Journalism Glance
More than 70 US newspapers have been helping to distribute a DVD of a documentary film, Obsession: Radical Islam's war against the West, that has been criticised as Islamophobic. The DVD is being included as an advertising insert in newspapers in "swing" states ahead of the presidential election.
As The Guardian reported last week, the use of the DVD is being seen as an attempt to secure John McCain's victory over Barack Obama, who has been falsely accused of being a Muslim. Now the row over the DVD's distribution has proved controversial for newspapers.
US newspapers embroiled in controversy for distributing DVD about Muslim radicals
When Journalists Refuse To Tell the Truth About Israel
'Fear of being slandered as "anti-Semites" means we are abetting terrible deeds in the Middle East'
by Robert Fisk
What if we had supported the apartheid regime of South Africa against the majority black population? What if we had lauded the South African white leadership as "hard-line warriors" rather than racists? What if we had explained the shooting of 56 black protesters at Sharpeville as an understandable "security crackdown" by the South African police. And described black children shot by the police as an act of "child sacrifice" by their parents? What if we had called upon the "terrorist" ANC leadership to "control their own people".
Almost every day that is exactly the way we are playing the Israeli-Palestinian war. No matter how many youths are shot dead by the Israelis, no matter how many murders – by either side – and no matter how bloody the reputation of the Israeli Prime Minister, we are reporting this terrible conflict as if we supported the South African whites against the blacks. No, Israel is not South Africa (though it happily supported the apartheid regime) and no, the Palestinians are not the blacks of the shanty towns. But there's not much difference between Gaza and the black slums of Johannesburg; and there's not much difference between the tactics of the Israeli army in the occupied territories and that of the South African police. The apartheid regime had death squads, just as Israel has today. Yet even they did not use helicopter gunships and missiles.
Two GOP articles "disappear' from web news sites
Two articles critical of GOP candidates McCain and Palin appeared in online editions of the Chicago Sun-Times and FOX News respectively. Both articles linked to 'error' messages within minutes of their publication.
The headline of the first story to 'disappear' was EBERT: JOHN McCAIN'S BAD MANNERS. The CST error link can be found at http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/1190154,ebertmccain092808.article
The FOX News headline was CONSERVATIVES BEGIN QUESTIONING PALIN'S HEFT, and links to an error message at http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/28/conservatives-begin-questioning-palins-heft/
Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009
Founded by Carl Jensen in 1976, Project Censored is a media research program working in cooperation with numerous independent media groups in the US. Project Censored’s principle objective is training of SSU students in media research and First Amendment issues and the advocacy for, and protection of, free press rights in the United States.
Here are links to the top 25 censored stories that didn't make the news this year:
Fox host tells guest mentioning McCain role in Keating Five scandal to 'pipe down'
Appearing Thursday morning on Fox & Friends, radio host Mike Papantonio tried to remind viewers about McCain's intervention with federal regulators on behalf of real estate mogul Charles Keating, who was trying to avoid regulations of a savings and loan he owned during the S&L crisis of the 1980s.
F&F's Steve Doocy told Papantonio to "pipe down," called him "rude" and demanded he "cut it out." A show producer could be overheard saying "cut his mike."
Warning sounded on web's future
The internet needs a way to help people separate rumour from real science, says the creator of the World Wide Web.
Talking to BBC News Sir Tim Berners-Lee said he was increasingly worried about the way the web has been used to spread disinformation.
Sir Tim spoke prior to the unveiling of a Foundation he has co-created that aims to make the web truly worldwide.
It will also look at ways to help people decide if sites are trustworthy and reliable sources of information.
TVNL Comment: No such concerns over the disinformation spread in the broadcast media? How interesting that they want to fact check the fact checkers...but the establishment sources are free to create and maintain a false reality.
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