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Mainstream Spin On Protests: They "delight" Iraq |
Current rating: 0 |
by Joe Futrelle
Email: futrelle (nospam) shout.net (unverified!) |
16 Feb 2003
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CNN and other mainstream media outlets are leading with the story that Iraq is "delighted" with yesterday's massive anti-war protests. The predictable response by Iraq is not news, but the story is being emphasized to villify protesters by linking their agenda to Iraq's. |
CNN and other mainstream media outlets are leading with the story that Iraq is "delighted" with yesterday's massive anti-war protests. The predictable response by Iraq is not news, but the story is being emphasized to villify protesters by linking their agenda to Iraq's.
The stories do nothing to correct the misleading headline. If anything, they de-emphasize the points of disagreement between protestors' positions and the Iraqi government's reaction to the protests, and emphasize the point of agreement: that a war against Iraq would be an unjustified act of aggression.
This conforms neatly to the new terms of debate in Britain, where PM Tony Blair has begun to argue that removing Saddam Hussein is the only morally acceptable course of action (see the NYT analysis below). By unquestioningly accepting these terms of debate, the media has linked the anti-war movement with the Iraqi government.
This can be used to justify aggression against the anti-war movement.
Write to CNN and CBS and demand fair coverage. |
See also:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/02/16/sprj.irq.protests/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/16/international/europe/16CND-BLAIR.html
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Re: Mainstream Spin On Protests: They |
by David Tcheng
dtcheng (nospam) ncsa.uiuc.edu (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
16 Feb 2003
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I concur. |
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Local Spin |
by ML
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
16 Feb 2003
Modified: 01:38:21 PM |
Of course, the local News-Gazette couldn't let an opportunity like this pass by. While the front page headline about US protests in Sunday's edition was good in itself, it turned out to be a rather back-handed compliment. They termed it, "Anti-war rallies draw tens of thousands across US".
But this is rather inaccurate, as just the NYC rally _alone_ drew hundreds of thousands. They really can't let the excuse of not having enough space to say "hundreds of thousands," instead of "tens of thousands," be used to justify this. The most accurate, and briefest thing to say would have been "million plus," since it is clear that the nationwide protests DID draw at leats that many. How about even "millions," since it is quite possible that in the U.S alone over two million people will join in this weekend alone and why not just refer to the fact that this was a worldwide effort right on the front page.
Of course, the N-G did get to the worldwide protests in another article after the front page one carried over onto page A-9. There we see a picture of Prospect for Peace from yesterday, along with a picture from the NYC demo that seemed to emphasize banners in Arabic being carried by the NYC crowd, to illustrate the US protest story. The piece-de-resistance is the photo that they carried with the shorter worldwide protests story. Here we have no one lese than Saddam Hussein's picture being carried by a crowd, along with AK-47s, in Babylon, Iraq, hardly representative of the opinions and ideals of protesters across the world.
While the two AP wire service photos were accurate enough in protraying the facts as the camera saw them, their juxtaposition to these articles and the peculiar choice that was made as to which subject matter they featured is remarkable. Why not pictures of European protests (which had very diverse crowds, not just your typical white people in them - see the big one from London on this website) instead a showing the one with Saddam and truly an aberrant example of the typical messages being sent across the globe? I'll bet most crowds across the globe did not hoist aloft AKs nor was Saddam's picture carried in seeming adoration.
Instead, we get an attitude that could be summed up as, "Let's not remind the people in C-U that lots of people that look just like the average C-U resident are also opposed to the war."
No, it's better for the editors of the N-G to remind people that this thing is supposed to be us versus THEM, the Other, putting a picture of Saddam in the mix to make it appear that all the protesters are somehow supporters and/or dupes of Saddam, which is demonstrably false. This will make killing people in Iraq more palatable to the US electorate by serving to undermine protests and insinuating that those who are for peace somehow support Saddam. This is the paper serving as the secretary to power, manipulating public opinion with subtly propagandistic "objective" news stories. |
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Re: Mainstream Spin On Protests: They |
by Darrin
d_drda (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
16 Feb 2003
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To ML: I read the NG story, and was similarly apalled. It deserves a letter to the editor, for sure. I'd write one myself, but I'm leaving town tomorrow morning for the week. Could someone please take up the torch?
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