Media Censorship by Omission.

[reprehensor]

David Barsamian Interview

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.

more@link

[AndyTiedye]

1. We Have The Best News Money Can Buy

[reprehensor]

5. Seen this over at Buzzflash?

"Media is the front line of the corporate system. And media transmits the values, sells the products. All of this is about selling, not telling. The tradition of journalism is being eroded. And in its place we have impressions, images, archetypes, icons, celebrities and the like. This is how public opinion is now being massaged and manipulated. The war was a testing ground, not only for new weapons systems and techniques, but also for new communications strategies.

...our media became a weapons systems targeted at us. Usually in war propaganda you try and confuse the enemy. In our case, this propaganda infiltrated very skillfully back into American and global public opinion, and it was done with the help of Hollywood producers, and corporate PR people brought in to help out at the Pentagon."

Danny Schecter Interview

[Schweeney]

2. Bush Pot Smoking Makes Headlines in Europe

But not here

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48042-2005Feb23.html
I hope that link works, I am kind of new at this.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. GREAT post. Thanks.

[Schweeney]

4. I kind of thought that this should

have it's own thread but don't have enough posts to start one. This seemed like a somewhat appropriate place for the link. Thanks.

[reprehensor]

6. You'd probably like this, too...

Danny Schecter Interview

Media is the front line of the corporate system. And media transmits the values, sells the products. All of this is about selling, not telling. The tradition of journalism is being eroded. And in its place we have impressions, images, archetypes, icons, celebrities and the like. This is how public opinion is now being massaged and manipulated. The war was a testing ground, not only for new weapons systems and techniques, but also for new communications strategies.

...our media became a weapons systems targeted at us. Usually in war propaganda you try and confuse the enemy. In our case, this propaganda infiltrated very skillfully back into American and global public opinion, and it was done with the help of Hollywood producers, and corporate PR people brought in to help out at the Pentagon.