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By Joe Conason
$14.95
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By Michael Hudson
$17
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Fox News intends to broadcast unaired footage from ABC’s propagandistic miniseries “The Path to 9/11.” The scene in question, which suggested that Sandy Berger rejected a proposal to assassinate Osama bin Laden, was toned down after the series’ wild inaccuracies and political motivations led to a national firestorm.
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wikipedia.org
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Many in the Arab media who supported the toppling of Saddam Hussein—and sometimes braved death threats to do so—now feel betrayed by the incompetent policy that followed: “It’s a success story for al-Qaeda, a success story for autocratic Arab regimes that made democracy look ugly in their people’s eyes.”
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The White House press corps has named inoffensive impersonator Rich Little to host this year’s correspondents dinner, confirming that the group has yet to recover from its unwarranted anxiety attack following Stephen Colbert’s performance last year. While some criticized Colbert for treating President Bush roughly, others—including Bill Maher—wondered why, in the first place, the press corps gets tanked every year at a party with the people it’s supposed to be covering.
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cra.org
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Tribune Media, the conglomerate that owns the Los Angeles Times along with other major newspapers, TV stations and even the Chicago Cubs, announced it is considering offers for its sale. The economic wisdom of conglomeration has come under fire in recent years, but Tribune’s troubles have raised concerns over the future of the newspaper industry in general.
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robertredford.com
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Robert Redford opened the Sundance Film Festival by demanding an apology for the war in Iraq. The festival features several decidedly political films, including “Chicago 10,” which centers on demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic convention, and “Ghosts of Abu Ghraib.”
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Chris Matthews really stuck it to the hawks on Wednesday’s “Hardball”: “If you want America to be a hegemonic power in the Middle East, you’re out of step with the American people. We’re not going to fight it out with Iran for the next 30 years to see who the big s***—I’m sorry—the big name is on the block.”
(h/t: Think Progress)
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At a media reform conference in Memphis, the PBS newsman applauded the coalition-building skills of the architects of the Net Neutrality movement. “Who would have imagined that sitting together in the same democratic broadband pew would be the Christian Coalition, Gun Owners of America, Common Cause and MoveOn.org?”
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I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s Plamegate trial finally gets started on Tuesday, promising to reveal the polluted secrets of a dishonest and opportunistic Washington elite. Expect to see Dick Cheney, the first sitting vice president to testify at a criminal trial, squirm as lawyers and witnesses discuss the administration’s cherry-picking of intelligence.
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Straight from the National Conference for Media Reform, journalism icon Helen Thomas lays into a Bush impersonator, who actually does a better job of answering her questions.
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bradblog.com
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The folks at Fox News, always innovative in the ways of fairness and balance, do some of their most inflammatory work on the banners that hover at the bottom of the screen. Not to rest at mislabeling party affiliation, they’ve taken to editorializing given names.
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sfgate.com
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The military is trying to coerce freelance journalist Sarah Olson to testify against Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to refuse to go to Iraq. Olson, whose story about Watada appeared on Truthout.org, has resisted the military because, in her own words: “Journalists should not be asked to participate in the prosecution of political speech.”
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left: smh.com.au / right: ffmedia.ign.com
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On Jan. 18 Bill O’Reilly and Stephen Colbert will exchange appearances on each other’s shows, putting news TV’s highest-rated windbag in direct contact with a satire of himself. Fans wait anxiously to see who will do a better job of faking righteous indignation.
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from childrenofmen.net
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By Sheerly Avni — How do you make the best movie of the year—possibly the decade—and still get pummeled at the box office by Ben Stiller and a CGI dinosaur? Sheerly Avni, Truthdig’s movie critic, lays it out in 10 easy steps.
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Lake Superior State University has recommended the banishment of 16 words and phrases from the English language, including “Brangelina” and “ask your doctor.” The annual list targets expressions that are irritating, overused or generally ill-applied.
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This “Saturday Night Live” parody of Middle Eastern children’s television nails the cultural disconnect at the heart of America’s adventure in Iraq. Don’t miss the brilliant satirical commercials in this episode of “Saddam and Osama.” (h/t: Iraq Slogger)
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Media Matters has collected, stomached and ranked the 11 most outrageous conservative comments of 2006, including Rush Limbaugh blaming America’s obesity crisis on the left and Ann Coulter calling Al Gore a “total fag.”
