JOURNALISTS DISAPPEAR IN IRAQ

“The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is demanding an explanation from U.S. and Iraqi military forces regarding the whereabouts of at least eight Iraqi journalists who have been detained since March 2005. A U.S. military spokesman told CPJ that the journalists pose a ’security risk to the Iraqi people and coalition forces.’ No further details were given. U.S. military officials have often voiced suspicions that some Iraqi journalists collaborate with Iraqi insurgents and have advance knowledge of attacks on coalition forces. But the military never provided evidence to substantiate these earlier claims.”

http://electroniciraq.net/news/1970.shtml - ElectronicIraq.net

NEW TV NETWORK COMING

USA TODAY reports:

“Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez will launch Televisora del Sur (Telesur) — TV of the South — a 24-hour hemispheric TV news network, with Venezuelan journalist Aram Aharonian at the helm. The idea, Chavez has explained, is to combat ‘the conspiracy’ by foreign networks to ignore or distort information about Latin America. ‘We have been trained to see ourselves through foreign eyes,’ Aharonian says. ‘Europeans and Americans
see us in black and white, and yet this is a Technicolor continent.’

“Chavez’s Telesur is drawing comparisons to al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based Arab satellite network. New sources of news can be healthy, says John Dinges, associate professor of journalism at Columbia University in New York. ‘I am in favor of initiatives that create additional voices in the news,’ he says. ‘Al-Jazeera, for example, has made an important impact on journalism in the Middle East.’ If Telesur is a propaganda tool for Chavez,
‘that’s politics, not journalism,’ Dinges says. ‘But if it’s being done in order to spread an alternative journalistic voice, it will be good journalism and a contribution.’”

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20050518/a_venezuelatv18.art.htm

NEWSWEEK: TRAGEDY AND FARCE

Sid Blumenthal on Salon:

“Michael Isikoff has become the Lynddie England of the Washington press corps. For inadequately sourcing a story reporting that the Qur’an of a detainee at the Guantánamo Bay prison had been flushed in a toilet, the Bush administration has turned the Newsweek reporter into a scapegoat for the disastrous consequences of its torture policy.

“In a blurred sequence of events, the incident traveled rapidly from Afghanistan to Washington, from tragedy to farce. Relying on a single anonymous source, Newsweek had before publication dutifully passed the story along for comment by the Pentagon, which declined to refute it. Appearing as a squib in the Periscope section, it was seized upon by demagogues who exploited it to arouse bands of Islamists and other opponents of Hamid Karzai’s government in Afghanistan.

“After riots in which 17 people died, the Bush administration pointed the finger of blame at Newsweek. The White House began a series of demands on the magazine, as though it were a rogue state.”

http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2005/05/19/newsweek/index.html

MEDIA TENOR: Media neglects conflicts in Africa

“New York, May 17 — While the war and the insurgency in Iraq easily piqued the media‚s interest, the same cannot be said about conflicts in Congo, Uganda and Sudan. Despite the humanitarian crises in these nations, they remain almost invisible in most media. The Media Tenor research institute analyzed the international news coverage in TV and print media in South Africa, the U.S., Germany and in the Middle East between 1/1/2004 and 3/31/2005.

“The results of the analysis show that the Democratic Republic of Congo, rated the worst humanitarian hot spot by AlertNet in a poll of 100 humanitarian professionals, was featured in only 0.24% of international news reports. Reports on the critical situation in Uganda, second in the poll, made up a paltry 0.06% of the coverage. The media paid a little more attention to Sudan, the site of Africa’s longest-running civil war, due to allegations of genocide in the country’s Darfur region, but overall Sudan’s share of the coverage only comes to 1.25% of all international news reports.

“In contrast, Iraq, with its greater geopolitical significance, claimed 17.68% of all foreign news reports and was the most covered foreign country in U.S., German and Middle Eastern media outlets. In February of 2004, for instance, news from Iraq represented 61% of the international coverage in U.S. media and 40% of al-Jazeera’s coverage. The different emphases in the news coverage are particularly palpable in the U.S. and in South Africa. In the 15-month period of analysis, news broadcasts on ABC, NBC and CBS featured 4,997 reports on Iraq and only four reports on Congo. Generally, from analyzed media, Congo and Uganda received the most coverage in South African media. Just in South Africa, Iraq received less attention and was the third most-covered country. In Germany and in the Middle East, the media focused mostly on Iraq, although overall the conflict in Darfur received the most attention on al-Jazeera.”

