For NYT, Cluster Munitions Are Completely Wrong—When Russians Use Them
For the New York Times, cluster munitions fall into two categories—clearly wrong or complexly controversial—depending on who uses them.
Norman Solomon
Newshour Distracted By Distraction
When the discussion went through the motions of covering the ground of Trump’s major appointees and nominees—Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions and Mike Pompeo got brief mentions—there wasn’t the slightest indication that their backgrounds included racism, anti-immigrant fervor, extreme hostility to Muslims, antisemitism and support for torture.
Euphemism as Journalism: Distracting the Audience by Focusing on Trump’s Skill at Distraction
Euphemism isn’t journalism, but conflating the two can be irresistible for mainline journalists when candor might seem overly intrepid.
Deadly ‘Diplomacy’
With 223 days left in his presidency, George W. Bush laid more flagstones along a path to war on Iran. There was the usual declaration that “all options are on the table” — and, just as ominously, much talk of diplomacy. Three times on June 11, the Associated Press reports, Bush “called a diplomatic solution […]
When a Little Dissent Is Too Much
Over the years, once in a great while, I’ve been surprised to cross paths with a journalist at a major TV outlet who actually seems willing and able to go outside the conventional boundaries of media discourse. That’s what happened one day in the fall of 2005 at the Boston headquarters of the CN8 television […]
Obama, Clinton and Anger to Burn
In politics, as in so many other aspects of life, anger is a combustible fuel. Affirmed and titrated, it helps us move forward. Suppressed or self-indulged, it’s likely to blow up in our faces. With the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination coming to a close, there’s plenty of anger in the air. And […]
The Media Ballad of Gen. Petraeus
Gen. David Petraeus is the name. And if he didn’t exist, a media presence like him would have to be invented. Standing behind the general, of course, is a commander in chief whose highs and lows can be charted with press clippings. After mediocre reviews through most of 2001, he became the media’s genuine global-vision […]
NPR News
While the Iraqi government continued its large-scale military assault in Basra, the NPR reporter’s voice from Iraq was unequivocal on the morning of March 27: “There is no doubt that this operation needed to happen.” Such flat-out statements, uttered with journalistic tones and without attribution, are routine for the U.S. media establishment. In the “War […]
Warfare and Healthcare
It’s kind of logical. In a pathological way. A country that devotes a vast array of resources to killing capabilities will steadily undermine its potential for healing. For social justice. For healthcare as a human right. Martin Luther King Jr. described the horrific trendline four decades ago: “A nation that continues year after year to […]
The War Election
Maybe it sounded good when politicians, pundits and online fundraisers talked about American deaths as though they were the deaths that mattered most. Maybe it sounded good to taunt the Bush administration as a bunch of screw-ups who didn’t know how to run a proper occupation. And maybe it sounded good to condemn Donald Rumsfeld […]
In Honor of My Mother and the Power of Love
The last time my mother was in a hospital, an essay by Thich Nhat Hanh moved in front of my eyes. “Our mother is the teacher who first teaches us love, the most important subject in life,” he wrote. “Without my mother I could never have known how to love. Thanks to her I can love my neighbors. Thanks to her I can love all living beings.”
Issues Have Gone Missing in Presidential Race
In recent decades, the news media have shown increasing attraction to style over substance. Under the cover of journalism, endless discussions have pumped up the public discourse with evaluations of candidates as theatrical performers rather than policy advocates. But the current presidential race has brought us to a new journalistic low. The media fascination with […]
Channeling Suze Orman
I was near the deadline for a column when I glanced at a TV screen. “The Suze Orman Show,” airing on CNBC at prime time, exerted a powerful force in my hotel room. And the fate of this column was sealed. Orman made a big splash many years ago on public television — the incubating […]
The Mad Corporate World of Glenn Beck
When I picked up a ringing phone one morning in mid-December, the next thing I knew a producer was inviting me to appear on Glenn Beck’s TV show. Beck has become a national phenom with his nightly hour of polemics on CNN Headline News — urging war on Iran, denouncing “political correctness” at home, trashing […]
The USA’s Human Rights Daze
The chances are slim that you saw much news coverage of Human Rights Day when it blew past the media radar — as usual — on Dec. 10. Human rights may be touted as a treasured principle in the United States, but the assessed value in medialand is apt to fluctuate widely on the basis […]
The Media and Class Warfare
A few decades ago, upwards of one-third of the American workforce was unionized. Now the figure is down around 10 percent. And news media are central to the downward spiral. As unions wither, the journalistic establishment has a rationale for giving them less ink and air time. As the media coverage diminishes, fewer Americans find […]
Good News for Americans–Your Wages Are Flat!
The economic coverage was fairly typical on a recent broadcast of the radio program Day to Day, airing nationwide from NPR News. “There’s actually some good news out today about the American economy,” host Madeleine Brand announced. Then she introduced a reporter from the widely heard Marketplace show, Jill Barshay, who proceeded to offer the […]
The United States of Violence
We keep hearing that Iraq is not Vietnam. And surely any competent geographer would agree. But the United States is the United States — still a country run by leaders who brandish, celebrate and use the massive violent capabilities of the Pentagon as a matter of course. ******************** Almost fifty years ago, during the same […]
The Pro-War Undertow of the Blackwater Scandal
The Blackwater scandal has gotten plenty of media coverage, and it deserves a lot more. Taxpayer subsidies for private mercenaries are antithetical to democracy, and Blackwater’s actions in Iraq have often been murderous. But the scandal is unfolding in a U.S. media context that routinely turns criticisms of the war into demands for a better […]
Sputnik, 50 Years Later
A story could start almost anywhere. This one begins at a moment startled by a rocket. In the autumn of 1957, America was not at war … or at peace. The threat of nuclear annihilation shadowed every day, flickering with visions of the apocalyptic. In classrooms, “duck and cover” drills were part of the curricula. […]
