Norman Solomon from Creators Syndicate

When Killing Civilians Is Bad for Image for 05/16/2009

Sat, 16 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

When you kill innocent people, the big problem is that it hurts your image.

That's the gist of a major media message about the continuing deaths of civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers. Seen through a non-ideological lens, such a message is absurd and repugnant. But we're receiving such prompts often these days as the Obama administration continues with escal ...

Updated: Sat May 16, 2009

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Media Outlets Do Little To Disrupt War Folly for 05/23/2009

Sat, 23 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

"The March of Folly," by historian Barbara Tuchman, was published 25 years ago. Yet the book does more to explain the Obama administration's approach to the Afghan War than almost anything we've heard from present-day news media.

What happens among policymakers is a "process of self-hypnosis," Tuchman writes. After recounting examples from the Trojan War to the Britis ...

Updated: Sat May 23, 2009

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Nuclear Stories: Korea Shadows U.S.A. for 05/30/2009

Sat, 30 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Memorial Day relaxation got an unpleasant jolt with the news that North Korea had set off its second nuclear bomb. The first Korean test, in October 2006, was bad enough — announcing that the totalitarian regime had joined the nuclear club. The second test showed that the tyrannical gang had not backed off from brandishing its nuclear arsenal.

We tend to be ill at ease when contemp ...

Updated: Sat May 30, 2009

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Limits of Obama's Speech in Cairo for 06/06/2009

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Whatever the virtues of President Obama's speech in Cairo on Thursday, the limits were far less apparent to the U.S. news media.

To a laudable degree, the president used his speech to underscore the international need for civil dialogue and mutual respect. This theme is an Obama strength — made all the more striking by the sharp contrasts with eight years of George W. Bush's infant ...

Updated: Sat Jun 06, 2009

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Media's Love-Hate Affair with Violence for 06/13/2009

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Are the U.S. news media in favor of violence?

That depends on who's doing it.

Criminal violence is an easy call, and journalists make it — often with easy righteousness — every day. The yellow-tape segments that bleed and lead local TV news are so requisite that they're as predictable as commercials for fast food and digital gizmos.

Then there's the kind of viol ...

Updated: Sat Jun 13, 2009

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When Will Media Cover Obama's Pro-War Hardball? for 06/20/2009

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

As the saying goes, "politics ain't beanbag."

In Washington, the pressures on legislators are intense — and the White House often has its way with Congress by ratcheting up the carrots and sticks. Any lawmaker who has low tolerance for coercion should probably look for another line of work.

But what we need from journalism is open scrutiny of the dynamics of power. ...

Updated: Sat Jun 20, 2009

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Media Choice of Foolish Views on Iran for 06/27/2009

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The crisis in Iran has brought forward some of the best news coverage — and some of the worst. That spectrum has tracked with the opinions of leaders here in the United States and overseas.

When approaching Iran, the Republican Party line and the Hugo Chavez line are running in opposite directions — but parallel. The leadership of GOP reaction and the leadership of Bolivarian ...

Updated: Sat Jun 27, 2009

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The Numbing Quality of Journalism for 07/04/2009

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

A week before The New York Times devoted a 3-square-inch box to the deaths of Peter K. Cross and Steven T. Drees on page A9 of the national edition, the newspaper editorialized about the war that was to kill them.

Beginning with its headline — "Afghanistan's Failing Forces" — the June 23 editorial was replete with erudite lamentation (not to be confused with grief). ...

Updated: Sat Jul 04, 2009

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Media Escalation for Afghan War for 07/11/2009

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Escalation is a military process, but it's also a media strategy.

Ever since last fall, the Obama team has used the news media to float rising numbers for how many additional U.S. soldiers will be sent to Afghanistan. Now, deployment of 21,000 more is a done deal, with a new total cap of 68,000 U.S. troops in that country.

But "escalation" isn't mere jargon. And it doesn ...

Updated: Sat Jul 11, 2009

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Media's Frozen Health Care Debate for 07/18/2009

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

This year, no one can complain about the quantity of health care coverage in news media. But quality is another matter.

The more things change, the more that narrow limits remain. Media discourse seems to be like a broken record.

For young readers, I should explain that "broken record" is an outdated expression referring to scratched vinyl recordings on turntable devices ...

