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WAR TALK
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Newspaper headlines are taking on an increasingly bellicose tone. Take the ones after US President George Bush's UN speech, on Friday 13 September. The Guardian: 'Bush sets the war clock ticking'; The Times: 'Bush calls the world to arms'; The Daily Telegraph: 'British Troops head for Iraq War'. Throw in the views of magazines like The Economist, 14 September, which urges 'Saddam Hussein must be dealt with ¡V by the United Nations of possible, without it if needs be' and it is clear that, with one or two honourable exceptions, our press is now ratcheting up the war talk.The role of the CPBF in this preparation for war is clear. A range of views, alternative policy positions, and publications which get precious little publicity are out there in the UK, Europe, and indeed America,. They are crowded out by the virtual unanimity of the pro-war press.
Our commitment is to the belief that the bedrock of a democratic society has to be a media which is diverse and capable of expressing a range of divergent views. Inevitably, in times of crisis it is often the dissident, critical views that are marginalized, in spite of the fact that often they are the views held by a large number of people.
For example, in November 2001 almost 100,000 people took to the streets of London to protest against the UK involvement in the US-led bombing of Afghanistan, but the action was given minimal, often inaccurate coverage.
Since the awful events of September 11 2001 we have seen a concerted effort by the US government to dragoon governments into an uncritical acceptance of its 'war on terrorism'. The tenor of Bush¡¦s speech to the UN was 'you get behind me, and support my actions - but if you don't I will move against Iraq on my own'.
Inevitably military action will lead to civilian and military casualties, and the political outcome, in terms of the precarious situation in the Middle East, is absolutely unpredictable. For those who think the case for war, as presented by George Bush or Tony Blair, is proven it is worth reading The Case Against War by Stephen Zunes (www.thenation.com)
The world did change after September 11. Most dramatically, the war on terrorism has become a pretext for a new culture of secrecy. Mary Graham in The Information Wars (www.theatlantic.com) describes how swathes of information have been taken off the web in the US. She argues, 'The wholesale censorship of information on Web sites and in government reports carries insidious costs.'
FAIR, www.fair.org, our sister organisation in the USA, asks basic questions about where the 'war on terror' has taken us, and identifies three issues that the media should explore:
- The attack on civil liberties and the erosion of rights stemming from the USA PATRIOT Act rushed through Congress with virtually no public debate in October 2001
- Unresolved questions in Afghanistan, and the reluctance of the media to focus on the less righteous aspects of the war
- Environmental fallout in New York. The fires at the World Trade Centre burnt for nearly four months and filled the air with a mixture of toxic substances and many rescue workers and resident now suffer from serious respiratory problems
In the end it is the responsibility of journalists to ask tough questions and not be used as conduits for disinformation in the pursuit by the US government of its war aims.LINKSwww.thenation.com
www.theatlantic.com
www.fair.org
Last modified: Friday, September 20, 2002
Previous war reporting stories
Not in My Name: A Cutting-Edge Film-Documentary
The Axis of Spin
WITHOUT COMMENT
CENSORSHIP & DISINFORMATION - The War of Minds
New Video Documentary: "NOT IN MY NAME"
WITHOUT COMMENT
THE OTHERS
THE GAPS IN THE REPORTS
SUSPICIOUS INCIDENTS
NATIONAL ANTI-WAR ANTI-SANCTIONS CONFERENCE: RESIST!
SEPTEMBER 11 RELATIVES SPEAK IN LONDON
Alice Mahon MP with Peter Gowan, New Left Review.
Emergency security measures in USA curb basic freedoms
THE PAPERS’ WAR
28 November: Open meeting - Coverage of the (War) Crisis
War in Afghanistan - BBC Editorial Policy Guidelines
Free Press special issue - War in Afghanistan
1 November - NUJ meeting
4th November - Caryl Churchill's 'Far Away', plus Kika Markham reading from Tony Kushner's 'Homebody/Kabul'.
October 23 - MWAW rally at the BBC
How Carter and Brzezinski helped start the Afghan mess
ARROW calls for anti-war vigils on 11 November
US TV networks fall in line and salute
Media Workers Against the War
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Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
War Reporting
Not in My Name: A Cutting-Edge Film-Documentary
The Axis of Spin
WITHOUT COMMENT
CENSORSHIP & DISINFORMATION - The War of Minds
New Video Documentary: "NOT IN MY NAME"
WITHOUT COMMENT
THE OTHERS
THE GAPS IN THE REPORTS
SUSPICIOUS INCIDENTS
NATIONAL ANTI-WAR ANTI-SANCTIONS CONFERENCE: RESIST!
SEPTEMBER 11 RELATIVES SPEAK IN LONDON
Alice Mahon MP with Peter Gowan, New Left Review.
Emergency security measures in USA curb basic freedoms
THE PAPERS’ WAR
28 November: Open meeting - Coverage of the (War) Crisis
War in Afghanistan - BBC Editorial Policy Guidelines
Free Press special issue - War in Afghanistan
1 November - NUJ meeting
4th November - Caryl Churchill's 'Far Away', plus Kika Markham reading from Tony Kushner's 'Homebody/Kabul'.
October 23 - MWAW rally at the BBC
How Carter and Brzezinski helped start the Afghan mess
ARROW calls for anti-war vigils on 11 November
US TV networks fall in line and salute
Media Workers Against the War
