Ethics

NYC Peace Activists Risk Arrest Protesting Media Bias

by John Stauber — March 27, 2003 - 12:00am

"Hundreds of chanting demonstrators lined
Manhattan's Fifth Avenue on Thursday, and dozens lay down
in the street in a 'die-in' to protest the war. ... Anti-war groups also called for other civil disobedience in
the city to protest media and corporate 'profiteering from
the war.' ... Some protest signs were directed at the media. One
protester held a sign showing a picture of parrots and the
words, 'Don't Parrot the Right-wing Propaganda.' Another, 44-year-old teacher Lee Whiting, held up a sign that said, 'Embedded?

Main Source: 
Associated Press, March 27, 2003

Hackers Shut Down al-Jazeera Websites

by John Stauber — March 26, 2003 - 12:00am

"The English-language and Arabic websites of Qatar-based broadcaster al-Jazeera were forced down this morning after a spate of suspected hacker attacks last night. Neither aljazeera.net, which gets the most hits of any Arabic website in the world, nor english.aljazeera.net, which launched on Monday, were available this morning after suspected attacks crashed both sites. [C]ommunications manager Jihad Ali Ballout told MediaGuardian.co.uk the company was doing everything possible to get the sites up and running.. ...

Main Source: 
The Guardian, March 26, 2003

'Embedded' Reporters Key To White House PR Plan

by Laura Miller — March 24, 2003 - 12:00am

"The eruption of war in Iraq last week set in motion a massive global PR network, cultivated by the Bush administration during the months-long buildup of forces. The network is intended not only to disseminate, but also to dominate news of the conflict around the world," PR Week writes.

Main Source: 
PR Week, March 24, 2003

Who Lied to Whom About Iraq's Nuclear Program?

by John Stauber — March 24, 2003 - 12:00am

Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh asks, "Why did the Administration endorse a forgery about Iraq's nuclear program?" How did the misinformation end up in the President's State of the Union address, and who has been fooling whom to make sure the US attacked Iraq?

Main Source: 
The New Yorker, March 24, 2003

Anti-War Reporting Banned in UK Papers

by Sheldon Rampton — March 22, 2003 - 12:42am

"Sir Ray Tindle, the editor in chief of over 100 weekly newspapers across
Britain has informed all his editors that they can no longer report any
anti-war stories in their newspapers," reports Andy Rowell. Jeremy Dear of the UK's National Union of Journalists, condemned the move: " So much for the right to know, free speech and all those other rights which our forefathers fought to establish and which Sir Ray Tindle seeks to demolish at the stroke of a pen," Dear stated.

Main Source: 
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/showthread.php?threadid=2060

Media Allowed Bush to Mislead the Public Into War

by John Stauber — March 22, 2003 - 12:00am

"Critics of the war ... blame the
news media, asserting that they failed to challenge the
administration aggressively enough as it made a shaky case
for war. In an interview, Eric Alterman ... argued,
'Support for this war is in part a reflection that the
media has allowed the Bush administration to get away with
misleading the American people.' ... The strongest indictment of the press, many of these
critics argue, are recent polls that suggest many Americans
see Iraq as being responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks.

Main Source: 
New York Times, March 22, 2003

Credibility Bomb

by Laura Miller — March 18, 2003 - 12:00am

"The 'powerful odor of mendacity' (to borrow Tennessee Williams' phrase) hung over George Bush's primetime virtual declaration of war Monday night," TomPaine.com commentator Doug Ireland writes.

Main Source: 
TomPaine.com, March 18, 2003

Bayer's Headache

by Sheldon Rampton — March 7, 2003 - 12:00am

A $100 million lawsuit against Bayer Corp. has yielded e-mails and internal documents that suggest the drug company let marketing and PR concerns trump safety, disregarding disturbing research on the cholesterol drug Baycol before it was pulled off the market because of dozens of deaths. "There have been some deaths related to Baycol. ... So much for keeping this quiet," said one E-mail.

Main Source: 
Associated Press, March 7, 2003

A Question of Coverage

by Sheldon Rampton — March 3, 2003 - 12:00am

More than two dozen journalism school deans and professors, independent editors, journalists and authors have sent an open letter to major media editors, criticizing media coverage of Iraq and warning that "this is no time for relying solely on official sources and their supporters." Signers of the letter include: retired New York Times columnist Tom Wicker; former New York Times reporter William Serrin; Ben Bagdikian, former dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at University of California at Berkeley; author Studs Terkel; independent journalist and filmmaker Barbara Koeppe

Main Source: 
TomPaine.com, March 3, 2003

Lying Us Into War

by Sheldon Rampton — February 10, 2003 - 12:00am

"President George W. Bush and his foreign-policy team have systematically and knowingly deceived the American people in order to gain support for an unprovoked attack on Iraq," writes writer and college communications instructor Dennis Hans, who tallies 15 "techniques of deceit" that Bush has used "to deceive the very people most inclined to trust him."

Main Source: 
Scoop (New Zealand), February 10, 2003
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