Pressefriheden

Det går USA (bl.a.) ind for - så længe regeringen kan styre pressen !

"But what is the mass media besides a group of individuals working in a certain business? From what I've seen working in the mass media for over 28 years... I can count on my right hand the number of truly honest, good people I've met in this business over these years... Watch that Fox News or CNN newscaster. Besides dressing and putting make-up like a prostitute (which, in a way, she is) she just reeks of insincerity. She doesn't care if she's telling the truth or not." Mike (in Tokyo) Rogers, 111105, LewRockwell.

 

220311 [Åbenbart kan det private erhvervsliv også virke positivt mod censur], Network World, Bob Brown and Tim Greene. Google funds tools to expose government attempts to censor, shut down the Internet. Georgia Tech researchers devising tools to give end end users visibility into government censorship, service provider bandwidth throttling. equipment issues ... "What we are aiming to do is provide transparency for the user," he says. "Whether or not it is outright censorship of content, throttling of performance through traffic shaping or blocking of a particular application or domain, all these things could have either reasonable or unreasonable motives behind them. What we think is important is that the user have information about what is going on in the network."

250211, New York Times, Charlie Savage, U.S. Got Data on Times Reporter in Case Against Ex-C.I.A. Agent. Federal law enforcement officials, trying to uncover the sources of a New York Times reporter, James Risen, obtained extensive records about his phone calls, finances and travel history, according to a court brief filed late Thursday. Prosecutors gathered "various telephone records showing calls made" by Mr. Risen, as well as "credit card and bank records and certain records of his airline travel" and three credit reports listing his financial accounts, the document said. ... One of the book's [by Risen] chapters details a C.I.A. program in 2000 that aimed to disrupt Iran's nuclear research by giving it blueprints for a nuclear device containing a hidden design flaw. Mr. Risen portrayed the effort as botched, saying it probably helped Iran gain valuable expertise. ... Under Justice Department rules, prosecutors may seek subpoenas of journalists for testimony or for their phone records only if the information sought is essential and cannot be obtained in another way. ... Lucy A. Dalglish, the executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, portrayed the scrutinizing of Mr. Risen as part of a crackdown on leaking that is making it increasingly difficult to report on security and intelligence matters. (The Obama administration, in its first two years, indicted more officials for leaking information to reporters than any previous one.) .... "Is it creepy? You bet it is," Ms. Dalglish said. "But that's how the feds investigate crimes. The problem is that Jim and other reporters are going to have a much more difficult time in the future having government whistleblowers talk to them, and that's the reason they do this."

Skabes der for store koncerner i pressen, går det ud over pressefriheden. Det ser man f.eks. i Murdochs presseimperium forstærket af anskaffelsen af BSkyB.

Udover de direkte løgne, de indirekte løgne (herunder at visse begivenheder slet ikke omtales, undergraves pressefriheden også af kampagner for/imod sager som man kan være mere eller mindre enig i, men som først og fremmest virker ved at aflede opmærksomheden fra Imperiets forbrydelser,

110211, The Raw Story, Eric W. Dolan, Former Fox News employee: 'Stuff is just made up' Fox har en bevidst politik om at underminere Obama og om at nedgøre klimaproblemer m.m.m.

140710, BBC, US government lifts lid on alleged leak to WikiLeaks. The US said he was suspected of downloading from SIPR Net. [Serviceman Bradley Manning, 22]. [Department of Defence's SIPR (Secret Internet Protocol System) Net system." ... a classified US Department of State cable described as "Reykjavik 13". ... In February this year, WikiLeaks released a diplomatic cable from 13 January 2010 recording details of a meeting in Iceland between US diplomat Sam Watson, British ambassader Ian Whitting, and members of the Icelandic government. ... "Diplomatic cables don't usually contain huge secrets but they do contain the unvarnished truth so in a sense they can be even more embarrassing than secrets.' [!!!!]

080710, ICH, Paul Craig Roberts Transparent Lies. The BBC reported on July 4 that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the US ballistic missile base in Poland was not directed at Russia. The purpose of the base, she said, is to protect Poland from the Iranian threat. Why would Iran be a threat to Poland? What happens to US credibility when the Secretary of State makes such a stupid statement?... In the same breath Hillary warned of a "steel vice" of repression crushing democracy and civil liberties around the world. US journalists might wonder if she was speaking of the United States.

080710, Salon - GLENN GREENWALD, Octavia Nasr's firing and what The Liberal Media allows. ... [fyret] because of a now-deleted tweet she vrote on Sunday upon learning of the death of one of the Shiite world's most beloved religious figures: "Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah .... one of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot.". Greenwald nævner så også Helen Thomas, DaveWeigel, Eason Jordan, Peter Arnett, Ashleigh Banfield, Chas Freeman, Juan Cole, Norman Finklestein som stilles overfor Wolf Blitzer. What each of these firing offenses have in common is that they angered and offended the neocon Right. ... Have there ever been any viewpoint-based firings of establishment journalists by The Liberal Media because of comments which offended liberals? None that I can recall. ... Does anyone ever suffer career-impeding injuries of this type - the way Nasr and Thomas also just have - for expressing anti-Muslim or anti-Arab views? No. ... Ironically, he [Fadlallah] vas the religious guide for Iraq's Dawa Party: the party of our close ally, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who took the very unusual step of leaving Iraq to attend Fadlallah's funeral. ... By all accounts, Fadlallah became particularly radicalized in his hostility toward the U.S. when the Reagan administration - working in concert with Saudi Arabia - attempted to assassinate him with a car bomb in Beirut, missed, and slaughtered 80 innocent civilians instead. ... As the Palestinian-American journalist Ali Abunimah put it; she "wasn't particularly groundbreaking. That's the point. EVEN someone usually so autious cannot survive." He added: "More than ever, [CNN, NPR, The New York Times] are purveyors of official, accepted opinion, Their job is to police what/who we can hear." That's what Nicholas Kristof meant when, writing today from Jerusalem, he observed hat Israel "tolerates a far greater range of opinions than America". ... With the Nasr firing, here we find yet again exposed the central lie of American establishment journalism: that opinion-free "objectivity" is possible, required, and the governing rule. ... All of this would be so much more tolerable if CNN would simply admit that it permits its journalists to hold and express some controversial opinions (ones in accord with official U.S. policy and orthodox viewpoints) but prohibits others (ones which the neocon Right dislikes) Instead, we are subjected to this patently false pretense of opinion-free objectivity.

180610, Institute for Public Accuracy, By Ray McGovern, Daniel Ellsberg and Coleen Rowley "Americans Have a Right to Know" Today, Washington is trying to shut down what it clearly regards as the most effective and dangerous purveyor of embarrassing information -- Wikileaks, a self-styled global resource for whistleblowers. It is a safe bet that NSA, CIA, FBI and other agencies have been instmcted to do all possible to make an example of Wikileaks leader, Australian-born Julian Assange, and his colleagues. Much is at stake - for both Pentagon and freedom of the press. ... "Assange went public this week with an email announcement that Wikileaks is preparing to release a classified Pentagon video of a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan in May 2009, which left as many as 140 civilians dead -- most of them children and teenagers. He added that Wikileaks has a lot of other material that exposes human rights abuses by the United States government.'

