Sheldon Rampton's News Articles

Let's Put the "Off the Record Club" On the Record

by Sheldon Rampton — February 18, 2007 - 9:45pm
  • Topics: Journalism, Lobbying, U.S. Government

    • One of the most interesting things about the perjury trial of former White House aide Scooter Libby has been the light it shines on the usually-hidden relationship between top government officials and Washington journalists.

    Daily Kos Discusses Sarah Olson's Refusal to Testify Against Ehren Watada

    by Sheldon Rampton — January 30, 2007 - 6:28pm
  • Topics: Journalism, Defend the Press, Democracy, War / Peace

    • The Daily Kos has a diary discussing the Sarah Olson case, with lots of good debate in the comments section (including a couple of comments by me).

    As the discussion illustrates, there are still some people (including people who oppose the war in Iraq) who do not understand the importance of Sarah Olson's principled stand against testifying in the court-martial of

    Phil Donahue's Statement in Support of Sarah Olson

    by Sheldon Rampton — January 26, 2007 - 3:15pm
  • Topics: Journalism, Iraq, Defend the Press, Democracy, Human Rights

    • Legendary talk show host Phil Donahue has written a column defending the rights of Sarah Olson. Here's the text:

    No Substitute for Free and Unfettered News Gathering

    By Phil Donahue

    Say what you will about Sarah Olson, she got the story. On the ground and armed with only an audio tape recorder, reporter Olson did nothing more radical than dig deep — the first law of journalism. Her interview with Lt. Ehren Watada vividly painted the portrait of a young man in anguish — to serve or not to serve.

    Gleaming Jewels of Stupidity

    by Sheldon Rampton — January 7, 2007 - 11:11pm
  • Topics: Right Wing, Iraq, Politics

    • One of the things I like about writing books is the chance to read other peoples' reactions after they're written. After John Stauber and I wrote our latest book, The Best War Ever: Lies, Damned Lies and the Mess in Iraq, we posted an accompanying video on YouTube. The video has now been viewed more than 200,000 times, and people of various ideological persuasions have added their comments.

    In the last few days, the video page has seen a running debate between other YouTubians and a supporter of the war who identifies himself as a 35-year-old U.S. Army Captain. I find the debate interesting as an illustration of how desperately the war's supporters continue to recycle obvious falsehoods and long-discredited lies from the Bush administration.

    Falsies on Parade: The Worst Spinners of 2006

    by Sheldon Rampton — December 18, 2006 - 2:52am
  • Topics: Corporations, Ethics, Media, Politics, Public Relations, U.S. Government

    • Here at the Center for Media and Democracy, we've made our year-end list, and our readers have checked it 1,204 times. That can only mean one thing -- it's time to announce the winners of the coveted 2006 Falsies Awards!

    Falsies 2006: Reader Responses

    by Sheldon Rampton — December 15, 2006 - 11:32am

    The winners of this year's Falsies Awards (see "Falsies on Parade: The Worst Spinners of 2006") were chosen by conducting an online survey of PR Watch readers. Participants were asked to rate nominees based on whether they deserved a Gold, Silver or Bronze Falsie, or a dishonorable mention. The results of this survey, in which 1,204 people participated, are summarized below.

    At Long Last, Can We Please Start Counting the Dead?

    by Sheldon Rampton — November 11, 2006 - 12:36am
  • Topics: Iraq, Human Rights, Science

    • Under the strange Bizarro rules that right-wing pundits use to interpret politics in the United States, election season is the time when no one is supposed to discuss any of the things that might actually have a serious impact on their voting decision.

    Zigging and Zagging on Cutting and Running

    by Sheldon Rampton — October 11, 2006 - 11:06am
  • Topics: Iraq, Rhetoric

    • The Bush administration's use of the term "cut and run" to caricature opponents of the war in Iraq is yet another example of the attention that America's war party pays to rhetorical repetition and linguistic framing at the expense of realistic discourse and analysis. Bush himself has taken to using this catchprase repeatedly.

    Some Murders are More Equal than Others: The Media's Sick Obsession with JonBenet Ramsay

    by Sheldon Rampton — August 25, 2006 - 1:46pm
  • Topics: Iraq

    • Juan Cole has an interesting blog post that contrasts the media's obsession with JonBenet Ramsey with its relative silence about the murder of Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, the 14-year-old Iraqi girl who was reportedly raped and murdered, along with her family, by U.S. soldiers. Cole writes,

    Both victims were pretty little girls. Both were killed by sick predators. But whereas endless speculation about the Ramsey case, to the exclusion of important real news stories, is thought incumbent in cabalnewsland, Abeer al-Janabi's death is not treated obsessively in the same way. ... CNN even calls the little girl a "woman" at first mention, because the US military indictment did so. Only later in the article is it revealed that she was a little girl. The very pedophiliac nature of the crime is more or less covered up in the case of al-Janabi, even as looped video of Ramsay as too grown up is endlessly inflicted on us.

    The message US cable news is sending by this privileging of some such stories over others of a similar nature is that some lives are worth more than others, and some people are "us" whereas other people are "Other" and therefore lesser. Indeed, it is precisely this subtle message sent by American media that authorized so much taking of innocent Iraqi life in the first place.

    Money Funny

    by Sheldon Rampton — July 10, 2006 - 5:11pm

    We got an email from Eveline Lubbers today, asking, "Could you please let us know when the money will come?"

    Eveline works with a Europe-based group called SpinWatch, whose activities there are broadly similar to the work that we do in the United States at the Center for Media and Democracy. SpinWatch monitors the European PR industry, corporate lobbying, front groups, government spin, propaganda and other tactics used by powerful groups to manipulate media, public policy debate and public opinion.

    Eveline's joke about having us send money came after she came across a blog posting by Lene Johansen, who also writes for a couple of conservative, corporate-funded think tanks including Tech Central Station. Johansen said that CMD "runs SpinWatch" and urged people to "check out CMD's dirty little funding secrets at ActivistCash.com."

    For the record, CMD does not run SpinWatch, and we won't be sending Eveline a check, much as we think she deserves one. (If you want to send them money, they do accept donations online — but if you send the money to us instead, we promise not to share.)

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