Author: Norman Solomon
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Editorial Position of the New York Times: Thumbs Up for Gaza Slaughter
By Abba Solomon and Norman Solomon Over the weekend, the New York Times sent out a clear signal: the mass slaughter of civilians is acceptable when the Israeli military is doing the killing. Under the headline “Israel’s War in Gaza,” the most powerful newspaper in the United States editorialized that such carnage is necessary. The lead editorial…
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Does Uncle Sam Have a God Complex?
By Norman Solomon As a matter of faith, some people believe that God can see and hear everything. But as a matter of fact, the U.S. government now has the kind of surveillance powers formerly attributed only to a supreme being. Top “national security” officials in Washington now have the determination and tech prowess to…
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Memo to Potential Whistleblowers: If You See Something, Say Something
By Norman Solomon Blowing the whistle on wrongdoing creates a moral frequency that vast numbers of people are eager to hear. We don’t want our lives, communities, country and world continually damaged by the deadening silences of fear and conformity. I’ve met many whistleblowers over the years, and they’ve been extraordinarily ordinary. None were applying…
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An Assault from Obama’s Escalating War on Journalism
By Norman Solomon In a memoir published this year, the CIA’s former top legal officer John Rizzo says that on the last day of 2005 a panicky White House tried to figure out how to prevent the distribution of a book by New York Times reporter James Risen. Officials were upset because Risen’s book, State of War, exposed…
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Why We Need Media Critics Who Are Fiercely Independent
By Norman Solomon The most renowned media critics are usually superficial and craven. That’s because — as one of the greatest in the 20th century, George Seldes, put it — “the most sacred cow of the press is the press itself.” No institutions are more image-conscious than big media outlets. The people running them know…