180610, ICH, By John Grant, Truth Through a Soda Straw. Citerer -Andrew Bacevich: "The truth about American politics is this: disguised by the theatrics of squabbling Democrats and Republicans, Washington governs according to limits prescribed by a fixed and narrow consensus. The two main parties collaborate in preserving that consensus. Doing so requires declaring out-of-bounds anything even remotely resembling a fundamental critique of how power gets exercised or wealth distributed." OG DET ER IKKE MEGET ANDERLEDES HOS OS. Politicians from both parties now defer to Pentagon leaders for decisions on war and peace - something the founding fathers precisely tried to avoid. ... Assange may be about to release critically embarrassing Pentagon video of a May 2009 US air strike on the Afghan village of Garani that killed over 100 civilians with a one-ton airburst bomb. At the time. General Petraeus said the video would show the attack was justified. It was never released. ... As the two kids are removed from the van by US soldiers, the pilots are heard commenting that they shouldn't have brought kids to a firefight. The fact the gunship is far enough away that the people on the ground seem not to be aware of it and that the van seems to have stopped to give assistance to the wounded from the first volley, makes the pilots' remarks seem sadistic and delusional. ... They are so scared, the man who campaigned for transparent government is more dogged than George Bush in stanching journalistic leaks and shutting down court hearings that might tap into the military's reservoir of secrecy. Currently, the Obama administration is seeking to send whistleblower Thomas Drake to jail under The Espionage Act for leaking material on a National Security Agency program to a Baltimore Sun reporter. His purpose was efficiency and the discouragement of waste. The intention is clearly to make an example and intimidate future leakers. Then, there's the courts. All now agree Canadian Maher Arar was 100% innocent when the US rendered him to Syria for a full year of detention and torture. Still, the Obama administration argued the Supreme Court should not hear his case. ... There is no reason why Americans should not see what US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are doing in their name and with their tax resources. In a free society, the fact something may discredit the military is the military's problem. ... In a Department of Defense Anti-Terrorism Awareness Training course, the following question is asked: Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorism activity? --- The correct answer is D. Protests. If at the center of your government you have a huge, closed, untouchable military institution that trains its personnel to see legitimate civilian opposition as the enemy, you are in trouble. [!!!!!]

180610, ICH, By John Grant, Truth Through a Soda Straw. In Honduras, the general who mounted the 2009 coup has been appointed to run the lucrative Hondutel phone system. In fact, the much-ballyhooed one-term limit for presidents in Honduras exists precisely to limit a civilian politician's power is-à-vis the more stable military institution. ... Since the Iraq debacle circa 2007, General David Petraeus has taken over the US military by storm. He is clearly a very brilliant man. His highly-touted counterinsurgency doctrine saved the war in Iraq from disaster and, then, made continuing the war politically possible.

180610, Salon - Glenn Greenwald, The Strange and Consequential Case of Bradley Manning, Adrian Lamo and WikiLeaks . Lamo, who holds himself out as a "journalist" and told Manning he was one, acted instead as government informant, notifying federal authorities of what Manning allegedly told him, and then proceeded to question Manning for days as he met with federal agents, leading to Manning's detention. ... A definitive understanding of what really happened is virtually impossible to acquire, largely because almost everything that is known comes from a single, extremely untrustworthy source: Lamo himself. Compounding that is the fact that most of what came from Lamo has been filtered through a single journalist - Poulsen - who has a long and strange history with Lamo, who continues to possess but not disclose key evidence, and who has been only marginally transparent about what actually happened here.

Om Islands nye pressefrihedslovgivning se (under 160610)

170406, ICH. Mike Whitney "Zarqawi; the Pentagon's ongoing war of deception". "Zarqawi-related news is devoid of any factual content. The accepted policy of the news agencies (without exception) is to reiterate the same Pentagon talking points, suspicions, and baseless claims as their peers. This gives us some insight into the collaborative relationship between the corporate media and their allies in the defense establishment. The Pentagon's apparitions immediately become part of the national dialogue completely unchallenged by anyone in the news industry."

Se også Boykot, om Jyllandsposten som Der Stürmer.

Et problem for pressefriheden er, at der i USA er 20000 flere PR folk, der tilpasser nyhederne, end der er journalister, der prøver på at skaffe dem frem og/eller skriver dem (Paul Rutherford: Weapons of Mass Persuasion). 40 % af det der havner i amerikanke aviser har været igennem presseagenter og PRfolk. En panel diskussion om "Reporting war" på Columbia University, medio april 2006, mellem 4 ledende journalister konstaterer, at forretningskulturen, arbejdsgiverens stadige kommercielle hensyn, har ødelagt journalismen i USA. K Gajendra Singh, 230406.

Stygt, men alt for sandt udtryk: "presstitute lackeys", fundet hos en anden blogger.

Pressefriheden bruges meget til ikke at bringe nyheder, der ville forstyrre det manipulerede billede. Det er formentlig en af de vigtigste påvirkningsmetoder. Vi "lærer", at terror udøves af muslimer ved, at anden terror ikke omtales, et eksempel (og der kan findes mange andre) bringer Socialist Worker 2021,7 October 2006.  Mumia.skriver om mediernes undskyldende behandling af statens forbrydelser (excesses).

Om Hoover og pressen se Mumia.

I den rekonstruerede udgave af historien, som siden er blevet den godkendte doktrin, fremstilles medierne som havende indtaget en »oppositionel holdning« til staten i denne periode [Vietnamkrigen], måske i en sådan grad, at det var undergravende for de demokratiske institutioner. Man møder denne påstand ikke bare på højrefløjen, men også i den liberale opinion. Det er en anklage, der for eksempel rejses i et betydningsfuldt værk, The Crisis of Democracy (Demokratiets krise), udgivet af den Trilaterale Kommission, en overvejende liberalt indstillet elitegruppe (som støttede Jimmy Carter og besatte så godt som alle poster i regering og administration, mens han var præsident) sammensat af David Rockefeller i 1973 med deltagelse fra det industrialiserede kapitalistiske demokratis tre centre - USA, Europa og Japan.....Mediernes påståede »oppositionelle holdning« til staten var et af de farligste træk ved denne »demokratiets krise«, hævder den Triterale Kommission i sin bog, og denne fare måtte overvindes. Chomsky, p 73

"Jeg har i anden sammenhæng undersøgt pressens dækning af disse og andre spørgsmål mere detaljeret, og det samme har andre. Resultaterne er gang på gang ens: Forbrydelser begået af USA og dets marionetter forties eller undskyldes; forbrydelser begået af officielle fender mødes med jammer og harme, ofte på grundlag af et spinkelt bevismateriale af den slags, som ville blive affejet med foragt, hvis det drejede sig om USA og dets marionetter, eller byggende på lodret løgn. Det er den adfærd, man venter at finde hos en totalitær stats officielle presse. At det samme i så høj grad er tilfældet i en presse, der ikke er undergivet åbenlys statskontrol, må komme som en overraskelse og et chok for dem, der ærligt og redeligt sætter sig for at undersøge tingene En ret omfattende dokumentation foreligger, men bliver uvægerligt ignoreret som alt for ubekvem i diskussionen om mediernes natur, hvor disse - for at slå hovedet på sømmet - i reglen kritiseres for deres »oppositionelle« holdning over for den statslige og private magt." Chomsky, p. 185

David Martin: "17 Techniques for Truth Suppression".

I 2004 lavede Federal Communications Commission en skitse til en rapport, der antydede at en yderligere mediekoncentration ville gå ud over den lokale TVdækning. Rapporten blev beordret ødelagt. Den dukkede alligevel op under senatets høring om FCCs formandskandidat, Kevin Martin.

Bush administrationen presser medierne på mange måder, Frank Rich, International Herald Tribune, 161004. Og så nævner han ikke engang beslaglæggelsen af Indymedias servere.

Henry Porter, gennemgår i The Guardian, 040605, den frygt, der er dukket op hos amerikanske journalister, Bushregeringens meget bevidste kamp mod "Deep Throat's" og den deraf følgende ændring i pressens rolle.

George Monbiot, The Guardian, 180105, "A televisual fairyland". Giver en bidende beskrivelse af mediesituationen i USA. Man må gerne kritisere præsidenten - dog kun, hvis han er demokrat. Mary Mapes hos CBS blev fyret for sit program om Bushs indsats for at undgå at blive sendt til Vietnam (der var nogen fejl i hendes rapport, men essensen, at han fik sin tjeneste forlagt til Air National Guard - og smøg uden om den der også - var helt korrekt. Historierne om Kerrys indsats i Vietnam gav ingen problemer for journalister, selvom de havde større fejl. Hverken Jessica Lynch historien eller historierne om masseødelæggelsesvåben i Iraq, eller for den sags skyld Clinton's Whitewater affære, gav anledning til fyringer. "Mediefirmaernes rolle i USA svarer til deres rolle under andre undertrykkende regimer: de beslutter hvad offentligheden får at vide og hvad den ikke får at vide og de enten straffer eller hyrer de sociale afvigere som insisterer på at fortælle en anden historie. Og de journalister, de ansætter, gør hvad alle journalister, der arbejder under undertrykkende styrer gør: de lærer censorens krav og forstår inden nogen fortæller dem det, hvad der er tilladt og hvad der ikke er."

