Tuesday, November 28, 2006
War Reporters, Oft-Criticized, Proven Right on Iraq
Excerpt:
Dexter Filkins, who covered Iraq brilliantly for this newspaper until his departure this summer to take up a fellowship at Harvard, says he was constantly accused of reporting only the bad news, of being unpatriotic, and of getting Americans killed.
“I don’t think it ever affected our reporting,” he said. “But I did find it demoralizing, the idea that the truth — the reality on the ground that we were seeing every day — did not matter, that these overfed people sitting in TV studios and in their living rooms could just turn up the volume on what they wanted to be happening in Iraq and that that could overwhelm the reality.”
Mr. Filkins added: “I have almost been killed in Iraq 20 or 30 times — really almost killed. “I’ve lost count. Do these people really believe that we were all risking our lives for some political agenda?”
Richard Engel of NBC says he was taken aback when pundits accused him of standing on a balcony in the Green Zone and simply feeding the world bad news. “Like most journalists in Iraq, I have never lived in the Green Zone,” he notes, adding: “To imply from afar we were just lazy was missing the point, and also dangerous. I know several reporters who were so incensed by similar criticism, they took extra risks.”
While it’s the right that led those toxic attacks, the left is also vulnerable to letting ideology trump empiricism. Mr. Filkins notes that while he used to get nasty letters and e-mail primarily from conservatives, much of the fire more recently has come from liberals accusing him of covering up atrocities — all of it from people whose ideological certitude is proportional to their distance from Baghdad.
Full Article
Iraq Worse Than Media Shows- John Roberts Intvw.
Excerpt:
KURTZ: So in a nutshell, you're saying that the coverage -- that the situation in Iraq on the ground, as you saw close up, is worse -- is worse than it appears from the television and newspaper coverage.
Why is that? Why are we not capturing the full anarchy there?
ROBERTS: Because television can't -- and even print -- can't fully capture the scope of what's going on in Iraq. And to some degree, too, over the last three-and-a-half years, Howie, it's become the daily traffic report, the daily drumbeat.
When you get there and you see it on a personal level, when you watch somebody die before your eyes, it gives you a much different perspective on it than it does being a half a world away, reading about it or watching it on television. Also, you know, the pictures on television are sanitized compared to what they are on the ground.
KURTZ: But here you have administration officials, as you know, repeatedly, relentlessly criticizing the coverage of this war as too focused on the violence and not paying any attention to what they claim are -- is progress, at least in other areas.
Is that argument now collapsing or fading as the violence apparently continues to get worse there?
ROBERTS: I never thought it was a solid argument to begin with. You know, you could say, hey, why aren't you showing the good news? But when most of the news is bad, it's difficult to show what good things that are happening there.
You know, I did notice that in some of the areas of Old Baghdad, when we were out on patrol with the Stryker units, that there is electricity, there is running water to a greater degree than there was before. There are some things that are getting done.
But you talk to the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, whom I know quite well, and he'll tell you, face-to-face, that the amount of violence in Iraq is absolutely preventing any real progress on the reconstruction front. So until they get a handle on the violence, it's going to be very difficult to see the good news.
KURTZ: So you're saying the violence is the story; everything else is secondary.
ROBERTS: The violence affects everything in Iraq.
Full Article
Bonus Article!
Bonus excerpt:
While it’s the right that led those toxic attacks, the left is also vulnerable to letting ideology trump empiricism. Mr. Filkins notes that while he used to get nasty letters and e-mail primarily from conservatives, much of the fire more recently has come from liberals accusing him of covering up atrocities — all of it from people whose ideological certitude is proportional to their distance from Baghdad.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Democrats and the War In Iraq
I have been doing some in depth reading and monitoring of the news. A thought came to me this morning as the news coverage was discussing the varying positions of the Democrats regarding the war. Mostly the "leftist" news was detracting from the Democrats by the way. While absorbing this- I realized why myself and probably most of America voted for the Democrats this time around. I think it is precisely because they are open to the debate over Iraq. It is because they are willing to at least discuss the options on getting our people out of there sooner than later...instead of just asserting that we are in fact winning and demonizing anyone that calls into question the present "strategy". So the so called "leftist" media can hack on them all they want for not having a unified plan...at least there is now an open dialog on the issue. That is what the 70 something percent of us "unpatriotic" masses want. The Republicans blew it on that score. The gig is up on all that newsspeak (see Orwell) they were spewing about anybody that questioned them.
