Censored 2014

by Mickey Huff

  Whenever a report offered a negative statement, it quickly switched back to something positive, while reminders of respecting the deceased became a common refrain. This kind of coverage paid little attention to the drawbacks of Thatcher’s economic policies, such as the detrimental effects they had on the average working person while continuing to make the rich richer. Anything truly controversial was left out of corporate media coverage, such as her support for Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, her support of the apartheid regime, or her use of police and the secret service to defeat powerful unions.87 With a leader whose political values closely mirrored those of the US establishment, there was not much room for unfavorable facts to be mentioned. Yet no such restraint was shown to Chávez in the US.

  While corporate media coverage for Margaret Thatcher was mostly fawning and kept in a tone of respect for the recently deceased, the same respect was not given when it came to coverage of the death of Hugo Chavez. Corporate outlets mentioned some of the good Chávez did with redirecting Venezuela’s oil profits toward social programs for the poor, along with some affirmative statistics such as a stark decrease in poverty, child mortality, and malnutrition deaths.88 But for every one of these statements, there were numerous that promptly followed, representing an opposing, belittling comment. Common criticisms included the country’s high inflation, high crime rates, and Venezuela being left with an unsustainable economic model, all of which had a tendency to be exaggerated. Some, like Pamela Sampson of Associated Press went so far as to say that Chávez wasted money on the poor and could have built lavish cities like in Dubai. Jim Naureckas, of the media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), quoted Sampson,

  Chávez invested Venezuela’s oil wealth into social programs including state-run food markets, cash benefits for poor families, free health clinics and education programs. But those gains were meager compared with the spectacular construction projects that oil riches spurred in glittering Middle Eastern cities, including the world’s tallest building in Dubai and plans for branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums in Abu Dhabi.89

  Naureckas remarked:

  That’s right: Chávez squandered his nation’s oil money on healthcare, education and nutrition when he could have been building the world’s tallest building or his own branch of the Louvre. What kind of monster has priorities like that?90

  Furthermore, reporting became exceptionally poor when it came to personal attacks on Chávez. Descriptions ranged from CBS referring to him as a “bully” to USA Today quoting that he ran “the Venezuelan economy and political system into the ground,” with the worst being Fox News calling him a “dictator” and “thug,” stating that “many rejoiced” upon his death.91 So much for extending respect to the dead, as was the rallying cry around any criticism of Margaret Thatcher. American comedian turned cultural critic George Carlin once said—let’s not have a double standard here, one standard will do just fine. Indeed.92

  US corporate media coverage of the deaths of Margaret Thatcher and Hugo Chávez were skewed and misrepresented in many respects, and primarily positive reporting only went to the leader that more closely represented the policies of the US. The corporate press in America never gave the public a fair or balanced accounting in the matter. And that degree of framing and spin is clearly News Abuse.

  EPITAPH AS EPILOGUE, AND THE

  REBIRTH OF MEDIA FREEDOM

  It is not necessary to conceal anythingjrom a public insensible to contradiction and narcotized by technological diversions.

  —Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business 1985)

  Over the years, the research for these Junk Food News and News Abuse chapters amounts to a cultural epitaph for the American public. Cultural historian Morris Berman, in his last book Why America Failed: The Roots of Imperial Decline, painstakingly points out that America has become a land victimized by its own illusions of progress, crass materialism, and anti-intellectual furor, all heralded as the “American way” by corporate media.93 But there are more Americans and more global citizens born every day, and through education, media literacy, critical thinking, community building, and the fostering of increased awareness and solidarity, we can build a movement to navigate these troubled waters history has given us.

  While this chapter closes on bleak notes, we must be ever alerted to the fact that across the US and the world, millions of people yearn for a better life, more transparent governments, and broader possibilities of who we can become as a global village. Part of the Junk Food and News Abuse chapter “snarkily” calls out the chicanery of corporate media failures, but it does so to also illustrate that we the people are in on the game and can transcend it.

