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MEDIA ACTIVISM (continued)
132/
In FP131 we gave examples of the way media activists in the USA have challenged selective or inaccurate reporting. Here is another success.A drama on HBO that purports to tell the true story of a cable crew broadcasting during the Gulf War presents uncritical treatment of an old charge that in 1990 Iraqi soldiers threw Kuwaiti babies out of incubators.
Live from Baghdad, made by HBO, is based on a memoir by Robert Weiner on how CNN covered the Gulf War. He was a field producer at the time. Halfway through the film, a CNN anchor informs viewers about allegations of brutality and then shifts to a tearful woman declaring, "They took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators and left the babies to die on the cold floor!"
It was a lie, propagated by the international PR firm Hill and Knowlton, who received $10.7m from the Kuwaiti government for this and other services. The story was used by the Americans at the UN Security Council, and by George Bush in a January 1991 speech before he ordered the bombing of Iraq.
A FAIR activism campaign led HBO to include a message at the end of the credits which reads: "While the allegations of Iraqi soldiers taking babies from incubators were widely circulated during the run-up to the Gulf War (the time frame of the drama of our film) these allegations were never substantiated."
On the HBO website there is a piece by John R. MacArthur which sheds considerable light on the incubators hoax. (MacArthur is also the author of an excellent book:
Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf War).
The lesson is activism can get results.
Last modified: Wednesday, February 5, 2003
Previous war reporting stories
WAR SPIN
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
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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
WAR SPIN
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
