Now that the invasion of Iraq is a fait accompli, the mainstream U.S. news media are finally giving significant attention to the weaknesses in the Bush administration’s case for the war. Of the many distortions that could be targeted, the media have focused primarily on the “16 words” in the president’s January 2003 State of the Union address—the sentence that repeated… return to article
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Reader Comments (21)Page 1 of 1 pagesIf anyone says the media is unbiased after reading this aricle they are delusional.
Posted by stan on Aug 11, 2003 at 9:36 PM Just goes to show you that you gotta go out and educate yourself. none of this relying on the government.
Posted by Jon on Aug 12, 2003 at 1:34 AM Education is civil defense against media fallout. It’s time to go back to school, America.
Posted by Ian on Aug 12, 2003 at 8:25 AM Follow the Hutton Enquiry in the UK for an insight into spin, lies and deception in the quest for war.
Posted by V on Aug 12, 2003 at 12:28 PM I remember when the media existed not to just report but also investigate claims and assertions made by public officials. Sadly, most media outlets seem to have forgotten that basic tenet when reporting the news these days.
Posted by e sorensen on Aug 12, 2003 at 1:42 PM Our media needs to learn from and emulate their foriegn brethren, i.e. Greg Palast, The Guardian, Financial Times, etc.
Corporatism of the mainstream press is turning our journalists into PR hacks. Thank goodness for this and so many other alternative news websites.
Posted by Larry R. on Aug 12, 2003 at 4:50 PM The actual content of mainstream news has become secondary to the primary goal of advertising, whether product or propaganda. Be wary of the slant and bias.
Posted by abel garcia on Aug 12, 2003 at 6:06 PM We need to elect Dennis Kucinich, the only candidate who is willing to stand up to the Military-Industrial and Prison-Industrial Complex.
Unless, of course, we all *want* to continue down the path of becoming faceless automatons feeding corporate greed machines.
Posted by Frightened on Aug 12, 2003 at 6:26 PM The administration lies and the media swears to it more often than not. The greatest threat to our democracy today is this ever widening creditability gap .
Posted by Stich on Aug 13, 2003 at 2:44 AM As long as the media is run by big corporations their interests and those of the government officials they lobby will determine what ‘truth’ we hear. In order to have a democratic media we need independent media…subscribe today!
Posted by Sarah on Aug 13, 2003 at 10:58 PM as an american I am appalled at how a few neo-cons (some with dualk citizenships) were able to concoct and sell this war to the American people and a C student president. I am also troubled by the lack of cries for a full scale investigation of these “patriots” by the media. In the meantime, our American young soldiers are dying. Shame on them all!
Posted by Chester Polwin on Aug 14, 2003 at 2:40 AM Great story! Why are we not sending this story to our congressional elected officials? What is up with the 16 word thing. I do not think we have heard one word of truth come out of the mouth of anyone in this administratuion. If we cannot get this bunch impeached and tried in the Senate, or in Court’s of law, then we have already lost our Democracy. Has anyone noticed that Europe is much freer than we are?
Posted by Dot Dedman on Aug 14, 2003 at 5:25 PM Hi Dot,
I read an interview with Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys in which he said that his house gets broken into every so often and he is still living in unmarked-car-land, and I have to say that while in Europe we don¥t have as much of those kind of secret police tactics, things are taking a turn for the worse, in the UK for instance, civil liberties are being rolled back through antiterrorism bills at quite a pace. All I¥m saying is we¥re not far behind, being mainly comprised as a bunch of satellite states of the US that roll over and beg when called to do so. You people are arguably the most important constituency in the world right now, so to those of you with your eyes open, keep up the good work.
Posted by Owen on Aug 14, 2003 at 10:03 PM This story illustrates the right’s modus operandi as it has been throughout my lifetime. Conservatives don’t care whether their policies are well-founded or whether they are good for the country. All they care about is the implementation of the policies they want. They are past masters in getting what they want, and leaving posterity the task of debating the pros and cons. And while people are stuck arguing about things that happened in the past, the conservatives have moved on to their next outrage.
