FOX LOYALISTS SNAP BACK

Someone named Bruce wrote:

Were you ever in Iraq?

When?

Did our troops ever receive fire from hotels occupied by the Media?

What should our troops do when they receive fire from a building during a war?

What credibility is held with someone sheltered, safe, and not there?

If you have proof of our Military committing the crimes you mentioned bring it to light.

They should and will be charged.

Your words are harmful and put our men and women in uniform at risk.

Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing.

I believe you are doing what you think is right.

I don’t know your motivation.

Is it notoriety?

Justice?

Anger?

Political?

Personally, I don’t care.

Just remember this:

You may not believe it is so, but your words are directly responsible for increasing the insurgency by reinforcing their distorted cause and beliefs.

The intended or unintended results are more US casualties.

There is a right way to pursue your cause.

You have chosen otherwise.
Bruce

My Response: “Hi Bruce….. I am a journalist who focuses on media issues, I did a book and then a film about the media coverage of the war. I worked in major media outlets and did many interviews. I am not against out troops but know many questions have been raised about friendly fire incidents involving journalists, attacks on media offices, and unanswered demands for independent investigations of the killings of journalists.

“My words are not harmful. I have a right to ask questions just as you have a right to hurl accusations.

“No one is put at risk when you ask that there be third party investigations of some of these incidents. many which occurred BEFORE the insurgency gathered steam.”

Guy Johns wrote:

“Schechter you have gained a nomination for our prestiges idiots award. You sir are an idiot!

“Over the last 6 months a group of U. S. Veterans at my VFW post have been holding a vote each week to elect an idiot that was heard or read that week commenting recklessly with lies and idiotic statements. We have a list of nominated idiots posted on a board and the members try very hard to catch an article written by/about or listened to comments made by what we consider the manure of America. Each Saturday morning we vote and select a winner for the next week. When a winner is selected we have a Veteran who manufactures milking machines and he has a process where he can make 6 small rubber strainer pads and then emboss on the pads a photo (off the Internet) of the winning idiot. When this is complete (the next Tuesday) we all gather at the Post and place the 6 pads with the winners (6 new ones selected each week) photo in each of the 6 urinals available in the Post restroom. We have a total of eight urinals but two have been kept in use continually by pads depicting USAMA BIN LADEN and MICHAEL MOORE and we have decided to keep those two in service for awhile. That way when we get the urge we can go take a look at the winner for that week! Your idiotic statements have been seen/heard or read by one or more of our members and has been nominated. You will be included in our next vote.

There are 59 Good American Veterans playing this game here at the post. Just keep showing your ignorance and we will keep voting……………. Semper Fi!!
GySgt. G. Johns USMC (Ret.)

MY RESPONSE:

Guy–

You probably forgot but you sent me this form letter before.

Idiot? It takes one to know one

–Danny

MediaChannel regular Joseph F. Dunphy writes:

Danny/staff:

“I have been surfing for a while, following the conflict in Iraq in pictures. So of course I was delighted to see the extensive photos of the Iraqi elections. That said, the amount of photo coverage stands out as an exception. Picture flow was pretty thin before the election, and right after the election it slowed to a trickle. Given the difficulty and expense of having numerous photographers on the ground, it is not possible that they have all disappeared after four days of work.

“Where are the photos of Iraq now? Just a few head shots of emerging political leaders, and pics of car bombings, etc. The flash flood is over, it seems. I can’t be the only one who noticed, either.”

New comment added 11:58AM

Marjorie Ramos writes from Staten Island, NY:

Danny, I caught the film last night and thought it was terrific. I disagree with Ned Martel’s NYT’s review that the film was unpolished and uneven. If anything, I felt the film made honest and clean arguments about the failure of the media to be unbiased and comprehensive in its coverage of the invasion of Iraq.

The other aspect that I appreciated was not feeling like I was being manipulated as I felt with Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11″ film. Although I am a big fan of Moore, I think he sometimes gets in the way of his own storytelling and overreaches. However, your film, again, more simply let’s the facts and pictures, speak for themselves. I appreciated that you let the journalists’ speak to their own conflicted consciences and their awareness of their complicity in delivering a controlled and sanitized war story.

Also, I like that you set your critical eye on the media left, right and center. There were no partisan shots. You also rightfully address the fact that many of us have needed to resort to alternative and independent media to get unfiltered information and comprehensive analysis. Again, it was refreshing just to get the facts and not a lot of spin. A rarity nowadays.