George Monbiot: "The media are minimising US and British war crimes in Iraq", The Guardian, 081105. De tæller ligene - trods alt, hvad de har sagt. Behandlingen af Lancets beregninger gennemgås.

John Pilger, New Statesman, 120505, "Let's face it - The state has lost it's mind". Refererer bl.a. til Alex Carey's "Managing public opinion: The corporate offensive" en ny Orwell med det propagandastyrede demokrati. Det eksemplificeres med behandlingen af Denis Halliday, Østtimor, Israel's atomvåben, udenrigspolitikkens ringe gennemslag i valgkampen, tsunamien i Aceh, og så selvfølgelig den stigende accept af imperialismen.

Dahr Jamail skriver, 030404, en væsentlig artikel, "Independent journalism under occupation in Iraq". Han nævner det samme forhold, som Jan Øberg, TFF, skriver i sin Peace Browser, 220404, at pressefrihed desværre i meget stor udstrækning består i at pressen tager sig pressefriheden at fortie visse ubekvemme ting. Dahr fremhæver, at det giver et meget skævt billede af forholdene og udviklingen i Iraq, fordi de fleste amerikanske journalister forbliver den den ukontroversielle, mindre farlige - også fysiske - zone nær det amerikanske militær, hvor de naturligt får et skævt billede. Dernæst sidder hjemme en redaktør som tænker over, hvad det er opportunt at offentliggøre.

020905, Information Clearing House. Les Roberts, Johns Hopkins University skriver om fortielsen af Lancet rapporten om dødeligheden i Iraq.

Patrick Barrett, The Guardian, 250504, "US journalists face credibility gap".

When will press stop circulating dubious Iraq claims ?, Greg Mitchell, 191203

Den frie presse er ikke længere værdsat: afvisning af Sue Smethurst, New Idea, Australia

Nick Higham, BBC skriver om "The 'truth' of war reporting": There are plenty of killings in films and drama ... but generally not in reporting. Quotes Robert Fisk: "if they saw them [images of war violence], they would never again support wars. ... And we want a population that will, when we want, support wars." 

David Miller skriver i The Guardian, "The domination Effect" om USAs tilstræbte Information Dominance.

220303 Fred Nerac og Hussein Osman fra ITV skydes. Terry Lloyd skydes i en privat "ambulance".

080403, 2 Kameramænd  skydes på deres værelse på Palestine Hotel Baghdad af tank (Taras Protswuk). Abu Dhabi TVs kamera beskydes. Al Jazeera s Tarek Ayyoub skydes.

August 2003, Reuters kameramand skydes foran Baghdad fængsel. (Mazen Dana)

031103: Salah Hassan, Al Jazeera kameramand. Arresteres under interviews på stedet for et frihedskæmper bombeangreb også omtalt 230404, The Guardian.

181103: Suheib Badr Darwish, journalist ved Al Jazeera arresteres og tæves. Bremers kontor har truet Al Jazeera med udvisning !

241103 Al Arabiya udenlukkes fra at arbejde i Iraq af IGC.

Afshin Rattansi (Al Jazeera) skriver, 091203, hos Media Monitors Net:

"US troops in Iraq seize an al Jazeera cameraman for filming an attack on American soldiers in Mosul - the tape confiscated, he goes on hunger strike to win his release; 4 Turkish journalists are detained by US troops after one of them took a photograph of a US soldier on a tank; Journalists from Iran are detaind for over a month; a Japanese reporter filming the bodies of Iraqis killed in a US raid finds himself i an arm-lock. He's forced to the ground before American soldiers give him a sound kicking with their army boots. Soldiers with telescopic sights confuse a Sony video camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and shoot a Palestinian cameraman from Reuters dead."

141203 tilbageholdes Khawar Mehdi, Marc Epstein & Jean - Paul Guilloteau, som arbejder for L'Express i Baluchistan af pakistansk militær. Khawar Mehdi savnes endnu januar 2004 (Pepe Escobar i Asian Times, hentet 180104).

020104. Reuters hold på 3 (irakere) og en NBC medarbejder (også iraker) bliver først beskudt siden mishandlet af US soldater. (Salem Ureibi m.fl.), de beretter om tortur, 180504 og The Guardian, 240504.

180304. Al Arabiya's correspondent og cameraman Ali al-Khatib & Ali Abd al-Aziz skydes af US soldater efter at have passeret et checkpoint. (Al Jazeera) Det indrømmes senere, med bortforklaring. Robert Fisk gennemgår sagen i The Independent, 040404.

Et særligt problem er journalisters uoplyste økonomiske afhængighed, som eksemplificeret af George Will/Conrad Black.

FBI lukker CIT Hosting, link dead 100804, 140204, og tager alle deres computere med til hovedkvarteret.

090404, De amerikanske tropper forlanger at Al Jazeera skal forlade Falluja, inden de vil forhandle om en våbenhvile. Al Jazeera har nemlig et filmhold inde i byen. Ialt er 19 journalister dræbt i Iraq, 14 under krigen de sidste 5 under besættelsen.

100404, Robert Fisk skriver om den amerikanske holdning til pressen: "War Lords to Their Critics: "Just Shut Up".

230404, The Guardian rapporterer on at amerikanerne har skudt to medarbejdere på al Iraqiya - der betales af USA

290404, Reuters skriver at Qatars udenrigsminister (Hamad bin Jassim) efter amerikansk pres lover at se på Al Jaziras dækning af Iraq.

040504 meddeler Channel3000 at Ismail Zayder har sagt op som chefredaktør på Al Sabah, en iraqisk avis udgivet af Harris Incorporated under kontrakt med Pentagon. Zayder er utilfreds med amerikansk kontrol.

260504 blev den engelske journalist Peter Hounam tilbageholdt (2 dage) i Israel fordi han interviewede Mordechai Vanunu.

040604, Salon beretter om Pentagons holdning til en Marine Lt.' s udtalelser i en dokumentarfilm !

070604, Ibrahim Allawi, redaktør for Al Ghad, Baghdad opfordrer til protestdemonstrationer i Irland under Bush's besøg. Han er foreberedt på at få lukket sin anti-besættelses-avis.

150604, Robert Schlesinger gennemgår 13 tilfælde af tilbageholdelse af pressefolk i amerikanske lufthavne - fra de 27 lande, som ikke har visumtvang - bortset netop for journalister. Elena Lapkin, UK stripsearched. Dansk fotograf fik taget DNA prøve, svensk journalist nægtet adgang til at ringe til ambassaden, 6 franske journalister bodysearched...

260604, Bush blev meget sur over Carole Coleman's interview forud for besøget i Eire. og 240604 og 260604.

For at man ikke skal få et forkert indtryk af pressefriheden, et rigtigt retssystem og den iraqiske suverænitet så censurerede USAs militær de bånd, der blev optaget af deres egne TV-folk, af Saddam's 1. retsmøde - selvom man i forvejen havde forlangt at lydoptagelsen skulle slås fra, Robert Fisk, 030704.

270105, Dave Lindorff afslører i CounterPunch, at 2 kendte journalister blev betalt (godt) for st skrive pænt om Bush.

050205, CNN: Det amerikanske forsvarsministerium driver to udenlandske Websites, et på Balkan og et i Maghreb. Begge er kamufleret som uafhængige nyhedssites. Nederst på siden kan mna klikke på en lille link, der fører til en meddelelse om, at DoD sponserer.

