The bar hasn't been lowered, it's disappeared - US journalism

[JohnyCanuck]

Conversation with David Barsamian

Omar Khan, Electronic Iraq, 24 February 2005

Journalist, author, and lecturer, David Barsamian is perhaps best known as the founder and director of Alternative Radio, a weekly one-hour public affairs program that began in 1986 and today reaches millions of listeners from on top of an alleyway garage in Boulder, Colorado. Like Dahr's Dispatches, Alternative Radio is a news medium sustained solely by the support of individuals.

Omar Khan: You've said of the media that "most of the censorship occurs by omission, not commission." Can you illustrate this in the case of US news coverage of Iraq?

David Barsamian: There is a structural relationship between media and state power. They are closely linked. Who are the media? Not just in the United States, but around the world, they're a handful of corporations that dominate what people see, hear, and read. They have been able to manufacture consent, particularly in the United States, for imperialist wars of aggression. That's exactly what I call Iraq—an illegal, immoral war. I'll just give you one example: the New York Times, this great liberal newspaper, had 70 editorials between September 11, 2001 and the attack on Iraq, March 20, 2003. In not one of those editorials was the UN Charter, the Nuremberg Tribunal, or any aspect of international law ever mentioned. Now, those guys know that these things exist, and that's a perfect example of censorship by omission. And so if you were reading the New York Times over that period, during the buildup to the war, you would not have had the sense that the United States was planning on doing something that was a gross violation of international law, and national law for that matter.

The reporting on Iraq has been so atrocious: people talk about how the bar has been lowered in journalism. I don't think it's been lowered. I think it's disappeared. It's not visible anymore. The servility and sycophancy of journalism has reached appalling levels, and the catastrophe that's unfolding in Iraq is a direct result of this. There are huge consequences for not reporting accurately. And, sadly, it's the Iraqi people that are paying in huge numbers, and Americans to a lesser extent.

http://electroniciraq.net/news/1886.shtml

[quinnox]

1. Sad but true

The mainstream media is becoming more and more a press arm of the Bush Whitehouse.

[Vincardog]

10. Please amend that to say

The CORPORATE media is becoming more and more a press arm of the Bush WHOREhouse

[Norquist Nemesis]

2. "they're a handful of corporations that dominate"

which is exactly why Bloggers are the new threat. Once these same corporations figure out how to a) profit from them or b) restrict/outlaw them or c) a combination of a and b, Bloggers will be embraced.

[Gabi Hayes]

3. Couldn't be more on target....and to think

those delusionals on the other end of the spectrum still labor under the idiocy that there's even the slightest HINT of a liberal media force out there

does one need a better example of the Gannon affair to demonstrate the ludicrousness of the idea of a liberal media?

after three weeks, the LA Times finally deigns cover this story, with the result being SIX sources supporting Gannon, and ZERO the 'other' side, whatever that might be

the obvious distinction, tiresome as it may be, having been made uncountable times in the last five years, is what would have happened had this occurred during the WJC years

How much longer til total Fascism takes hold?

[misanthrope]

9. Good article on Salon...

...about the lack of coverage in regards to Gannongate. Included in their synopsis were the number of times that the controversy has been mentioned on the airwaves of the big media outlets.

ABC=0
CBS=0
NBC=3

"Liberal media?" Man, this even goes against their normally sensationalistic grain. There are all types of lurid tangents to this and it's hard to believe they're not going after it.

When's the next "sweeps" period?

[Vincardog]

11. How much longer til total Fascism takes hold?

Five years ago.

[paineinthearse]

4. Sad.....look at the lack of DU interest.

I would have thought this would have received >3 responses over several hours.

[BuyingThyme]

5. Do you guys remember...

Immediately after 9/11, the "news" media were talking about cutting propaganda deals with the so-called government for the good of the people?

Well, it's a done deal. Not that a relationship didn't exist before 9/11, but after 9/11 the media literally signed on.

But if you talk about it now, they pretend the topic never even came up. Nobody remembers those conversations.

I do. It was right there on my fucking TV. They even asked Hollywood to join in. Do you remember?

I won't forget.

[oasis]

6. Corporate media: one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.

They are going the way of the dinosaur.

