation campaign" in which "the USUK launched Abu Hamza ‘Captain Hook’, whose visage Рthe metal hook for a hand, the disfigured face, the ‘alien’ Muslim Рan image that is almost primordial, onto a carefully prepared public.

Hamza then, is straight out of our nightmares, the kind that parents use to scare their young children with. So obvious yet so compelling, Hamza as they say is straight out of "central casting."

Kept on ice these past months, he is rolled out at an opportune moment, so opportune that even the "liberal" press has been forced to question the validity of it. So obviously a set up, Hamza is part of a larger agenda that only makes sense when viewed through the prism of a state made insidiously crafty by generations of manipulation of the "other" …

MIDDLE EAST

There is no let up in the violence that stalks the Middle East as new bombs go off into Iraq and more homes are destroyed by Israel in Gaza. Ha’aretz reported more house demolitions despite the suggestion that Israel is withdrawing. In fact, Sharon has put his overall withdrawal plan on hold. Meanwhiule Al Jazeera reports that Arafat is claiming he has stopped more attacks inside Israel:

In an interview with Israel’s Channel 10 on Sunday, Arafat was asked why Islamist groups had not carried out the attacks they threatened after Tel Aviv ordered the assassinations of Hamas leaders Shaikh Ahmad Yasin and Abd Al-Aziz al-Rantisi in March and April.

"It is thanks to the Palestinian Authority, efforts by Egypt and the efforts of the Quartet” of the US, UN, EU and Russia, Arafat replied.

Despite the president’s comment, Israel has repeatedly accused Arafat of being behind attacks on its civilians since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September 2000.

rom Iraq come fresh reports of major screw-ups by US forces. CNN reports: "The U.S. Army ‘dropped the ball’ and treated Iraqi police officers like second-class citizens when they arrived to begin joint patrols with coalition troops in Najaf, an American adviser said Monday. The adviser said no sleeping arrangements were made, they were given no personal gear for their duties, and were given military rations for meals that included pork."

GIVE HIM A TROPHY

Time Magazine reports this week that President Bush ‘keeps in his White House offices a trophy of one his high points in the Iraq (war, the pistol that Saddam Hussein held when soldiers pulled him from his underground hideaway.

"Military specialists mounted the sidearm, and soldiers who helped in the deposed Iraqi president’s capture presented it to the president, the White House said Sunday. The president keeps the gun in a small study adjoining the Oval Office."

GIVE THEM A GOVERNMENT

With bombs literally bursting in air and more than twenty dead in the latest attack outside a green zone ringed with red, as in the blood of this morning’s new victims, Iraq has a new interim leader picked by the United Nations. Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar was selected to become Iraq’s interim president when the coalition transfers sovereignty on June 30. His role was announced just after a car bomb exploded near coalition headquarters. The blast is reported to have killed a number of people. Justin Huggler of the Independent in London is calling the so-called handover of power planned for later this month a sham and shambles:

"The appointment of Iyad Allawi as Iraq’s interim Prime Minister this weekend was being seen as an American-backed coup which wrong-footed Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy supposed to be putting together the interim government which will wield “sovereignty” after 30 June. The US wanted ex-Foreign Minister Adnan Pachachi but he turned it down criticizing a lack of transparency in dealings by the coalition."

Barely mentioned by the news networks this morning is that the President is ceremonial and that the Prime Minister is an exile, Iuad Allawi, a long time CIA asset. Justin Huggler continued: "The more that is learnt, however, about the sudden emergence of Mr Allawi, a man close to the CIA and MI6, the more it appears the appointment of the new government has been hijacked by the ambitious politicians of the Iraqi Governing Council - the very body it was meant to replace. The only question is whom the IGC was conspiring with as its members picked jobs for themselves." This point was not mentioned on any news network I watched this morning.

GIVE THEM FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

I have received word from a radio producer in Holland of an attempt to kidnap an outspoken journalist in Iraq.

Ismael Zayer, editor-in-chief of the Iraqi newspaper Al Sabah Al Jedid escaped from what appears to be an attempt to kidnap him last friday 28th of May. One police car with one police officer in uniform and several private cars with armed men appeared at the gate of Zayers family house at 9.15 pm local time They asked Zayer to come to the police station to declare about a crime in which one of his cars was supposedly involved. Zayer asked to be shown an arrest warrant and was told it was at the police station. Zayers son told the policeman that he would come in his own car, but needed to put on clean clothes first.

Once inside Zayer phoned the Minister of Interior who checked and told him it must be a trap to kidnap, and possibly kill him. Zayer went out to the gate and found that the policecar had left with the others. They had taken the driver Samia and body guard Mahmoud with them. There bodies were found later on a pile of rubbish.