170205, Arab News. Abeer Mishkhas: Om hvad Eason Jordan, CNNs chef, sagde på World Economic Forum i Davos, som gjorde at han måtte gå. Det afgørende formodes at være, at han sagde at USAs tropper havde sigtet på de 12 dræbte journalister.

180205, The Guardian.International Federation of Journalists beder USA om at erkende sine fejl under Iraq krigen, hvor 70 journalister er dræbt, herunder i hvertfald 12 af amerikanske styrker. Talsmanden Aidan White kritiserer også den "giftige blanding af hysteri, intolerance og uvidenhed", der drev CNN's nyhedschef, Eason Jordan, ud.

180205, Democracy now. Interview med Ward Churchill, som siger at i.h.t. til den vurdering USA anlægger, at et militært mål i en bygning gør, at bygningen er et lovligt militært mål; så var WTC et lovligt militært mål. Der var CIAkontor, forsvarsministerielle kontor og FBI. - Og det vil guvernøren, Bill O'Reilly og andre have ham fyret for at sige.

190205, Socialist Worker, Issam Rashid Abdel Rahman, beretter om sine oplevelser som TVjournalist i Iraq, hvor han bl.a. filmede rydningen af Abu Hanifa moskeen i Baghdad.

190205, Bush regeringen vil hellere have statsstyrede TVudsendelser end uafhængige journalister - Men GAO (Governement Accountability Office, der er en slags statsrevisorer) har meddelt, at den slags er lovstridigt med mindre de klart mærkes med, at de er fremstillet for regeringen, The Guardian.

050305, Xinhuanet. Al Furats journalist Majed Fadhel Zbon blev arresteret ved grænsen til Syrien i slutningen af februar.

050305, USA vil åbenbart ikke, at Giuliana Sgrena skal fortælle om bl.a. napalmanvendelse i Fallujah. Man forsøger at myrde hende under frigivelsen fra gidseltagerne og Yahoo.

230305, The New Standard. Pentagon har indstillet undersøgelserne i forbindelse med de 3 iraqiske Reutermedarbejdere, som blev tilbageholdt og tortureret i januar 2004 nær Fallujah.

020405, vheadline. Brev fra Venezuelas medieminister til journalist Jackson Diehl, Washington Post, hvor han imødegår påstande om at pressefriheden skulle være undertrykt i Venezuela. Han understreger m. citater fra amerikansk lov, at det er mere strafbart at modsige, demonstrere imod USAs præsident end Venezuelas.

090505, The Nation. Eric Alterman: "Bush's war on the Press". En absolut læseværdig artikel.

140505, Al Jazira. USAs ven Uzbekistans præsident, Karimov - ham der koger sine fjender - holder byen Andijan fri for journalister, mens han prøver at få styr på demonstranter.

190505, WorldNetDaily. Linda Foley, formand for Newspaper Guild, sagde fredag i St Louis, at amerikanerne direkte skyder efter arabiske journalister. (Eason Jordan, CNNs direktør sagde på World Economic Forum i Davos tidligere i år, at 63 journalister var dræbt i Iraq og at de havde været det direkte mål; han trak senere sin udtalelse tilbage og trak sig fra sin post). 

John Pilger: "Another Fake", New Statesman, 310504, beskriver hvordan man myrder pressefriheden uden at myrde journalisten (om fyringen af Piers Morgan fra Mirror).

060605, World Socialist Website. David Walsh beskriver republikanernes systematiske jagt på Bill Moyers.

080605, France 2/Information Clearing House. Den franske TV journalist Grégoire Deniau beskriver sin tilbageholdelse af amerikanerne i Fallujah i april 2004.

110605, Morning Star. John Pilger: National Union of Journalists (UK) har indgået et partnerskab med den engelske regering. "Journalistorganisationen skulle ikke samarbejde med sin fjende". De mange fortielser hænger sammen med pressens ejerforhold og så en sådan kendsgerning, som at Journalistforbundet modtager penge fra regeringen. Millioner af mennesker verden over betragter ikke længere den vestlige presse som troværdig; men gør som folk i de stalinistiske lande plejede at gøre, søger sandheden andetsteds.

290605, Knight Ridder. Gennemgår skydningen af Yasser Salihee, der arbejde for Knight Ridder.

050705, Information Clearing House. Mike Whitney: "Rumsfelds løsning: Befri Iraq, en journalist ad gangen".

170705, Information Clearing House, Mike Whitney. "Another casualty in Rumsfeld's Information-war". (Khalid Jarrar, Yasser Salihee)

020905, Herald Sun, Australien. Reuters TV lydmand, Waleed Khaled, blev skudt af amerikansk militær (mandag). De indrømmer og den ansvarlige generalmajor synes, at soldaterne har handlet rigtigt.

070905, BBC. Yahoo hjælper Kina med at fængsle en journalist.

sept. 2005, Monde Diplomatique, Eric Klinenberg, Le groupe Sinclair, empire de la télévision conservatrice aux Etats-Unis. Overalt manøvrerer ultrakonservative industrielle på at få monopol på de elektroniske medier. Murdoch på internet, Axel Springer på TV, Berlusconis Fininvest på aviser, i USA er det Sinclairgruppen, der optræder som propaganda medium for Bush regeringen. Det var denne gruppe, der kørte de hadske reklamespots mod John Kerry i præsidentvalget i 2004. Den lægger også bølgelængde til et ExxonMobile finansieret program, der skal sprede tvivl om miljøspørgsmål (a la Bjørn Lomborg).

140905, Al Jazira. Iraks justitsminister  mener, at medierne skal have særlig beskyttelse, så de kan rapportere fra alle sider i konflikten. Reuters kameramand Ali Omar Ibrahim al Mashhadani er interneret for mindst en måned.

200905, Reuters AlertNet beretter om retssagen mod Lynndie England, hvor dommeren har forbudt frigvelsen af de fotos vi alle kender !!?? De vil ikke blive vist i retten - men på computerskærme for medlemmer af juryen. Det kan være for at påvirke, hvad der frigives i en anden ACLUsag.

210905, The Guardian: New York Times journalisten Fakher Haidar al Tamimi myrdes i Basra.

270905, Dahr Jamail har på ICH en notits om pres på det græske TV for at de skulle stoppe Stelios Koutoglous dokumentar om Iraq.

290905, Reuters klager i et brev til formanden for Senatets udvalg for de væbnede tjenester over at amerikanske tropper forhindrer nyhedsdækningen fra Iraq. 66 journalister er dræbt i Iraq siden marts 2003. Man tilbageholder 4 journalister, der arbejder for internationale medier.

071005, ICH, Ahmed Amr: "Judith Miller's dirty little secret": Gennemgår mediernes støtte til Iraqkrigen. Antikrigsbevægelsen gik hjem, da TV lukkede for kameraerne under den første store demonstration [februar 2003]. I Saigon kunne soldater og civile rådgivere hee blande sig med almindelige mennesker, men her 28 måneder efter besættelsen af Baghdad tør de ikke komme ud af den grønne zone. Medierne har forstået, at en af årsagerne til amerikanernes afstandtagen fra Vietnamkrigen var, at de fik virkeligheden at se. Derfor spares de nu for de skrækkelige syn. Saddams retssag får ingen dækning - man kunne jo risikere, at han sagde hvem der havde leveret ham kemiske våben. Kisterne ankommer om natten, begravelserne dækkes ikke. Krigen kommer ikke på forsiden - nu hvor det ikke går så godt. Miller & Rove er forsvundet fra overskrifterne. "I. Although the media moguls can't be voted out of their corporate headquarters, they do have an Achilles heel. The value of their enterprise is entirely dependent on the public's perception of their credibility and integrity."

131005, Reporters sans frontières - Marocco, journalisten Abderrahmane El Badraoui er i sultestrejke, han har siddet siden januar 2002. 

131005: Robert Fisk: Musejournalisme er den eneste måde vi kan rapportere fra Iraq. (At man holder sig skjult og kun lige smutter op til overfladen i 10 minutter ad gangen - så lang tid går der, inden en observatør får ringet efter snigskytten).