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news.bbc.co.uk
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An Iraq war veteran who appeared in “Fahrenheit 9/11” has lost his lawsuit against Michael Moore. Sgt. Peter Damon, who lost his arms in Iraq, had accused Moore of misrepresenting his feelings about the war by using an interview from NBC News out of context.
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The Federal Communications Commission ruled along party lines on Wednesday to severely limit local governments’ ability to regulate their cable markets. The decision will allow telephone companies greater freedom to compete with cable by offering television services, but Democrats on the panel cautioned that the FCC had overstepped its mandate.
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In what must have been conceived as a self-parody, Bill O’Reilly and other notables from the Fox News circus lambasted Dan Rather for his accusation that the network receives talking points from the White House, and demanded an apology. On various Fox programs, O’Reilly and friends alternated between vehemently denying the claim and struggling with the meaning of balance. O’Reilly: “I basically say, look, we have people like [Kirsten Powers] on. We have Michelle [Malkin] on. This is balanced.”
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slate.com
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The National Security Council has blocked publication of an article critical of the Bush administration’s Iran policy, claiming that it contains classified information. The piece was written by two former government Mideast experts, who have accused the NSC of playing politics: “They don’t want us to say how many opportunities this administration has missed to put relations with Iran on a better track.”
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AlterNet caught White House press secretary Tony Snow spinning his icy heart out, only to get nailed the next day by CBS’ Bob Schieffer: “I think the reason the president [has] put [announcing his new Iraq strategy] off is he just hasn’t decided at this point what he wants to do, and I don’t think it’s any more complicated than that.”
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Don Imus veered into Mel Gibson territory on the Nov. 30 edition of his morning radio show, when he referred to the “Jewish management” of CBS Radio (which owns Imus’ flagship station) as “money-grubbing bastards.”
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progressnow.org
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Disgraced Congressman Tom DeLay reinvented himself as a blogger, briefly, before removing all posts and disabling comments. Guess it didn’t work out. (h/t: Think Progress)
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mobygames.com
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Arianna Huffington takes Hillary Clinton to task for continuing her vote-hungry triangulating campaign against video game indecency. In case you missed it, last year Hillary got all bent out of shape over a hidden sex scene in a game called “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.” She didn’t seem to mind the initial release of the game, which allowed players (17 and older) to commit mass murder in graphic detail.
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reportercaps.com
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Keith Olbermann’s synthesis of in-depth Murrow-esque reporting and hard-hitting opinionated analysis has attracted a growing audience and turned the O’Reilly model on its head. The Nation magazine has a profile of broadcast journalism’s rising star.
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The Washington Post’s “White House Briefing” columnist argues that mainstream journalists and media organizations will continue their decline into irrelevance if they don’t summon the courage to call BS.
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Robert Scheer digests the Hadley memo, Dennis Kucinich’s healthcare plan, media anxiety, Truthdig’s birthday and more.
Posted on Dec 1, 2006
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Truthdig Editor Robert Scheer digests the Hadley memo, Dennis Kucinich’s healthcare plan, media anxiety, Truthdig’s birthday and more.
Posted on Dec 1, 2006
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AP Photo / Denis Farrell
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By Gbemisola Olujobi — The Western media love to portray Africa as a backward, famine-plagued caricature, but the world’s second most populous continent has more to offer than tragedy.
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huffingtonpost.com
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The Huffington Post has obtained an internal memo from Fox News outlining the network’s strategy following the U.S. midterm election: “And let’s be on the lookout for any statements from the Iraqi insurgents, who must be thrilled at the prospect of a Dem-controlled congress.”
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Left: Think Progress / Right two: Media Matters
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With the battle to frame the meaning of the election ongoing, the media have started to weigh in with a vote for the center. Time, which referred to the ‘94 Republican takeover of Congress as a “GOP Stampede,” calls the center the “new place to be,” while Newsweek’s cover bizarrely claims the election validates the “centrist” politics of George H.W. Bush. (h/t: Think Progress)
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Truthdig Editor Robert Scheer sounds off on Nancy Pelosi’s speakership, Rumsfeld’s resignation, Bernie Sanders in the Senate and the fiasco at the Los Angeles Times.