IRAQ THROUGH THE EYES OF INDY REPORTER DAHR JAMAIL

Paul O’Hanlon interviews Dahr:

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/world/2005/05/311412.html

Intellectual Property:

If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try to Get What You Want From Congress

“As reported by CQ, after losing its battle in court, Hollywood and its allies are trying to drum up support in Congress for a rule that would require televisions and other consumer electronics devices to prevent unauthorized copying of digital programming. In an open letter being circulated on Capitol Hill, two dozen groups led by the Motion Picture Association of America are urging lawmakers to enact legislation that would force any device capable of receiving a TV signal to decode and obey a set of instructions known as the ‘broadcast flag.’

“The broadcast flag, a digital watermark embedded in television programming, would dictate how the programming could be used by consumers. With Congress preparing to mandate the transition from analog to digital broadcasting, Hollywood sees the watermark as a way to maintain control of its content — and head off online piracy — in a digital world. The industry suffered a setback early this month when a federal appeals court ruled that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does not have the authority to force consumer electronics makers to incorporate broadcast flag technology.

“So Hollywood is pinning its hopes on Congress to give the FCC that authority. Among those signing the open letter: the National Association of Broadcasters, the four big TV networks, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, the PGA Tour and even a handful of consumer electronics makers.”

CALL THE CONGRESS TO SUPPORT ARTS FUNDING, SAYS CREATIVE COALITION

The Creative Coalition reports:

“Legislation that sets the budget for arts and arts education programs for the Fiscal Year 2006 could be considered as early as today before the U.S. House of Representatives.

“The Creative Coalition has contacted members of the House of Representatives encouraging them to increase funding levels for the arts and arts education programs in the FY2006 Interior Appropriations bill. For more info write: Info@TheCreativeCoalition.org.”

Media Debate: How the right tries to shut down all discussion… Check out this blog:

http://blogoland

Broadcasting & Cable reports that CBS has canceled 60 Minutes Wednesday, the show that Dan Rather reported for and known in the industry as 62.

Gone. Also, this just in:

“Corporation for Public Broadcasting Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson says he is trying to balance the liberal leaning of public broadcasting, not tilt it in the other direction.”

http://email.BroadcastingCable

This is what Broadcasting & Cable SHOULD be reporting. From Jeff Chester at the Center for Digital Democracy, showing that Tomlinson is a government propagandist:

“Kenneth Tomlinson is a very busy man, holding down the board of directors chairs at two US government-connected agencies. While better known outside the Beltway for his role as chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Mr. Tomlinson also oversees the U.S.’s official propaganda arm — the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). He has served as chair and member since August 2002.

“As chair of BBG, Tomlinson oversees all ‘U.S. government and government sponsored (non-military) broadcasting,’ reaching more than 100 million people each week. Among the outlets run by BBG are the Voice of America (which Tomlinson used to run), Radio and TV Marti (broadcasting to Cuba), and a host of Middle East services, including Radio Sawa, Alhurra (’a commercial-free Arabic language satellite TV channel’) and Radio Farda (aimed at Iran’s Persian-language audience). Tomlinson sees the U.S. government international media effort as ‘our most effective means of public diplomacy aboard and a critical component of the Global War on Terror.’

“Tomlinson’s choice for CPB president — Patricia Harrison, the Acting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs — is also playing a major Bush Administration role in shaping the U.S. global media (and news) apparatus. As reported May 1, 2005 by the New York Times, Mr. Tomlinson ‘has made clear to the board’ that he wants Ms. Harrison, who is also a former co-chair of the Republican National Committee, to replace Kathleen Cox (who was terminated by Mr. Tomlinson and his colleagues after only serving a few months). Ms. Harrison has worked closely with Tomlinson’s BBG to develop the administration’s post-9/11 ‘Public Diplomacy’ strategy.”