'OBJECTIVELY VERIFIABLE TRUTH NOW SUSPECT'
REPORT ON MOUNTING CENSORSHIP, DENIAL OF FILMS TO U.S. AUDIENCE SUGGESTS NEWS MEDIA NOW TREAT FACT ITSELF AS INHERENTLY BIASED
9 October 2006

The foundation of a free society is a press with the freedom to criticize instruments of power and influence and to reveal wrongdoing as it actually takes place. War is not a sufficient reason to institute a system of broad censorship criteria or to rein in the news media, as if they posed a direct threat to the wellbeing of the nation. But increasingly, it appears that American news media are intolerant of facts as such, waiting for members of the government themselves to come forward with complaints. [Full Story]

SENATE REPORT SAYS HUSSEIN NEVER HAD AL-QAEDA TIES
SADDAM HUSSEIN NEVER WORKED WITH BIN LADEN OR AL-ZARQAWI, DESPITE CLAIMS BY TOP U.S. OFFICIALS
9 September 2006

As the 5th anniversary of the attacks of 11 September 2001 approach, the US Senate's Intelligence Committee has issued a report officially finding that Saddam Hussein never collaborated with al-Qaeda in any sense. In fact, he was hunting Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who would later name his organization "Al-Qaeda of Mesopotamia". Hussein was suspicious of the Islamist radicalism of al-Qaeda and did not view them as friendly to his regime and its interests. [Full Story]

ABC TO AIR 'DOCU-DRAMA' USING FABRICATIONS AS EVIDENCE
'PATH TO 9/11' CONTRADICTS EVIDENCE AS LAID OUT BY 9/11-COMMISSION REPORT, THOUGH IT CLAIMS REPORT AS SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
8 September 2006

ABC plans to air a "docu-drama" entitled Path to 9/11, a 6-hour TV movie detailing in fictional re-enactment events its writers allege occurred in the US counterterrorism community in the years before the attacks of 11 September 2001. It clearly assigns blame to members of the Clinton administration for thwarting efforts to kill Bin Laden, and many now say the film directly misrepresents the truth, fabricating scenes, words and events either for dramatic or for political effect. [Full Story]

UN NAMES 10 MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORIES FOR 2006
9 July 2006

Every year, the United Nations publishes a list of the 10 most serious stories most overlooked by global press, world governments and international bodies. The list often includes multiple crisis situations which could degenerate into full-scale war. Developing nations, whose situations are often misunderstood or dismissed by news media, as too complicated, intractable, or of marginal relevance, take the spotlight this year. [Full Story]

4 MILLION KILLED IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO SINCE 1998
OUT OF SIGHT OF WORLD MEDIA, MILLIONS HAVE BEEN KILLED BY ONGOING CONFLICT, DISEASE, POVERTY
12 February 2006

Ongoing armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has taken an estimated 4 million lives since 1998. Estimates range from attributing 2 to 4 million deaths to the 5 year war, to placing 3 million during the war and 1 to 2 million more in fractious post-conflict unrest and deprivation. The Lancet reports 36,000 people per month are still dying from armed conflict, criminal violence, disease and malnutrition. [Full Story]

CBS NEWS REPORT DISTORTS POLL RESULTS, SAYS BUSH "LIKELY NOT" OBLIGED TO FOLLOW LAW
29 January 2006

In a report from the White House regarding the president's response to criticism from the public, from Congress and from legal and national security experts that his warrantless wiretaps are illegal, CBS White House correspondent John Roberts falsely cites a recent poll to claim Bush has broad support from the public for warrantless wiretaps. [Full Story]

GOOGLE TO COLLABORATE IN CENSORING INFORMATION DELIVERED TO CHINESE USERS
27 January 2006

The premier internet search engine Google has launched a new Chinese service, under the domain Google.cn, which it will voluntarily censor in keeping with the mandates of Chinese authorities. The announcement came earlier this week, as the Davos trade talks opened and on the same day as China's government announced it was ordering the closing of a weekly newspaper known for publishing articles on topics the Chinese Communist party's propaganda office had banned or which included criticism of government policy. [Full Story]

CHINA PLANS "SMOKELESS WAR" AGAINST PRESS, DISSIDENTS
26 September 2005

In a high-level Communist party meeting, China's president Hu Jintao has reportedly called for an intensive crackdown on media liberties. While China's government has sought to project an image of a more market-oriented, open system, it continues to forbid basic press freedoms and still persecutes journalists at an alarming rate. [Full Story]

US BROADCASTERS BRUSH DARFUR ASIDE, FAVOR JACKSON TRIAL
19 July 2005

A new study shows major US broadcasters have brushed genocide in Darfur aside, while giving widespread coverage to the trial of popstar Michael Jackson. Glolablinfo.org writes that "U.S. broadcast media are failing to provide even minimal coverage of the ongoing crisis". [Full Story]

MEDIA MATTERS FINDS DRUDGE SLUR ABOUT KERRY FILMS UNFOUNDED
29 July 2004

The non-profit media watchdog organization Media Matters for America has reported that its analysis finds there is no truth to the Matt Drudge allegation that John Kerry's footage of Vietnam combat is inauthentic. According to Media Matters, Drudge deliberately ignored factual reports and evidence of authenticity in order to give priority to unfounded claims made by individuals with a history of distorting Kerry's record in order to benefit Republicans. [Full Story]