161005, Editor & Publisher, Judith Miller historien viser, at pressefriheden også tillader en stor avis at skjule, at den arbejder som propagandaorgan for regeringen - [eller er det kun for en del af denne ?, OJ]. Judith Miller var akkrediteret eftersøgningen af masseødelæggelsesvåben i Iraq med adgang til hemmelige dokumenter - det er uklart om denne adgang består.

191005, Newsweek. Skriver om den forvridning af nyhedsbilledet, der opstår, når en journalist som Judith Miller optræder med en uoplyst adgang til hemmelige dokumenter, og altså kommer til at virke som regeringens uoplyste talerør.

 241005, Patrick J Buchanan: Demokraternes passivitet var skandaløs, men den virkelige skandale er dem, der viderebragte løgne, de vidste var løgne, som Judith Miller.

251005, World Socialist Web, Det var Iraqs "indenrigsministerium", der 020805 stod bag drabet på journalist Steven Vincent, som var kommet for tæt på SCIRIs milits. Og i juni dræbtes Yasser Salihee som havde lavet en historie om Wolf brigaden i "ministeriet".

311005, Ohmynews, USA står som nummer 44 på det verdensomspændende Pressefriheds Index, siger RSF.

111105, Huffington Post. [Pressefriheden er jo også friheden til at fyre journalister, der søger sandheden]. Robert Scheer, gennem 30 år anerkndt journalist ved Los Angeles Times, er fyret. Udgiveren Jeff Johnson har givet nogen grund. Men det forlyder, at han har sagt, at alt hvad Scheer skrev var ham imod. Fra 191105 optræder Scheer i Huffington Post.

131105, Baltimore Sun. "Secretive Firm Helps U.S. Wage Information War Abroad". Rendon Group har hentet 56 millioner USD hos Pentagon siden 9/11. Opgaverne: følge udenlandske journalister, fremme nyheder til gunst for amerikanske styrker, plante TV nyhedsstykker der fremme amerikanske synspunkter, lave en græsrodsafstemningsbevægelse i Puerto Rice til fordel for US Navy. Nogen af kontrakterne har Judicial Watch skaffet gennem FOIA. Rendon blev nævnt som indblandet ved afsløringen af Pentagons Office of Strategic Influence i frbruar 2002. Men dette kontors chef frikender dem. Han samarbejdede med Science Applications International Corp. Men Rendon har en kontrakt på over 6 millioner USD fra Pentagon til at følge mediedækningen af krigen i Iraq. Og kantrakter vedrørende Afghanistan. Og Rendon har en fortid hos Panama under Noriega, Kuwait under Saddams invasion [babyhistorien ?] og en aktiv kontrakt med Pentagon i september 2001.

[Pressefriheden om fatter bestemt også friheden til at lyve - og tage sig godt betalt for det, OJ].

141105, Yahoo. Dow Jones, der udgiver Wall Street Journal har anlagt sag for at få frigivet dokumenterne i Fitzgeralds undersøgelse af Plame/CIA/Libby/Cheney lækagen.

151105, The Age. Director of corporate affairs i Fairfax, udgiveren af The Age, Bruce Wolpe: "Putting a muzzle on the media", et stærkt og godt formuleret forsvar for ytringsfriheden i anledning af den australske regerings forslag til ny terrorlovgivning. - Hvor er alle de andre landes journalister henne ? - Han skriver: Vi kan ikke bevare vort demokrati, hvis vi ødelægger de institutioner, der tjener det.  Udvidelsen af lovene om tilskyndelse til oprør (sedition) er den groveste trussel mod udgivelsen af nyheder (publication) fra regeringens side i vor historie. Under den eksisterende lovgivning kan sikkerhedstjenesten søge en retskendelse, der forlanger at en person udleverer arkiver eller ting, der er eller kan være relevante i forhold til en terrorismesag. Den nye lov overlader denne magt til en forbundspolitimand. Også kan forbundspolitiet også be retten om en kendelse om udlevering af dokumenter i ikke-terrorisme-sager. Og så er det endda en kriminel handling at fortælle, at man har fået pålagt at udlevere dokumenter eller information fra forbundspolitiets side. Forbuddet mod at berette, hvadman har fået at vide af en tilbageholdt person er specielt problematisk, hvor der kan have været tale om mishandel. At gøre pressen tavs undeminerer en i øvrigt rosværdig beskyttelse af tilbageholdte mod grusom, umenneskelig eller nedværdigende behandling. Henvendelsen til Senatet findes på www.fxj.com.au. 

Forfaldet i den amerikanske presse ses nu også individuelt hos en af koryfæerne, Bob Woodward. Washington Post, 161105, Raw Story, 161105, Tom Dispatch, 171105.

211105, The Democrat's Diary: Medierne er medskyldige i krigsforbrydelserne og torturen på grund af deres tavshed.

221105, The Mirror. Bush ville bombe Al Jazira i Doha i Qatar, det fremgår af et meget hemmeligt referat af et møde i april 2004. Tony Blair fik ham talt fra det. Som naturligt er stiller Mirror spørgsmålstegn ved om de andre angreb på Al Jazirafolk og -anlæg så også er "uheld" eller bevidste angreb.

231105, CounterPunch, Linda S Heard ser på Bush plan om at bombe al Jazira. Hun citerer tidligere forsvarsminister i Blairs regering, Peter Kilfoyle for: "If it was the case that President Bush wanted to bomb Al Jazeera in what is after all a friendly country, it speaks volumes and it raises questions about subsequent attacks that took place on the press that wasn't embedded with coalition forces". Hun gennemgår eksempler herpå. Endelig nævnes, at CNNs chef Eason Jordan måtte trække sig tilbage efter på Davos Economic Forum at have sagt, at USAs tropper havde dræbt 12 journalister  i Iraq, at Peter Arnett og April Oliver også var blevet gået fra CNN for kritik af det amerikanske militær.

231105, Al Jazira kommenterer Bushs plan om bombning - og den engelske regerings forbud mod presseomtale af sagen med henvisning til Official Secrets Act, Section 5.

231105, Financial Times. Har talt med Qatar om sagen. Mødet mellem Blair og Bush var 160404. Sidste år var der diplomatiske uoverensstemmelser mellem USA og Qatar, da USA forsøgte at få Qatar til at censurere al Jazira. Qatar tilbød at udbyde al Jazira til salg, men det syntes USA heller ikke om.

251105, BlairWatch. Boris Johnson, The Spectator er parat til at offentliggøre det lækkede dokument. "If someone passes me the document within the next few days I will be very happy to publish it in The Spectator, and risk a jail sentence." Der er altså en avis, der mener noget med pressefrihed.

Sagen om bombningen af al Jazira behandles også i: The Independent, 281105; The Observer, 271105; The Telegraph, 271105. Hemmeligstemplingen kan skyldes, at dokumentet også indeholder planerne for angrebet på Fallujah.

301105, New York Times. Pentagon har hyret Lincoln Group til at skrive positive historier for den iraqiske presse (5 millioner USD i 2004). Derudover har gruppen en stald på et dusin iraqiske journalister, der får nogle hundreder USD/måned. Formanden for overkomandoen (joint chiefs of staff) hævdes ikke at have vidst noget om den operation. Der kan under kontrakten også forekomme "deceptive techniques", altså forsøg på direkte løgnagtig påvirkning af den offentlige mening.

011205, The Guardian bringer et indlæg fra Wadah Khanfar, generaldirektør for Al Jazira: "Hvorfor ville I bombe mig, hr Bush og hr Blair ?". Han retter nogen fejl i anklagerne mod al Jazira og forlanger at få det lækkede dokument med oplysningen om planerne om at bombe al Jazira offentliggjort.

031204, Antiwar. Beskriver Bush regeringens mønster med at prøve at sværte journalister - og andre - der skriver/siger noget, der ikke passer regeringen.

051205, KUNA. Rumsfeld har i en tale på Johns Hopkins University givet udtryk for sin begejstring for pressefriheden. Meget af talens indhold er gengivet i denne artikel.