  While we certainly want to pressure big media to keep the public informed given the size and potential significance of their megaphone, we can’t merely wait for change to come. We must also be that change. Together, working with each other on more independent and grassroots levels, we can more accurately inform each other and become the media. By what we do and how we act, we make irrelevant the once towering but now gatekeeping institutions of the corporate press—ones now teetering, faltering, built on houses of cards and lies, waiting for their own epitaph to be scribed. It is one that we the people, the independent and citizen journalists of tomorrow, will happily write in our own headlines of a people’s history in the making. Count on it. Be the media. Free the press. Via, veritas, vita.

  MICKEY HUFF is the director of Project Censored, and professor of social science and history at Diablo Valley College.

  NOLAN HIGDON is adjunct faculty in history at Diablo Valley College, and an affiliate researcher with Project Censored.

  MICHAEL KOLBE, SAM PARK, JENNIFER EIDEN, AND KIMBERLY SOIERO are past or present Project Censored interns, undergraduates and college graduates alike, who contributed to this chapter.

  Notes

  1. “By the Book: Walter Mosely,” New York Times Book Review, June 2, 2013, 10.

  2. Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, (New York: Penguin, 1985). This chapter has been guided by Postman’s work for some time, and also informed by other like-minded scholars including Chris Hedges, Mark Crispin Miller, Daniel J. Boorstin, Marshall McLuhan, Jean Baudrillard, and Morris Berman, to name a few.

  3. The decline of American civilization has been the serious subject of numerous scholars for the better part of half a century. For more on this thesis, and some of the latest scholarly work on the matter, see Morris Berman, Why America Failed: The Roots of Imperial Decline (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2012).

  4. Mark Jurkowitz, et al., “The Changing TV News Landscape,” State of the News Media 2013: An Annual Report on American Journalism, Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (2013), http://stateofthemedia.org/2013/the-changing-tv-news-landscape/. For more on the state of the news media studies by Pew, see http://stateofthemedia.org/.

  5. Jodi Enda and Amy Mitchell, “Americans Show Signs of Leaving a News Outlet, Citing Less Information,” State of the News Media 2013: An Annual Report on American Journalism, Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (2013), http://stateofthemedia.org/2013/specia-reports-landing-page/citing-reduced-quality-many-americans-abandon-news-outlets. Other issues impacting media credibility and public trust include serious news blunders by major corporate media outlets, like this past year when CNN and Fox both reported that the Obama health care law was overturned by the Supreme Court, while it was not, but both networks rushed to broadcast before getting all the facts and were slow to reverse course. See Steve Myers, “Were CNN & Fox News’ Mistakes on Supreme Court Ruling Part of ‘Process Journalism’?” Poynter.org, June 29, 2012, http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/179341/were-cnn-fox-news-mistakes-on-supreme-court-ruling-part-of-process-journalism.

  6. Ibid.

  7. “Fox News Credibility Declines,” Public Policy Polling, February 6, 2013, htt
p://www.publicpol-icypolling.com/pdf/2011/PPP_Release_National_206.pdf. On voters’ views on news sources: “We continue to find that Democrats trust most TV news sources other than Fox, while Republicans don’t trust anything except Fox,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. “News preferences are very polarizing along party lines.” In other words, people believe their sources of news are okay, and that all the rest of them are bunk.

  8. “Press Widely Criticized, But Trusted More than Other Information Sources,” Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, September 22, 2011, http://www.people-press.org/2011/09/22/press-widely-criticized-but-trusted-more-than-other-institutions.

  9. Ibid.

  10. A recounting of the development of Junk Food News and News Abuse research is published in Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff, eds., Censored 2010 (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2009), ch. 3, “Infotainment Society: Junk Food News and News Abuse for 2008–09”; Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips, eds., Censored 2011 (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2010), ch. 3, “Manufacturing Distraction: Junk Food News and New Abuse on a Feed to Know Basis”; Mickey Huff and Project Censored, Censored 2012 (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2011), ch. 3, “Framing the Messengers: Junk Food News and News Abuse for Dummies”; and Mickey Huff, Andy Lee Roth, and Project Censored, Censored 2013: Dispatches jrom the Media Revolution (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2012), ch. 3, “American Idle: Junk Food News, News Abuse, and the Voice of Freedumb.” Also see Carl Jensen and Project Censored, Censored 1994 (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1994), 142–143. Further, Jensen added to this sentiment in “Junk Food News 1877–2000,” ch. 5 in Peter Phillips, ed., Censored 2001 (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2001), 251–264.