Ismael Zayer lived in the Netherlands in exile for many years. He is also a renowned art critic. He started the news paper Al Sabah in May 2003, backed by the US led Coalition Provisional Authority. However, he broke away along with most of his staff from this protection on May 4th 2004, starting anew with Al Sabah Al Jedid (the New Morning). Since then this new independent daily suffers from physical obstruction of distribution and intimidation of journalists. No protection has been forth coming from coalition forces.

e Orlando Sentinel reported late last week that the Government’s effort to use the late footballer Pat Tillman to sell the war on terrorism is backfiring. Mike Bianchi reported:

ORLANDO, Fla. - (KRT) - Now it seems like just another major corporation using an athlete to endorse a product.

Only this time it wasn’t Nike using Tiger Woods to sell golf balls. Or adidas using Tracy McGrady to sell sneakers. Or McDonald’s using Yao Ming to sell Big Macs.

This time, it was the U.S. Army using Pat Tillman to sell a war.

When Tillman, the former NFL player, perished in the mountains of Afghanistan a month ago, we were told by the Army that he was killed leading a group of his men into the teeth of enemy fire. Now we find out there may not have even been an enemy. Now we find out his death was just a mistake, an accident.

Pat Tillman, we were told after the release of an Army investigation Saturday, was likely killed by the ultimate oxymoron_”friendly fire”_as if there’s anything remotely friendly about being shot to death by an M249 machine gun. If one of your teammates makes a mistake in football, you get beat. In war, you get killed …

Y THE NEW YORK TIMES

The Public Editor of the New York Times installed in the aftermath of the Jayson Blair scandal has revisited the Times apologia on its flawed reporting. Dan Okrent sees the problem as a deeper indictiment. Last Sunday he wrote:

A reporter who protects a source not just from exposure but from unfriendly reporting by colleagues is severely compromised. Reporters must be willing to help reveal a source’s misdeeds; information does not earn immunity. To a degree, Chalabi’s fall from grace was handled by The Times as if flipping a switch; proper coverage would have been more like a thermostat, constantly taking readings and then adjusting to the surrounding reality. (While I’m on the subject: Readers were never told that Chalabi’s niece was hired in January 2003 to work in The Times’s Kuwait bureau. She remained there until May of that year.)

No one can deny that this was a drama in which The Times played a role. … The aggressive journalism that I long for, and that the paper owes both its readers and its own self-respect, would reveal not just the tactics of those who promoted the W.M.D. stories, but how The Times itself was used to further their cunning campaign.

appy with the Times mea culpa: Megan Boler, associate professor in Theory and Policy Studies at OISE/University of Toronto writes in the Toronto Star:

The New York Times has publicly acknowledged errors in its reporting on Iraq. Less an apology and more an attempt to cover journalistic humiliation, the editors confess: "Looking back, we wish we had been more aggressive in re-examining the claims as new evidence emerged — or failed to emerge."

While one wants to celebrate the historically momentous occasion of the "newspaper of record” admitting its lack of rigour and careful scrutiny of sources, for many this “apology” feels empty and hollow. Too little, too late. Too many people dead. Too many hungry. Too many orphans and too many mass graves. Too much ink wasted and airtime purchased to ensure the Bush administration’s horrific and never justified invasion of Iraq.

THE TIMES

Veteran media watcher Norman Solomon is also unimpressed by the Times’ stance:

The Times semi-apology is more self-justifying than self-critical. Assessing a page-one December 2001 article that promulgated a bogus tale about biological, chemical and nuclear weapons facilities in Iraq, the editors’ note says that “in this case it looks as if we, along with the administration, were taken in.” The same tone echoes through an internal memo to the Times newsroom from the paper’s executive editor, Bill Keller, on May 26: “The purpose of the [published] note is to acknowledge that we, like many of our competitors and many officials in Washington, were misled on a number of stories by Iraqi informants dealing in misinformation.”

But in many respects the Times editors were no more “taken in” or “misled” than Bush administration officials were. They wanted to trumpet what they were told by certain dubious sources, and they proceeded accordingly. For the readers of the Times, that meant disinformation — on behalf of a war agenda — was served up on the front page, time after time, in the guise of journalism …

ARISTIDE IN SOUTH AFRICAєWO MEDIA VERSIONS

Haiti’s Jean Bertrand Aristide has arrived in South Africa. CNN reported his arrival by leading with a condemnation from a white minority party. Al Jazeera focuses on the South African government and left the minority party for the last paragraph. By comparing this coverage, you get a deeper insight into the values informing each network. Queston: which one often marches in lockstep with Washington?

1. CNN: South Africa’s main opposition party has called the decision to grant Haiti’s ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide temporary asylum a “mistake” and questioned the cost to South African taxpayers.

2. AL JAZEERA: Former Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide, who fled his country amid an armed uprising, has arrived for exile in South Africa. Aristide was greeted by South African President Thabo Mbeki on Monday, said witnesses. Several members of Mbeki’s cabinet, diplomats and Mozambique’s foreign minister -representing the 53-member African Union-were also there to greet the former Haiti ruler, who stepped off a South African airforce jet at Johannesburg International Airport. … Said Aristide: “What we have in Haiti today is bad. What we have in Haiti today reminds us of what is going on in Iraq."

