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WAR SPIN
132/EDITORIAL
Wars, certainly since the US involvement in Vietnam, have to be fought on two fronts: on the battlefield, and in the media to build public support for government action. What is striking about the situation in the USA is that, in spite of a sustained spin offensive, with heavy emphasis on ‘the war on terror’, ‘the axis of evil’ and so on, there is still a substantial majority of people who do not believe the case has been made for war with Iraq.Reports of the marches in the USA on Saturday January 17 revealed a cross-section of American society involved in them. Adverts paid for by an anti-war coalition appeared on network television, and a PEW Research Centre survey found that only 29% of US people supported an invasion. This is all the more surprising when one considers the right-wing radio talk shows, the thinly disguised conservative agenda of Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, and the largely uncritical coverage in the press and on the rest of network TV of Bush’s war plans.
One reason for the resilience is the role of the net as an alternative source of information and to mobilise support. Another is the active participation of a wide range of religious, civil and trade union organisations.
However both in the USA and the UK there will be an intensification of war spin around the crucial dates in late January of the UN weapons inspector’s report, Bush’s address to Congress and a meeting between the US president and Tony Blair the day after. UK editors, leader writers and political reporters on almost every daily paper and in the broadcast media are being briefed regularly by Downing Street or the Foreign Office to get them on message. Of course, some like the Daily Mirror still maintain a critical perspective, as a recent front cover vividly demonstrated.
As always, Free Press urges its readers to check out alternative sources, be critical about media coverage, and when necessary, challenge blatant media bias.
Media Workers Against the War can be contacted on http://www.mwaw.org. Other useful sites are listed below.
LINKSwww.opendemocracy.net
www.fair.org
www.medialens.org
Last modified: Wednesday, February 5, 2003
Previous war reporting stories
ACTIVISM PAYS OFF (II)
Times, NPR Change Their Take on DC Protests
ACTIVISM PAYS OFF (I)
BUSH'S "BLUEPRINT FOR US GLOBAL DOMINATION"
SELLING THE WAR
WAGING WAR ON IRAQ TO WIN THE NOVEMBER ELECTIONS
WAR TALK
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
ACTIVISM PAYS OFF (II)
Times, NPR Change Their Take on DC Protests
ACTIVISM PAYS OFF (I)
BUSH'S "BLUEPRINT FOR US GLOBAL DOMINATION"
SELLING THE WAR
WAGING WAR ON IRAQ TO WIN THE NOVEMBER ELECTIONS
WAR TALK
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
