On Newsweek:

Mturk writes:

“What good does it do to report this? There’s a very lethal war in progress. Let’s inflame the passions of the enemy, even if the story is not true. (The enemy, after all, resides primarily within the Muslim population.) That’s unconscionable, and not at all well-thought-out!

“Newsweek Got it Right (Bullsh*t!) MediaChannel.org. Despite Newsweek’s apology for a story that described interrogators at Guantanamo flushing a copy of the Qur’an down a toilet, credible accounts of similar behavior have been published in multiple media outlets. Define credible. Your political bent is overt and obvious!”

mars29 offers a similar rant:

“American-hating prisoners all claiming the one thing that’s sure to upset their fellow America-haters. Who’d a thunk it? We should believe these criminals because…? I’m not just talking about the criminals either…I’m also talking about the oh-so-ethical New York Times, Daily Mirror, and WA Post. Oh yeah…they wouldn’t lie… now would they? For your information, they’ve all been caught in lies during the past 4 years. The anti-American drumbeat just keeps pounding away. Looks like 2006 is going to be another sweep for the GOP thanks to the media in this country.”

Susan writes:

“The right wingnuts and the Bush administration are really going after anybody in the corporate press that does not toe the line… CBS, CNN, now Newsweek. It is hard to come to their defense when they have not been doing their jobs anyway.”

On the Media Reform Conference:

From Craig Aaron, communications director of Free Press:

“Thanks for the fine wrap-up piece on the conference — a fine description of the event and a fair critique. Thanks also for helping to promote it in advance.”

Kim Ravenswood Broers, one of our readers whom I met at the big meet-up, writes from Illinois:

“It was my great pleasure to meet you this weekend — just another reason why that conference was so good. Congratulations on the favorable response to your film. Nice description in today’s blog.”

Craig Tollis checks in from Atlanta:

“I like the sound of what you’re doing. Something non-partisan, getting back to what journalism is suppose to be about, is desperately needed.

“We seem to be at a point where not just media but information itself is perceived as inherently biased — which negates much of the media’s ability to question and hold accountable those in power.

“I particularly liked your dissection of the techniques of spin (misdirection) applied in the other writer’s ‘analysis’ of your article. This is important stuff about understanding the quality of information and the quality of argument. Journalism seems to be under a lot of pressure to abandon this information Quality Control role.”

Brian Michels writes:

“Just finished reading your piece on the St. Louis conference, it was excellent. It was also nice to see you in the flesh at the conference. I wanted to tell you in person how much I appreciate your commitment and great work, but you had your head in a newspaper and your hard edged reputation put me off from introducing myself. Besides, I often do the same when I’m tired or in need of some solitary time. Still, it was great seeing you.

“What I’m most interested in right now is your call for a post-partisan ‘Media and Democracy Act of 2005′ to give us a platform to unify around. Man! if I ever heard a bell ring in my head for a great idea, I’ll tell you now, you’ve cracked the bell (pardon the Liberty metaphor).

“The idea is genius. It is a solid nonpartisan platform capable of supporting citizens concerned with shoddy media from the right and left. And in my experience, everybody is concerned with the shoddy media. Your idea is intuitive with the notion of democracy, so it is easily swallowed. It’s one of those ideas that is obviously so good, you wonder why no one thought of it before. So, hats off to you, Danny-boy! I’ll be looking forward to more of your insights on the subject. I’ll also start incorporating it into my media reform stance. I own a lounge in NYC. I like talking politics, I’m not shy, and, at times, I have an attentive audience. Thanks for the fuel.”

Media critic Edward S. Herman wasn’t there:

“I’m not keen on conferences, and gigantic ones are more like rallies and generalized calls to arms than meetings in which real plans are generated — and from your description no observable plans emerged. Furthermore, I think at this juncture in history when the establishment is so powerful and hostile to change our best bet is grass roots organizing plus going around the existing media and creating a parallel media universe, an idea a bit different from those focusing on ‘reform.’”

Producer Robert (”Outfoxed”) Greenwald writes: “terrific piece, good ideas… fight on.”

Joan Mabry writes:

“I just read your email & the WONDERFUL & HEARTENING article by Danny Schechter, but I have a question. He mentions that among those present at the media rally were some ‘lions of litigation’. While I agree that the current appalling state of our media (present company excepted) is certainly an enormous problem, an even greater problem, in my humble opinion (really it’s all one problem, isn’t it?), is the fact that our United States government has been taken over by a group of lawless, greedy war-mongers and I wonder if any of these ‘lions’ are looking into the laws that apply to impeachment and the legitimate reasons for such action?

“The recently leaked British memo, the authenticity of which has been acknowledged by Tony Blair, and the very existence of which our mainstream media is, predictably, all-but-ignoring, seems to me to rise to the level of ‘high crimes & misdemeanors’, especially when added to reports of widespread U.S.-sanctioned torture and rampant war profiteering, to name only the two most egregious of this administration’s many
offenses.

