THE DOG DAYS OF AUGUST

THE POLITICS OF THREAT WARNINGS

“THE TRIUMPH OF THE TRIVIAL”

Welcome to August and the dog days of summer. The month is but two days old and those dogs who should be seeking relief from the heat under a tree are yapping away.

Already, we have had an escalation of car bombings in Iraq, a deadly fire in Paraquay with hundreds dead and an announcement by a GOP that has spent $160 million campaigning so far, that it doesn’t need no lousy high road, and will go after the Kerry campaign this month with all barrels blazing (NY TIMES: “Bush Planning August Attack Against Kerry“). Last week’s “hope is on the way” has already been displaced by ‘fear is on the way.’ And it is already here.

To insure the triumph of fear over hope, we had Homeland security czar Tom Ridge raising the threat level yesterday in Washington and for the financial services sectors of Washington, New York City and northern New Jersey. He is warning that he has undisclosed credible information (presumably more than “chatter”) that the financial industry is under threat. (So much for earlier government claims that we were being attacked because “THEY hate our freedoms.” No, these threats are aimed at banks, insurance companies and other ionic symbols of US power and economic domination.) The World Bank and IMF are also on the list.

According to the NY TIMES, the source for all of this is an Al Qaeda operative recently captured in Pakistan: “The unannounced capture of a figure from Al Qaeda in Pakistan several weeks ago led the Central Intelligence Agency to the rich lode of information that prompted the terror alert on Sunday, according to senior American officials.

“The figure, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, was described by a Pakistani intelligence official as a 25-year-old computer engineer, arrested July 13, who had used and helped to operate a secret Qaeda communications system where information was transferred via coded messages. . . . ” Note he was captured weeks ago.

POLITICIZING THE TERROR WAR?

As Fun City becomes Fear City once again, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer scolded Howard Dean yesterday for suggesting that politics might be involved in raising the threat levels. (”Those are very serious charges, Governor!”) Dean seemed amazed that his suggestion was out of bounds given the way the Bush Administration has made fighting terror THE centerpiece of is campaign.

Later when Ridge came on to do the threat dance, he praised the President for his leadership in keeping America safe. QUOTE: “But we must understand that the kind of information available to us today is the result of the President’s leadership in the war against terror.” This came just a week after this headline appeared as the lead in the New York Times” “KERRY SEES HOPE OF GAINING EDGE ON TERROR ISSUE.” Bush may begin implementing 911 Commission recommendations today to defuse that as an issue too.

Not political? Who you kidding? (Ridge by the way says he may be quitting because his $175,000 annual salary is not enough to pay tuition bills for his kids. What does that say for the rest of America? No one bothered to ask him.

As for politicizing the terror war, wasn’t it interesting that the Pakistanis turned over an Al Qaeda big just in time to pre-empt Kerry’s convention speech. Only, signals must have gotten crossed because only Fox picked up it. A day later another captured terrorist had his charges of an Osama-Saddam link discredited. It is hard to know what to believe but the latest threat—strong on what, weak on when, is already disrupting traffic in New York from now until the election.

For another more sensible and democratic view on terrorism and how to fight it, check out Professor Ben Barber’s new book “Fear’s Empire,” the subject of a conversation Friday night with Bill Moyers that has yet to get pick up elsewhere.

“ALIEN VERSUS PREDATOR”

Capturing the zeitgeist perfect is the title of a new movie opening later this month called ALIEN VS PREDATOR. That’s about right. Add that to Manchurian candidate and the Jason Bourne thriller and we have more predators and aliens in the terror-tainment sector than we can handle at one time.

CNN’s latest polls claims that Kerry did not get “the bounce” that most “experts” expected. One poll of likely voters shows Bush ahead; another of registered voters gives Kerry the edge. Both polls have big margins of error and are useless, but no matter, news programs love polls because they seem so “scientific” in what has become a swamp of endless speculation and opinion.

FOCUS GROUP

More interesting was a report on a focus group conducted by a Republican. According to Dick Polman:

“It was one of the strongest positive reactions I’ve ever seen in a focus group,” said Frank Luntz (the Republican pollster who helped plot Newt Gingrich’s conservative congressional takeover). ‘Kerry didn’t lose anybody. Most importantly, he was able to convince [the Bush defectors] that he is presidential, that he would be tough yet open-minded. They now see him as a credible commander-in-chief.’”

“They had just watched Kerry’s speech, and loved it - to the point where four Bush-leaning voters announced they were switching to Kerry.”

This confirms suggestions on Chris Matthews show yesterday that the Dems decided to out Republican the Republicans.

AHEAD IN ELECTORAL VOTES?