My only constructive remark is that I would have liked to have seen a deeper analysis about who profits from all of this media deception. Of course, you referenced it in the note about GE’s $600 million contracts “coup” but I would have liked to have seen more.

You ask at the end of the film what we, the viewers, can do to demand more accountability. Well, I belong to an affiliate of Peace Action (formerly known as SANE/FREEZE) on Staten Island, NY and we’ve identified media reform (consolidation and accountability) as a target area of activism for us. This will include grassroots effort to bring the issue to the forefront. Tactics and strategies yet to be determined, however, we’re on it.

As you continue your quest to get your film as widely seen as possible, perhaps different activist organizations that have media accountability as an objective can pool their financial resources to have the film shown in their communities. Also, we can contact our local theaters managers to get them to show the film as well.

I think the work you’ve done is invaluable — and will be proven clearly so in the long-term — and that you are performing a service that very few others are delivering. Thanks and good luck.

(On a parting note, how sad for you that you must endure watching Fox News every day! How do you maintain your sanity?! I can’t and won’t!)

Sincerely,
Marjorie Ramos

New comments added 12:14PM

Stephen Eisenmenger from Minneapolis writes:

Danny, Thank you.

Some days I struggle in our struggle for a democracy. We try to get through to people, try to work to expand participation, awareness & knowledge. Progress seems so slow; I had no clue when I started getting involved and engaged 5 years ago, but I now have a 20 year plan for my activism. It’s no longer a hobby, it’s a lifestyle.

I read your blog everyday, I’ve read it since the summer of 2002 when I first learned of it. It was such a privilege to meet you @ Z in Woods Hole in 2003 - as well as your Dad, who I enjoyed a couple cafeteria meals with as he regaled me with tales from the labor front from sixty years ago.

Today, reading your tribunal testimony, I got goosebumps. Good luck, I look forward to the reports from Italy. You have inspired me to push on and you give me confidence that peace, justice and democracy is possible.

I hope you get to the Twin Cities with WMD soon.

~Stephen Eisenmenger
Minneapolis
The Counter Propaganda Coalition
www.CounterProp.org

David Payne: “Danny Schechter’s assessment of the popular media is not only valid and insightful, it is critical to our understanding of an essential component of our democracy and democracy worldwide.

There cannot be meaningful democracy in the absence of a legitimate, robust fourth estate. All authoritarian governments know that, and act accordingly.

It is quite interesting to observe the reaction to Danny Schechter’s documentary WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION, and absolutely intriguing to observe the reactions to the assertion by a professional journalist that 12 journalists were intentionally killed in Iraq by coalition forces. The vitriol on Fox News is pathetically predictable. More interesting is the commentary coming from other quarters, especially those who really ought to be a little more insightful, a little less compulsively misguided in their patriotism.

I do not pretend to know whether or not the assertion is correct, or whether, if journalists were targeted, the deaths might have been the collateral consequences of “warning shots” intended to keep journalists in their places. But an investigation is warranted - and it probably won’t happen.

The courage of journalists like Danny Schechter who are willing to invest their lives in attempting to resuscitate the fourth estate in the World’s Flagship of Freedom is to be applauded and supported. Vitriolic villification of patriotic journalists like Danny Schechter provide no insight into his efforts, but considerable insight into those attacking the desire to know the truth, in so far as it can be determined.

OFF I GO (AGAIN) INTO THE WILD BLUE YONDER

So there you have it, Iraq on the mind and in the brain. I will try to write from Rome at some point.

The service for Ossie Davis has been announced:

Funeral services for the Ossie Davis, noted writer, actor and activist are scheduled for Saturday, February 12 at 12 noon at Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Drive, (nearest cross street is 122 St) Harlem, NY

The Reverend James Forbes, Pastor of the Riverside Church and the Reverend Calvin Butts, Pastor of the Abyssinia Baptist Church of which Mr. Davis was a member, will preside at the services.

The ecumenical service, open to the public, will be preceded by a community viewing on Friday, February 11 at Abyssinia Baptist Church, 132 west 138 Street, Harlem. Viewing hours will be from 5 pm to 10 pm.

If you go, remember me to his family and many friends. I will be in “Old Europe.”

Feedback: dissector@mediachannel.org