Nieman Watchdog > Commentary > At least 1,400 arrests for antiwar dissent, but who’s counting? Not the press. COMMENTARY | July 22, 2011 The national news media almost totally ignore homefront protests of the Afghanistan war, killer drones, torture, and more, regardless of their newsworthiness. By its lack of coverage, isn’t the press thus helping perpetuate an endless war? Part of a Nieman Watchdog series, 'Reporting the Endgame' [Also read our follow-up story in which a Washington Post editor tries to explain his paper's lack of coverage of antiwar protest: Coulda, woulda, shoulda coverage of antiwar protests.] Antiwar activists repeatedly stage dramatic acts of civil disobedience in the United States but are almost entirely ignored by mainstream print and broadcast news organizations. The protests don’t begin to approach the level of those during the Vietnam war or in the early years of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars – but that’s not a reason to ignore them. Berrigan, who is also a noted poet, has repeatedly spoken out and protested against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and nuclear weapons.
Murdoch pays Dowlers £3m for phone hacking - Crime, UK The huge payout, which The Independent understands is to be divided between Milly's family and charities designated by them, comes after Mr Murdoch held his head in his hands in a meeting with the teenager's parents this summer and repeatedly apologised for the interception of her voicemails by his News of the World. The revelation in July that the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire accessed Milly's mobile phone on behalf of NOTW after her disappearance in March 2002 – and that messages were deleted from her phone, giving her family false hope that she was still alive – was a tipping point in the hacking saga, unleashing a wave of public anger and revulsion which ultimately forced the closure of the 168-year-old tabloid. The revelation sparked an unprecedented risis in the Murdoch empire. The main principles of the settlement between NI and the Dowler family have been agreed and the package is expected to be finalised in the coming days. How the case unfolded 21 March 2002 14 April 2002
Murdoch's influence extends to U.S., global politics It's been reported that Murdoch has close, and sometimes inappropriate, relationships with conservative politicians in the U.K. It's also commonly believed that he has close ties to what we consider conservative politicians here in the U.S. as well, but campaign finance records suggest he has ties to both sides of the aisle. According to the Sunlight Foundation's Influence Explorer, News Corp's political givings are actually split pretty evenly between Democrats (51 percent) and Republicans (49 percent). The biggest all-time recipient of contributions from News Corp is President Obama. It should be noted that the totals for News Corp’s contributions include money from employees of the organization and their family members. It’s also been reported that Fox News also has contracts with Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, all having run for president either in the past or currently, to appear on the network as commentators. See below for a list Murdoch’s top recipients.
Cenk Uygur and the ethos of corporate-owned media - Glenn Greenwald Before being named six months ago as interim host of MSNBC’s 6:00 p.m. program, Cenk Uygur blogged at liberal sites, hosted a popular Internet and radio show aimed at a young audience (The Young Turks), and had a regular segment on Dylan Ratigan’s MSNBC show called “The Daily Rant.” As one might expect, his style was combative, irreverent, and even at times angry, and he was often highly critical of both political parties and President Obama (though his anger at Democrats was typically due to what he perceived as excessive capitulation to the GOP). Last night, despite what The New York Times called “solid” (but not “stand-out”) ratings, it was announced that MSNBC was replacing Uygur with Rev. Al Sharpton; Uygur — in a 17-minute YouTube segment on his Young Turks show (posted below) — then announced that he had rejected MSNBC’s apparently lucrative offer to stay on in various other roles and explained what happened and why. I said on the air that most politicians are corrupt.
CNN Responds to Activists on Tea Party Alliance CNN has responded to criticism from FAIR activists of its debate partnership with the Tea Party Express, rejecting the idea that there was anything questionable about its cooperation with the far-right racist organization. Asked by media columnist Richard Prince (Journal-isms, 9/12/11) to respond to FAIR's September 12 Action Alert, a CNN spokesperson replied: During the primary debate season it's not unusual for news organizations to partner with groups who are part of the coalition of that party.... CNN has partnered in the past with the Florida GOP (2007) and the Nevada Democratic Party (2008). The problem with CNN's Tea Party debate was not that it had a co-sponsor; anyone who has watched a presidential debate knows that this is often the case. The issue is what sort of group a journalistic outlet pairs itself with, and what that relationship involves. That level of coordination does not exist at other presidential debates.