ARGENTINA CALLED ON TO INVESTIGATE ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS
29 June 2004

Amnesty International says the government of Argentina needs to investigate threats of violence against journalists during the period of economic collapse, up through present day investigations into past abuses of police and military forces. The Asociación en Defensa del Periodismo Independiente - PERIODISTAS) reported in 2002 that attacks against journalists in Argentina were 15 percent more frequent than during 2001, a worrying escalation in so short a time. It is these reports of violence and harassment, that should be investigated, according to the report. [Full Story]

TRUTH, FICTION & 'FAHRENHEIT'
Critics say Moore claims are fictional, but film uses public record as basis for factual assertions
26 June 2004

The political story of the week seems to be Michael Moore's documentary film, Fahrenheit 9/11. Supporters call it cinematic genius; detractors allege its claims are not substantiated by fact. The central point of contention has been the flights which the Bush administration reportedly arranged for influential Saudis, including members of the Bin Laden family, only 2 days after the 9/11 attacks.

The White House has been denying that particular fact for nearly 3 years, even though the 9/11 Commission has already published proof the flights were arranged and did occur. The aim of the campaign to discredit the film is to perpetuate the myth that there was no such special arrangement, that the reported fact is actually a brazen lie, and that therefore the film is therefore unfair. The mere sentiment of offense at critical portrayal is not proof of falsehood, and the notion that criticisms should not be heard because they are intense, has no journalistic or political merit. [Full Story]

STATE DEPARTMENT PUBLISHES FLAWED TERROR DATA
13 June 2004

The US State Department has issued a report on the global terrorist threat, giving evidence of the rate of incidents occurring throughout the last year. The report has now been cited for publishing seriously flawed information. The Baltimore Sun explained it this way:

The State Department is scrambling to revise its annual report on global terrorism to acknowledge that it understated the number of deadly attacks in 2003, amid charges that the document is inaccurate, dangerously outmoded and politically manipulated by the Bush administration.

Allegations surrounding the latest incident of false administration reporting include that there was an effort to make it appear that terrorist incidents had decreased thanks to the war on terror and the war in Iraq. [Full Story]

MEDIA SELECTED KERRY, SAYS NEW STUDY
22 February 2004

A study conducted by the Center for Media and Public Affairs targets the nature of coverage in the week prior to the Iowa caucuses. According to this study, the media "appointed" John Kerry as most electable by showering him with favorable coverage, while attacking the details of the Dean campaign. Citing:

98 percent of the network evening news coverage of... John Kerry and John Edwards was positive... Howard Dean received more critical coverage over the same time period, at 58 percent positive. [CMPA]

GORE ENDORSEMENT BACKSTORY
15 December 2003

Last week, Al Gore announced his endorsement of Howard Dean for the Democratic nomination and for president in the 2004 election. Ongoing commentary about disloyalty assumes that Gore and Lieberman have long been political allies, a sort of like-minded pair at the head of the Democratic party. In fact there have been many differences... [Full Story]

WHEN INNUENDO & RHETORIC WEAR SHEEPS' CLOTHING
A look back at reporting & commentary regarding the 2000 Florida election contest
26 November 2003

In the midst and in the wake of the 2000 recall, speculation and interpretation were widespread and wild. The press in general seemed to relish the opportunity to vent ideological disquietude as the demand for interpretive reporting seemed to spread. It was the hour in which the flying carpets of punditry reached their most unlikely heights. But built into such coverage was a conflation of parallel demands: the major media sources most given to punditry experienced within themselves a great demand for additional pundit banter, but the public in general, the basic societal urge to know, demanded instead a definitive legal ruling.

These parallel needs were conflated by media sources which view pundit air-time as a convenient way to portray themselves as sponsoring and promoting free thought and dialogue. In fact, the public at large had to search at length for reliable information about what exactly was taking place, who exactly was right, what the ramifications of competing legal arguments would be, and how the outcome might change the landscape of American democracy. Such information was scarce among leading media outlets, like the television networks. Instead, the information vacuum was filled with analysis, usually based on personal preference or assumption, and not on in-depth research or study. [Full Story]

A MILITARY COUP AS GOOD CITIZENSHIP
A LOOK BACK AT REPORTING OF THE APRIL 2002 COUP IN VENEZUELA
23 November 2003

When President Hugo Chavez was forced from power and sequestered by a faction of the Venezuelan military, The New York Times reported the matter as a decision by the President to resign. The "resignation" was welcomed as a sign that democracy was moving forward in Venezuela, and that its economy would no longer be threatened by a crouching dictator-in-wait. The fact that an elected official who had reportedly voluntarily turned over power was in the armed custody of coup leaders went unreported. In an editorial, they lauded the immediate military appointment of an oil chief, a political arch-rival, to replace Chavez, saying the president had "handed power to a respected business leader." [Full Story]

JFK "PROBABLY ASSASSINATED AS RESULT OF A CONSPIRACY":
A PRISMATIC VIEW OF MEDIA VARIATION
22 November 2003

Four decades have passed since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. There is still no definitive story that lets the public in on the truth of the matter. Long discredited by eye-witness testimony and forensic evidence, the Warren Commission is now believed to be false by 68% of Americans (ABC News poll). The same number say they believe there was a government-led cover-up of the facts surrounding the assassination, though suspicion about motive varies widely. [Full Story]