WHY CARE ABOUT AL JAZEERA?

Jackie Newberry, Mediachannel’s outreach coordinator, responds to a putdownish letter from someone who has no use for Al Jazeera and asks are the people who died Muslims. Jackie responds:

” Bill,

“Yes, the people cited by the Al Jazeera journalist refers to friends and family of journalists who were killed or are in prison. Are they all Muslims? I assume so, but this is about their right to practice journalism, not a religious faith.

“This call to action to respond to the appeal on behalf of journalists at Al Jazeera is made on both a humane level and on a professional level as fellow journalists. It is not done from any one political perspective. MediaChannel’s mission is to make all media, including Al Jazeera, accountable to in turn make all governments and corporate institutions answerable to those whom they serve. This has been the purpose of the media since its inception. Our perspective is that in recent years the media has generally given up its role in challenging those in power and failing to do the thorough investigation necessary to get to the truth. We call on journalists to stand up and no longer allow themselves to be compromised in their duty to “conflict the comfortable and comfort the conflicted.”

“Recent revelations raise serious possibilities that Al Jazeera was specifically targeted by our government, something that is against all international treaties and rules of war. More investigation and cooperation of the British and US governments has been demanded by other governments and citizens here and abroad. One of the primary functions of the media is to force transparency and accountability of governments and those in power. The purpose is to reveal the absolute truth, not to perpetuate a position that is predetermined or convenient for any administration or country involved.

“An independent media is crucial in all countries, particularly during war. Obviously the press is more independent in some regions than others. As I am sure you are well aware, truth is often a victim of war. As of now, an unprecedented 93 journalists have been killed during the latest war in Iraq. Although some of these lost lives have been unavoidable because of the conditions in Iraq, there are indications that this has not been the case in other deaths. Reuters has an ongoing demand of the US that better cooperation and further investigations be conducted into the deaths of a number of their journalists, including Iraqi journalists.

“Challenging the Iraq policy is not the province of liberals or other groups self-identified as opponents to this administration. Many soldiers, veterans and experienced military officers have spoken out. The conservative Congressman John Murtha represented them in his proposal to Congress.

“I hope this helps. Please feel free to contact me again if you have questions.

WHATS IN A WORD?

In my blog yesterday I referred to the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward as “multiagendered.” Stuart Fischoff takes me to task:

” Danny,

“agendered” is a word, but not in relation to an agenda. Rather, it pertains to things, even agendas, being gender-neutral. Let’s not give the bastards more grist for their attack mill.”

COVER THE DUNGEON AT FORT DAVIS

Peter Gaffney writes;

”I’m curious why you drew no attention to the story about the appalling conditions under which 200 U.S. soldiers — most or all apparently serving time for refusing to go (or go back) to Iraq — are imprisoned at the Fort Davis military prison in Washington state? After all the stories of abuse and even murder by various arms of our gov’t under the Bush administration (I don’t know if this situation has anything to do with them, or how long it’s been going on), this was the most shocking story I’ve seen in a while. The fact that these are Americans and this is taking place in America shouldn’t make any difference to me, but it does. I’m not any more outraged than I would be otherwise, but I can’t help being more shocked. These guys are being abused and humiliated for refusing to help kill people. And what’s the actual torture supposed to accomplish; are they hoping to extract some intel that’ll help them track down the ringleaders of this operation — Gandhi, King and el-Nazarethi? (I just hope the allegations of their interrogators flushing “Desiderata” down the toilet aren’t true.)

“Seriously, if that story was the truth, it needs to get out. With enough public outcry, there’s a chance somebody might do something — or at least launch an investigation. At the very least, it’ll counter a lot of people’s ideas about how easy these guys have got it in jail compared to the guys fighting and dying in Iraq.”

“P.S. Have I told you lately what an enlightening, indeed indispensable resource you provide? And how much I enjoy reading your comments about what’s going on?”

JERRY STARR ON CPB

The NY Times ran a powerful editorial denouncing right wing inteferance at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. But the problems at CPB did not start with the Bush Administration as long time public broadcasting activist Jerry Starr reminds us:

” Just to keep things in perspective, there may be some truth to claims Tomlinson made about Pat Mitchell’s encouragement. Let us recall that, in 1997, PBS announced a 5-year $75 million deal with Tomlinson’s former company, Readers Digest, to jointly select and market “family entertainment” worldwide. RD was very clear they were after “heightened awareness of the Reader’s Digest brand name” while Erv Duggan crowed: “This is a powerful example of a new strategy of advancing our mission by doing business with companies that share our ideals while complementing our resources.” RD’s history then and now was pro-war, anti-labor and pro-privatization. It has been a major supporter of the Heritage Foundation and a consistent critic of public funding for PBS. What ideals was Duggan talking about? What ideals is Mitchell talking about? What ideals are we talking about? You can change the faces, but, without structural reform, no basic changes in programming or services can be expected.

www.cipbonline.org

RETORT FROM RENDON

Gordon Stephan calls our attention the response of John Rendon, the Bush media operative exposed in Rolling Stone and other places.

” The Rendon Group’s response in a letter about the Rolling Stone article is almost as entertaining as the article itself. Sort of like Clinton’s “that depends on your definition of is”…”

http://www.rendon.com/index.php

“GEISHA” OFFENDS, SIGHT UNSEEN

The Guardian reports:

” The Hollywood blockbuster ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ has been heavily criticised in China and Japan even before it opens. The criticism in Japan centres on director Rob Marshall’s casting of Chinese actors as geisha. ‘We should boycott this film and send a clear message to Hollywood. Why on earth have they made a film making fun of the Japanese, when they cannot get by without us?’ says one blogger…

But Japanese criticism was restrained when compared with the abuse hurled at Zhang(the Chinese star) by her compatriots, angered by her involvement in a film about China’s former colonial ruler. ‘She’s sold her soul and betrayed her country,’ a Chinese blogger wrote. ‘Hacking her to death would not be good enough.’

http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,12589,1653008,00.html - The Guardian

WHAT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF MEDIA?

Demos is discussing the issue in NY on Dec 1: The Responsibility of Media and Communications

Thursday, December 1, 2005 | 12 - 2pm

”We will explore the complex, multi-faceted relationship between media and the entities in, and on, which it is actively engaged. Panelists will include Birgitte Rasine, founder of LUCITÀ, Lisa Rudman, executive director of the National Radio Project and Simran Sethi, host of Ethical Markets, as moderator.

http://www.icebase.com/reader.ice?DKUI2230944885&brrosen&142

I will be moderating a panel on Aids in India at the Rubin Museum of Art in Chelsea on December 1 at 7PM. Co-sponsored with the South Asian Journalists Association (SAGA)

Thanks for checking in. Share your thoughts on the blog and the news. Write: Dissector@medichannel.org

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