Covers

Newsweek latest cover by geographical region

Iran on Time’s cover 1934-2007 link via Ballatarin

Update: Pedestrian wonders on the choice of images and words.

Compliant Press & Willful Blinds

…”The story of how high officials misled the country has been told. But they couldn’t have done it on their own; they needed a compliant press, to pass on their propaganda as news and cheer them on.” … Enabling Bush’s Wars of Aggression, Gordon Prather, antiwar.com, April 28, 2007

Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media, Media Lens, April 26, 2007 – Suggested action.

Previous Post and link:
The Echo Chamber
The Media’s “fog fact” on Iran
We are the Willful Blinds!

Some more background: “In May 2003, Iran sent a secret proposal to the U.S. for settling our mutual disputes in a “grand bargain.” It is an astonishing document, for it tries to address a range of U.S. concerns about nuclear weapons, terrorism and Iraq. I’ve placed it and related documents … on my Blog, www.nytimes.com/ontheground …” Diplomacy at Its Worst, Nicholas D. Kristof, NYT. April 29, 2007

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“… the most lawless war of our generation. All wars of aggression lack legitimacy, but no conflict in recent memory has witnessed such mounting layers of illegality as the current one in Somalia. Violations of the UN charter and of international humanitarian law … ”
Inside Africa’s Guantánamo, Salim Lone, The Guardian, April 28, 2007

Mogadishu: The new killing zone on the neocon “liberation trail”, Les Politiques, April 26, 2007

The Echo Chamber

A few days ago Asia time online published a very interesting article by Eli Clifton, first published by the International Relations Center: Inside the neo-con echo chamber. This article identifies and describes the background and the mechanism of the present day “power house medias” – TV or newspapers.

Somewhere in this article, a senior writer is quoted describing the reasons of the increased popularity of the “Echo-chamber” press, such as Fox: “… they feed the rage. We bring the pain to the liberal media … We’ve created this cottage industry in which it pays to be un-objective. It pays to be subjective as much as possible. It’s a great way to have your cake and eat it too. Criticize other people for not being objective. Be as subjective as you want. It’s a great little racket. I’m glad we found it, actually.” … read the article here

Relevant links:
The Media’s “Fog Facts” on Iran
The Empire of Fear & the Media
The Fanonite has by now some 64 posts tagged Media, you can browse them here. Few titles:
NYT does Carter, Jan 08-07
How the NYT misreports US foreign policy, Dec 14-06
Portrayal of Arab Muslims in the Media, Nov 25-06

Here, you can browse posts tagged Media at Reclaiming space, such as:
Debunking the MSM pimping for a war on Iran, Feb 12, 07
Juan Cole: Top Ten Myths about Iraq 2006

Where to Look?

Since recently I am a customer of the Asia Times Online. There is an interesting article in the current issue: A Falkland War in the Persian Gulf, by Kaveh Afrassiabi, starting with “Rejoice! Rejoice” words of the Iron Lady. In a war over semantic paragraph you’ll learn for instance that the term “Kidnapped sailors” is used on CNN but not on CNN international. This article sums up some of the holes of the story, notably Craig Murray, former British ambassador’s criticism of “Blair government’s lies in “doctoring” the “faked maps“.

Update: The Fanonite has a series of posts about the sailors:
Iran Roundup: “Iran’s official news agency defied British calls to stop publishing images of the captives”, the Guardian reports …” moving on after the semantic dispute!
The Persian Gambit
Call That Humiliation? or here at the Guardian
Iran Update: Down the Memory Lane, April 4th

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Another recommendable read is Attack on Iran is the next step in divide an conquer of Middle East, by Daan de Wit, Atlantic Free Press.

This article develops around Seymour Hersh‘s important expose: Redirection. It also includes some recent developments as well as some of the background with an emphasis on what appropriate questions are not being posed.

Brzezinski is quoted: ‘I am perplexed by the fact that major strategic decisions seem to be made within a very narrow circle of individuals – just a few, probably a handful, perhaps not more than the fingers on my hand. And these are the individuals, all of whom but one, who made the original decision to go to war [with Iraq], and used the original justifications to go to war.’

… reference is made to NYT reporter Suskind quoting a White house aide: … ”We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”’

Vanity Fair sums up this idea in From the Wonderful Folks Who Brought You Iraq.