Media

Scarborough to Lynch: "Shut Up and Take the Cash"

by Sheldon Rampton — November 11, 2003 - 11:00pm

Now that Private Jessica Lynch has told the truth about the conditions of her capture and rescue in Iraq, right-wing telebabbler Joe Scarborough is complaining that she "started whining about the Pentagon PR machine and the fact that they told parts of the stories that may have made her more of a hero than she considered herself to be. ... Well, Jessica, I've got bad news to break to you. It was because of the Pentagon PR machine that turned you into an American hero -- that got book publishers interested in paying you $1 million to tell your story. It was the Pentagon PR machine that told America how you were a hero that got NBC interested in doing a movie about your story. It was the Pentagon PR machine that's turned you into a millionaire."

Main Source: 
MSNBC, November 12, 2003

Pentagon's Iraqi Media Network 'Fair And Balanced'

by Laura Miller — November 11, 2003 - 11:00pm

The U.S. sponsored Iraqi Media Network -- planned to include a 24-hour satellite channel, two land-based TV channels, two radio channels, a national newspaper and studios in every major Iraqi region -- promises Iraqis "comprehensive, accurate, fair, and balanced news." The Village Voice's Cynthia Cotts reports, however, that IMN already faces credibility issues. Budgeted at $100 million (part of the $87.5 billion approved for Iraq), the project's money will flow through the Defense Department's Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict division, which also handles military psy-ops.

Main Source: 
Village Voice, November 12, 2003

Battle Hymn of the New Liberal Media

by Sheldon Rampton — November 5, 2003 - 1:25am

If corporations can play the talk radio game, so can labor unions. United Auto Workers has put money and resources into developing the i.e. America Radio Network, which syndicates liberal talk radio from coast to coast. "Following on i.e.'s successes, AnShell media, according to industry rumors, is on the verge of achieving funding goals to roll out America's second liberal radio network in January," notes i.e. America talker Thom Hartmann.

Main Source: 
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1016-06.htm

CBS Caves to Pressure, Dumps Reagan Movie

by John Stauber — November 4, 2003 - 11:00pm

TV docu-dramas, such as this Sunday's red, white and blue Iraq war mythology Saving Private Lynch, always play fast and loose with the facts, twisting reality into fiction for entertainment's sake. But a much hyped CBS miniseries on Ronald Reagan drew the wrath of the Right, and CBS has dumped the show. The New York Times reports that "CBS executives ...

Main Source: 
New York Times, November 5, 2003

Media Reform Conference Begins Friday in Madison

by John Stauber — November 4, 2003 - 11:00pm

Some 1,500 journalists, political reformers and citizens at large are convening in our home town of Madison, Wisconsin, November 7th - 9th for the National Conference on Media Reform. The conference begins Friday with a 2pm panel on 'Media and Propaganda During Wartime' featuring professor Nancy Snow, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and our own John Stauber, co-author of Weapons of Mass Deception.

Main Source: 
http://www.mediareform.net/conference.php

'By-Passing the Media Filter' on the Iraq War

by John Stauber — November 2, 2003 - 11:00pm

As part of its PR strategy to 'by-pass the media filter' that it claims is distorting public perception of the Iraq war with too much negative reporting, the Bush administration has been granting interviews to smaller, more friendly media. A 'media by-pass' tactic of a different sort is being used by critics of the war who, as we've documented in our book Weapons of Mass Deception, have been locked out of mainstream media coverage.

Main Source: 
Alternet, November 3, 2003

Raped By the Globe

by Sheldon Rampton — October 30, 2003 - 11:00pm

The Globe, a tabloid newspaper, is running a titillating photograph of alleged rapist Kobe Bryant's accuser at her high school prom. "In it, the woman is lifting up her prom dress to reveal a garter belt," notes Rebecca Traister. "The headline reads: 'Kobe Bryant's Accuser: Did she really say no?' Next to the photo, in half-inch type, is the 19-year-old woman's name." Traister interviewed journalism professors and magazine editors who are shocked by the Globe's decision.

Main Source: 
Salon.com, October 31, 2003

Fox Gets the Memo

by Sheldon Rampton — October 28, 2003 - 11:00pm

Charlie Reina, a former producer for Fox News, has posted a letter to the Poynter Institute's online journalism forum, explaining how the network deliberately slants the news. "Editorially, the FNC newsroom is under the constant control and vigilance of management," he writes. "The pressure ranges from subtle to direct. First of all, it's a news network run by one of the most high-profile political operatives of recent times. ... The roots of FNC's day-to-day on-air bias are actual and direct.

Main Source: 
Poynter Online Forums, October 29, 2003

Buying Your Way Into Airline "Radio News"

by John Stauber — October 26, 2003 - 11:00pm

"The caller to Joanne Doroshow's office last month described
himself as working for Sky Radio Network, a company that
produces programming for Forbes Radio, one of the audio
channels available to passengers on American Airlines. As the executive director of the Center for Justice and
Democracy, a nonprofit organization that casts itself as a
champion of consumer rights, Ms. Doroshow was asked if she
would be interviewed for a talk show examining the issue of
tort reform. When Ms.

Main Source: 
New York Times, October 27, 2003

Pay to Play TV

by Sheldon Rampton — October 15, 2003 - 10:00pm

David Morgan, a morning show staffer at the NBC affiliate in Tampa, minced no words when a public relations agent asked how he could get his client interviewed on the program. "You pay us and we do what you want us to do," Morgan said. "Twenty-five hundred bucks for four to six minutes." Howard Kurtz notes that most networks and local TV stations "have strict rules against pay-for-play journalism. But at WFLA-TV, in the nation's 14th-largest market, producers on 'Daytime' are not shy about asking guests to pony up.

Main Source: 
Washington Post, October 16, 2003
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