Updated: Sat Jul 18, 2009

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News Media and 'Health Care Apartheid' for 07/25/2009

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Sometimes, a couple of facts can leap out at us, jumping from the fusillade of inbound media and clarifying key realities in the midst of overload coverage.

It's easy to miss the forest of overall policy for the trees of scattered news. At the same time, a pivotal aspect of an issue can emerge in the form of concise information. That's true in recent media accounts of the struggle over h ...

Updated: Sat Jul 25, 2009

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Media Myth: Obama's Make-or-Break Health Care for 08/01/2009

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Of all the myths about the Obama administration and health care, perhaps none is more prevalent — or more speculative — than the idea that the fate of his presidency hinges on the result of his efforts to achieve "health care reform."

It sounds nice and dramatic. The reporters and pundits who swirl around Washington love it so much that they can't let it go. It's th ...

Updated: Sat Aug 01, 2009

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Media and the Shrinking of Health Care Reform for 08/08/2009

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Like soap in a rainstorm, "health care reform" is wasting away — sometimes accompanied by media euphemisms.

A leading follower of conventional media wisdom, journalist Cokie Roberts, told NPR listeners on Aug. 3: "This is evolving legislation. And the administration is now talking about a glide path towards universal coverage, rather than immediate universal coverage ...

Updated: Sat Aug 08, 2009

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Media Measures of a War's Success for 08/15/2009

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

What makes a war "successful"?

These days, in the news coverage of the war in Afghanistan, there's a lot of media spin about "metrics" as a way of measuring success.

A recent New York Times article along that line made quite a splash. Under the headline "White House Struggles to Gauge Afghan Success," the Aug. 7 story was emblematic of what passes for ...

Updated: Sat Aug 15, 2009

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Don't Cry for Me, Single Option for 08/22/2009

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The collapse of "the public option" last weekend gave rise to several days of intense media speculation about current White House strategies for health care reform. In effect, the Obama administration threw the option overboard — after claiming since last winter that it would be essential.

President Obama chose to jettison his avowed commitment to a public option that wou ...

Updated: Sat Aug 22, 2009

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The Afghanistan Gap: Press vs. Public for 08/29/2009

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

This month, a lot of media stories have compared President Johnson's war in Vietnam and President Obama's war in Afghanistan. The comparisons are largely valid. But a key parallel rarely gets mentioned — the media's support for the war even after most of the public has turned against it.

This omission relies on the mythology that the U.S. news media functioned as tough critics of t ...

Updated: Sat Aug 29, 2009

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The Striking Media Absence of Class War for 09/05/2009

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The United Auto Workers strike against General Motors in 2007 was a brief media reminder that unions exist.

We needed to be reminded. A few decades ago, upward of one-third of the American workforce was unionized. Now the figure is down around 10 percent.

The scant coverage of unions is both a cause and an effect of that steep downturn. The cycle of media focus and union strength ...

Updated: Sat Sep 05, 2009

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The Devastating Spin for War for 09/12/2009

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

For those who believe in making war, Kabul is a notable work product. After 30 years, the results are in: a devastated city.

A stale witticism calls Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai "the mayor of Kabul." Now, not even. On block after block in the Afghan capital, AK-47s are conspicuous in the hands of men on guard against a near future. Widely seen as corrupt, inept and &mda ...

Updated: Sat Sep 12, 2009

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A Farewell Column, But Not Goodbye for 09/26/2009

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Seventeen and a half years ago — at a time when a little-known governor named Bill Clinton was running for the Democratic nomination to challenge President George H.W. Bush — this syndicated column began.

The launch of "Media Beat" aimed to bring progressive media criticism to the opinion pages of daily newspapers.

From the outset, as co-writers of the column ...

Updated: Sat Sep 26, 2009

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Rediscovering the Real Columbus for 10/03/2009

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Columbus Day is a national holiday. But it's also a good time to confront the mythology about the heroic explorer who "discovered" America.

Journalism should provide facts and help us to uncover truths. Yet, when it comes to Christopher Columbus, many reporters and pundits hold on dearly to myths. Meanwhile, historians who deal in documentation are often denigrated as "pol ...

Updated: Sat Oct 03, 2009

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