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Government Approved

Journalism in the age of terror

By Maya Schenwar

In August, I attended the first-ever “News and Terrorism: Communicating in a Crisis” conference, the Chicago kick-off of a year of counterterrorism workshops geared toward journalists in 10 major cities, sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The keynote speaker was none other than the DHS head honcho himself, Mr. Tom Ridge. As we settled into our seats, the… return to article

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    I gotta wonder when the author states “it seems incredible that, in a room full of journalists, not one raised a question about first amendment rights”. Isn’t this In These Times I am reading, the news magazine which is the voice of the progressive American left, so why didn’t the author raise this question?

    United States Posted by Richard Rhodes on Sep 28, 2004 at 12:11 AM

    This is just one example of why I always get a hoot out of the tired “liberal media bias” bullshit. Yeah… where was this so-called bias as tanks were rolling into Iraq?

    That’s right… the “reporters” were embedded/in bed with the troops!!

    One of the biggest failures in the post 9/11 era, aside fromt the obvious deficiencies in W’s “leadership,” has been the appalling lack of decent media coverage. Bastards!

    United States Posted by g-love on Sep 28, 2004 at 7:58 AM

    Hi Folks,

    This problem with the Press started way before 9/11. Journalists with ethics are very hard to find, as they find it ever harder to stay employed. Reporters are no longer allowed to print the truth.
    Just look at the 9/11 attack on America. Not one person has been arrested & convicted, although President Bush put the entire resources of the American Government on the case! The FBI has to be THE most incompetent Federal Agency ever! NORAD is a close second.
    The evidence that the government is hiding must point to either gross incompetence or gov’t. COLLUSION in 9/11. There is no other explanation to the FBI’s sitting on evidence for 3 years, and not making any of it public. More & more people are charging VP Cheney with mass murder, and consider him the brains behind the 9/11 attacks. If the FBI had any evidence that would show that the government wasn’t involved, they would have shown it by now!

    United States Posted by Joe Perry on Sep 29, 2004 at 2:34 PM

    How appropriate that the DHS would use the name “American Shepherd” for their child-friendly mascot.  Bah, bah.

    United States Posted by the man on Sep 30, 2004 at 11:28 AM

    I won’t belabor the point that I believe the present administration needs to replaced but I would like to know why the press is not pursuing some important things peripheral to the main flaws of this administration and may never be learned by the public.
    Molly Ivins reveals that those secret meetings between energy companies were indeed as we expected and worse but not much in the mainstream news, why not?
    In the NYT article about how the administration ignored many of their experts in making the case for going into Iraq. The very long presentation didn’t mention Joseph Wilson’s finding concerning the Niger/Iraq connection, no mention of what the white house attempted to do to Wilson and his CIA agent wife because he refuted the assertions of the white house. But this wasn’t an article concerning the politics but the failure of intelligence (all the way around).
    The Wilson thing has to come up again because it’s still sitting there like a boil waiting to be lanced.
    I blame the media for its spineless behavior during this entire process and they could be getting to the bottom of the white house’s disclosure of Wilson’s wife’s name quicker than the FBI. They actually know and are clinging to that privilege of not revealing their sources which at this juncture and given the credibility of the press is shallow in my estimation!
    The so-called “liberal media” is undermining our democracy!!!
    The media, the media, to my mind has become an ugly word and I’m sick of the nonsense they focus on and I wonder how in the world they can look those cameras in the eye and utter the nonsense they do. We, don’t want entertainment and Dr. Phil post debate analysis of their personality quirks...we can see that for ourselves. What they are saying is the most important part of the so-called “debates” and not all this side nonsense that I expect to find in the Enquirer, Star or the Globe. 
    The tragedy of 9/11 didn’t mean that we should compound the damage by ignoring that this tragedy allowed our president to rise above the rubble and suddenly the country went into a collective coma and saw him as our leader against our enemies whoever he said they were and we couldn’t ask any questions.
    The media, the congress and the people didn’t ask the hard questions before we entered Iraq and frankly this president didn’t allow anybody to ask him anyway. He doesn’t need our permission or the world at large’s approval for a preemptive war to protect the good and “patriotic” members of our country .
    The distortions and outright lies continue in 30 second spots to suggest Kerry was a traitor after he came home from Vietnam and he’s treasonous now for opposing the the “commander in chief”. The same commander and chief that supported the Vietnam war 30 years ago and served so gallantly to protect Texans from attack from the North Vietnamese.
    The media owes the American people some truth telling.

    United States Posted by BAM on Oct 5, 2004 at 7:51 AM

    The corporate media, the fourth estate, “free press”, or whatever one would like to call it owes the public nothing. That’s the problem. Ethically, sure it should owe the public truth telling. Historically, and even to this day there are ethical journalist, even a very few that work within the corporate media. Seymour Hersh still breaks hard news. Judith Miller is the anti-Hersh, and Ted Koppel is somewhere between, beaten, but somehow semi-ethical. But as a business it owes nothing to the public and all to the sponsors, big business, and the lobbying powers. And if you think the sponsors owe the public anything, well, have fun in your alternate universe.

    I was at the same exact event as the author of this article and I can ascertain that her report of that day is accurate. The room was full of Yes Men and Women, fulling willing to comply with the marriage of two worlds that should forever be divorced. At least the corporate media should be something of a balance to the government officals and their policies. It’s not, and as a whole probably never will be. Part of the problem is the model of reporting, i.e., “crisis” reporting. If it’s not a crisis than the corporate media refuses to continue the story or report on it at all. It’s up to the owners and those in power to determine what is a crisis. Looking hard and deep into U.S. foreign policy, for example, and drawing some sound conclusions that terrorism against the U.S. is the by-product of that very brutal foreign policy is not crisis reporting for them. Asking the tough questions and doing so in-depth is not what seems to sell.

    The event should have been called “News and Terrorism: Communicating with Utter Laziness” None of it surprised me, but I was still shocked somehow.

    I’m not personally for corporate media reform, I’m for corporate media abolishment. There are new forms of responsible, independant, courageous, smaller grass-roots media companies and groups out there that deseve more attention and a larger following. And I’m not talking about NPR. By abolishment I don’t mean some kind of coup, but more along the lines of a complete boycott. Unlikely to happen entirely, but I won’t be wasting any more of my time with the likes of the NYTimes.

    United States Posted by Scott on Oct 5, 2004 at 11:17 PM

    Hi thanks for the fascinating article and information about the meeting.

    That’s two individuals who were at the meeting that have written about it
    - Could both explain why they did not / felt they could not, ask the questions they believe were relevant.

    - How many others in the room perhaps felt the same way?

    United Kingdom Posted by bonobo on Oct 7, 2004 at 7:57 AM

    Scott’s right. The media doesn’t owe us anything. The problem is not with the media so much as the problem lies between the peoples’ ears. As Joe Perry said, the problem with the media began WAY before 9-11. Study the history of what Lincoln did to journalism and you will discover the DEATH of true journalism. The American people have been manipulated for quite some time. The money magicians that are behind these wars are not likely to lose unless a great majority of the people should awaken and clear the cobwebs from their brains. Welcome to 1984!

    United States Posted by pandira on Oct 7, 2004 at 7:00 PM
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