Although Iraq is certainly turning into a debacle, there seems little point arguing about it all now. Nothing can be done to undo that particular mess, at least in the lifetime of the present administration, which doesn’t care very deeply about the consequences of its policies, which are, in the end, likely to come to a head under a Democratic administration.
It’s time Democrats and progressive concentrated on averting catastrophes in the making - like the looming Republican takeover of California - rather than shedding tears about those that have already happened.
Posted by James Paterson on Aug 15, 2003 at 4:32 AM I have known from the beginning that the government was using the media to spread its lies, but the problem is that the fear-mongering by this administration has given them the power to use ìnational securityî to cover them up. This is more than a story about the pack of lies, it about the explosion of right-wing military power in the US. Americans must not let the country become a military state! Kicking out Bush will not change the military one bit. The only way o kill the military is with peace, something that the military is real bad at producing.
Posted by Shawn on Oct 2, 2003 at 3:10 PM I am so glad you wrote this article.
I discovered it on a link at a TrueMajority.org website.I hope many others will read it.
The mainstream media seems to have lost so much objectivity that
the “news” has become little more than constant repetition of authority-speak.Who can we trust in media?
Intuition has led me to seek alternative sources…such as “In These Times”.
Your fine article supports my intuition ..while certain journalists are still asking the right questions, editors curiously hide the tougher questions and challenges behind the big-power soundbites.
We must ask ourselves- WHY?
What a waste of democracy.
Our founding fathers would be embarrassed and ashamed of today’s media.Jude
aka Iddybud ;)
Posted by Iddybud on Nov 3, 2003 at 7:22 PM I believe that the television media (except for the more objective public television media) wanted a war so that they could hog all that air time. Peace does not sell commercial time, it is boring. After reading Molly Ivins 2 books about our president I believe we should, as a country, hold Bush’s to the fire on all the lies he has told. Remember he was not elected, he was appointed and he needs to be reminded of that daily.
Posted by Sarah on Nov 7, 2003 at 7:27 PM Excellent reporting and coverage. However, what about “Osama bin Forgotten”; i.e. Afghan lies and once again they are left twisting in the wind. e.g. Bush said that the Taliban drug profits were supporting Al Queda; however, they had practically stopped the trade (without our Colombian special forces). Further, now that they are (almost) gone (and generally good riddance), the drug trade is back with a flourish courtesy of the Northern War Lords, our new buddies. Are they supporting any external forces?
Posted by Reed Gauge on Nov 9, 2003 at 8:40 PM On the other hand, you can’t trust only officials who tell you what you want to hear. For better or for worse, you will need AND use these sources for both information supportive and detractive of the administration we just love to hate. :)
Posted by Ender on Jan 10, 2004 at 6:29 PM Comment:Here is a book I have written on law. The central chapter deals with the provisions under international law in the UN Charter that have repeatedly been violated by the United States. As clearly as anyone would want to read and understand - the internatinal legal issues are set out in “Learn the Law”.You need not agree with me - but it would be good to hear from you, on the international legal issue of the pre-emptive strike doctrine, and from those who believe that a world functioning in this way will be a safer place if this doctrine were to be widely applied. Reply: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Dear Reader,
Re:www.trafford.com/robots/03-1143.html - and - www.globaljusticeonline.com -and - ìLearn the lawî
My book, ìLearn the lawî, is dedicated ìTo my mother who read bedtime classics to me as a child, and to my wife who hated me reading anything in bedî. It might just as well have been dedicated to the assiduous breed under whose tutelage I read the law. They soldiered on until I was able to conqueror the complexities of the law and write a book on law.
The purpose of this letter ( e-mail) is intelligent recommendation. The book is an experiment in ëtuition sans boredomí. I have set out to cover the legal globe in 246 brief pages, with many legal issues addressed, global court structures, and explanation of law in a readable ìABC introduction to lawî.
You, students, and your significant other ( who may hate you reading anything in bed), can all understand and gain from this simple, yet effective new approach to law.
Thus recommended, I close, and invite you to read a chapter, and glance at the bookís contents and one of the bookís web sites.
Kind regards.
Sincerely,
X
_________
NOTABLE
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