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Despite evidence to the contrary, CNN anchors and reporters repeatedly insisted the controversy surrounding John Kerry’s “botched joke” will play a major role in the upcoming election.
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During interviews with Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, ABC News’ political director Mark Halperin said that the weeks before the election offer a chance for the mainstream media to prove that they understand conservatives’ grievances.
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slate.com
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Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said if Republican candidates want to win in November, they should get voters to focus on issues other than the Iraq war. (h/t: AMERICAblog)
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George Bush has dealt with the failure of his “stay the course” strategy by pretending it never existed, but will other candidates who once abused the phrase follow suit? And will the media hold them accountable?
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Illustration by Peter Scheer
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The FCC is considering rule changes that would enable further media consolidation, but several new studies submitted to the regulatory body say limited media ownership has resulted in bland content and a power structure that favors white men.
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Jon Stewart took CNN to task on Monday over the frenzied tone of its North Korea nuclear test coverage. With little to offer in the way of fact and 24 hours of programming to fill, the news network turned instead to conjecture and doomsday prophecy, prompting this observation from Stewart: “CNN: It’s 99.9 percent what they don’t know.”
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Keith Olbermann has been on a roll lately, contesting the administrations recent Nazi kick with a series of essays. This time the Countdown host went after the man himself, saying: Mr. Bush, you are accomplishing in part what Osama Bin Laden and others seeka fearful American populace, easily manipulated, and willing to throw away any measure of restraint, any loyalty to our own ideals and freedoms, for the comforting illusion of safety. (Video & Transcript)
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According to the Washington Post: “U.S. military leaders in Baghdad have put out for bid a two-year, $20 million public relations contract that calls for extensive monitoring of U.S. and Middle Eastern media in an effort to promote more positive coverage of news from Iraq.” Your money at work! (Via boingboing)
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thenewyorkerstore.com
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The New Yorker is selling its complete archive, “every article, poem, short story, and cartoon (and every advertisement) that has appeared in the magazine since 1925,” on an external hard drive for $300. It’s a novel move for a media company, many of which have been wary of releasing digital versions of content to the public, for fear of piracy.
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Illustration by Peter Scheer
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It’s one thing to report a story, it’s another to obsess over every detail at the expense of real news. Wall-to-wall coverage of the JonBenet case continues on every major news channel, despite Israel’s violation of the cease-fire, the ruling against wiretapping, and Iran’s missile tests.
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Jon Stewart had a roundup Thursday of a bizarre recent trend: Armageddon news coverage. Behold this montage of shame, in which every TV news outlet from Good Morning America to MSNBC seemed to make an appearance. CNN, in its quest for fact, checked something called a rapture index, while Fox News demanded a rapture timetable, prompting Stewart to comment, Thats the timetable Fox News is demanding we have.”
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The media has grossly underreported the extent to which Bush’s Christian fundamentalism informs his policies on Israel, Iraq, stem cells and abortion, argues a former Newsday and Knight Ridder White House correspondent.
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Mel Gibson?s recent bout of anti-Semitism might rightly be described as indefensible, yet somehow some conservative commentators have decided to defend the actor?s bigoted outburst. One conservative cast Gibson as the victim of ?the vile and anti-human Political Correctness cult,? while David Horowitz blamed a ?hatred of Christians? for America?s interest in the story.
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By Molly Ivins — The press is under attack by the administration, but does the Washington corps of reporters fight back? No, instead it falls all over itself trying to play courtier to George W. Bush.
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From the WSJ
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A guy delivering satiric “ninja” riffs in a $6 Lycra ski mask; a sultry woman with nearly 1 million “friends” on Myspace; a guy who has performed corny dancing shuffles in 38 countries. ... What do all these people have in common? Absurdly low-budget, Internet-based origins and, now, high-budget traditional production deals. Read about the new rules of the game.
Posted on Jul 31, 2006
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Real American Boy: How Our Byzantine Immigration System and Failed Economy May Have Made a Terrorist
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