Media Watch
While free from Force the Press remains,
Virtue and Freedom chear our Plains,
And Learning Largesses bestows,
And keeps unlicens’d open House.
We to the Nation’s publick Mart
Our Works of Wit, and Schemes of Art,
And philosophic Goods, this Way,
Like Water carriage, cheap convey.
This Tree which Knowledge so affords,
Inquisitors with flaming swords
From Lay-Approach with Zeal defend,
Lest their own Paradise should end.
The Press from her fecundous Womb
Brought forth the Arts of Greece and Rome;
Her offspring, skill’d in Logic War,
Truth’s Banner wav’d in open Air;
The Monster Superstition fled,
And hid in Shades in Gorgon Head;
And awless Pow’r, the long kept Field,
By Reason quell’d, was forc’d to yield.
This Nurse of Arts, and Freedom’s Fence,
To chain, is Treason against Sense:
And Liberty, thy thousand Tongues
None silence who design no Wrongs;
For those who use the Gag’s Restraint,
First Rob, before they stop Complaint.
Virtue and Freedom chear our Plains,
And Learning Largesses bestows,
And keeps unlicens’d open House.
We to the Nation’s publick Mart
Our Works of Wit, and Schemes of Art,
And philosophic Goods, this Way,
Like Water carriage, cheap convey.
This Tree which Knowledge so affords,
Inquisitors with flaming swords
From Lay-Approach with Zeal defend,
Lest their own Paradise should end.
The Press from her fecundous Womb
Brought forth the Arts of Greece and Rome;
Her offspring, skill’d in Logic War,
Truth’s Banner wav’d in open Air;
The Monster Superstition fled,
And hid in Shades in Gorgon Head;
And awless Pow’r, the long kept Field,
By Reason quell’d, was forc’d to yield.
This Nurse of Arts, and Freedom’s Fence,
To chain, is Treason against Sense:
And Liberty, thy thousand Tongues
None silence who design no Wrongs;
For those who use the Gag’s Restraint,
First Rob, before they stop Complaint.
Republicans are at it again: New Bush scam--"letters from Iraq" are mass-produced.....will the press give the administration the hounding it deserves?
Newspapers around U.S. get identical missives from Iraq www.theolympian.com/home/news/20031011/frontpage/121390.shtml
"WASHINGTON -- Letters from hometown soldiers describing their successes rebuilding Iraq have been appearing in newspapers across the country as U.S. public opinion on the mission sours. And all the letters are the same. A Gannett News Service search found identical letters from different soldiers with the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, also known as "The Rock," in 11 newspapers, including Snohomish, Wash. "
first saw The Olympian article linked at http://legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news
Newspapers around U.S. get identical missives from Iraq www.theolympian.com/home/news/20031011/frontpage/121390.shtml
"WASHINGTON -- Letters from hometown soldiers describing their successes rebuilding Iraq have been appearing in newspapers across the country as U.S. public opinion on the mission sours. And all the letters are the same. A Gannett News Service search found identical letters from different soldiers with the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, also known as "The Rock," in 11 newspapers, including Snohomish, Wash. "
first saw The Olympian article linked at http://legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news
On Aug. 6, Duante Miller, 20, was shot to death by two police officers as he ran from them through a housing project in Columbus Ohio. How has the mainstream media covered it?
Victim Gave Police Reason To Shoot Him,” the Columbus Dispatch boldly proclaimed in a page one Metro section headline Friday, August 29. Reporter Bruce adwallader’s lead reads as follows: “Duante Miller is to blame for his death, a private investigator working with Miller’s family said yesterday.” Cadwallader played up investigator Cornell McCleary’s conclusions in the third paragraph, a single sentence: “Miller was a ‘menace to society and clearly destined for jail or the graveyard,’ McCleary said in his report.”
Cadwallader’s 4th paragraph is key to understanding the Dispatch’s coverage of the Miller affair. It reads in its entirety: “‘The facts suggest that Miller chose to outrun the police but ended up running out of time. His decision to run cost him his life,’ wrote McCleary, who runs PRO-Private Police Agency, a private investigative firm that is not associated with the police division. He is also a local radio talk show host.”
