Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: Two men were arrested at the 2008 Republican National Convention and charged with a firebombing plot. For the FBI and headline writers, violent domestic terrorists had been thwarted before the act. The new film Better This World takes another look at the story and finds much more to say about the definition of terrorism and the U.S. legal system. We'll speak with filmmaker Katie Galloway. Also on CounterSpin today, a UN report about last year's Israeli raid on a humanitarian boat to Gaza was released this month. The main media lesson seemed to be [...]
Sep
01
2011
Gullible Reporters, Sick Responders
Relaying offical assurances about unsafe air at Ground Zero
By Julie Hollar
"Not Enough Evidence to Link 9/11 and Cancer, a Federal Report Says." The New York Times headline (7/27/11) delivered a devastating blow to many Ground Zero first responders, as well as to New Yorkers who lived and worked near the long-smoldering wreckage. After years of fighting for federal compensation to cover illnesses resulting from exposure to the toxic dust and fumes released by the destruction of the towers, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act was finally passed in 2010 and took effect in 2011 (thanks in no small part to the Daily Show's Jon Stewart, who helped shame [...]
Sep
01
2011
In Norway, Footnotes to Mass Murder
Terror Suspect cited Islamophobic blog as inspiration
After self-described "conservative Christian" Anders Behring Breivik was charged with killing 76 in a July 22 bombing and shooting spree in Norway, writers who shared the accused's virulently Islamophobic ideology heatedly denied that anything in their body of work could possibly lead anyone to violence. But Breivik seems to be one of the most articulate ideologues in the history of mass murder, writing a 1,500-page manifesto with hyperlinked footnotes that point precisely to those writings that allegedly inspired him to violence. Breivik's "total lack of respect for human life is not...something he can have picked up from me, or from [...]
Jul
29
2011
Devin Burghart on Norway terror, Julianne Escobedo Shepherd on Strauss-Kahn case
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: The US media narrative equating terrorism with Islam was on embarrassing display last week following the Norwegian terror attacks, a story which raised issues about right-wing extremism, and the links between violent speech and violent actions. We'll speak with Devin Burghart, the vice president of the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights, who has written about white nationalism in Norway and the US. Also on CounterSpin today, some things about the Dominique Strauss Kahn rape case are all-too familiar: a famous, powerful suspect, an anonymous accuser whose background and personal life are [...]
Jul
25
2011
Seeing 'Islamic Terror' in Norway
Learning no lessons from Oklahoma City mistakes
Right-wing terror suspect Anders Behring Breivik reportedly killed 76 people in Norway on Friday, by all accounts driven by far-right anti-immigrant politics and fervent Islamophobia. But many early media accounts assumed that the perpetrator of the attacks was Muslim. On news of the first round of attacks--the bombs in Oslo--CNN's Tom Lister (7/22/11) didn't know who did it, but knew they were Muslims: "It could be a whole range of groups. But the point is that Al-Qaeda is not so much an organization now. It's more a spirit for these people. It's a mobilizing factor." And he speculated confidently about [...]
Jul
01
2011
Losing the Plot
The Afghan War after bin Laden
With Osama bin Laden dead, can the United States finally bring an end to the Afghan War, its longest-lasting foreign military conflict? It’s an obvious question, since the invasion of Afghanistan was largely portrayed as an effort to catch the leader of the group that carried out the September 11 attacks. Corporate media did sometimes address this issue. On ABC (5/4/11), Christiane Amanpour asked in regard to bin Laden’s killing, “And many people are saying, well, does this require the U.S. to leave Afghanistan right now?” She answered her question: “The job is not finished there. You’ll talk to the [...]
Jun
17
2011
Shahid Buttar on civil liberties, Gareth Porter on Syed Saleem Shahzad
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: An activist in Texas gets his FBI files—and finds out that agents have been tailing him for years. Activists in the Midwest are the targets of a wide-ranging investigation, including a half-dozen house raids and an array of subpoenas. And—oh yeah—parts of the Patriot Act were renewed, there's an effort to extend the term of FBI chief Robert Mueller, and the FBI is giving agents new powers. Can media start connecting the dots? We'll ask Shahid Buttar of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee. Also this week: The work of recentlly murdered Pakistani journalist [...]
May
06
2011
Matthew Alexander on torture, Tyson Slocum on gas prices
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: The killing of Osama bin Laden has delivered plenty of media themes: Can the U.S. trust Pakistan? What does this mean for Al Qaeda? And, predictably enough, did Bush-era torture help find the al Qaeda leader? Torture advocates' insistence that this proves their case has given media yet another chance to weigh the supposed benefits of illegal interrogation. We'll speak with former military interrogator and author Matthew Alexander about why this is all wrong. Also on CounterSpin today, Gas prices edging up to an average of $4 a gallon are making headlines, but consumers [...]
