Op-Ed
To fend off the threat of peace, determination is necessary. Elected officials and high-level appointees must work effectively with reporters and pundits.
This is no time for the U.S. government to risk taking "yes" for an answer from Iraq. Guarding against the danger of peace, the Bush administration has moved the goal posts, quickly pounding them into the ground.
In early August, a State Department undersecretary swung a heavy mallet. "Let there be no mistake," said John Bolton. "While we also insist on the reintroduction of the weapons inspectors, our policy at the same time insists on regime change in Baghdad -- and that policy will not be altered, whether inspectors go in or not."
A sinister cloud briefly fell over the sunny skies for war. The U.S. Congress got a public invitation. A letter from a top Iraqi official "said congressional visitors and weapons experts of their choice could visit any site in Iraq alleged to be used for development of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons," USA Today reported.
This is no time for the U.S. government to risk taking "yes" for an answer from Iraq. Guarding against the danger of peace, the Bush administration has moved the goal posts, quickly pounding them into the ground.
In early August, a State Department undersecretary swung a heavy mallet. "Let there be no mistake," said John Bolton. "While we also insist on the reintroduction of the weapons inspectors, our policy at the same time insists on regime change in Baghdad -- and that policy will not be altered, whether inspectors go in or not."
A sinister cloud briefly fell over the sunny skies for war. The U.S. Congress got a public invitation. A letter from a top Iraqi official "said congressional visitors and weapons experts of their choice could visit any site in Iraq alleged to be used for development of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons," USA Today reported.
With the "New Economy" now in shambles, it's easy for media
outlets to disparage the illusions of the late 1990s -- years crammed with
high-tech mania, fat stock options and euphoria on Wall Street. But we hear
very little about the fact that much of the bubble was filled with hot
air from hyperventilating journalists.
Traveling back on a time machine, we would see mainstream reporters and pundits routinely extolling the digitally enhanced nirvana of huge profits and much more to come. The "New Economy" media juggernaut was not to be denied.
Sure, journalists occasionally offered the common-sense observation that the boom would go bust someday. But it was a minor note in the media's orchestral tributes to the New Economy. And the bullish pronouncements included an awful lot of hyped bull.
Traveling back on a time machine, we would see mainstream reporters and pundits routinely extolling the digitally enhanced nirvana of huge profits and much more to come. The "New Economy" media juggernaut was not to be denied.
Sure, journalists occasionally offered the common-sense observation that the boom would go bust someday. But it was a minor note in the media's orchestral tributes to the New Economy. And the bullish pronouncements included an awful lot of hyped bull.
AUSTIN, Texas -- You can already tell it's going to be a perfectly glorious political year in Texas. Four months out, and we've already got one gubernatorial candidate accusing the other of being a drug dealer, naturally causing the maligned party to in turn describe his opponent as a raving liar. This is going to be so much fun.
A grand old slugfest is developing in the race between Gov. Rick (Goodhair) Perry and his Democratic challenger, Tony Sanchez, and it shows all the signs of becoming a fall classic in Texas' toughest contact sport.
For starters, this is a backward, upside-down race. Normally we have Republican outsiders with no government experience running on their credentials as bidnessmen, a la in Bill Clements and George W. Bush, while claiming, "My opponent is nothing but a professional politician." This year we have a Republican incumbent we didn't vote for -- as Sanchez's ads keep reminding us -- who is a career politician being challenged by a Democratic businessman. But it could be a bad year to be a successful bidnessman, even in Texas.
A grand old slugfest is developing in the race between Gov. Rick (Goodhair) Perry and his Democratic challenger, Tony Sanchez, and it shows all the signs of becoming a fall classic in Texas' toughest contact sport.
For starters, this is a backward, upside-down race. Normally we have Republican outsiders with no government experience running on their credentials as bidnessmen, a la in Bill Clements and George W. Bush, while claiming, "My opponent is nothing but a professional politician." This year we have a Republican incumbent we didn't vote for -- as Sanchez's ads keep reminding us -- who is a career politician being challenged by a Democratic businessman. But it could be a bad year to be a successful bidnessman, even in Texas.
