MONITORING THE MEDIA BEAST

Censoring Iraq

Brian Dominick of New Standard reports:

Feb 15 - Witnesses testifying at a special Congressional hearing yesterday told Democratic lawmakers about severe and rampant mishandling of American and Iraqi funds managed by the former US-run occupation government, as well as censorship and manipulation of Iraqi media in the service of pro-American propaganda….

A ‘Public Diplomacy Operation’

“Journalist Mark North, who covered the invasion for National Public Radio and was employed by the CPA to train Iraqi journalists to report for the US-founded Iraq Media Network (IMN), told the hearing that CPA officials regularly directed and censored the activities of the TV news station. He said “a laundry list of CPA activities” was handed down to dictate subject matter with which to replace stories Iraqi journalists preferred to report, such as those pertaining to the problems of post-war life in the embattled country.

“The original plan for IMN seems to have been jettisoned by CPA officials who were more interested in managing news for Iraqis and Americans,” North told the committee. He said the CPA made the Iraqi media operation into “another Voice of America,” referring to the US government-run propaganda outlet that broadcasts to millions of people in foreign countries. He said CPA officials told him IMN was to be “a public diplomacy operation” for the occupation authorities.

“North testified that on occasion, CPA officials specifically ordered stories critical of the occupation and its effects to be cut and insisted that IMN run stories about positive work undertaken by occupation forces.

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/1484

PERMISSIBLE WORDS

Federal agency balks at word ‘gay’ as Rick Weiss explains in the Washington Post:

Washington — A federal agency’s efforts to remove the words “gay,” “lesbian,” “bisexual” and “transgender” from the program of a federally funded conference on suicide prevention have inspired scores of experts in mental health to flood the agency with angry e-mails.

“The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services that is funding the conference on Feb. 28 in Portland, Ore. On the program, at least until recently, is a talk titled “Suicide Prevention Among Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Individuals.”

“Everyone seems to agree the topic is important. Studies have found that the suicide risk among people in these groups is two to three times higher than the average risk.

“So it came as a surprise to Ron Bloodworth — a former coordinator of youth suicide prevention for Oregon and one of three specialists leading the session — when word came down from SAMHSA project manager Brenda Bruun that the contractor running the program should omit the four words that described precisely what the session was about.

“Bloodworth was told it would be acceptable to use the term “sexual orientation.” But that did not make sense to him. “Everyone has a sexual orientation,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “But this was about gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27202-2005Feb15.html

IFEX reports: Alarming Number of Journalists Killed In Past 10 Days

“The World Association of Newspapers today expressed its dismay at a recent spate of killings of journalists and has called on governments to conduct rapid and thorough investigations to bring their assassins to justice.

“Eight journalists have been killed since the beginning of the year, six of them in the last ten days. The toll follows a particularly bloody year in 2004, when 71 journalists were killed worldwide.

“We are horrified by this escalation of violence against journalists and the impunity which their assailants continue to enjoy in most countries,” said Timothy Balding, Director General of the Paris-based WAN. “We call on governments to show much greater determination in tracking down and prosecuting the killers. Hundreds of journalists have been killed] world-wide in the past decade, and no one has been brought to justice, much less convicted, in the vast majority of cases.”

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0502/S00477.htm

And Read This:

THEY SHOOT JOURNALISTS, DON’T THEY?
Chris Paterson, AlterNet

Eason Jordan of CNN is the latest casualty of a media cowed by the right wing and the military. Unlike some journalists in Iraq, Jordan only lost his job.

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/21262/

DECENCY?

The Center for Creative Voices in Media speaks out concerning today’s House passage of The Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005.

“As creative artists and members of the public, we deeply regret the passage today of the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005 by the House of Representatives. The exponential increase in “indecency” fines for broadcasters, and the application of those fines to performers on their first offense, will turn the chill that has already descended over our nation’s media into a deep freeze. Today’s vote was a tragedy for creative artists. More importantly, it was a tragedy for the American public.

“As a result of today’s House vote, the American public will be denied even more opportunities to view quality programming, repeating the tragedy of last Veteran’s Day when broadcasters fearful of an FCC fine abruptly canceled “Saving Private Ryan” – a multiple Oscar-winning tribute to veterans. Today’s House action revokes the public’s right to choose what to watch – and what not to watch – and turns that choice over to Big Brother: the FCC, the Parents Television Council, and the giant media conglomerates who will self-censor programming to avoid these exponentially increased penalties.

“We applaud the Members of the House who stood up to demand that the House address in this Bill one of the principal causes of indecent programming on television — media concentration. Media concentration robs the public of its right to view a wide diversity of programming, including far more “family friendly” content. Concentration also robs the public of the tools it needs to avoid objectionable programming. For example, the public should be able to subscribe to cable television without paying for and receiving channels it finds offensive. But today, they have no choice – because of media concentration.”

http://www.creativevoices.us/php-bin/news/showArticle.php?id=108&PHPSESSID=9b59a4801f4acbeb402fc822991d9550