[ailsagirl]

7. But the puzzling thing is, before the election, I counted

157 newspapers from around the country who ENDORSED Kerry. Some of the editorials that went along with those endorsements could even be called vicious toward * (it was great)

So where does that fit in with the right wing bias??

I'm not saying there isn't a bias-- it's everywhere-- yet I don't understand why so many newspapers went to town against * before the 2004 election.

I wish I had saved them-- some of them were real doozies.

[skids]

8. They thought it was up for grabs.

The one single, most crucial word that describes mainstream media that must be understood is "sycophant." The press just wants to love whoever has power, fame, money, or influence. It's understandable that they would turn on Bush because his administration hasn't been the best friend a sycophant could have. They would have been happier to turn around and start being a toady for a Democratic administration. But since that didn't happen, they about-face and lick the boots of whoever is on top.

They have little shame. They have even less respect for the plebes.

[Tigress DEM]

12. What do people think of TruthOut.org?

I'm thinking of where to put my money for support of a "real" news source and I've already donated to Buzzflash and I've been thinking about doing the same with TruthOut.

[Hissyspit]

14. Definitely donate to truthout n/t

[BuyingThyme]

16. TruthOut rules!

[Tigress DEM]

17. NPR - News Lite or also conscripted?

They reported on * in Brussels and Minz and never one word about protesters. Their biggest contributions by??? Maybe stay at home mom types who want to protect their kids from the mainstream evil TV?

I'm torn - it seems to me something like NPR was the most worth supporting kind of organization not so long ago. Could it be they just don't take the time to research and are depending on CNN or AP for a source?

If that is the case, maybe during their funding drive is a time to let them know who I am supporting and why it isn't them, but that if they change their ways, I'll find some funds.

[BuyingThyme]

18. For some reason, I've never

spent much time listening to NPR, so I wouldn't recognize a change.

But, when I just happen to run into it, I usually appreciate what I hear.

[Tigress DEM]

19. FAUX is the worst though.

The current website is running a feed of * European Tour and reports ... anti bush protests were "small"

My email to the Website communication on the site....

Subject: FAUX News

That's what people who know what is actually going on in the world call your news agency. FAUX News as in a FAKE which is somehow designed to look like the real thing.

Your website currently (2/25/05) says that anti-bush protests in the European Tour were "small" so how many protesters do you need before you consider it a "large" protest?

Per StopUSA.be
On Monday 21 February more than 4,000 people demonstrated as a result of the visit of Bush to Belgium


http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_world_story_skin/475797%3fformat=html

About 12,000 protesters, many carrying banners reading "Bush go home", "No. 1 Terrorist" and "Warmonger", marched through the German city of Mainz on Wednesday, but were mostly kept away from the visiting US president.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2000142.stm

More than 100 separate protests, involving more than 200 diverse groups, are planned during his visit to Germany.

In Berlin, the 10,000-strong force of officers will be the highest number ever deployed for a post-war state visitor.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1381528.stm

Thousands of people have marched through the streets of the Spanish capital, Madrid to protest against the policies of President Bush, who is due to arrive there on Tuesday at the start of a European tour.


It seems to me that your FAUX News reporting of the protests at the Inauguration were simularly underdone.

[Mr_Spock]

13. sycophancy - great word

Reminds me on Condolying whore

[bvar22]

15. Good Interview.

It restates everything that most DU members already know about the CorpoMedia.

"Any kid with a basic education can figure this out. If you watch the programs, or listen to the programs, or you read Newsweek, Time, the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Washington Post, and the other newspapers and magazines, and whose name appears? How often does it appear? How are the pundits that are on talk shows on Sunday morning? Who gets on "Meet the Press"? "Face the Nation"? It's not complicated.'

All in all, a depressing read. Makes me want to throw up my hands and scream,
"Oh God, we are sooooo fucked!!"

The last whispers of Freedom are hiding in the anonymous back alleys of the Internet.

When they take The Net what will you do?
They ARE coming.

[earth mom]

20. Okay, I've got chills down my spine...

If they take the net away...there's always the telephone and letter writing...back pretty much to square one I guess.

When that happens, no doubt I'll be leaving this country for good!