Siah
14-04-05, 11:17
Pope TV and the New World Media
By Mike Whitney
Al-Jazeerah, April 2005
The 24 hour a day “Pope-a-thon” shows the dramatic shift in the way that
news is covered. If a story is inoffensive to the political establishment or
if it serves their greater interests (like Schiavo) then it becomes an
immediate mega-story that swallows up most of the front page and consumes
the majority of TV time. In this way, the national dialogue is controlled by
PR firms working closely with Washington to decide what information is
suitable for public consumption. It’s perception management pure and simple
but, so far, it looks like a winning strategy. As many have already noticed,
the Iraqi bloodbath has been knocked out of the headlines and consigned to
page 14 next to the women’s lingerie adverts. In its place, American’s are
provided with diversionary Uber-stories of vegetative housewives and dead
Popes. There’s no chance that the 4 Marines who died in insurgent attacks
last Tuesday will appear on page one anymore, nor will the 300,000
disgruntled Iraqis who paraded through Baghdad yesterday calling for an end
to the Occupation while burning Bush in effigy. These are the unfortunate
victims of the new media regime; a system that dismisses inconvenient facts
for the fairy-tales that support the status quo. The new game-plan is to
sweep Iraq from the collective consciousness and slow the steady erosion of
public support for the war.
The changes in news coverage can be traced to a poll that ran 3 months
ago in Washington Post poll which showed in stark terms how unpopular Bush’s
war in Iraq has become in just 2 short years. 56% of the people polled said
the war “wasn’t worth it” and a whopping 70% concluded that the loss of 1500
American servicemen “was an unacceptable cost”.
The results of that poll sent tremors through the political
establishment, and their trepidation is reflected in way that the news is
now presented. Ball-players on steroids, Schiavo and a dead Pope are just
the first of what will certainly be many similar entertaining distractions.
Next week we will undoubtedly discover that Schiavo was carrying Jacko’s
love-child.
For the most part, Iraq has been buried by the media; a tacit admission
that even supporters are now experiencing both doubt about the wisdom of the
war and overall fatigue from the constant flow of bad news from the front.
The casualties, the chaos, the lack of reconstruction, and the demoralizing
stories of torture are slowly grinding down even the most ardent Bush fan.
Beyond the legal and moral questions, the war is starting to look like it
was simply a stupid idea conjured up by fanatics. This perception is not
likely to change. Once public support evaporates; that’s it. There’s no
second chance.
The Bush team has a serious problem and limited options. There’s no
light in the Iraqi tunnel, so the only choice is to manage the information.
This explains why the media would rather provide a front-page pictorial of
Bush performing his ablutions in front of the velvet-encrusted Pope than
show a close up of the helicopter that went down in Afghanistan killing 18
American servicemen. Bush’s Vatican junket is just more-of-the-same
photo-op claptrap designed to keep the lens off the mountain of carrion
building up in Iraq. Its all part of the imperial narrative dressed up in
regal accoutrements and presented as real news. Absent from the coverage
were the thousands of incensed Italians on the streets of Rome who were
aghast that the world’s foremost war criminal would be allowed to partake in
the funereal ceremonies. Americans never saw the angry masses who protested
Bush’s visit. Instead, they got the predictable pabulum from media
operatives like Jim Vandehei of the Washington Post who faithfully
chronicled the pious nostrums from the simpleton-and-chief.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that there is a living God. And, no doubt
in my mind that Lord, Jesus Christ was sent by the Almighty. No doubt in my
mind about that,” Bush said.
Or this, “The tides of moral relativism kind of washed around the Pope,
but he stood strong as a rock.”
Imagine someone who just killed 100,000 human beings and authorized the
use of torture on prisoners palavering about “moral relativism”?
Despicable.
Never the less, the fable-making media can be expected to maintain its
present tack; inventing a narrative from whole-cloth and exploiting whatever
novelty appears in real-time to steer the public away Bush’s ruinous war.
It’s what they do best.
The Streetwalking Media
The press is the only institution in American life that is protected by an
amendment. The founders wisely understood that safeguarding the free flow of
information was imperative to the preservation of democracy. No one is so
naïve to believe in the myth of a free press anymore. The entire institution
is like an aging hooker locked in a conjugal embrace with her corporate
bedfellow. The media jettisoned whatever freedom or credibility it had years
ago; choosing instead to serve the narrow interests of its boardroom bosses.