You may have read that Bush is ahead in electoral votes. Not so, say Democratic analysts Stephen Crockett and Al Lawrence “Recently, the Associated Press ran a story that was widely published in newspapers and on the Internet titled, “Bush Leads Kerry In Electoral Votes” that could have been written by the Bush campaign.”

“The assignment of states to candidates, the headline and the conclusions were all simply wrong. The Associated Press should print a retraction and work to see that it is widely published.

“In the story, they stated that 14 states and DC were either solidly behind Kerry or leaning to Kerry. These states give Kerry 193 electoral votes. The leaning states were Maine, Minnesota and Washington with a total of 25 electoral votes.

This AP story listed 11 states as toss-ups. These states were Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Michigan, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Oregon with 128 electoral votes.

“The story basically posed the question, “can Kerry catch up with the Bush lead?” Actually, there is no Bush lead. . . .

“Tennessee has been assigned as a solid Bush state in the AP story. The most recent polls in Tennessee have the state tied. Zogby has the race at 48 percent for both candidates. The most recent Mason-Dixon poll had Bush ahead by only a single percentage point. Tennessee should be added to the toss-up states. No state is as closely contested as Tennessee. The trend is Democratic! These electoral votes must be removed from the Bush total. . . .

“The Associated Press owes the American people an apology for this sloppy story that gives a distorted view of the current Presidential race. Kerry has a definite advantage at this point in the campaign in terms of the Electoral College!”

http://www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com

August Surprise anyone? The Drudge Report “has learned A domestic centerpiece of the Bush/GOP agenda for a second Bush term is getting rid of the Internal Revenue Service?..The Speaker of the House will push for replacing the nation’s current tax system with a national sales tax or a value added tax, Hill sources tell DRUDGE.”

TOMMY FRANKS ON THE AIR TONIGHT

Tonight, CENCOM Commander and Iraq Warrior Tommy Franks offers his take on the screw-ups of the Iraq war on Nightline. This could be interesting if Franks is ready to go “off message” and tell all. I reported a month ago that after a talk given by Ambassador Joe Wilson, he told me and some others that Franks had approached him, to his surprise at a Washington dinner to tell this well known anti-Bush dissident “to keep doing what you are doing.”

Will Franks start doing what Wilson is doing — challenging the Bush Administration? I don’t think Nightline would be hyping the interview if they didn’t know what he would be saying. Bear in mind that Richard Clarke is an ABC consultant and Koppel had General Zini on recently who is blasting US military failures.

Speaking of Wilson, Josh Marshall has some new information about the Niger Uranium story. He wrote yesterday: “Today, the Sunday Times of London reports that the Italian middle-man who provided the notorious Niger uranium documents to Italian journalist Elizabetta Burba (she later brought them to the US Embassy in Rome, you’ll remember) was himself given the documents by the Italian military intelligence service, SISMI”

For more of this convoluted story see:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_08_01.php#003235

YESTERDAY”S IRAQ ATTACKS

Are Christian churches being targeted in Iraq and. if so by whom? There’s debate on the issue. .Sam Hamod writes: “Having discussed the matter in detail with other experts on the Middle East, Christianity in Iraq and on Islam in Iraq, we have all concluded this is not the work of any Muslim group. There has never been any animosity between the Christian and Muslim communities in Iraq, in fact, they have stood toe-to-toe against the American occupation and they have resisted efforts by the Israeli office in Baghdad to become allied with Israel.

http://www.todaysalternativenews.com/index.php?event=link,150&values[0]=&values[1]=1776

CHILD PRISIONERS

A Sunday Herald investigation has discovered that coalition forces are holding more than 100 children in jails such as Abu Ghraib. Witnesses claim that the detainees — some as young as 10 — are also being subjected to rape and torture.

PHYSICIAN, DO NO HARM

Are American doctors and nurses complicit in torture? Robert Jay Lifton writes: Rt Jay Lifton, M.D. Volume 351:415-416 July 29:

There is increasing evidence that U.S. doctors, nurses, and medics have been complicit in torture and other illegal procedures in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. Such medical complicity suggests still another disturbing dimension of this broadening scandal.

We know that medical personnel have failed to report to higher authorities wounds that were clearly caused by torture and that they have neglected to take steps to interrupt this torture. In addition, they have turned over prisoners’ medical records to interrogators who could use them to exploit the prisoners’ weaknesses or vulnerabilities. We have not yet learned the extent of medical involvement in delaying and possibly falsifying the death certificates of prisoners who have been killed by torturers. . . .

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/351/5/415

MEDIA THERE: ALLAWI CENSORS CRITICS OF ALLAWI

Chris Shumway of New Standard reports:

“Just days after receiving praise for allowing a paper banned by the former American occupation chief to reopen, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is moving to impose content restrictions on Iraqi media outlets.

