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4/7/10
A leaked videotape of a 2007 U.S. helicopter attack in Baghdad that killed a dozen Iraqis was unveiled on April 5 by the website WikiLeaks. To much of the corporate media, though, it was either not worth reporting at all, or an unfortunate incident to be defended.
Extra!: U.S. Climate Coverage in the ’00s : Tracking global warming’s media profile (February 2010) By
Extra!: Newsweek Greenwashes the Oil Lobby for Real : Boosting fossil-fuel profits as a sign of eco-friendliness (February 2010) By
CounterSpin: Ben Lilliston on genetically engineered foods, Barbara Miner on Teach for America (4/16/10)
CounterSpin: Jeremy Scahill on Iraq killings, Jeff Biggers on coal mining (4/9/10)
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Disasters
Economy
Haiti
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Move Over—Over and Over
Media’s rightward push for Democrats (July/August 2006)
You'll be hearing a lot in this vein.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Demonizing the Victims of Katrina
Coverage painted hurricane survivors as looters, snipers and rapists (November/December 2005)
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Not So Fast, Filibuster
Quietly changing the rules of democracy (December 2009)
How 41 votes came to be seen as a controlling interest in the Senate.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Invisible Violence
Ignoring murder in post-coup Haiti (July/August 2006)
Some background on the role of U.N. "peacekeepers" in promoting violence in Haiti.
- Posted by Peter Hart on 04/21/10 at 1:09 pmUsually propaganda is a little more clever than this (Reuters, 4/20/10): Israel, like the United States, European Union and others, suspects Iran is developing atomic weapons, a charge Tehran denies. Iran, whose president has said Israel should be wiped off the map, says its nuclear program is peaceful. Read more»
- Posted by Peter Hart on 04/20/10 at 4:24 pmThe cover of Newsweek (4/26/10) proclaims: "Don't Mess With Texas: What Governor Rick Perry's Hard-Right Creed Tells Us About America."
I can't say I learned much about America, but I guess I learned something about Newsweek: They really like Rick Perry.
The story, by Evan Thomas and Arian Campo-Flores, begins with the observation, "The myth of the once and future king is as old as Camelot, as ancient as the Bible." Perry, it seems, is a living example of such a "redeemer":
In Texas, his name is Rick Perry. Raised in a ranch house with no running water in the West Texas town of Paint Creek, yell leader at Texas A&M, Air Force pilot, longest serving governor in Texas history. Ruggedly handsome in a Marlboro Man sort of way, with a rich mane of brown hair, slightly tinged with silver gray. Perry, 60, stands for less government and more growth, for freedom and against bureaucracy, for Texas and against Washington. It's a message that has made him a very popular politician in Texas, particularly among conservative white males. As the Tea Party movement gains momentum, as more Americans are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore, Perry is their kind of hero.
Newsweek goes on to wonder if Perry might really be "the second coming of Ronald Reagan, the plain-spoken man from the West who presided over a new 'Morning in America' by cutting taxes, reducing government (well, promising to) and standing tall against the nation's enemies?"
Well, gee, maybe they should just skip the election? Would anyone be foolish enough to run against this handsome savior? [...] Read more»
- Posted by Peter Hart on 04/20/10 at 3:19 pmThe PBS program Frontline on April 13 offered a look at the White House drive for healthcare reform titled Obama's Deal. Like a previous Frontline special about the U.S. healthcare system, the program failed to adequately include single-payer. But the way the show did it this time was remarkable. Margaret Flowers of Physicians for a National [...] Read more»
- Posted by Jim Naureckas on 04/20/10 at 9:26 amIn a lengthy New Yorker piece (4/26/10) about the Amazon/Apple battle over e-books, Ken Auletta paints some familiar heroes and villains:
"The [publishing] industry's great hope was that the iPad would bring electronic books to the masses--and help make them profitable. E-books are booming.... But publishers were concerned that lower prices would decimate their profits." If Amazon gets away with selling e-books for $9.99, Auletta quotes one publishing CEO, "to my mind it's game over for this business." Amazon is depicted as controlling and mercenary:
Many publishers believe that Amazon looks upon books as just another commodity to sell as cheaply as possible, and that it sees publishers as dispensable.... Publishers maintain that digital companies don't understand the creative process of books. A major publisher said of Amazon: 'They don't know how authors think. It?s not in their DNA."
Publishers, on the other hand, are remarkably altruistic: "Publishers' real concern is that the low price of digital books will destroy bookstores, which are their primary customers," Auletta writes. But they're equally concerned about the well-being of authors:
[...] Read more»