Now the news is tailored to meet the needs of its clientele; shaping events
to spread the good news about free markets, consumerism and preemptive war.
Whatever news cannot be packaged and presented in a manner that serves the
objectives of its sponsors is simply left on the cutting room floor. What
we see now when we turn on the evening news isn’t a free press, but the
front-lines of information warfare: “Who owns the news, who controls what
you know?”
Information has been weaponized to rob Americans of their personal
liberty, plunder the treasury and dupe the people into foreign adventures.
The ideal of an “informed public” actively engaged in the democratic process
by exposure to a broad variety of viewpoints is pure baloney. The daily news
increasingly aims for uniformity in their storyline to promote conformity of
thought among its readership. Diversity is a threat to the system. This
being the case, we shouldn’t be surprised that Rumsfeld is deliberately
targeting reporters; it is the logical extension of the prevailing political
ethos. Information is power, and now that power is the exclusive province of
seven media giants who are inextricably linked to the White House. See No Evil
Don’t talk about a “free press”. The American media showed their true
colors in their handling of the decimation of Falluja. The entire media
stood by with their hands over their mouths while a city of 250,000 was
bombed to the ground in the greatest single war crime in the last decade.
The story of Falluja is a tale of cluster bombs, napalm, depleted uranium,
banned weapons, families crushed in their homes, dogs devouring dead
citizens on the city streets, and masses of displaced people victimized by a
vengeful and implacable enemy. It’s a story of unspeakable crimes, of
absolute impunity, and unfathomable cynicism.
Even today, a full 6 months after the siege, the story of Falluja cannot
be revised enough to fit into the imperial register; so the silence
continues.
This is the reality America’s “free press”; the collaborative
handmaiden of the US war machine, partners in the destruction of entire
civilizations. Eventually, it will have to be chopped down to the root
before anything worthwhile can grow up in its place.
Aljazeerah.info (http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2005%20Opinion%20Editorials/April/13o/Pope%20TV%20and%20the%20New%20World%20Media%20By%2 0Mike%20Whitney.htm)
By Mike Whitney
Al-Jazeerah, April 2005
The 24 hour a day “Pope-a-thon” shows the dramatic shift in the way that
news is covered. If a story is inoffensive to the political establishment or
if it serves their greater interests (like Schiavo) then it becomes an
immediate mega-story that swallows up most of the front page and consumes
the majority of TV time. In this way, the national dialogue is controlled by
PR firms working closely with Washington to decide what information is
suitable for public consumption. It’s perception management pure and simple
but, so far, it looks like a winning strategy. As many have already noticed,
the Iraqi bloodbath has been knocked out of the headlines and consigned to
page 14 next to the women’s lingerie adverts. In its place, American’s are
provided with diversionary Uber-stories of vegetative housewives and dead
Popes. There’s no chance that the 4 Marines who died in insurgent attacks
last Tuesday will appear on page one anymore, nor will the 300,000
disgruntled Iraqis who paraded through Baghdad yesterday calling for an end
to the Occupation while burning Bush in effigy. These are the unfortunate
victims of the new media regime; a system that dismisses inconvenient facts
for the fairy-tales that support the status quo. The new game-plan is to
sweep Iraq from the collective consciousness and slow the steady erosion of
public support for the war.
The changes in news coverage can be traced to a poll that ran 3 months
ago in Washington Post poll which showed in stark terms how unpopular Bush’s
war in Iraq has become in just 2 short years. 56% of the people polled said
the war “wasn’t worth it” and a whopping 70% concluded that the loss of 1500
American servicemen “was an unacceptable cost”.
The results of that poll sent tremors through the political
establishment, and their trepidation is reflected in way that the news is
now presented. Ball-players on steroids, Schiavo and a dead Pope are just
the first of what will certainly be many similar entertaining distractions.
Next week we will undoubtedly discover that Schiavo was carrying Jacko’s
love-child.
For the most part, Iraq has been buried by the media; a tacit admission
that even supporters are now experiencing both doubt about the wisdom of the
war and overall fatigue from the constant flow of bad news from the front.