  11. Mark Saunders, “Royal Baby Announcement Marks Dramatic Break with Tradition,” CNN, December 4, 2012, http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/04/world/europe/royal-baby-announcement-saunders/index.html.

  12. Fox News, “Nurse Radio Hosts Pranked to Get Royal Baby Details Commits Suicide,” December 7, 2012, http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/12/07/royal-prank-call-nurse-reportedly-commits-suicide/#ixzz2Feolx8mO.

  13. Jon Queally, “Decade of US ‘War on Terror’ Yields More ‘Terrorism,’” Common Dreams, December 4, 2012, https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/12/04.

  14. Noam Chomsky, 9–11 (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2001), 76.

  15. Nancy Dillon, Taylor Dungjen, and Tina Moore, “Katie Holmes’ Secret Escape Plan: Actress Rented Her Own New York City Apartment before Ditching Tom,” New York Daily News, July 1, 2012, http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/katie-holmes-secret-escape-plan-actress-rented-new-york-city-apartment-ditching-tom-article-1.1105652#1xzz2KqhXbCm4.

  16. “Libor (Barclays Interest Rate Manipulation Case),” New York Times, December 19, 2012, http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/l/london_interbank_offered_rate_li-bor/index.html.

  17. Immanual Wallerstein, “The LIBOR Scandal: Why is it Scandalous?” Iwallerstein.com, Commentary 334, August 1, 2012, http://www.iwallerstein.com/libor-scandal-scandalous.

  18. “Here Are the 16 Banks Under Investigation over the Libor Scandal,” Huffington Post, Reuters, July 11, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/11/libor-rate-scandal_n_1664737.html.

  19. Ben Dimiero and Rob Savillo, “Media Prioritize Animal Attacks, Tom Cruise over Huge Bank Scandal, Media Matters for America,” Media Matters, July 19, 2012, http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/07/19/report-media-prioritize-animal-attacks-tom-crui/187238.

  20. “Gangnam Style YouTube Views: Psy’s Viral Hit Beats Bieber to Become Most-Viewed YouTube Video Ever,” Huffington Post, November 24, 2012,http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/24/gangnam-style-youtube-views_n_2185280.html.

  21. Jordan Zakarin, “Man Collapses, Dies After Dancing ‘Gangnam Style,’” Hollywood Reporter, December 13, 2012, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/earshot/man-dies-dancing-gangnam-style-402032.

  22. “Man Dies of Heart Attack after Dancing to ‘Gangnam Style,’” Sun, December 13, 2012, http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/12/13/man-dies-heart-attack-after-dancing-to-gangnam-style/#ixzz2FfGTqN9S.

  23. Jordan Zakarin, “Man Collapses, Dies After Dancing ‘Gangnam Style,’” Hollywood Reporter, December 13, 2012, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/earshot/man-dies-dancing-gangnam-style-402032.

  24. Glenn Greenwald, “The PSY Scandal: Singing about Killing People v. Constantly Doing It,” Guardian, December 10, 2012, http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/12/10-3.

  25. Carlos Maza, “Gangnam Style Overshadows Uganda’s ‘Kill The Gays’ Bill In Cable News Coverage,” Media Matters, December 12, 2012, http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/12/12/gangnam-style-overshadows-ugandas-kill-the-gays/191814.

  26. Henry Wasswa, “Uganda’s ‘Kill the Gays’ Bill Spreads Fear,” Al Jazeera, January 3, 2013, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/01/2013121392698654.html.

  27. Ibid.

  28. Gene Sloan, “Fire-Damaged Carnival Ship Stuck at Sea Another Day,” USA Today, February 12, 2013, http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2013/02/11/carnival-cruise-ship-fire/191057.

  29. Ibid.

  30. Parisa Safarzadeh, “My Celebration Trip on the Carnival Triumph: From Joy to Misery,” CNN, February 15, 2013, http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/15/opinion/safarzadeh-cruise-passenger-sto-ry/index.html?11d=article_sidebar.

  31. Jordan Zackerin, “CNN’s Cruise Ship Coverage Roundly Mocked by Jon Stewart, Media Snark-ers,” Hollywood Reporter, February 15, 2013, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/cnns-cruise-ship-coverage-roundly-421856.