Murdoch's ambitions in the Middle East - Features Embroiled in a scandal that has global implications, Rupert Murdoch's media empire is under fire due to the ongoing fallout resulting from the News of the World scandal. But while News Corp remains under heavy scrutiny in the UK, US, and the rest of the West, the launch of Abu Dhabi-based Arabic language news channel Sky News Arabia is still on track. For someone interested in assisting in starting a television network with a planned initial reach of 50 million viewers across the Middle East, Murdoch has an interesting perspective on regional issues that affect the would-be consumers of the new Arabic channel. "My own perspective is simple", Murdoch told the Anti-Defamation League on December 13, 2010. Murdoch emphasised "the importance of good relations between Israel and the United States", stating: "Some believe that if America wants to gain credibility in the Muslim world and advance the cause of peace, Washington needs to put some distance between itself and Israel.
The omnipotence of Al Qaeda and meaninglessness of "Terrorism" - Glenn Greenwald For much of the day yesterday, the featured headline on The New York Times online front page strongly suggested that Muslims were responsible for the attacks on Oslo; that led to definitive statements on the BBC and elsewhere that Muslims were the culprits. The Washington Post‘s Jennifer Rubin wrote a whole column based on the assertion that Muslims were responsible, one that, as James Fallows notes, remains at the Post with no corrections or updates. The morning statement issued by President Obama — “It’s a reminder that the entire international community holds a stake in preventing this kind of terror from occurring” and “we have to work cooperatively together both on intelligence and in terms of prevention of these kinds of horrible attacks” — appeared to assume, though (to its credit) did not overtly state, that the perpetrator was an international terrorist group. How’s that again? UPDATE: The original version of the NYT article was even worse in this regard.
MSNBC Has Devoted Zero Prime Time Segments To Occupy Wall Street The Occupy Wall Street protest is in its fifth day, and MSNBC has still not devoted a single prime time segment to it. Last Saturday a protest began on Wall Street, but the three US cable news networks effectively blacked it out. CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News did not even mention the protest that was happening right under their very noses. This behavior was something that was to be expected from the right wing Fox News and the now pseudo right wing CNN, but MSNBC also ignored an event that should be important to every American liberal and progressive. MSNBC’s business model is predicated on being a 24 hour cable news network that doesn’t actually broadcast news 24 hours a day/7 days a week. The network closes shop at 10 PM Friday, and minus weekend morning programming like Chris Hayes’ new show Up, they broadcast nothing but repackaged Dateline episodes, true crime documentaries, and endless episodes of Lockup. What about middle class fighter Ed Schultz?
News Corp.'s Tangled Web News Corp. closed its British tabloid newspaper, News of the World, founded in 1843, on July 10 after allegations that it obtained phone, medical, and bank records from as many as 3,870 people ranging from celebrities, politicians, and the police. Data: Bloomberg; The Guardian; Photographs: Abaca; AP Photo (6); Corbis (5); Getty Images (18); Newscom (4); Graphic by Bloomberg Businessweek
How a clueless "terrorism expert" set media suspicion on Muslims after Oslo horror Immediately after news of the bombing of government buildings in Norway’s capital Oslo, the Internet buzzed with speculation about who might have done it and why. Most speculation focused on so-called Islamist militancy and Muslims. The urge to speculate after grave events is understandable, but the focus of speculation, its amplification through social media, its legitimization in mainstream media, and the privilege granted to so-called experts is a common pattern. The danger of such speculation is that it adds little knowledge but causes real harm by spreading fear and loathing of Muslims, immigrants and other vulnerable and routinely demonized populations, and whether intentional or not, assigns collective guilt to them. “Experts” who supposedly study this topic — almost always white men and very often with military or government backgrounds — direct suspicion toward Muslims by pointing to claims of responsibility on “jihadi” web sites that only they have access to.
Fox's Bolling Is A Toxic Combination Of Conspiracy Theories And Hate With the departure of Glenn Beck from Fox News, Eric Bolling has been auditioning to be Beck's heir by coming up with wild conspiracy theories and making comments with racial overtones. Now Bolling is expanding his repertoire to another area. Commenting on the American hikers who were recently released from an Iranian prison, Bolling said they were spies and: "I think [Iran] should have kept them." He also criticized the United States for possibly spending money to set them free. These remarks recall the widely - condemned comments of retired Col. Combine these comments with Bolling's long history of racist , false, and inflammatory rhetoric , along with his radical conspiracy theories , and you create a toxic television host who Fox graciously gives a platform to twice a night (once on Fox News' The Five , and once on Fox Business' Follow The Money ) so he can push his fringe views.