[Media-watch] <no subject>

[Tony Sutton]

A new book from coldtype.net:

Embedded: Weapons 
of Mass Deception

The first full-length book on the war on Iraq / By Danny Schechter

There were two wars going on in Iraq ­ one was fought with armies of
soldiers, bombs and fearsome military force. The other was fought alongside
it with cameras, satellites, armies of journalists and propaganda
techniques. One war was rationalized as an effort to find and disarm WMDs ­
Weapons of Mass Destruction; the other was carried out by even more powerful
WMD¹s, Weapons of Mass Deception. The TV networks in America considered
their non-stop around-the-clock coverage their finest hour, pointing to the
use of embedded journalists and new technologies that permitted viewers to
see a war up close for the first time.

Critics of the coverage, such as veteran journalist and media watcher Danny
Schechter, a former ABC and CNN producer, consider much of the U.S. media
complicit in the promoting and cheerleading for a war in which some of the
reporting was sanitized, staged and suppressed. Schechter, author of Media
Wars: News at a Time of Terror, The More You Watch The Less You Know and
News Dissector, brings an insider¹s knowledge based on 30 years in
journalism with an outsiders perspective to critiquing media coverage.
Throughout the war, as he describes, he was ³self-embedded² at
Mediachannel.org, the world¹s largest on-line media issues network, writing
a 3000 word daily ³dissection² of the global coverage based on a wide range
of source.

Now that coverage, including articles and essays published elsewhere,
appears with a new introduction and hard-hitting analysis as Embedded:
Weapons of Mass Deception, a book length study of the new merger between the
military and the media. The book includes reports written in late May, 2003.

³It is important for readers to assess these arguments before our memories
fade and the Bush Administration changes the subject,² says Schechter. ³We
rushed this book into print online so it can contribute to the continuing
debate about the war and its impact. Until now, only the government is being
scrutinized. It¹s urgent that we also assess media coverage.

Read an excerpt from the book at http://www.coldtype.net/danbook.html

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PLUS

WORDS AGAINST WAR / John Pilger
WMD will be on Blair¹s headstone
Such a high crime does not, and will not, melt away; the facts cannot be
changed. Tony Blair took Britain to war against Iraq illegally. He mounted
an unprovoked attack on a country that offered no threat, and he helped
cause the deaths of thousands of innocent people. The judges at the
Nuremberg Tribunal following World War tII, who inspired much of
international law, called this "the gravest of all war crimes".
Read JOHN PILGER at http://www.coldtype.net/pilger.html

BROADSIDES / Antonia Zerbisias
Hawks turned US media into parrots
Turns out that CNN was the Pentagon¹s Bitch after all. That was my rather
unladylike phrase for AOL Time Warner¹s news network throughout the
Anglo-American invasion of Iraq. CNN hewed closely to the Pentagon party
line, giving us that endless military parade of gung-ho retired generals ­
former NATO commander Wesley Clark was a notable exception ­ while letting
loose a flock of squawking hawks, including Defence Policy Board member
Richard Perle; Dr. Doom himself, Henry Kissinger; and right-wing think tank
commander, William Kristol.
Read ANTONIA ZERBISIAS at http://www.coldtype.net/broad.html

MEDIABEAT / Norman Solomon
Britain: Not quite a parallel media universe
LONDON ‹ The people of Britain and the United States are living in parallel,
yet substantively different, media universes. Bonds of language and overlaps
of mass culture are obvious. But a visit to London quickly illuminates the
reality that mainstream journalism is much less narrow here than in America.
One indicator of a robust press: Nearly a dozen ideologically diverse
national daily papers are competing on British newsstands.
Read NORMAN SOLOMON at http://www.coldtype.net/mediabeat.html

MEDIA DIARY / Danny Schechter
UPDATED EVERY WEEKDAY- Don't miss Danny Schecter's daily media weblog report
­ five pages of blistering criticism of news and politics.
Read DANNY SCHECHTER at http://www.coldtype.net/danny.html

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