The casualties, the chaos, the lack of reconstruction, and the demoralizing
stories of torture are slowly grinding down even the most ardent Bush fan.
Beyond the legal and moral questions, the war is starting to look like it
was simply a stupid idea conjured up by fanatics. This perception is not
likely to change. Once public support evaporates; that’s it. There’s no
second chance.
The Bush team has a serious problem and limited options. There’s no
light in the Iraqi tunnel, so the only choice is to manage the information.
This explains why the media would rather provide a front-page pictorial of
Bush performing his ablutions in front of the velvet-encrusted Pope than
show a close up of the helicopter that went down in Afghanistan killing 18
American servicemen. Bush’s Vatican junket is just more-of-the-same
photo-op claptrap designed to keep the lens off the mountain of carrion
building up in Iraq. Its all part of the imperial narrative dressed up in
regal accoutrements and presented as real news. Absent from the coverage
were the thousands of incensed Italians on the streets of Rome who were
aghast that the world’s foremost war criminal would be allowed to partake in
the funereal ceremonies. Americans never saw the angry masses who protested
Bush’s visit. Instead, they got the predictable pabulum from media
operatives like Jim Vandehei of the Washington Post who faithfully
chronicled the pious nostrums from the simpleton-and-chief.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that there is a living God. And, no doubt
in my mind that Lord, Jesus Christ was sent by the Almighty. No doubt in my
mind about that,” Bush said.
Or this, “The tides of moral relativism kind of washed around the Pope,
but he stood strong as a rock.”
Imagine someone who just killed 100,000 human beings and authorized the
use of torture on prisoners palavering about “moral relativism”?
Despicable.
Never the less, the fable-making media can be expected to maintain its
present tack; inventing a narrative from whole-cloth and exploiting whatever
novelty appears in real-time to steer the public away Bush’s ruinous war.
It’s what they do best.
The Streetwalking Media
The press is the only institution in American life that is protected by an
amendment. The founders wisely understood that safeguarding the free flow of
information was imperative to the preservation of democracy. No one is so
naïve to believe in the myth of a free press anymore. The entire institution
is like an aging hooker locked in a conjugal embrace with her corporate
bedfellow. The media jettisoned whatever freedom or credibility it had years
ago; choosing instead to serve the narrow interests of its boardroom bosses.
Now the news is tailored to meet the needs of its clientele; shaping events
to spread the good news about free markets, consumerism and preemptive war.
Whatever news cannot be packaged and presented in a manner that serves the
objectives of its sponsors is simply left on the cutting room floor. What
we see now when we turn on the evening news isn’t a free press, but the
front-lines of information warfare: “Who owns the news, who controls what
you know?”
Information has been weaponized to rob Americans of their personal
liberty, plunder the treasury and dupe the people into foreign adventures.
The ideal of an “informed public” actively engaged in the democratic process
by exposure to a broad variety of viewpoints is pure baloney. The daily news
increasingly aims for uniformity in their storyline to promote conformity of
thought among its readership. Diversity is a threat to the system. This
being the case, we shouldn’t be surprised that Rumsfeld is deliberately
targeting reporters; it is the logical extension of the prevailing political
ethos. Information is power, and now that power is the exclusive province of
seven media giants who are inextricably linked to the White House. See No Evil
Don’t talk about a “free press”. The American media showed their true
colors in their handling of the decimation of Falluja. The entire media
stood by with their hands over their mouths while a city of 250,000 was
bombed to the ground in the greatest single war crime in the last decade.
The story of Falluja is a tale of cluster bombs, napalm, depleted uranium,
banned weapons, families crushed in their homes, dogs devouring dead
citizens on the city streets, and masses of displaced people victimized by a
vengeful and implacable enemy. It’s a story of unspeakable crimes, of
absolute impunity, and unfathomable cynicism.
Even today, a full 6 months after the siege, the story of Falluja cannot
be revised enough to fit into the imperial register; so the silence
continues.
This is the reality America’s “free press”; the collaborative
handmaiden of the US war machine, partners in the destruction of entire
civilizations. Eventually, it will have to be chopped down to the root
before anything worthwhile can grow up in its place.
Aljazeerah.info (http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2005%20Opinion%20Editorials/April/13o/Pope%20TV%20and%20the%20New%20World%20Media%20By%2 0Mike%20Whitney.htm)