Author: ari
-
Blaming the Media for Bad War News
Top officials in the Bush administration have often complained that news coverage of Iraq focuses on negative events too much and fails to devote enough attention to positive developments. Yet the White House has rarely picked direct fights with U.S. media outlets during this war. For the most part, President Bush leaves it to others…
-
After the Libby Indictment, the Press Is Acquitting Itself
A lot of media outlets are now scrutinizing some of the lies told by the Bush administration before the invasion of Iraq. Yet the same news organizations are bypassing their own key roles in the marketing of those lies. A case in point is the New York Times. On Saturday, hours after the indictment of…
-
News Media and “the Madness of Militarism”
This article was adapted from a presentation at the National Conference for Media Reform, held May 13-15 in St. Louis. Media activism has achieved a lot. But I don’t believe there’s anything to be satisfied with — considering the present-day realities of corporate media and the warfare state. War has become a constant of U.S.…
-
Political Bluster and the Filibuster
The battle over the filibuster is now one of the country’s biggest political news stories. The Bush administration seems determined to change Senate rules so a simple majority of senators, instead of three-fifths, can cut off debate and force a vote on the president’s judicial nominees. Both sides claim to be arguing for procedural principles.…
-
Nuclear Fundamentalism and the Iran Story
Years from now, when historians look back at agenda-building for a missile attack on Iran, they should closely examine a story that took up the USA’s most coveted space for media spin — the upper right corner of the New York Times front page — on the first day of May 2005. Under the headline…