  32. Ibid. See also, Phyllis Fine, “CNN More than Doubles Ratings With Cruise-From-Hell Coverage,” MediaPost, February 19, 2013, http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/193842/cnn-more-than-doubles-ratings-with-cruise-from-hel.html#ixzz2W8yjCpUa.

  33. Patrick Martin, “Obama Pushes Austerity in the Guise of Defending the ‘Middle Class,’” Global Research, February 12, 2013, http://www.globalresearch.ca/obama-pushes-austerity-in-the-guise-of-defending-the-middle-class/5322673.

  34. For the original and more detailed definition and explanation of News Abuse, see Peter Phillips, ed., Censored 2003 (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2002), 196.

  35. Melissa Knowles, “8-Year-Old’s Letter to Romney Urges Him to Not Fire Big Bird,” Yahoo News, October 5, 2012, http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/8-old-letter-romney-urg-es-him-not-fire-173139170.html.

  36. Associated Press, “Man Who Accused Elmo Puppeteer of Teen Sex Recants,” Fox News, November 13, 2012, http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/11/13/man-who-accused-el-mo-puppeteer-teen-sex-recants.

  37. Justin George, “Claims Mount Against Kevin Clash, the Voice of Elmo,” Baltimore Sun, December 26, 2012, http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-12-26/news/bs-md-kevin-clash-el-mo-20121226_1_cecil-singleton-clash-s-new-york-inappropriate-relationship.

  38. Andrew Kirell, “Limbaugh: Liberals Seek to Normalize Pedophilia, Just Like They Did with Gay Marriage,” Mediaite, January 8, 2013, http://www.mediaite.com/online/limbaugh-liberals-seek-to-normalize-pedophilia-just-like-they-did-with-gay-marriage.

  39. David Moye, “Muppet Scandals through the Years,” Huffington Post, November 20, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/20/muppet-scandals_n_2167209.html.

  40. Mickey Huff, Frances A. Capell, and Adam Bessie, “Manufacturing Distraction: Junk Food News and New Abuse on a Feed to Know Basis” in Censored 2011, eds. Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2010), ch. 3, 176–181. See also Kate Sheppard, “BP’s Bad Breakup: How Toxic is Corexit?,” Mother Jones, September/October 2010, http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2010/09/bp-ocean-dospersant-corexit; and Farron Cousins, “EPA Accused of Violating Clean Water Act Through Approval of Corexit in BP Gulf Oil Clean-up,” EcoNews, March 7, 2013, http://ecowatch.com/2013/epa-corexit-bp-oil-spill.

  41. “Crime, No Punishment: BP Gulf Settlement Deal ‘Pathetic’ Say Groups ‘Fine Amounts to a Rounding Error for a Corporation the Size of BP,’” Common Dreams, Novemb
er 15, 2012, http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/15-5.

  42. “Radiation Still High in Seas Around Fukushima, Scientists Look to Sea Floor,” Common Dreams, November 15, 2012, http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/15-6.

  43. Peter Bergen, “How Petraeus Changed the U.S. military,” CNN, November 11, 2012, http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/10/opinion/bergen-petraeus-legacy.

  44. Vicky Nissen, “Was Stevens Murdered to Cover Up US Gun Running from Libya to AlQaeda in Syria?,” Examiner.com, October 29, 2012, http://www.examiner.com/article/was-stevens-murdered-to-coverup-u-s-gun-running-from-libya-to-alqaeda-syria.

  45. Ibid.

  46. Shashank Bengali, David S. Cloud, and Joseph Tanfani, “Jill Kelley, Key Figure in David Petraeus Scandal, Led Lavish Life,” Los Angeles Times, November 14, 2012, http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cia-scandal-20121115,0,5234898.story.

  47. Glenn Greenwald, “Petraeus Scandal Is Reported with Compelled Veneration of All Things Military,” Guardian, November 10, 2012, https://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/11/10-5.

  48. RT News, “Petraeus Mistress Reveals Real Motive behind Benghazi Attack,” RT News, 12 November 2012, http://rt.com/usa/news/petraeus-benghazi-attack-cia-535.