Three and a half years ago, some key information about U.N.
weapons inspectors in Iraq briefly surfaced on the front pages=
of
American newspapers -- and promptly vanished. Now, with=
righteous
war drums beating loudly in Washington, let's reach deep down=
into
the news media's Orwellian memory hole and retrieve the story.
"U.S. Spied on Iraq Under U.N. Cover, Officials Now Say," a front-page New York Times headline announced on Jan. 7, 1999.= The article was unequivocal: "United States officials said today= that American spies had worked undercover on teams of United Nations arms inspectors ferreting out secret Iraqi weapons programs....= By being part of the team, the Americans gained a first-hand= knowledge of the investigation and a protected presence inside Baghdad."
A day later, a followup Times story pointed out: "Reports= that the United States used the United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq as cover for spying on Saddam Hussein are dimming any= chances that the inspection system will survive."
"U.S. Spied on Iraq Under U.N. Cover, Officials Now Say," a front-page New York Times headline announced on Jan. 7, 1999.= The article was unequivocal: "United States officials said today= that American spies had worked undercover on teams of United Nations arms inspectors ferreting out secret Iraqi weapons programs....= By being part of the team, the Americans gained a first-hand= knowledge of the investigation and a protected presence inside Baghdad."
A day later, a followup Times story pointed out: "Reports= that the United States used the United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq as cover for spying on Saddam Hussein are dimming any= chances that the inspection system will survive."
With huge financial scandals causing turmoil in the United
States,
this year has seen some vigorous reporting about high-level
misdeeds and
corporate manipulation. But many news stories just take the lead
from top
officials. In the months ahead, we'll find out how deep American
media
outlets are willing to go.
Big scandals always generate plenty of headlines and lots of excitement. Important information can emerge. But frequently, key facts remain buried and crucial questions go unasked. If it's true that reporters produce a first draft of history, they often serve as conformist "jiffy historians" who do little more than recycle the day's conventional wisdom.
A dozen years ago, when journalist Martin A. Lee and I were writing a book about media bias ("Unreliable Sources"), we tried to assess what had gone wrong with news coverage of the Iran-contra scandal. Along the way -- under the heading of "Signs of an Official Scandal" -- we listed some general characteristics of coverage routinely providing much more heat than light.
Big scandals always generate plenty of headlines and lots of excitement. Important information can emerge. But frequently, key facts remain buried and crucial questions go unasked. If it's true that reporters produce a first draft of history, they often serve as conformist "jiffy historians" who do little more than recycle the day's conventional wisdom.
A dozen years ago, when journalist Martin A. Lee and I were writing a book about media bias ("Unreliable Sources"), we tried to assess what had gone wrong with news coverage of the Iran-contra scandal. Along the way -- under the heading of "Signs of an Official Scandal" -- we listed some general characteristics of coverage routinely providing much more heat than light.
AUSTIN, Texas -- Now some fools want to fire Treasury
Secretary
Paul O'Neill, the only straight-shooter in the Cabinet. Tell you
what I like
about O'Neill: He's from Widget World. This Cabinet is
wall-to-wall
corporate America, but most of them -- including the president --
are from
Enron Economics, whereas O'Neill was CEO of a business that makes
something
useful, to wit, aluminum.
As many economic poohbahs have been at pains to explain to us lately, out there in Widget World, where people produce actual goods and provide useful services, things are going along quite nicely.
It's the financial sector that's the disaster, the part where they play fancy games with other people's money for a living. That's Enron Economics, the land of stock options, commodities futures, derivatives, swaps, financializing markets and offshore partnerships.
Before we get back to our ongoing project of connecting the consarn, dag-rabbiting dots between corporate theft and government corruption, let's see if we can stop Congress from actually making things worse. Good project, eh?
As many economic poohbahs have been at pains to explain to us lately, out there in Widget World, where people produce actual goods and provide useful services, things are going along quite nicely.