081205, USA Today. Forfølger sagen med Pentagons indkøb af positiv dækning i iraqisk presse, herunder Baghdad Press Club.

130206, ICH, Mike Whitney. Pentagon har en færdig strategi for at overtage internet. Det fremgår af "The information Operations Roadmap". Pentagon ser internettet som en militær modstander. Denne fokusering på internet røber, at de almindelige medier er blevet ufarlige. De er en fuldt integreret del af det corporative system, der leverer forretningslivsvenlige nyheder døgnet rundt. Mens internettet er det amerikanske demokratis sidste bastion. "The IOR aspires to "provide maximum control of the entire electromagnetic spectrum" and develop the capability to "disrupt or destroy the full spectrum of globally emerging communications systems, sensors, and weapons systems dependent on the electromagnetic spectrum".

Telesur et TV samarbejde mellem Argentina Cuba, Uruguay og Venezuela skal levere TV inkl. nyheder uden Nordamerikansk indflydelse. (Monde Diplomatique, Février 2006)

 200206, The Independent. "The litmus test of free speech is letting people you detest say what they choose, and defending their right to say things that may be painfully hateful or deeply stupid."

030306, Medialens. Richard Keeble, Hacks And Spooks. Beskriver en trussel mod pressefriheden. For nær kontakt mellem journalister og efterretningstjenester. Der er jo en klar overlapning i arbejdet. Men kontakten indebærer store risici for manipulering af pressen. Richard Norton-Taylor(1991) citeres for, at 500 prominente briter, inklusive 90 journalister, fik penge fra CIA. John le Carré citeres for, at MI6, som han arbejdede for mellem 1960 og 1964 kontrollerede store dele af pressen.

140306, The Guardian. Kommentar af Victoria Brittain, "Trial by spin machine". Om at pressen lydigt fortier, at de unge britiske muslimer, der blev frigivet fra Guantanamo, faktisk er uskyldige.

070406, Democracy Now, Interview med Robert Fisk og Noam Chomsky. "Fisk: You have a major problem in the United States, in that your journalists don't challenge authority. They will not, will not, will not challenge authority, unless they think authority is lying on the ground. Then they'll have a timid kick at it, which we're now seeing with the Scooter Libby affair. But by and large -"

100606, truthout. Dahr Jamail & Jeff Pflueger ser på pressens behandling af pinlige episoder i krigen, der er 5 teknikker: forsinke, aflede opmærksomheden, diskreditere, skabe opmærksomhed og finde en syndebuk. De giver så et antal eksempler på anvendelsen heraf under Iraqkrigen.

010906, CounterPunch, "Rupert Murdoch's Victims". The Life and Crimes of a Global Goebbels. Om hvordan en ansvarsløs presse ødelægger folks liv.

131006, WSWS, Why is the American press silent on the report of 655,000 Iraqi deaths ? Lancets undersøgelse refereres.

071206, ICH, John Pilger, Setting The Limits Of Invasion Journalism. En undersøgelse udført af 3 engelske universiteter (Manchester, Liverpool og Leeds, leder af holdet: Piers Robinson) viser at 80 % af medierne følger regeringens linie og kun 12 % udfordrer den.

JUIN 2007, Le Monde diplomatique, p. 24 - 25, Marc Endeweld, Des Chaînes "tout info" bien peu dérangeantes. Om magten og medierne. Journalisterne bindes også indholdsmæssigt i en ansættelseaftale. Man skal bruge billeder - og der er kun 2 leverandører (Reuters, AP) heraf, de får derfor også overvægt i indholdet !

110610, Raw Story' - John Byrne US 'Desperately' Trying to Keep Wikileaks from Publishing US Communications About Arab States. USA jagter Julian Assange, der grundlagde Wikileaks. Hele sagen gennemgås. Wikileaks ligger på en svensk server. (since the website is based on servers in Sweden, a country that has traditionally looked favorably on whistleblower claims.) Der er tale om telegrammer mellem amerikanske diplomater og State Department over flere år. (... a memo prepared by the United States embassy in Reykjavik, Iceland, that described a meeting there between American and Icelandic officials over that country's banking meltdown. The Januaiy 2010 memo may have been of special interest to Wikileaks given the site's close ties to Iceland, where Assange has based himself at times and where he worked mth local lawmakers to draft free-speech laws that give broad freedom to journalists to protect their sources.

 the media enable the Bush administration to escape accountability

171205, CommonDreams. Kommenterer New York Times' tilbageholdelse af artiklen om aflytningerne og især den kendsgerning, at pressen generelt anvender regeringens sprogbrug, f.eks. Bush authorized (bemyndigede) aflytningerne, som han slet ikke har myndighed til at bemyndige nogen til. Ligesom man undlader at konkludere, at det ulovlige aflytningsprogram blev iværksat på den måde fordi et forslag om en sådan bemyndigelse ville have mødt kraftig modstand i Kongressen.

290106, Paul Craig Roberts, "Why does the media enable the Bush administration to escape accountability for illegal behavior by putting false and misleading choices before the people ?"

160107, Skånska Dagbladet vælger i sin behandling af hængningerne i Baghdad ikke at oplyse om, at hovedet blev revet af Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddams halvbroder. Selvom den detalje faktisk var med i det tilgrundliggende TT-Reuters telegram. Fy Skånskan.

En sag som de vestlige medier har valgt at tage sig pressefriheden at fortie er Menneskerettighedskrænkelser i USA se Kinas rapport over menneskerettighedsforholdene i USA, 2003.

John Pilger: "Why the truth must be told" om nødvendigheden af dokumentarfilm i TV, 060704.

Elena Lappin: Keeping America safe from foreign writers, International Herald Tribune, 130704, om journalistvisa og forfatteres problemer med Immigration, bl.a. Rohinton Mistry.

FNs undergeneralsekretær for kommunikation, Shashi Tharoor, skriver 140704 i International Herald Tribune om de mange nyheder, der ikke kommer ud - problemer, der er vigtige, men forbliver uomtalte.

180804, Herald Sun, fortæller at Mahmud Hamid Abbas, der arbejdede for ZDF, er dræbt som den 20nde journalist i 2004.

300904, Joan Chittister, National Catholic Reporter, undrer sig over den manglende omtale af en udtalelse fra 203 asiatiske videnskabsmænd fra 13 lande, som i det væsentlige opfordrer Amerika til at forblive amerikansk (Joans udtryk), fastholde "rule of law" også for sine egne handlinger.

011204, Newsweek, fortæller om et nyt system regeringen anvender for at komme udenom om den ret amerikanske embedsmænd har til at fortælle om misligheder til pressen (at virke som Whistleblower). Man tvinger embedsmændene til skriftligt at give afkald på retten.

171204, i anledning af 213 årsdagen for forfatningens First Amendment om pressefrihed udtrykker Ann Cooper, Committee to Protect Journalists og First Amendment Center Ombudsman Paul McMasters bekymring for fremtiden. Ikke siden Nixon har pressen været så truet.

030105, Heller ikke Israels militær synes om pressefolk. Channel 10s kameramand blev skudt i Gaza, Haaretz.

150305, The Independent, USA forsøger at lukke munden på al Jazira, ved at få Qatar's regering til at privatisere kanalen. Derved vil Saudi Arabien få mulighed for at købe så stor en andel, at de kan blokere ubehagelige nyheder.

200205, The Observer. Bush vil hellere have sine egne lønnede PR-folk.

280305, KUNA, Al Arabiyas korrespondent blev arresteret i Baghdad International Airport med fil fra Fallujah.

290305, Al Jazira, Det amerikanske militær indrømmer nu, at man skød de 2 journalister fra Al Arabiya, Dubai, i Baghdad, 180305. Sidste uge blev en irakisk kameramand, der arbejdede for ABC, USA skudt.

260805, Think Progress. Professor Ronald Rotunda dukkede op i pressen som forsvarer for dommer John Roberts, som blev udsat for kritik for sin dom i en sag om militærdomstole lige før sin udnævnelse til højesteretsdommer. Pressen og Rotunda glemte at fortælle, at Rotunda havde arbejdet for forsvarsministeriet med udformningen af militærdomstolene.