Victim Gave Police Reason To Shoot Him,” the Columbus Dispatch boldly proclaimed in a page one Metro section headline Friday, August 29. Reporter Bruce adwallader’s lead reads as follows: “Duante Miller is to blame for his death, a private investigator working with Miller’s family said yesterday.” Cadwallader played up investigator Cornell McCleary’s conclusions in the third paragraph, a single sentence: “Miller was a ‘menace to society and clearly destined for jail or the graveyard,’ McCleary said in his report.”
Cadwallader’s 4th paragraph is key to understanding the Dispatch’s coverage of the Miller affair. It reads in its entirety: “‘The facts suggest that Miller chose to outrun the police but ended up running out of time. His decision to run cost him his life,’ wrote McCleary, who runs PRO-Private Police Agency, a private investigative firm that is not associated with the police division. He is also a local radio talk show host.”
Low Power FM radio activists make a plea for stations in our cities —
Will the Chairman tune in?
The Prometheus Radio Project, an organization that advocates for Low Power Radio Stations, welcomed tidings of a new ‘localism initiative’ from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). But despite small concessions Chairmain Powell made to Low Power Radio on Wednesday, Prometheus intends to pursue the lawsuit it filed last week with the Media Access Project against the FCC’s new ownership rules.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell launched his new “Localism in Broadcasting” initiative on August 20th, in response to a huge public push to protect diversity of voices by limiting the power of major media corporations. This public outcry came in response to the June 2nd vote at his FCC, a vote that moves to allow the nation’s biggest media corporations to own more outlets in America’s towns and cities. At a press conference in Washington, Powell promised to convene a panel to study issues of localism in our communities this fall — after the consolidated media rules established this summer go into effect.
The Prometheus Radio Project, an organization that advocates for Low Power Radio Stations, welcomed tidings of a new ‘localism initiative’ from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). But despite small concessions Chairmain Powell made to Low Power Radio on Wednesday, Prometheus intends to pursue the lawsuit it filed last week with the Media Access Project against the FCC’s new ownership rules.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell launched his new “Localism in Broadcasting” initiative on August 20th, in response to a huge public push to protect diversity of voices by limiting the power of major media corporations. This public outcry came in response to the June 2nd vote at his FCC, a vote that moves to allow the nation’s biggest media corporations to own more outlets in America’s towns and cities. At a press conference in Washington, Powell promised to convene a panel to study issues of localism in our communities this fall — after the consolidated media rules established this summer go into effect.
It seems as though the issue of NPR journalists casually airing personal opinions on other media outlets has drawn complaints from many listeners and caused a bit of an internal ruckus, so much so that the news service is reviewing its ethics policies.
A recent column by NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin refers specifically to an episode last fall in which NPR correspondent Mara Liasson, speaking on Fox News, chastised Congressmen Jim McDermott of Washington and David Bonior of Michigan for visiting Iraq and suggesting that President Bush was misleading the nation about Iraq's weapons capabilities in order to win support for an military invasion.
Here, exactly, is what Liasson said: "These guys [McDermott and Bonior] are a disgrace. Look, everybody knows it's 101, politics 101, that you don't go to an adversary country, an enemy country, and badmouth the United States, its policies and the president of the United States. I mean, these guys ought to, I don't know resign."
A recent column by NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin refers specifically to an episode last fall in which NPR correspondent Mara Liasson, speaking on Fox News, chastised Congressmen Jim McDermott of Washington and David Bonior of Michigan for visiting Iraq and suggesting that President Bush was misleading the nation about Iraq's weapons capabilities in order to win support for an military invasion.
Here, exactly, is what Liasson said: "These guys [McDermott and Bonior] are a disgrace. Look, everybody knows it's 101, politics 101, that you don't go to an adversary country, an enemy country, and badmouth the United States, its policies and the president of the United States. I mean, these guys ought to, I don't know resign."
“Boycott the News” is an indirect boycott designed to correct bias and censorship in the news coverage of the war. It aims to disrupt the flow of advertising revenue that supports the network newscasts. The combined effect of September 11th and the current war in Iraq has created a difficult climate for advertising on network newscasts. The time for this type of boycott is now because there are several weak links in the revenue chain of the networks. In the first week of the war the networks had 100 million dollars worth of ads pulled. No one wanted to be associated with the war and the anxiety it was expected to bring.
