As Somalia sank deeper into famine in late summer, with 63 percent of southern Somalia’s population at risk of starvation, U.S. media coverage focused on stories of misery and resilience. Measuring children’s emaciated arms and describing the scraps of dignity people struggled to maintain in refugee camps substituted for investigation of causes, or discussion of remedies beyond appeals for donations. A typical report came from CBS Evening News (8/8/11): “The faces dusted with the desert and...the eyes that have seen too much,” with an interview with a woman “who had fought to save her children in an unforgiving land.” The [...]
Oct
01
2011
Ignoring Non-Islamic Culprits in Somalia Famine
Hunger from harmful aid and agriculture policies
By Julie Hollar
Oct
01
2011
Remote-Controlled Reporting on Remote-Controlled War
With Pakistan drone strikes, official story is media’s story
The New York Times (12/4/09) calls the American drone program “one of Washington’s worst-kept secrets.” This is particularly true for people in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in Pakistan that border Afghanistan, where the low humming sound which gives them their local name—machay, meaning wasps—is very familiar. Since the drone program in Pakistan began in 2004, between 1,650 and 2,880 people have been killed in as many as 295 drone attacks (New America Foundation, 8/11/11; Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 8/10/11)—with the number increasing drastically in 2009, after President Obama took office. In his first year in office alone, there [...]
Sep
01
2011
The Forever Wars
Media enlist to promote unending military adventures
By Peter Hart
In the era of the "War on Terror," the United States has embarked on two major wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a NATO-led "humanitarian" bombing of Libya that almost immediately morphed into a war for regime change, and undeclared drone bombing campaigns in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. Launching these wars has been fairly easy for the White House, with or without congressional approval. How any of them ends, though, remains unclear. The shift from the U.S.'s time-limited military adventures since the Vietnam War--in conflicts like Grenada, Panama, Somalia and Kosovo--to today's seemingly interminable and endlessly multiplying military commitments is one [...]
Aug
19
2011
Jim Hightower on Rick Perry, Glen Ford on Somalia
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: 'Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be elected president of the United States, please pay attention.' That was late columnist Molly Ivins' advice near the end of the George W. Bush era. But lo and behold another Republican governor of Texas is running for president, and from the tone of the coverage so far Rick Perry is some kind of job-creating machine. What else should we know about Rick Perry? Texas columnist and commentator Jim Hightower will join us to talk about the real Rick Perry record. Also on the [...]
Aug
18
2011
Libyan Deaths, Media Silence
Were Dozens Killed in Majer NATO Airstrikes?
Allegations of Libyan civilian deaths as a result of NATO bombing have often been covered in the corporate media as an opportunity to scoff at the Gadhafi regime's unconvincing propaganda (FAIR Blog, 6/9/11). But dramatic new allegations that dozens of civilians were killed in Majer after NATO airstrikes on August 8 have been met with near-total media silence. According to Libyan officials, 85 civilians were killed in Majer--a town south of Zliten, a site of frequent clashes and NATO airstrikes. There is no reason journalists should take this claim at face value. But reports from the scene suggest that something [...]
Aug
05
2011
Bill Hartung on military cuts, Rania Khalek on taping the police
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin. The debt ceiling has been lifted; that fixed everything, right? Well, the Democratic base is unhappy with the White House capitulation, the ratings agencies still aren't sure the United States has its fiscal house in order, and there's nothing here to address the jobs crisis. Of the budget cuts we've been hearing about, reports say that one early slice comes from the military budget--with a second round of potentially larger cuts possible in a few months. But is that really true? We'll talk it over with Bill Hartung of the Arms and Security Project. [...]
Aug
01
2011
Extra! Contents
Volume 24, Number 8
By Peter Hart
SoundBites Letters COVER STORY The Fires This Time In coverage of extreme weather, media downplay climate change by Neil deMause ‘Humanitarian War’ in Libya—or the Regular Kind? Factchecking the case for Obama’s bombing by Peter Hart Desperate for Democracy in Iraq Protesters fight for what U.S. media say they already have by Julie Hollar The End of the Bill Keller Era NYT chief did not challenge state power—he served it by Michael Corcoran On Lockout, NFL and Media Play on the Same Team TV deals give networks billions of reasons to root for owners by Zachary Tomanelli
Aug
01
2011
Libyan War Not About Oil-Unless It Should Be
That Libya has oil is not lost on the media; network newscasts occasionally mentioned oil in the context of the war. But it often came up as as by-product of some consumer concern: "Oil and gas prices are on the rise this morning. Military action in Libya pushed crude prices up more than $2 today to $103 per barrel, due to concerns over possible supply disruptions" (ABC's Good Morning America, 3/21/11). It would be difficult not to notice that NATO's direct military intervention in a pro-democracy uprising just so happened to take place in a country with massive oil reserves. [...]