Now let us pray that our leadership can work out something viable on the issue.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Monday, November 13, 2006
Manufacturing Consent, Necessary Illusions- Chomsky on Media Manipulation and Control
Click the arrrow in the corner of the screen to stay with this blog while watching or listening.
This documentary is the gold standard on media analysis.
Click the small green arrow at the top of the post for far more resources about media control.
This is part 1 of 8. The other 7 parts ar at the following links:
pt. 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2xXpR4xsSY
pt. 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSv2czazzz0
pt. 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD3jkvgkY6w
pt.5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eiop75cR5gw
pt.6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmHaEveOLpU
pt.7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP7wZoT72s4
pt.8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuG89IRCQaY
The Power of Nightmares
Click the header to go to all three parts of the documentary.
This documentary is eye opening.
What sayeth thee?
Sunday, November 12, 2006
The Myth of the Liberal Media
Click the small arrow in the corner of the screen to playn while staying with this page.
I challenge anyone to send along another working model or theory of media that can demonstrate the reality of the "Liberal Media".
Excerpt from text link (Click the small green arrow at the top):
"Summary
The U.S. media are rapidly being monopolized by a dwindling number of parent corporations, all of whom have conservative economic agendas. The media are also critically dependent upon corporations for advertising. As a result, the news almost completely ignores corporate crime, as well as pro-labor and pro-consumer issues. Surveys of journalists show that the majority were personally liberal in the 1980s, but today they are centrists, with more conservatives than liberals on economic issues. However, no study has proven that they give their personal bias to the news. On the other hand, the political spectrum of pundits -- who do engage in noisy editorializing -- leans heavily to the right. The most extreme example of this is talk radio, where liberals are almost nonexistent. The Fairness Doctrine was designed to prevent one-sided bias in the media by requiring broadcasters to air opposing views. It once enjoyed the broad support of both liberals and conservatives. But now that the media have become increasingly owned and controlled by corporations, conservatives defiantly oppose the Fairness Doctrine. This is probably the best proof that the media's bias is conservative, not liberal."
Friday, November 10, 2006
Robert Gates- Neo-Con or Paleo-Neo-con?
WIKIPEDIA ENTRY
It'll be interesting to see what happens next. I am willing to give the man a chance but...He is out of the same crop as the last guy. I got of the boat with the neo-cons and the Republicans back during Iran-Contra scandal and the ill advised things the U.S. did during the Iran-Iraq war...like give chem weapons to Saddam (even after he gassed the Kurds) and train and arm the Mujahadeen who would of course turn on us and become the impetus for today's war on terror. Gates was involved in all of it. That's why he's up for the job now. That's quite a resume'.
video link:
http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2006/nov/video/dnB20061109a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=15:04
See this link for a rundown on Gates' ties to Iran Contra:
http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_16.htm
More gates files:
http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2006/11/Gates%20Files.html
Examine this link to review the sordid history of Contra atrocities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#Contra_Atrocities
Ship Of Fools
Click on the small arrow in the corner of the screen to play.
Ship Of Fools (Save Me From Tomorrow) Lyrics:
We're setting sail to a place on the map
From which no-one has ever returned
Drawn by the promise of the joker and the fool
By the light of the crosses that burned
Drawn by the promise of the wormen and lace
And the gold and the cotton and pearls
It's the place where they keep all the darkness you need
You sail away from the light of the world on this trip, baby
You will pay tomorrow
You're gonna pay tomorrow
You will pay tomorrow
Oh, save me, save me from tomorrow
I don't want to sail with this Ship of Fools, no, no
Oh, save me, save me from tomorrow
I don't want to sail with this Ship of Fools
I want to run and hide
Right now
Avarice and greed are gonna drive you over the endless sea
They will leave you drifting in the shallows
Drowning in the oceans of history
Traveling the world, you're in search of no good
But I'm sure you'll build your Sodom like you knew you would
Using all the good people for your galley slaves
As your little boat struggles through the warning waves
But you don't, pay
You will pay tomorrow
You're gonna pay tomorrow
You're gonna pay tomorrow
Oh, save me, save me from tomorrow
I don't want to sail with this Ship of Fools, no, no
Oh, save me, save me from tomorrow
I don't want to sail with this Ship of Fools, no, no
Where's it coming from
Oh, Where's it going now
It's just a, it's just a Ship of Fools
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