280805, Editor & Publisher. Iraq er værre end Vietnam. Mellem 1955 og 1975 døde 63 journalister i Vietnam. Mellem 200303 og 280805 døde 66 journalister i Iraq. I Jugoslavija mellem 1991 og 1995 døde 49, I Algeriet mellem 1993 og 1996 blev det 77.

190905, Reuters. Dan Rather sagde mandag, at "der løber et klima af frygt gennem nyhedsredaktionerne, stærkere end han nogensinde har set det under sin mere end 40årige karriere".

131005, Editor&Publisher beretter om et angreb fra Det hvide Hus' talsmand Scott McClellan på journalisten Helen Thomas, der viser at McCarthyånden er genopstået.

191005, Reuters. En spansk dommer har udstedt arrestordre mod de 3 amerikanske soldater, der sad i den tank, der åbnede ild mod Palestine Hotel og dræbte den spanske kameramand Jose Couso og Reuters kameramand Taras Protsyuk.

Clive Stafford-Smith, advokat for Al Jaziras kameramand Sami al Hajj. Gennemgår hans sag på Al Jazira, 261005. Det fremgår tydeligt, at USA ikke kan lide uafhængige journalister.

210206, Truthdig, Robert Scheer, tager afstand fra dn østrgske dom over den engelske historiker David Irving for for 17 år siden at have benægtet holocaust (3 års fængsel). Han sammenligner det med den ytringsfrihed som Mohamedtegnere får. Det illustrerer alt for klart vestlig dobbeltmoral.

240206, En tysk TV journalist tilbageholdes indtil han afleverer sin film om Katrina-ofre, der henter post i New Orleans.

190306, Asheville Global Report. Robert Fisk, "The farcical end of the American dream", Los Angeles Times har som kilde for dagens historie  US OFFICIALS SAY. Og det ser ud til at være standard hos de store aviser. En militær dommer i Guantanamo siger: ' "Mr. Abbasi, your conduct is unacceptable and this is your absolute final warning. I do not care about international law. I do not want to hear the words international law. We are not concemed about international law." Og midt i TV transmissionen fra sagen mod Saddam Hussein afbryder dommeren transmissionen. "It is a disgrace."

300306, Guardian, George Galloway, Surfing In The Sewer. Gennemgår en politisk "sting operation" har var udsat for - med forbindelse til Rupert Murdochs imperium.

070406, Democracy Now har et interview med "Robert Fisk on Iraq, Palestne and the Failure of the U.S. Corporate Media to Challenge Authority", "Well, I'm surprised the military have to plant stories, because I find that an awful lot of my colleagues are quite happy to go along with stories planted or otherwise... You know, at some point, we're all going to have to face up the fact that if people do have a genuinely democratic election, we've got to talk to the people they elect, not the people we want them to elect."

160506, Democracy Now. Interview med Brian Ross, ABC. Regeringens kontrol med journalisternes telefonsamtaler kvæler pressefriheden. Bl.a. muliggør det jagt på "whistleblowers", de embedsmænd, der mener, at de bliver sat til at udføre noget ulovligt og som røber det for en journalist. FBI udstedte 9254 national sevurity letters sidste år.

200506, Khaleej Times. Dilip Hiro: Så er en valgt regering ved at blive sat ind i Baghdad. Den første siden demokratiforsøget 1953 - 1958. Men de fleste arabiske intellektuelle mener at netop denne valgte regering giver demokratiet et dårligt ry... Al Jazira har givet arabere mulighed for at se ucensurerede nyheder, debatter og undersøgende journalistik. Al Jazira har endda inviteret israelere til debatter, diskuteret religionens rolle i politik og Guds eksistens.

190606, ICSSA, Lesson from ISI's killing of a Journalist in Pakistan.(Hayatullah Khan) "The government authorities harassed him and his family for over four years before the ISI finally abducted him in December 2005 and killed him in June 2006."

290806, Chris Floyd, Empire Burlesque: NYT to Freedom of the Press: "Drop Dead !" Britiske læsere blokeres fra at læse en artikel på New York Times websted !! Artiklen handler om den seneste britiske "terror"sag. Floyds lange artikel gennemgår bl.a. det briterne ikke må vide. Det væsentligste er, at som i sagen om rendition af Maher Arar, har efterretningstjensterne reageret på løse rygter uden et reelt bevismateriale.

111106, The Independent, Robert Fisk: "Here come the odious excuses". "For a new phenomenon is creeping into the pages of The New York Times and those other great organs of state in America

Et interview med Al Jaziras chefredaktør, Ahmed Sheikh, dec. 2006. "...we value people's right freely to express their opinions. We provide information, nothing else. We see ourselves as a pluralistic forum dedicated to the search for the truth. If in the process we manage to help to push through reforms, of course we're happy about that."

170507, ICH, Chalmers Johnson, Evil Empire. Is Imperial Liquidation Possible for America? "Veteran analyst of the press (and former presidential press  secretary), Bill Moyers, considering a classic moment of media failure, concluded: "The disgraceful press reaction to Colin Powell's presentation at the United Nations [on February 5,2003] seems like something out of Monty Python, with one key British report cited by Powell being nothing more than a student's thesis, downloaded from the Web - with the student later threatening to charge U.S. officials with 'plagiarism.'"

130607, Guardian, John Pilger, The Cry Of The Invisible. "Described by Harold Pinter as a great silence unbroken by the incessant din of the media age, it assures the powerful in the west that the struggle of whole societies against their crimes is merely "superficially recorded, let alone documented, let alone acknowledged... It never happened. Even while it was happening it never happened. It didn't matter. It was of no interest"."

290607, ZNet, Noam Chomsky, Imminent Crises: Threats and Opportunities. "There is a flood of commentary about Iraq, but very little reporting."

140707, Michael Moore An Open Letter to CNN from Michael Moore. "Think again. I'm about to become your worst nightmare. 'Cause I ain't ever going away. Not until you set the record straight, and apologize to your viewers. "The Most Trusted Name in News?" I think it's safe to say you can retire that slogan...In 2002, the New Vork Times busted you for bringing celebrities on your shows and not telling your viewers they were paid spokespeople for the pharmaceutical companies....Clearly, no one is keeping you honest, so I guess I'm going to have to do that job, too."

170707, ICH, Paul Craig Roberts, A Free Press or a Ministry of Truth? "In his novel 1984, George Orwell portrayed a future time in which the explanations of recent events and earlier history are continually changed to meet Big Brother's latest purpose. Previous explanations disappear down "the memory hole." Sound familiar? Any American who pays attention can observe the identical phenomenon occurring in the US today." OG DET GIVER HAN SÅ EKSEMPLER PÅ.