REMEMBERING TIANANMAN SQUARE

Even as press freedom in Hong Kong is being eroded, protests were heard to mark the anniversary of Tiananman. The NY Times reported: "Thousands of demonstrators marched in Hong Kong to mark the coming 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square killings in China."

PROGRESS FOR AIR AMERICA

The New York Times reports: "Air America Radio is making progress: Despite the intrigue concerning its management - and the abrupt pulling of its programming last month from stations in Chicago and Los Angeles, in a contract dispute - there are early indications that, where it can be heard, Air America is actually drawing listeners. WLIB-AM in New York City, one of 13 stations that carry at least part of Air America’s 16 hours of original programming each day, even appears to be holding its own with WABC-AM, the New York City station and talk radio powerhouse that is Mr. Limbaugh’s flagship. "

YOUR MAIL: RANTS, RAVES AND RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION

I.W.M. Rieger writes from Portland, Maine: "I’ve paid loose attention to the daily gripe and blaring headlines about our gasoline prices, the oil shortage, the prospective wallet panic, and the cabal interlinking oil-men everywhere. Today though, when reading about the standoff for hostages in Saudi Arabia, I had a real moment of connectivity. OIL …

"It’s not just a precious commodity, it’s the blood in our veins. It’s the wellspring from which all our commerce flows, what makes possible the transport of people to jobs, food from farms and ports to grocery stores. In the colder regions of the U.S., oil is what keeps us from freezing to death in the winter. When any opponent of the Iraqi occupation, or the West in general hits oil production targets in the Middle East, they don’t just create an inconvenience. Though we may see the immediate consequences of these strikes manifest themselves as higher gas prices, or winter heating bills, make no mistake, in hitting the oil supply we rely upon, it is a strike against the very heart of our society. Currently, Western civilization cannot sustain itself without oil.

"If the Saudi Royal Family fails to maintain its power, we could be looking at a very abrupt transformation. Here in the West, the change will be evident in all facets of everyday life, and not likely to revert back to the luxury we now take for granted every minute of the day. These people set on paralyzing America and it’s allies in the Iraq war, what a simple, and ingenious solution they have found. It can’t be too long before a real concerted effort on their part causes a serious problem for us all. Not only because it makes sound environmental and ethical sense, but because it’s also beginning to look more and more likely as our common future, I recommend we all start looking at what life could be without oil. Thanks for letting me vent."

Joe Byrne writes about the ears of Texas: "I just want to voice my opinion on the subject that seems to be all over right now. Recently in Dallas Texas, Clear Chanel bought out 97.1 The Eagle. This has disrupted my life. I have listened to this station for over ten years and have participated in many of there local events. Now after reading about the control of Clear Chanel and the way they cut employment back and just have mass broadcast, I have no were to turn. We as AMERICANS have the right to listen to what we want to listen to! Sure, what I may want to listen to may not be what everyone else wants but I still should have that right, just as I have the right to NOT listen to something.This country is based on FREEDOM are we not?"

Dennis Dore writes: “My first radio show airs tomorrow night from the NPR outlet in Geneva, N.Y. Two of the songs are dedicated to you. I promise to send you a copy of the script as well as the CD. You can tune in by going to WEOS.org and picking up streaming audio."

THE "NEWS NAG" IN THE HOUSE

Someone called THE NEWS NAG nags us thusly:"What a long strange media trip America’s insecurities have produced these past few years: The lush sycophant pandering by American Big Media beginning September 11, 2001. The sense of giddy adventure & solemn revenge from talking heads superimposed over Central Asia.The knavely subservience to Karl Rove’s propaganda offensive prior to the Iraq invasion. The embedded Stepford reporting by “Mike Mannequins” both in the field and in the studio. Riefenstahlian complicity with war crimes in media’s acquiescence to the Bushkrieg soundbite system. The industry-wide hesitation to go after the truth once the lid started blowing off torture atrocities. And the clamor to show journalistic fortitude now that permission’s been tacitly granted by CIA leaks. Yet still terrified to stand up to U.S. podium jockeys in Iraq during disinformation briefings Plus the Deus Culpa printed by the NY Times that named no names, especially not “Judas” Miller’s. A long strange trip, indeed. Are we there yet? Are we all watching this on a DVD system installed in the backseat of the monster SUV driving in circles around Bush’s mad cow-eaten mind?"

CLOSING ITEMS

Nag on News Nag. Please check out ColdType.net for more great reads and Mediachannel’s coverage tomorrow of the first anniversary of the FCC media concentration decision tomorrow. America lost two great minds this weekend: Sam Dash, the persistent law professior who grilled Watergate witnesses, and a Pennslyvania farmer named William Hinton, author of Fanshen and other books about the Chinese revolution that influenced me and many others years ago.

If you like what your News Dissector attempts in this space, daily please urge others to subscribe. Your comments always welcome. Write dissector@mediachannel.org