Is the free press really free? Or perhaps it’s the US media just putting the Nations interests first in what it perceives as war?
http://www.dawn.com/weekly/encounter/encounter.htm#3
By Dr Mahjabeen Islam
I was to be the opening speaker at the seminar on “Fairness in Religious Reporting” at the Islamic Centre of Greater Toledo and in the rush of things accepted the assignment. Realized with chagrin later that this would be one brief presentation for there was very little to say; the case was made, the media was biased and liberal, they disliked religion and they veritably despised Islam. What had I done? Bound by my word and berating myself liberally for not learning to say ‘no’ I started to gather information, just as I had been trained to do in my residency.
The Yahoo! search engine has become quite the lifesaver. It is just what Goldilocks ordered for it is not too detailed nor does it give you too few search results. Concurrently I went on Amazon.com and ordered Lies and the Lying Liars that Tell Them by Al Franken and What Liberal Media by Eric Alterman. The former I would classify in the must read category; it is very engagingly written and was a great eye-opener for me in this quest.
Al Franken’s book names some of the mainstream media that is not liberal. ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, The New York Times, Washington Post, Time and Newsweek made his list in that they at least try to be fair. In what he calls the right-wing media, Fox News tops the list of the likes of Washington Times, The New York Post, the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal and talk-radio. Their bias is clear-cut and comes complete with an agenda.
** The 365-day archives of the New York Times in 2000 revealed that 124 items were written on the religious right and two items on the religious left. In the same study The Washington Post tallied a 104 versus 0 score. **
Back in 1999 Cohen of FAIR wrote what is now subject for frequent debate: ** " One religious group that can legitimately complain of recurrent bias is followers of Islam. On talk radio Islam is denounced as a ‘violent religion’ - while terrorism ‘experts’ falsely declare that Islamic religious doctrine sanctions genocide." He goes on to deal with the sorest issue amongst Muslims today: “mainstream journalists report on terrorist incidents with a matter of fact reference to ‘Islamic violence’ but would know better than to speak of ‘Christian’ or ‘Jewish’ violence.” Interestingly after the Oklahoma City bombing the New York Times speculated on possible Islamic culprits, in part because “the city is home to at least three mosques”. **
In the attempt at being fair and balanced I reviewed the ultra-right as well. ** There’s the famous Bill O’Reilly who did not just support the war in Iraq, but also recommended devastating bombing of civilians in Iraq, Iran and Libya. His chilling (or red-hot) quotes: “let us bomb the Afghan infrastructure to rubble and destroy power plants” and " let them eat sand". **
Next in the ultra-right parade is the “blonde bombshell” Ann Coulter. Al Franken calls her " the hysterical diva of the reigning right". ** Some of her pearls: " let’s invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity" and " we need to execute people like John Walker to physically intimidate liberals" **. She has labelled Hillary Clinton “dim-wit” and “bird brain”.
** The Nation reports in 2002 that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has a pervasive influence on the media. The corporation owns 26 TV stations, including the meteoric Fox News, has majority ownership in seven more and owns the NY Post as well as some European papers. **
Clear Channel is the world’s largest chain of radio stations. Clear Channel in October 2001 put out a list of songs that they “suggested” not be played for the duration of America’s war on terrorism.
The list is long but the prominent songs are Imagine by John Lennon, Bridge over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel, and any song by Rage Against the Machine, a band that extols justice and seeks revolution. To think that this is happening in the bastion of free speech is a very difficult pill to swallow.
** In September 2003 columnist Eric Margolis paid tribute to Christiane Amanpour saying that she broke a taboo of silence and ignited controversy when she was asked about the U.S. media’s Iraq coverage for she said “the press was muzzled and the press self-muzzled, and television was intimidated by the administration and its foot soldiers at Fox News”. Fox News immediately accused Amanpour of being a spokeswoman for Al Qaeda.
Margolis himself says that the US media was muzzled and he experienced it firsthand on US TV, radio and in print. “Never in my 20 years in media have I seen such unconscionable pressure exerted on journalists to toe the government’s party line.” He goes on to say that much of the US media after 9/11 has come to resemble the Soviet media and that the White House Press Corps and Fox News treated Bush and his entourage with the same “sucrose adulation and servility” that the state media lavished on Comrade Brezhnev. **
The writer is a physician practising in Toledo Ohio, US.
E-email address: [email protected].