e-chreia

This week marked the first anniversary of the Egyptian revolution. In typical, parochial fashion, the US news media marked the anniversary with file footage from last year’s historic events and the cool assurance that the revolution is complete.

The self-congratulatory tone was even more evident when mainstream media outlets revisited Haiti on the second anniversary of the 2010 earthquake that devastated the island nation. What these press reports ignore is the ongoing struggle in these troubled places — and the US role in perpetuating corrupt and anti-democratic forces.

In Egypt, the mass mobilizations in Tahrir this past week were less celebratory than American media outlets let on. For a majority of Egyptians, especially young people, the revolution continues. It is an ongoing fight to liberate the country from an oppressive military regime.

ANNALS OF CENSORSHIP: GOP PRIMARY EDITION

The Bloomington Alternative

The news media is full of it these days. The Republican presidential primaries, that is. But thanks to the short attention span of most news organizations, by the time you read this, the New Hampshire primary will be a distant memory, the Iowa caucuses ancient history. So it’s on to South Carolina, for yet another show business extravaganza masquerading as democratic politics.

A bottomless schedule of television debates interrupted only by an endless stream of spin and speculation ought to satisfy even the most avid political junkie. It’s news workers themselves who can’t get enough of this stuff. At times, it seems the entire U.S. press corps is suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Between an unnatural fixation with public opinion polls and the horse race coverage that passes for political journalism this election cycle – from Michele Bachmann’s early win in the Iowa Straw Poll and Newt Gingrich’s implosion to Rick Santorum’s last minute surge – it’s no wonder more substantive news stories fail to get much traction.

In the annals of censorship, the 2012 presidential election is shaping up to be a next-generation WMD: weapon of mass distraction. In no particular order, here are a few stories that haven’t made much news lately.

Read more…

The Bloomington Alternative

“The Protester” is Time magazine’s person of the year. Featuring a fierce-looking, veiled figure peering back at the reader, Time’s front-cover image succinctly captures the uprisings and social upheavals that made history in 2011. As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Nonetheless, we shouldn’t forget the slogans, catchphrases and epithets that made headlines this year. After all, whatever comes of the Occupy movement, the mantra of the politically and economically disenfranchised – “We are the 99%” – has dramatically altered American political discourse as we plunge headlong into the 2012 presidential race.

Here then, are some of the remarks, declarations, and comments – snarky and otherwise – that made 2011 a year to remember.

***10. “I’m making this video to give you one simple message: we want to go down to Tahrir Square on Jan. 25th. If we still have honor and want to live in dignity on this land, we have to go down on January Jan. 25th. We’ll go down and demand our rights, our fundamental human rights.” – Egyptian activist, Asmaa Mahfouz, in a video posted to Facebook calling for a mass demonstration in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, Jan. 18.

9. “You may not agree with it, but you feel like you’re getting real news around the clock instead of a million commercials and, you know, arguments between talking heads and the kind of stuff that we do on our news which, you know, is not particularly informative to us, let alone foreigners.” – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praising Al Jazeera, the Arabic satellite news channel, and lamenting the sorry state of American journalism in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, March 2.

8. “This seems like it was a prank to make fun of my name. … When you are named Weiner, that happens a lot.” – Former Representative Anthony Weiner offering the first of a fistful of flimsy excuses for lewd photographs posted to his Twitter account, June 2.

7. “Before we get started, let’s all say ‘Happy Birthday’ to Elvis Presley today.” – U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, while campaigning for president in South Carolina on the anniversary of Presley’s death, Aug. 16.

6. “All the world saw him being killed, all bloodied. Is that democracy? And who did it? Drones, including American ones, delivered a strike on his motorcade. Then commandos, who were not supposed to be there, brought in so-called opposition and militants. And killed him without trial.” – Russian Primer Minister Vladimir Putin, assessing NATO’s role in ousting Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Dec. 15.

5. “This is such a cool state. I mean, come on, ‘Live free or die?’ I mean, you know, you gotta love that, right? I come from a state, you know, where they had this little place called the Alamo, and they declared, ‘Victory or death.’ You know, we’re kinda into those slogans, man. It’s like, ‘Live free or die,’ ‘Victory or death.’ Bring it!” – Texas Governor Rick Perry on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, Oct. 28.

4. “WikiLeaks applied new technology to penetrate the inner workings of government to reveal an avalanche of inconvenient truths in a global publishing coup.” – Citation for the whistleblower website upon receiving a Walkley Award – the Australian Pulitzer – for outstanding contribution to journalism, Nov. 27.

3. “This is the most humble day of my life.” – Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of News Corporation, testifying before British Parliament on the phone-hacking scandal, July 19.

2. “We’re under great threat because we occupy so many countries.” – Representative Ron Paul of Texas speaking at a GOP Presidential debate, Sept. 13.

1. “They have acted like terrorists.” – Vice President Joe Biden’s assessment of Congressional Republicans during last summer’s debt-ceiling debate, Aug. 1.***

Honorable Mentions

“I can’t stand him anymore, he’s a liar.” – French President Nicolas Sarkozy, as overheard by a handful of journalists, discussing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“You may be sick of him, but me, I have to deal with him every day.” – Barack Obama’s rejoinder to Sarkozy at the November G20 Summit.

During the December 1, 2011 CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley reported: “What began in 2003 as an effort to overthrow Saddam Hussein became a vicious religious war, pitting Iraqi against Iraqi–with the U.S. caught in the middle.”  This assertion does not square with the historical record.  The US invaded Iraq based on charges that Hussein was stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) — charges that have proven baseless.  Any suggestion that the US was caught in the middle of an internal conflict is, at best, shoddy reporting.  At worst, this is deliberately misleading journalism.