“Allawi has reportedly established a committee to draw up restrictions called “red lines” that will apply to print and broadcast media. These include restrictions on the printing or broadcasting of unwarranted criticism of the prime minister himself.” ?. In neighboring Kuwait, the country liberated by George Bush Sr, et. All. Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911 has been banned.

http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=746

The Scotsman reports (via News Insider) “Kuwait, a major US ally in the Gulf, has banned Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 because it deems the movie insulting to the Saudi Arabian royal family and critical of America’s invasion of Iraq, an official said today. “We have a law that prohibits insulting friendly nations, and ties between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are special,” said Abdul-Aziz Bou Dastour, cinema and production supervisor at the Information Ministry.”

MEDIA HERE: THEY FELL FOR IT

Sentor Robert Byrd cited media failures in a rare interview on CNN. His comment on media coverage of the war: “They fell for, hook, line and sinker.”

From Paul Krugman in last Friday’s NY TIMES: “Somewhere along the line, TV news stopped reporting on candidates’ policies, and turned instead to trivia that supposedly reveal their personalities. We hear about Mr. Kerry’s haircuts, not his health care proposals. We hearabout George Bush’s brush-cutting, not his environmental policies.

Even on its own terms, such reporting often gets it wrong, becausejournalists aren’t especially good at judging character. (”He is, above all,a moralist,” wrote George Will about Jack Ryan, the Illinois Senatecandidate who dropped out after embarrassing sex-club questions.) And thecharacter issues that dominate today’s reporting have historically had nobearing on leadership qualities. While planning D-Day, Dwight Eisenhower hada close, though possibly platonic, relationship with his female driver.Should that have barred him from the White House?

“And since campaign coverage as celebrity profiling has no rules, it offersample scope for biased reporting. . . . In short, the triumph of the trivial is not a trivial matter. The failure of TV news to inform the public about the policy proposals of this year’spresidential candidates is, in its own way, as serious a journalisticbetrayal as the failure to raise questions about the rush to invade Iraq.”

JOURNALISTS NEED NOT APPLY

You had to turn to the travel section of the NY Times for Alan Cowell’s report on America as a welcome wagon:

“”JOURNALISTS handcuffed, thrown into cells and deported; legislators harassed by incompetent officials.

” Such images usually conjure thoughts of dark deeds in distant dictatorships. But episodes like those have come to symbolize the experiences of many friendly Europeans trying to enter the United States.

In recent weeks there has been some evidence that, after complaints from international journalism groups, the rough handling of foreign reporters chronicled by several European writers has stopped. And American authorities have sought to broadcast a message that their anti-terrorism measures are not supposed to be seen as hostile to outsiders. . . “

WORLD TRADE: WHO CARES?

South Africa’s Mail and Guardian leads with a story that affects tens of millions but goes largely undercovered in the US: “Rich and poor countries on Sunday night pledged to secure a new global trade accord by the end of next year after a week of intensive negotiations banished immediate fears of a new era of protectionism by agreeing to cut deep into the West’s lavish farm subsidies. ‘Milestone’ world trade pact”

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?a=13&o=133933

YOUR LETTERS

Bart Laws: “Just what we need — convince the networks they should provide moreconvention coverage just in time for the RNC. How about you hold off onthis until September?

DAVID BROOKS, FLIP FLOPS TOO

Steve Baldwin of Vortex: “I watched PBS’s coverage of the last night of the Democratic convention and I distinctly remember David Brooks saying that Kerry’s speech was ‘excellent’ and that it ‘did exactly what it should have done.’”

Today — on the Times’ web site, I read that Brooks has gone back and re-read the speech and is now pronouncing it “incoherent” (Note: the Times has the “An Incoherent Speech” headline on its home page, but the actual article head reads “All Things to All People”. Sneaky, sneaky!)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/31/opinion/31brooks.html?hp

Will the real David Brooks please stand up? Or is this “nice-guy” conservative really just the slickest wolf-in-sheeps’ clothing we’ve ever seen?

“Cynics will have an easy explanation for Brooks’ flip-flop. The puppeteers who run him must have started pulling some strings. But I think he’s just showing his cowardly, opportunistic stripes here - when in a room with his peers, live on television, he’ll say one thing - but when he’s alone, in the dark, the horns really do pop right out of his head. And I guess he counts on the rest of us not to call him on his flip-flops.”

J Perl writes from UCLA:

“This just in, buried on a back page of the Wall St. journal:

“Sandy Berger completely exonerated!

need you man”

FROM OAKLAND

“Last night on the 6:00 news, channel KTVU in Oakland, CA, interviewed a man named Bob Gardner about John Kerry’s upcoming big speech at the convention. The caption underneath Bob Gardner’s name said that he was a political analyst. Bob Gardner is the head of an advertising agency called Gardner Geary Coll (also known as GGC), located in San Francisco. I phoned KTVU this morning to point out this misleading error.

