WTC.MediaRole

NEW! MEDIA AND PERCEPTION Get the facts first. You can distort them later. -- Mark Twain

FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting) is a crucial website for these issues; please check them out.See their Media Views by FAIR - An excellent compilation of commentary and criticism of media views on the WTC disaster. NEW Networks push Pentagon for more war access - "Footage of actual injuries {in Afghanistan}is appearing with far more regularity on overseas TV networks, whereas not so much is airing on American networks." NEW Qatar rejects U.S. attempts to muzzle free Arab press, reminds U.S. that freedom of speech is a cornerstone of democracy. NEW U.S. military bombs Afghan radio stations for broadcasting "propaganda." - We're glad it's so clearly a thing to get rid of. NEW Squelching the news in democracy's name - by Mark Crispin Miller (Mother Jones.com) - "The Bush administration's efforts to control the news -- with the broadcast media's willing collaboration -- may be more dangerous to American democracy than any terrorist." NEW War needs good public relations (FAIR) - "...on television, we see footage of air-dropped meals that amount to no more than 1 percent of what's needed to prevent people from starving. That's called good PR." Networks Accept Government "Guidance" - "The point is not that bin Laden or Al Qaeda deserve "equal time" on U.S. news broadcasts, but that it is troubling for government to shape or influence news content. Withholding information from the public is hardly patriotic." What does retaliation mean in a media war? - by John Rieger "It's a war of symbols, impressions and ideas in which acts of mass murder jocky for mind share in the global media, and everyone with a television set, the world over, reacts viscerally. FCC defies terrorists - Media Monopolization Will Go On "For 10 years now, regulations on broadcasters have been relaxed to their benefit. Now, the Viacomese and their allies want to scuttle the rest..." NEW The FCC, the media, and the war "...the person with the most say in determining who holds a broadcast license in the United States is the son of the Secretary of State. Hopefully, the media managers won't put their business plans and pleasing the FCC before seriously covering -- and questioning -- the Administration's war." FAV Deconstructing the war of words - "Each side in this conflict has striven to lend legitimacy to its cause by employing loaded terms, which carry significant implications and specific connotations on both political and religious levels." Criticism is patriotism - Reviewing the News Since 9-11 - "...there was a recurrent theme that confused patriotism and journalism. Journalists might be patriots, but cheerleading is not in the job description. The Return of Censorship - by Cynthia Cotts, Village Voice - 'War means never having to tell the truth' FAV Introduction: Project Censored 25th Anniversary - by Noam Chomsky An expert discusses the entwining of the media, corporations, power, politics, and economics FAV Why did House Republican staffers forbid television cameras and then MSNBC remove the reference fro mtheir article? Buzzflash editorial commentary Quick passage of Bush anti-terrorist package unlikely; Liberal, conservative lawmakers fear loss of civil liberties Censored 2001 - the Top 25 Censored Stories of 2000 White House whitewashers - by Jake Tapper Tension mounts between the White House and the media. FAV A Question of Decency "Let me be blunt: I am not anti-war, I am anti-stupid. I am not against military intervention, I am against indiscriminate military intervention." - - Patricia Koyce Wanniski battles against labeling by media pundits Muslims dissatisfied with media reports over US attacks Media Pundits Advocate Civilian Targets ".. prominent journalists have been advocating military strategies that violate the laws of war and mirror the strategies of terrorists..." Media March to War The press push the theme of retaliation: ""At a bare minimum, tactical nuclear capabilites should be used against the bin Laden camps in the desert of Afghanistan." | "If bias does exist - and at a certain point, bias must be called 'propaganda' - by making ourselves aware of it, we increase our ability to accurately interpret events, and to respond appropriately to a complex world." -Valerie Gremillion ### Modern Media: Impact and Responsibility Media -papers and broadcasters, networks and channels - play a pivotal role in the exercise of democracy. By informing us of 'news', by pointing us to information that impacts the world and our lives, media helps shape our perception of events. By directing our attention to certain topics or understandings, or even in not directing us toward them, the media of today provide context to events, in large part determining not only our interpretation of them, but our views of who we are and what we do. While this is true of all media, due to their huge scope, the mass media - broadcast TV and radio, mainstream newspapers and magazines - exert the largest effect on our attention. By choosing certain angles to illumine aspects of a story, by focusing on specific viewpoints and magnifying them through their widespread broadcasting, the mass media today exert great power over our ability to perceive, and thus to choose actions and responses. With this great power comes responsibility. In the past, the code of the 'respectable' media has required maintaining an 'objective' viewpoint, an attempt to present 'both sides' of any issue. Yet there are few laws which enforce this, little to prevent bias which might occur, or even manipulation by an unscrupulous few. Because of this, as 'consumers' of daily, almost constant, media, we must be alert to bias that could influence not only our perception of the news, but our perception of the world. If we don't, we lose the ability to choose our direction based on reality, rather than the perceptions of others. This page is our eye on the media, and the directions it chooses to take us, as well as those it may not be showing us. If bias does exist - and at a certain degree, bias must be called 'propaganda' - by making ourselves aware of it, we increase our ability to accurately interpret events, and to respond appropriately to a complex world. ©2001 Valerie Gremillion, All rights reserved. RESOURCES Propaganda and Psychological Warfare Studies "As modern technology provides humankind with capabilities never even imagined by many of us a decade ago, we can be sure that the global battlefield of the 21st century will be over information Propaganda Analysis Home Page 12 Goose Steps to Propaganda: A Primer "Knowledge is not just power, it is the only power that exists." Propaganda techniques - In Advertising, Media, Politics & Warfare, for K-12 Teachers & Students " LINKS TomPaine.com FAIR's terrorism section A compilation of useful and insightful articles on media handling of the crisis.

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http://www.goodnewsaboutgod.com/studies/wtcbombings.htm Cyber Naz cybernaz@hotmail.com 08/01/02 21:00:28 GMT