What’s more, in using icasualties.org’s lowest estimate of civilian casualties (50,000), based on figures from January 2005 — nearly two years after the invasion — CBS is low-balling the death toll in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion.  At the very least, CBS News should provide clarification to the figure Pelley reported last evening.  A more forthright clarification would note how other estimates, including those of the highly respected British medical journal the Lancet, put the figure much higher.  Lancet’s 2006 study put the number of “violent deaths” at 600,000.

Finally, reporting on the withdrawal from Iraq should remind viewers of the number of “trainers” that will remain in Iraq.  Likewise, CBS would do well to discuss the role that private military contractors have played, and will continue to play, in Iraq for the foreseeable future.

ACCOUNTABILITY INDEX

The Bloomington Alternative

Scandal, gridlock, high crimes and misdemeanors. In this season of journalistic outrage, political stalemate and record-shattering heat waves, it’s tough to keep your cool. Tougher still if you are in the hot seat – unless of course you’re fortunate enough to occupy a position of power and authority. In which case, you might just as well settle in for a bit of kabuki theater and go about your business.

Seems the more precarious vital social, political and economic institutions become, the less accountable they are to the general public. Or maybe it’s the other way around. In any event, if you’re scoring at home, here’s the latest accountability index.

Read more…

Traveling across the southeastern United States this Independence Day holiday got me thinking about the long arc of history.  Driving past historical markers commemorating the American Revolution, the Civil War, and the Tuskegee Airmen, to mention but a few, I had a chance to reflect upon the state of our union with some much-needed perspective.

Read more…

The June 29th broadcast of NPR’s Morning Edition featured a report on Michele Bachmann’s recent appearance in New Hampshire.

Morning Edition co-host, Steve Inskeep, introduced the story, noting that “Just a month or two ago, many experts did not take Michele Bachmann that seriously as a presidential contender. Now her strong performance in debates and speeches is making her stand out.”

NPR political correspondent Mara Liasson didn’t waste any time burnishing Ms. Bachmann’s image. Liasson observed “Michele Bachmann is poised, polished and slinging the applause lines as she attacks President Obama.”

NPR’s coverage of Bachmann’s campaign for the GOP nomination is consistent with an emerging media narrative that the corporate media have adopted in recent weeks. Once dismissed as a “fringe” candidate, Bachmann is suddenly a front runner.

It should come as no surprise that corporate or public media would elevate Bachmann at this point in the Republican contest. After all, the GOP field is not the most dynamic bunch. Nevertheless, press coverage of Bachmann’s campaign in recent weeks amounts to little more than a white wash.

The free ride Bachmann is getting from mainstream media stands in stark contrast to the rigorous investigative reporting featured in independent and alternative news outlets, like Democracy Now! For instance, Bachmann’s “small government” credentials don’t stand up too well against revelations that her family receives federal subsides for a farm in Wisconsin.

Likewise, Bachmann’s claim to have raised 23 children doesn’t stand up to critical scrutiny. Then there’s all the ugliness that comes with Bachmann’s longstanding opposition to gay rights and same sex marriage.

Why NPR, which bills itself as a first-rate news outlet, is kowtowing to Bachmann and her tea party followers is anyone’s guess.

What’s clear is that NPR lacks the will, let alone the integrity, to do the sort of watchdog reporting we should expect from public broadcasting. Instead, NPR takes the low road — a well trodden path cut by Fox News and other commercial outlets — that avoids holding elected officials, including presidential candidates, accountable for things said and policies pursued.

ANNALS OF CENSORSHIP: SUMMERTIME EDITION

The Bloomington Alternative

There’s plenty of news these days — gas prices are down, the Republican presidential field is shaping up, and U.S. troops will soon be leaving Afghanistan. But despite all the political and media spin to the contrary, there’s not much good news in any of this.

While we can all breathe a little easier now that Anthony Weiner has lost his texting privileges, every silver lining has a dark cloud. Here are a few stories behind the news stories making headlines this summer.

Read more…

Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a report entitled “The Information Needs of Communities: The Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Age.” Among other sobering findings, the FCC warned of a precipitous decline in the quality of local news.

While this may not be news for many of us, the mainstream media’s response to the FCC findings is predictable enough: Keep Quiet.

I ran across this story on AlterNet and a link to a blog post in the LA Times. As usual, the Times account was framed as a business story. Tellingly, the LA Times blog is called “Company Town.”

It should come as no surprise that this tidbit didn’t get picked up by very many local, let alone national news outlets. After all, news workers were busy following public interest titillation stories like Anthony Weiner’s sexting and the Casey Anthony trial.

Call it what you will — dumbing down or just plain old distraction. Either way, the current media system clearly doesn’t serve the “information needs” of our communities.

The Bloomington Alternative

Some years ago, at a tequila-infused gathering in Boston, an acquaintance recommended I read Don DeLillo’s 1985 satire, White Noise. In the intervening years, a number of friends and colleagues have made the same suggestion. Given the novel’s setting — a bucolic but altogether dysfunctional liberal arts college in the American Midwest — and its jaundiced view of media and technology, I was assured the book would have personal and professional resonance for me. It sure does.

Reading White Noise this summer has been nothing short of revelatory. DeLillo’s critique of the dehumanizing effects of mass culture and post-industrial society is chilling, as it is prescient. It’s also laugh-out-loud funny. Writing in those halcyon days before e-mail, personalized ringtones and salacious Twitter posts, DeLillo describes the unraveling of the nuclear family, if not the whole of American civilization, on the altar of conspicuous consumption.

Read more…