AMosely

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/newswar/

The first of a four-part series on the future of American news - how it is generated, how it is spun, and the role it plays in society is rolling this week on PBS. This is a topic that has come up in many threads here, in many different contexts. Anyone who has found those discussions interesting might enjoy Lowell Bergman's (a long-time corporate news deserter and skeptic) take on this growing trend - the 'selling' of mainstream news - and the apparent willingness of reporters to be sold stories.

Edit/caution: If you're a Bush supporter or a New York Times lover, episode one is not going to be very pleasant - it openly displays the Bush administration's brilliant manipulation of the news and the would-be unfallable Times' soft underbelly that played right into it.

jepzilla

While I haven't watched this particular program, I don't see how the current news situation is any different to how it has been in the past. Often we like to look back into the past with our rosy spectacles and reminisce about how the papers used to be unbiased, upstanding publications, where honorable editors and diligent reporters let nothing stand in the way of unbiased, truthful reporting.

Wheras the term 'News War' has formerly been used as a colloquial expression to describe the Spanish-American War, given the role of yellow journalism in spurring that conflict on. Yellow journalism has a long and sordid history.

Beatnik

I didn't realize that term applied to the Spanish-American War, or why. Interesting.

And it makes sense, as the show looked at the interaction of the media and the government in building the case for the Iraq war. It was really fascinating to see how Watergate and trials 30 years ago shaped the law to create a temporary, legal shield for jorunalists and their confidential informants, and how that reading of the law no longer really applies.

__________________

fighter10101

If you really want to go indepth to find out about:

"American news - how it is generated, how it is spun, and the role it plays in society"

I strongly recomend "Manufacturing Consent" by N.Chomsky and E.Herman
http://www.amazon.com/Manufacturing-...e=UTF8&s=books

__________________

Kerostasis

Wait, N. Chomsky? You mean this Noam Chomsky? Isn't he a hard-line communist?

Why are we taking his word on American politics?

__________________

AMosely

I've read this, and a lot of Chomsky. Chomsky has been called a lot of things, but is actually none of them. He is a linguist by trade (a linguistics professor at MIT) and a long-standing critical observer of American foreign policy. For that reason, he's been called a communist, a socialist, an anarchist, and 'unpatriotic' because of his harsh criticism of American and Israeli foreign policies. He's actually none of them. He's a very gentle man with some very intriguing and eye-opening observations. And of course, his use of language is simply marksman-like.

Kerostasis

There are plenty of people who are harshly critical of US and Israeli foreign policy who aren't called Socialists. (example: most of the Democratic party?) I find it hard to believe that he is called a Socialist just because he's critical of our foreign policy. Perhaps his membership in the IWW, a full on anti-capitalist union that openly promotes socialism, has more to do with it? Perhaps his self description as a a libertarian socialist and an advocate of anarcho-syndicalism has more to do with it?

You know, just suggesting.

__________________

El_Gringo_Grande

Socialist and Communist are two different things.

Anti capitalist and socalist are also two very different things.

__________________
Sen. John McCain (AZ) For President '08
---
I’m not racists, I have republican friends. Radio show host.
- "The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity". -Jacob Burkhardt
- "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" - Emerson
- "People should not be afraid of it's government, government should be afraid of it's People." - Line from V for Vendetta
- If software were as unreliable as economic theory, there wouldn't be a plane made of anything other than paper that could get off the ground. Jim Fawcette

Kerostasis

Sure, I'll freely admit that there's a wide spectrum of only loosely connected ideas that fall under what is commonly described as "anti-capitalism", "communism", and/or "socialism". However, ALL of them are generally considered far out of the mainstream here in the US, and none of them have earned any respect from me.

So you're free to take your choice of which of those words to use to describe Chomsky and/or the IWW, and I'll be only too happy to follow your lead. But I'm still not going to take him seriously.

__________________

Apophis

I'm pretty sure that he's a self-described socialist. Near certain but lacking the time to dig up the interview.

__________________
Diplomacy is the art of saying "good doggie" while looking for a bigger stick.

El_Gringo_Grande

Back on topic.

Who was the guy that spoke out against the common thinking of the time regarding WMD?
He was a form inspector. I believe a former marine. Rather young. He spoke out rather forcebly on the subject.

And was almost completly ignored.

Any body know?

__________________
Sen. John McCain (AZ) For President '08
---
I’m not racists, I have republican friends. Radio show host.
- "The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity". -Jacob Burkhardt
- "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" - Emerson
- "People should not be afraid of it's government, government should be afraid of it's People." - Line from V for Vendetta
- If software were as unreliable as economic theory, there wouldn't be a plane made of anything other than paper that could get off the ground. Jim Fawcette

USN_Squid

Scott Ritter And he was not ignored, he was front page news quite frequently before and during the initial stages of the war.

__________________

TheFatKidDeath

Really? Was he interviewed more frequently then the hordes of military "experts" who had less experience then he does?

I'm not sure what channels you were watching but I rarely saw him interviewed. His position was not one in demand at the time.

__________________
|TG-9th| TheFatKidDeath
"Born to Party, Forced to Work."
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/55640 - Check me out on The Onion
http://www.theonion.com/content/vide...ssfully_avoids - I'm on the local news!

El_Gringo_Grande

I didn't mean the media. I meant those actually making decisions. Bush, congress, those types.

I do remember him on "The Daily Show" and I believe "NOW". But those are stinkin liberal pansy commie shows.

And I don't remember him on the front page of the local paper. But here in Oklahoma we don't abide no liberal commies so it doesn't suprise me.

The one time I remember him on a show he was the lone voice amongst many wonks that basically treated him as a simpleton.

The main reason I bring him up is because he is just one example of how the News failed during this time. There where others. Wilsons report being another. I also remember some (again in the liberal commie media) foriegn reports that also said there where no WMDs. That Saddam wanted everybody to believe he had them which is why he made it so difficult. They said that if he really did have them they would have been buried out in the desert and he would have welcomed the inspectors with open arms to get the embargo lifted.

__________________
Sen. John McCain (AZ) For President '08
---
I’m not racists, I have republican friends. Radio show host.
- "The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity". -Jacob Burkhardt
- "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" - Emerson
- "People should not be afraid of it's government, government should be afraid of it's People." - Line from V for Vendetta
- If software were as unreliable as economic theory, there wouldn't be a plane made of anything other than paper that could get off the ground. Jim Fawcette

Kerostasis

Wait, wait...you're dismissing the NEWS REPORTS that objected to the war, because the White House didn't listen to them...and then saying this is an example of how NEWS REPORTING has failed us?

Come again?

__________________