April 7, 2003
Dear friends,
It appears that the Bush administra- tion will have succeeded in coloniz ing Iraq sometime in the next few days. This is a blunder of such magnitude — and we will pay for it for years to come. It was not worth the life of one single American kid in uniform, let alone the thousands of Iraqis who have died, and my condolences and prayers go out to all of them.
So, where are all those weapons of mass destruction that were the pretense for this war? Ha! There is so much to say about all this, but I will save it for later.
Dear friends,
It appears that the Bush administra- tion will have succeeded in coloniz ing Iraq sometime in the next few days. This is a blunder of such magnitude — and we will pay for it for years to come. It was not worth the life of one single American kid in uniform, let alone the thousands of Iraqis who have died, and my condolences and prayers go out to all of them.
So, where are all those weapons of mass destruction that were the pretense for this war? Ha! There is so much to say about all this, but I will save it for later.
The Dixie Chicks have taken a big hit lately for exercising their basic right to express themselves. To me, they're terrific American artists expressing American values by using their American right to free speech. For them to be banished wholesale from radio stations, and even entire radio networks, for speaking out is un-American.
The pressure coming from the government and big business to enforce conformity of thought concerning the war and politics goes against everything that this country is about - namely freedom. Right now, we are supposedly fighting to create freedom in Iraq, at the same time that some are trying to intimidate and punish people for using that same freedom here at home.
I don't know what happens next, but I do want to add my voice to those who think that the Dixie Chicks are getting a raw deal, and an un-American one to boot. I send them my support.
The pressure coming from the government and big business to enforce conformity of thought concerning the war and politics goes against everything that this country is about - namely freedom. Right now, we are supposedly fighting to create freedom in Iraq, at the same time that some are trying to intimidate and punish people for using that same freedom here at home.
I don't know what happens next, but I do want to add my voice to those who think that the Dixie Chicks are getting a raw deal, and an un-American one to boot. I send them my support.
We Have Updated and Upgraded MediaChannel
New look, more news, more perspectives than ever
Dear Friends,
As is well known, truth is the first casualty of war. In this age of media wars, this is increasingly the case despite all the "breaking news" and instant analysis, which on reflection turns out not be as authoritative as it first sounds. That's why the MediaChannel (www.mediachannel.org) is needed more than ever.
We have responded to this greater need for perspectives on media with an updated and upgraded MediaChannel -- adding a new look and new features: more news, more perspectives and more coverage than ever.
A redesigned front page -- cleaner and more accessible. Media News Now -- from the wires of the Globalvision News Network updated 24/7. Expanded daily interactive weblog analyzing the global coverage of the war and its consequences.
New look, more news, more perspectives than ever
Dear Friends,
As is well known, truth is the first casualty of war. In this age of media wars, this is increasingly the case despite all the "breaking news" and instant analysis, which on reflection turns out not be as authoritative as it first sounds. That's why the MediaChannel (www.mediachannel.org) is needed more than ever.
We have responded to this greater need for perspectives on media with an updated and upgraded MediaChannel -- adding a new look and new features: more news, more perspectives and more coverage than ever.
A redesigned front page -- cleaner and more accessible. Media News Now -- from the wires of the Globalvision News Network updated 24/7. Expanded daily interactive weblog analyzing the global coverage of the war and its consequences.
The Peter Arnett fiasco seems to this observer to reflect poorly on NBC News, which apparently sees the role of a news network as that of printing the "official" story and to hell with the truth.
I admit that I would feel better had Arnett landed with some paper other than the tabloid London Mirror. It will be interesting to follow this story.
I see that Geraldo Rivera denies having been told to leave Iraq. Unfortunately, he lost any sign of credibility long years ago.
Peter Arnett will stay in my memory for the magnificent job he performed in Vietnam all those decades ago.
Bob Powers
Writer-Editor
I admit that I would feel better had Arnett landed with some paper other than the tabloid London Mirror. It will be interesting to follow this story.
I see that Geraldo Rivera denies having been told to leave Iraq. Unfortunately, he lost any sign of credibility long years ago.
Peter Arnett will stay in my memory for the magnificent job he performed in Vietnam all those decades ago.
Bob Powers
Writer-Editor