| The mainstream American media has been largely "complicit" in the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and news consumers need to take it upon themselves to get both sides of the story, a well-known media critic told a Calgary audience last week.
Reese Erlich, an accomplished American journalist and author, encouraged people to seek a wide variety of news sources from all over the world to get the real story coming out of the conflict in Iraq.
"You have to read between the lines – what is the source for information? Where is the placeline?… and read as widely as you can," Erlich says. "That way you can triangulate things and you should be able to get an idea of what might be going on."
Erlich had some harsh words for the reporters who unquestioningly accept information from the U.S. military during times of conflict. He cited numerous recent examples when false information provided by the U.S. military press centre in Qatar were reported widely without question – such as the initial fall of the city of Basra and early reports of mass Iraqi military surrenders. But he scoffed at conspiracy theories suggesting government, corporations and media conglomerates are in cahoots. Erlich says distortion in the news is a result of self-censorship by career-minded reporters, government pressure and corporate media concentration that has resulted in cutbacks in the number of journalists and the variety of stories reported.
"It’s not that the corporate owner calls the editor who calls up the reporter. That’s not how it works. There really isn’t that kind of conspiracy," he says. "If you’re a foreign correspondent, you’ve got a plum assignment and you’ve learned how to play the game."
sources for starters
A few places Erlich recomments to start looking for war coverage are:
· Large mainstream newspapers – The New York Times and the Washington Post;
· British media – the BBC (www.bbc.co.uk) and the Independent (independent.co.uk);
· Public broadcasters – National Public Radio (www.npr.org) and the CBC (cbc.ca);
· Foreign media – Al Jazeera (english.aljazeera.net);
· Alternative media – alternative weeklies, magazines and Web sites. |
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