It's the financial sector that's the disaster, the part where they play fancy games with other people's money for a living. That's Enron Economics, the land of stock options, commodities futures, derivatives, swaps, financializing markets and offshore partnerships.
Before we get back to our ongoing project of connecting the consarn, dag-rabbiting dots between corporate theft and government corruption, let's see if we can stop Congress from actually making things worse. Good project, eh?
AUSTIN, Texas -- OK, it's now hundreds of thousands
of words
past the WorldCom bankruptcy, with the media might of this great
nation
devoted to explaining it all to you, and there are still six
words I cannot
find anywhere -- the Telecommunications Deregulation Act of 1996.
Don't you
think that's carrying our famously ahistorical journalism a
little too far?
When the cause of a disaster is a mere six years back in time, surely even American journalists can dredge up a twinge or two of memory. For those of you not afflicted by Alzheimer's in recent years, Bob McChesney, the media critic and professor at Southern Illinois, sums it up nicely: "The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was one of the most important of the last 50 years. It was also the most corrupt and undemocratic bill of the time: It was of, by and for special interests. Most of the congresspeople who voted for it didn't even know what they were voting on."
When the cause of a disaster is a mere six years back in time, surely even American journalists can dredge up a twinge or two of memory. For those of you not afflicted by Alzheimer's in recent years, Bob McChesney, the media critic and professor at Southern Illinois, sums it up nicely: "The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was one of the most important of the last 50 years. It was also the most corrupt and undemocratic bill of the time: It was of, by and for special interests. Most of the congresspeople who voted for it didn't even know what they were voting on."
AUSTIN, Texas -- There' some stiff competition in the
Stupidest Thing Said Yet department about the swoon in the financial markets. But among the heavy contenders we must surely count those who are now saying they know who's responsible, and it is us.
According to this theory, you, me and Joe Doaks made Ken Lay do it. Came as a surprise to me, too. Naturally, as a liberal, I just love guilt, so I was ready to sign right up for this one, but try as I may, I can't get it to make a lick of sense. Nevertheless, several of our heavy ponderers and The Wall Street Journal's editorial page insist that we did it.
It seems "we," a word they use rather promiscuously in my opinion, were seized by greed and folly in the '90s. "We" were so stupid we thought stock markets only went up, and "we" are whining like children only because "we" don't understand that in the big, tough, he-man world of capitalism, we must take risks.
Who you callin' "we," white man?
According to this theory, you, me and Joe Doaks made Ken Lay do it. Came as a surprise to me, too. Naturally, as a liberal, I just love guilt, so I was ready to sign right up for this one, but try as I may, I can't get it to make a lick of sense. Nevertheless, several of our heavy ponderers and The Wall Street Journal's editorial page insist that we did it.
It seems "we," a word they use rather promiscuously in my opinion, were seized by greed and folly in the '90s. "We" were so stupid we thought stock markets only went up, and "we" are whining like children only because "we" don't understand that in the big, tough, he-man world of capitalism, we must take risks.
Who you callin' "we," white man?
Free Press writers Bob Fitrakis and Marty Yant won a First Place award from the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists for their coverage of the John Byrd death penalty case in Columbus Alive. They are currently working on a book about Byrd.
Rob Russell and Protect Our Earth’s Treasures
7/20/02
After a two-year picket of the OSU veterinary hospital, Rob Russell and animal rights activists successfully drove Associate Professor Michael Podell from the OSU campus. Podell was responsible for the reprehensible “Cats on Speed” experiments that tortured and killed cats in the name of medicine. Podell’s departure from OSU is in the truest sense, POETic justice. Now if only POET and its allies PETA, the Humane Society, the Association of Veterinarians for Animals Rights and the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine could start organizing to get the OSU administration to quit practicing mind control on student guinea pigs (see Freep Enemies of the People).
The Free Press Salutes
Congressman Pat Tiberi
The Free Press Salutes
Congressman Pat Tiberi