Juan Cole: Our News and their News

[pampango]

http://www.juancole.com/2011/06/our-news-and-their-news.html

Americans live in a late capitalist society where the rich have gotten many times richer and the middle class has gotten poorer, where Wall Street bankers have stolen us blind and blamed us for living above our means, where persistent unemployment is worse than in the Great Depression, where most politicians and some judges have been bought by corporations or special interests, where authorities actively conspire to keep people from voting, where the government spies on citizens assiduously without warrant or probable cause, and where the minds of the sheep are kept off their fleecing by substituting celebrity gossip, sex scandals, and half-disguised bigotry for genuine news.

In the Arab world, masses of 20-year-olds have challenged their corrupt politicians and manipulative billionaires in the streets, demanding transparency, an end to arbitrary secret police, and free and fair elections untainted by influence-peddling and plutocracy. I have Arabic satellite t.v. on in the background most of the day, with its dramatic stories of personal risk and human tragedy and bold challenge to a rotten status quo. And I channel surf over to the American cable news and mostly find fluff or de-contextualized reports or, frankly, propaganda. So here is my life, the day’s news given synoptically, our news and their news.

Our news is about an American politician accused of misusing campaign contributions to hide his mistress.

Their news is that Free Libya forces have used light arms and sheer guts to fight off Qaddafi’s tanks, which had been shelling the southwestern desert town of Yefren, freeing it from bombardment and looming food and water shortages. Aljazeera has video: {video}

Our news is about a rich old French banker charged with assaulting a poor young Muslim maid in a New York hotel.

Their news is about armed rebels setting an ambush and killing 120 members of the Syrian security forces, as a months-long popular revolt in that country turns more serious than ever. Aljazeera reports: {video}

[oberliner]

1. Perfect example of a person seeing what he wants to see

Juan Cole is ridiculous.

[Fumesucker]

Yes, our news is the best that money can buy.. n/t

[Fumesucker]

2. Dupe.. Self delete..

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Your post makes no sense

You only have to look at what has dominated DU recently to see he's right; why does that make him 'ridiculous'?

[pinboy3niner]

4. +100

It's fair for someone to disagree with Cole, but that discussion requires a bit more than a flip comment with no elaboration--especially at a time when the news focus seems to be all Wiener, all the time.

[oberliner]

6. See my other response for clarification

Cole seems to be of the "everything is better over there" mindset - when I feel that he is looking at a very narrow sample and ignoring very prominent facts such as the lack of access to anything other than state-run news sources across much of the middle east.

[KittyWampus]

7. Do we have access to anything better than state-run news sources here? Besides the internet and a ve

very few voices on tv? Our news is corporate run. By and for the corporate bottom line. And our Govt. doesn't seem to be able to shake that off.

[oberliner]

8. The internet allows for a very extensive array of sources

I would not be so quick to dismiss what the internet offers. You have many Americans publishing articles that are very much outside of any kind of corporate control. And we still have pretty much unfettered access to this information. Something that is frequently not true across the Middle East at this time.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. You appear to agree with him more or less, about American corporate news

There's nothing in the article saying that internet sources in the US are fluff; it's specifically comparing US cable news to Arabic satellite channels (which I would suggest include Al Jazeera, since he links to the English version twice). The 'narrative' you think he needs to mold reality to support is just a comparison of the two types of news channel. He's saying the US cable ones are full of inconsequential stuff. He makes no attempt to compare them to Arabic state-run ones.

Perhaps the problem is that you bring a bias against Cole to the thread from something else, and you think he must be saying "everything is better over there". He's not; he's saying Arabic satellite news is better than US cable news.

[oberliner]

11. The title is "Our News and Their News"

That is a very general sort of title - not a specific commentary on US cable news and Arabic satellite channel but rather setting up a much more general "Us" and "Them" dichotomy (where "they" are better than "us")

The first paragraph excerpted here talks very generally about American Society, while the second talks generally about what is going on in The Arab World.

He then compares "Our News" to "Their News" putting stories about Edwards and DSK and the "Our News" side and stories of revolt and rebellion in the Middle East on the "Their News" side.

In the first paragraph he writes that in the US:

"The minds of the sheep are kept off their fleecing by substituting celebrity gossip, sex scandals, and half-disguised bigotry for genuine news."

The examples he cites are the Edwards story and the DSK story.

Firstly, Edwards is a prominent American politician and the DSK incident occurred in NY so I would think those stories would be covered moreso in the American media than the Arab satellite news channels - whereas events taking place in the Arab world would receive more prominent coverage on those channels.

But, more to the point, the DSK story is on the front page of Al-Jazeera's "Americas" section - citation here:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/06/201166133226952895.html

The above story has the headline:

"Strauss-Kahn pleads not guilty to sex charges"

As of June 7th at 5PM, it is the lead story on Al-Jazeera in the Americas section.

On the same page, the third most prominent story is one about the Anthony Weiner affair.

Looking at a US cable news site, MSNBC has on it's front pages stories about the conflict in Libya, the condition of Yemen's leader, and the story of a possible American being kidnapping in Syria (a story strangely missing from Al-Jazeera's pages). This is, of course, in addition to stories about the Weiner affair and whatnot.

I re-iterate that Cole has an agenda (as is evidence from his quote about "sheep being kept off their fleecing" and is doing what he can to try to bend reality to this world view.

I do not feel that the facts bear out his analysis.

[oberliner]

5. He thinks the news "over there" is somehow better than the news "over here"

And he is basing it on whatever "Arab satellite channels" he is referencing (which are unnamed) and whatever, also unnamed "cable news" stations he was watching that are presumably based in the US.

He is looking at a limited amount of information in order to try to mold reality into the narrative that he wishes to promote.

In the US we have a plethora of news choices: television, online, etc. If one wishes to find serious coverage of the major events of the day dealt with in an intelligent fashion, it is not that hard to find here in "the West".

Conversely, if one is looking for news in other parts of the world, I am confident that one can find the sort of nonsense that is readily available here is well.

To say nothing of the fact that folks here have access to many more news sources than the vast majority of people who live, say, in the Middle East.

[Dreamer Tatum]

9. Ivory tower academic wishing young folks would arm themselves and hit the streets.

Hey, Moonbeam, hit the streets yourself.