“Not to beat this metaphor to death, but if these ‘lions’ are at all concerned about their reputation as the King of Beasts they really need to DO SOMETHING! The rest of us jungle creatures are relying on their expertise to oust the usurping snakes! I mean, have they no pride? (ok, terrible pun)…

“Seriously though, isn’t this a nation full of lawyers? Some of whom, just statistically, MUST be patriots with working consciences? If these guys are not impeachable then maybe we all just need to admit that concepts like ‘impeachment’… along with ‘justice’, ‘checks and balances’ and ‘accountability’… are now merely fictions, ‘quaint’ like the Geneva conventions.

“We need our goddamn lions to stand up and ROAR while we still have a country. IF we still have a country.”

DAMAGEMENT ON CONDIMENT

“I just heard this on CNN: “Condoleezza Rice speaks to the soldiers in Iraq.

“‘You see, this war came to us — not the other way around.’

“Are you kidding me? Don’t these people know that the world is watching them??? I cannot believe they just keep shoveling this crap to people and there isn’t anyone around to say:

ARE YOU LISTENING TO WHAT YOU’RE SAYING??!!”

FREE THE POETS

Poet e katz writes in defense of writers:

“Hope you’re well, that your film is continuing to be more and more widely seen, and that you had a good conference in St. Louis.

“I’m forwarding a new press release from the PEN Freedom to Write committee that I think you would want to know about and mention to your readers. It’s about a Saudi Arabian poet, Ali Al-Domaini, who has just been sentenced to 9 years in prison for criticizing the pace of political reforms in Saudi Arabia. Two co-defendants were also sentenced to prison terms.

“PEN is calling the trials and convictions of the three reform advocates ‘a clear violation of international guarantees of the right to freedom of expression and a disturbing sign that Saudi Arabia may now be among the most restrictive environments for writers and free speech in the region.’”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STUDS TERKEL

Pauline Tyrdell writes from Sydney, Australia:

“Birthday greeting once again to Studs I hope he is still on the old med ball.”

Patrick writes from the UK:

“With the George Galloway roadshow hitting the states tonight, I thought you might like to read some recent articles that look at the media’s representation of the man. This stuff should be right up your street!

“On another note, I just watched a scathing attack on the G8 leaders by Bob Geldof that was shown in some detail on the Scottish part of BBC’s newsnight. This seems to have been ignored by the mother stations (bbc, itv, ch4), but his words deserve repeating and dissemination. I don’t have a link to the transcript or the video, but hidden away on the BBC website, under the scottish - politics section, I found this:”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4549427.stm

ON “THE MEMO”

The New York Review of Books will be printing it in full.

Virginia Weldon writes:

“When a breast is Xposed on national TV, righteous indignation runs rampant from coast to coast.

“When a smoking gun memo (Xposing this administration) PROVES that the president of the USA (& his administration) lied us into a foreordained and for gain preemptive war (with over 1500 American & 100,000 Iraqi dead, the powers that be and the righteous voices among us are mute.

“And now, that a national magazine has been Xposed as a purveyor of questionable journalism (never mind Judith Miller & her war-hype articles as well as Bob Novak and his company, Outers R Us), all hell is breaking loose in a righteous frenzy of media bias and (gulp) culpability!

“I hesitate to ask, …what will be Xposed as well as made culpable, next?”

Sarah Myer writes to Paul Krugman of the New York Times:

“I think, also, that it would have been good to explain to your outraged readers WHY the New York Times took 15 days to publish The Memo, particularly as it is probably the most important document of this century. This was necessary particularly because of your paper’s recent apology for the earlier misdemeanors of neglect prior to the Iraq War.

‘”I think it would have been a good idea to also to write about the Conyers letter to the White House; the lack of response from the White House, and a list of the signatories to this letter.

“Basically, I am extremely disappointed in the irresponsibility of The New York Times.”

MOVIE TIME

http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html

CARTOON OF THE DAY

Mark Fiore
Corporation for Politicized Broadcasting:
Tune In, Turn On, Turn Right

http://villagevoice.com/generic/act_urldirect.php?sid=138&aid=63985

QUOTES OF THE DAY

“Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.”

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 11/8/1954

“An unconscious people, an indoctrinated people, a people fed only partisan information and opinion that confirm their own bias, a people made morbidly obese in mind and spirit by the junk food of propaganda, is less inclined to put up a fight, ask questions and be skeptical… And just as a democracy can die of too many lies, that kind of orthodoxy can kill us, too.”

Bi1l Moyers, 5/15/2005

Do yourself a favor: Read Moyers’s entire speech. It is posted on Mediachannel.

“YOU CHANGED MY LIFE”

Final story and a heartening one. On Saturday night at the Media Reform Conference, a woman comes up to me and says:

“You changed my life.”

Huh?

“I saw you speak and your speech inspired me to get into politics.”

When was that?

“May 1961, at a civil rights rally on the steps of the Willard Straight Hall student union at Cornell University.”

I was blown away. May 1961. That was another time, almost another life.

Damn, I’ve been at this for a long time.

As we used to say back then, we have to keep on keeping on. I guess I am.

Thanks for all your letters. Sorry the blog was in the bog yesterday. The problem is nothing that a little money can’t fix.

Hint.

Write: dissector@mediachannel.org