ON VIETNAM

Why did the Democratic Convention play up everyone’s service in Vietnam, when even Kerry denounced the war as an abomination after his return? I don’t get it?

” If it was war crimes, how can Americans be heroes? Just to blindly go kill in a poor colonial land, and call it ‘defending freedom’! Eisenhower wrote that Ho Chi Minh would have won by 80+% of the vote had we permitted the election called for by the Geneva Agreements . . . .

I don’t get it. Are we ever going to say sorry to the families of the Indochinese we killed at the same time destroying their countryside as well? At the convention no one ever mentioned the loss of Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian lives by our hands, just as Iraqi and Afghan dead are never mentioned. The whole world is listening by satellite to our tight focusing only on American lives. This self-righteous attitude cannot be healthy for our future.

Jay Janson, from 1993-99, Assistant Conductor Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra (founded by Ho)

CONSERVATIVES AND LIBERAL IN THE MEDIA

Stephen Wynne Jones writes from Dublin:

“Just another note to thank you for your help and guidance with the project. I am now finished it and awaiting a response to it. In the meantime I have uploaded it to the Web (well, most of it anyway) and it can be found at:
http://www.geocities.com/journalismireland

PBS TO THE RESCUE

Richard Dechert: when pundits like ABC “Nightline’s Ted Koppel ask whyKerry is still polling “dead heats” with Bush despite hisAdministration’s failures, or why Kerry is only polling small “bounces”after his convention, your study may well explain why. Yet on PBS’s”Tucker Carlson Unfiltered,” Koppel defended one-hour per eveningconvention coverage by claiming only 12 million households watched it.”Catch 22!”

“However, he ignored dramatic increases in PBS viewer ratings. Forexample, Twin Cities Public Television’s TPT-17 carried the 7:00 to10:00 p.m. or later “NewsHour” coverage after TPT-2 carried the regular6:00 p.m. “NewsHour,” which devoted nearly all of its hour to theconvention. TPT-17’s primetime ratings ranged from over two to nearlyfive times their normal levels.”

A VIEW FROM TEXAS

Clarke Iakovakis of Texas State University:” I would first like to laud you on your alwaysrevealing, provocative and penetrative blog. It is thefirst link I check every morning after my mail,allowing me to approach the news of the day (usuallyBBC) with a keener eye. I have been reading for a yearand a half now, and as the problems of state getworse, your column gets better, consistently reportingon the underreported, like the family steeringcommission’s role in the early 9II commission days,political doublespeak, and of course, media inanitionitself, and I enjoy when you occasionally mix in yourpersonal experiences.

“To me, this election is like another Humphrey vs.Nixon. On one side, a vague “plan” of troop increaseand no choice at all for the antiwar crowd. On theother, the ineptitude of the current regime. What isamazing to me is that so much of the profound analysisagainst embroiling ourselves in the affairs ofmisunderstood landmasses can only spell furtherdestruction . . . ”

DEADLINE ON DATELINE

On Friday night I was pleased to find that NBC was running a moving Indy film, Deadline, apparently not as a result if any News Division initiative, but because NBC chief exec Bob Wright saw the film at Sundance and acquired it for the network. How coo to see it on prime time. It shows how much corporate execs can influence programming.

For me, however this screening was a bittersweet victory.

Years ago, in the aftermath of the OJ trial our company Globalvision teamed up with lawyer Barry Scheck, wo also runs the Innocence project to pitch a series called “FALSELY ACCUSED WRONGLY CONVICTED” hosted by Sheck and based on the files of the innocence project that is fighting to get innocent people out of prison, We pitched the series as the other side of “America’s Most Wanted.” CBS and NBC wanted it — and, after intense negotiations, NBC got it.

We were thrilled but the network quickly lost interest as the Monica Lewinsky soap opera moved to the font burner. Dateline was going to run our segments but they soon moved on with their rest of the media to the more salacious land of Lewinsky. We produced one show for MSNBC and that was that. I am glad Deadline got on their air, but clearly this is a story that demands ongoing coverage — not just a one shot–and it isn’t getting it.

DON’T DESERT DESERTER

As the anti-Bush literature grows in quantity one title worth checking out for quality is “Deserter: Bush’s War on Military Families, Veterans and His Own Past,” written by frequent Mediachannel contributor IAN WILLIAMS (Nation Books), It gets into our commander in chief’s military record in grand style. A well reported and colorfully written read that is packed with lots of information I didn’t know and I like to think I don’t miss much.

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?partner_id=24230&cgi=product&isbn=1560256273

As a new week begins, I overloaded with letters and items. Thank you, Keep them coming to dissector@mediachannel.org