The American Conservative this month has more antiwar articles than any publication on the left. The cover piece is by Jordan Bloom, “When News Is Propaganda,” and its most disturbing section details the ways that the cable news networks folded in the runup to the Iraq war. Jeez, look at the memo about Phil Donahue– not a good face for the network at at time of war.
Since CNN broadcast some of the opening volleys in the first Gulf War, the history of cable news has been inextricably tied to foreign conflict. War is a godsend for the networks. The public sits at home in rapt patriotism while the network brings on experts who speculate about minute details and strategies in language with just enough jargon to sound convincing.
The elephant in the room—the advertising and viewership benefits of war—has never been acknowledged by any of the three networks. But they regularly censor antiwar voices.
“There is little room for an antiwar point of view, either from the left or right, on television today,” says [Bill] Press, whose show on MSNBC was cancelled because he and co-host [Pat] Buchanan were both against the Iraq War. He criticizes the media’s failure to question government assertions about military operations.
“It did not do so in Vietnam, the first Gulf War, nor the war in Iraq. For the most part, reporters just recycled propaganda coming out of the White House and helped the White House sell war after war to the American people. Also networks mainly book cheerleaders for the war—because they’re afraid of being dubbed ‘anti-American.’”
“That was clearly a show where there was debate,” says Jeff Cohen, founder of the liberal media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting and a producer at MSNBC when “Buchanan & Press” was on the air. “It was often Buchanan and Press against two interventionists. That show didn’t last. One by one the voices of reason, the ones that turned out to be right on Iraq, were silenced.”
Uncritical coverage of the Iraq War was a product of either fear and cowardice or opportunism. At least in the case of MSNBC’s “Donahue,” where Cohen was senior producer, that’s perfectly clear. An internal NBC memo warned that antiwar host Phil Donahue might be a “difficult public face for NBC in a time of war.”
“We were still the top-rated show” at the time, says Cohen, and “if we could have been the one show that allowed moderate voices and noninterventionist voices, we would have been huge.” But network executives “were less interested in ratings than in tamping down controversy.”
“As it got closer to the invasion day, they clamped down on our program more and more with edicts that came down from management that we had to have more pro-war views than anti-invasion views. What that resulted in—and I think management was happy about this—was that the hawks seemed to outshout the voices of reason that were arguing we should wait.”
Don’t forget Ashley Banfield:
“I was office-less for ten months … No phone, no computer. For ten months I had to report to work every day and ask where I could sit. If somebody was away I could use their desk. Eventually, after ten months of this, I was given an office that was a tape closet. They cleared the tapes out and put a desk and a TV in there, and a computer and phone. It was pretty blatant. The message was crystal clear. Yet they wouldn’t let me leave. I begged for seventeen months to be let out of my contract. If they had no use for me, let’s just part ways amicably—no need for payouts, just a clean break. And [NBC News President Neal Shapiro] wouldn’t allow it. I don’t know what his rationale was—perhaps he thought I would take what I felt was a very strong brand, and others felt was a very strong brand, to another network and make a success of it. Maybe that’s why he chose to keep me in a warehouse. I will never forgive him for his cruelty and the manner in which he decided to dispose of me.
—in New Canaan-Darien Magazine, January 2009[4]”
Shapiro now runs Thirteen, the NYC PBS.
God darn the gatekeepers.
The antiwar left should reach out to the paleocons and/or libertarians who don’t like endless wars. Too many of the left don’t know anything about the right and accept whatever propaganda that’s spoon-fed to them. If you scratch the surface, you’d know that the grassroots are another thing entirely from the neocon establishment. Having a bi-partisan antiwar movement would do great and there is certainly a lot of room to work together on.
slightly off topic, but the war mongers are up for a game of chicken over syria.
The Obama administration said Tuesday that Russia is sending attack helicopters to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime and warned that the Arab country’s 15-month conflict could become even deadlier.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. was “concerned about the latest information we have that there are attack helicopters on the way from Russia to Syria.”
http://news.yahoo.com/us-russia-sending-syria-attack-helicopters-170359102.html
if you’ll notice yahoo!news couples the headline with a video of explosions in homs. not that the russian attack helicopters have been delivered or were the cause of the explosions. see also the BBC running photos of iraqi dead claiming that the dead were the corpses of syrian children ‘massacred’ by the SGovt.
Break up the Federal Reserve, the big banks, and the media conglomerates.
Any real investigation would lead the public to support the breakup of them all.
Great post Phil. I was just thinking about how many anti war folks MSNBC has let go..Keith, Cenk, Pat.
In the run up to the invasion I was glued to the news, internet, watching listening calling. Hoping that those concerned could stop those hell bent on invading Iraq. On Talk of the nation you could hear Former weapons inspector Scott Ritter, Diane Rehm had Dr. Brezinski others not in support. Questioning the validity of the intelligence. NPR would also have Gerecht, Micheal Rubin etc and those pushing the “pack of lies” on as well Of course Democracy Now had many guest on who were the voice of sanity. But when I would turn on the mainstream TV outlets it was Wolfowitz, Cheney, Rice, Bush, Feith, Ledeen, Gaffney, Kristol, David Frum repeating the “pack of lies” over and over and over again. Kept thinking about if you were an 8-6er and you had just one or two hours for the news and this was all you were watching what else could you think but there must be a need to invade Iraq. That is when I started going out into small coal mining towns that surround our university town of Athens Ohio to talk with Vets sitting in Moose lodges, VFW’s in Glouster, Chauncey, Trimble Ohio. Heard Vet after Vet question the need for the invasion. Had many WWII and Korean war Vets weep about the reality of war and how they did not want to witness our youth sent off to a war that was questionable. One older Korean war Vet that I approached and talked with outside of the VFW in Chauncey Ohio fell back into the seat of his huge old American made Lincoln with tears steaming down his face when I asked him what he thought about what looked like the upcoming invasion of Iraq. Virgil Kittle in his jean overalls, all of his Korean Vet pins on his ball cap just sat there crying and telling me how ‘wrong” this was even though he had been watching the MSM…he had questions. Bet you did not see Virgil on your TV screens.
What was also amazing to watch not be covered was all of the anti invasion marches in Wash D.C. (fall of 2002 , New York (Feb 2003) and across the country. Accumulativelyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protests_against_the_Iraq_War millions of Americans marching, petitioning their government not to invade. Teachers, plumbers, family members pushing children in strollers, seniors in wheel chairs WWII ( I pushed a 92 year old WWII Vet in his wheel chair, Korean, Vietnam, Desert Storm Vets marched against the invasion. The march was led by 9/11 families against the invasion. My dear friends Bev and John Titus who lost their daughterhttp://www.sweetalicia.org/ (airline stewardess on United flight) on 9/11 led that march with other 9/11 families against the invasion. Did you see any of the MSM host interview these people in the run up to that bloody invasion?
Fuck the MSM fuck them they did not do their jobs and they are still not doing their jobs. They are partially responsible for the dead in Iraq, dead American soldiers. They did not do their jobs. They rolled over. As Bob Woodward who also rolled over called it “group think.”
And now… in the push to attack Iran Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews etc have yet to have Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett on to discuss Iran. Rachel Maddow etc repeat unsubstantiated claims about Iran. They let the American public know about how many have been killed in Syria “massacred”. they show horrific images. But never report to Americans about how many Iraqi people have been killed, injured and displaced as a direct consequence of that bloody invasion.. you know “collateral damage” Fuck the MSM. Even though I watch to see what they are not covering
Thank goodness for the internet.