200707, ICH, John Pilger, The Invisible Government. - Pilger describes how propaganda has become such a potent force in our lives and, in the words of one of its founders, represents 'an invisible government'. "Take the invasion of Iraq. There are two studies of the BBC's reporting. One shows that the BBC gave just 2 percent of its coverage of Iraq to antiwar dissent - 2 percent....We now know that the BBC and other British media were used by the British secret intelligence service MI-6. In what they called Operation Mass Appeal, MI6 agents planted stories about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction....On August 24 last year the New York Times declared this in an editorial: "If we had known then what we know now the invasion if Iraq would have been stopped by a popular outcry." This amazing admission was saying, in effect, that journalists had betrayed the public by not doing their job and by accepting and amplifying and echoing the lies of Bush and his gang, instead of challenging them and exposing them.... In Iraq the Pentagon invented the embedded journalist because it believed that critical reporting had lost Vietnam....Last year, in his acceptance of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the playwright Harold Pinter made an epoch speech. He asked why, and I quote him, "The systematic brutality, the widespread atrocities, the ruthless suppression of independent thought in Stalinist Russia were well know in the West, while American state crimes were merely superficially recorded, left alone, documented." And yet across the world the extinction and suffering of countless human beings could be attributed to rampant American power. "But," said Pinter, "You wouldn't know it. It never  happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn't happening. It didn't matter. It was of no interest." Pinter's words were more than the surreal. The BBC ignored the speech of Britain's most famous dramatist." Pilgers film Year Zero: the Silent Death of Cambodia er aldrig vist i USA, formentlig fordi den illustrerer betydningen af USAs bombning for Pol Pots opkomst...Last year a study published by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health found that since the invasion of Iraq 655,000 Iraqis had died as a direct result of the invasion. Official documents show that the Blair government knew this figure to be credible.....The media response to Robert's shocking revelation was silence.....That the CIA had supported Osama Bin Laden was ignored,... that the Clinton administration had secretly backed the Taliban, even  giving them high-level briefings at the CIA, is virtually unknown in the United States....There is compelling evidence that Bush decided to attack the Taliban not as a result of 9-11, but two months earlier, in July of 2001. This is virtually unknown in the United States - publicly...There is a pioneering study by Glasgow University on the reporting of Palestine. They interviewed young people who watch TV news in Britain. More than 90 percent thought the illegal settlers were Palestinian. The more they watched, the less they knew - Danny Schecter's famous phrase...what so few people know is that in the last half century, United States adminstrations have overthrown 50 governments - many of them democracies." Speech delivered at the Chicago Socialism 2007 Conference on Saturday June 16 2007.

210707, The Independent" — Robert Fisk No Wonder The Bloggers Are Winning "These gutless papers explain why more people are Googling than turning pages. First the Los Angeles Times. Last year, reporter Mark Arax was assigned a routine story on the 1915 genocide of one and a half million Armenians by the Ottoman Turkish authorities. Arax's report focused on divisions within the local Jewish community over whether to call the genocide a genocide....But Arax's genocide report was killed on the orders of managing editor Douglas Frantz because the reporter had a "position on the issue" and "a conflict of interest"...Well, Arax has since left the LA Times after a settlement which forestalled a lawsuit against the paper for defamation and discrimination... And North of the border.....But then the Globe and Mail ran for cover. Its editor-in-chief, Edward Greenspon, wrote a cowardly column in which he claimed that the offending paragraphs "should have been removed" from her story. "We regret that we allowed these words to get into a reported (sic) article," he sniffled. There had been a breakdown in what he hilariously called "the editorial quality control process". "Now I happen to know a bit about the Globe's "quality control process". Some time ago, I discovered that the paper had reprinted an article of mine from The Independent about the Armenian genocide. But they had tampered with it, altering my word "genocide" to read "tragedy".

280807, The Guardian, George Monbiot, How the neoliberals stitched up the wealth of nations for themselves A cabal of intellectuals and elitists hijacked the economic debate, and now we are dealing with the catastrophic effects. "These problems appear unrelated, but they all have something in common. Tley arise in large part from a meeting that took place 60 years ago in a Swiss spa resort. It laid the foundations for a philosophy of government that is responsible for many, perhaps most, of our contemporary crises. When the Mont Pelerin Society first met, in 1947, its political project did not have a name. But it knew where it was going. The society's founder, Friedrich von Hayek, remarked that the battle for ideas would take at least a generation to win, but he knew that his intellectual army would attract powerful backers....wherever the neoliberal programme has been implemented, it has caused a massive shift of wealth not just to the top 1%, but to the top tenth of the top 1%. In the US, for instance, the upper 0.1% has already regained the position it held at the beginning of the 1920s. ... In practice the philosophy developed at Mont Pelerin is little but an elaborate disguise for a wealth grab...The first great advantage the neoliberals possessed was an unceasing fountain of money US oligarchs and their foundations - Coors, Olin, Scaife, Pew and others - have poured hundreds of millions into setting up thinktanks, founding business schools and transforming university economics departments into bastions of almost totalitarian neoliberal thinking. The Heritage Foundation, the Hoover Institute, the American Enterprise Institute and many others in the US, the Institute of Economic Affairs, the Centre for Policy Studies and the Adam Smith Institute in the UK, were all established to promote this project....But the most powerful promoter of this programme was the media. Most of it is owned by multimillionaires who use it to project the ideas that support their interests."

170907, Skånskan, en læser skrev: "Terror. År 2004 i juni läste jag en kort notis i Aftonbladet, där stod att USA torterade barn till misstänkta motståndsmän i Irak, en kort notis. Den 23 augusti nämndes detta i radionyheterna en gång på morgonen, inte i varje rapportering den dagen. Tysk tv hade ett mycket informativt program om att barn till misstänkta motståndsmän hålls i fångenskap i läger och torteras. Det handlade om barn, mycket små barn. En före detta  Abu-Graib-fånge vittnade men vågade inte säga mer än att hemska saker hände dessa barn. Däremot vittnade en amerikansk soldat, han bröt sin itystnadsplikt och talade. Norges statsninister gick ut med skarpa protester. Här i det upplysta demokratiska Sverige, med en grundlag som tillåter åsiktsfrihet och tryckfrihet med mera förväntade jag mig en storm av protester i våra media. Men våra joumalisterdrog feghetens skyddande mantel över sig och teg. Man valde den brottsliga tystnaden." 

310907, The Herald, Harare, Reason Wafawarova, U.S. Obsessed With Using Force. USAs udenrigspolitik, set fra Zimbabwe. Manden bærer ikke sit fornavn forgæves. "SINCE the United States assumed  global leadership from Britain at the end of the Second World War; when it emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the war, a development that saw it declare the era of "the American century", Washington has been obsessed with using force to thwart small [!!] countries....When Ronald Reagan was asked to justify his administration's trade embargo against Nicaragua in 1985 he said, "the policies and actions of Nicaragua constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. [Bush siger i dag det samme om Libanon. Min tolkning er, at det er en lovtekst, der giver præsidenten ret til at starte kampen - men Wafawarova's påpegning af, at det går ud over grinagtigt små lande forklares jo ikke af det]. Does this quotation ring a bell to Zimbabweans? It should, given that both Condoleeza Rice and George W. Bush have almost repeated it verbatim in their attempt to justify the so-called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (2001), a sanctions law that bars multilateral lending institutions, with dealings with the US, from extending lines of credit to Zimbabwe....Today, many outside the US still wonder how a largely peasant nation of 13 million people, Zimbabwe, can possibly constitute "an unusual and extraordinary threat" to the foreign policy of the US....This is precisely because the US and much of the western world; has some of the most indoctrinated and brainwashed people of this world as Noam Chomsky rightly pointed out in the book, Latin America: From Colonisation to Globalisation, 1999. In 1982, the Reagan administration, through the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff went on air to tell the American public that Grenada was a military threat to the US. The mere fact that this was pronounced indicates the power of indoctrination and brainwashing contained in the two most powerful agents of imperialism, namely, western politicians and their mass media. The fact that the American public could hear their chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff publicly utter this ludicrous statement without exploding into raucous laughter, was yet another indication of the degree of indoctrination. This "extraordinary" military threat led to the invasion of Grenada in 1983 and 6 000 American elite troops descended on 40 Cubans and a couple of hundred Grenadine military men, earning themselves a total 8 000 medals for the "valour" that led to this enormous victory."  Wafawarova understreger også MDCs alliance med USA og Vesten, som pressen - også i Sverige - "glemmer" at omtale.

091007, Payvand's Iran News, Iran condemns arrest, beating of reporter by US forces in Afghanistan. "A reporter of Iranian English TV network 'Press TV was arrested by the US security forces Sunday night in Kabul on his way home from office." (Faez Khorshid)

310109, ICH, Ray McGovern, From Prison to Award for Iraq War Whistleblower. Freedom is endangered when there is no truly free and independent Fourth Estate, which the British statesman Edmund Burke called the "must important estate of all."  ... The morphing of Bob Woodward is perhaps most instructive of all. He kept his explicit promise to Felt to avoid revealing the identity of "Deep Throat" until Felt was dead..... Woodward did not, however, keep the implicit promise of an investigative journalist to pursue truth without fear or favor. Rather, like the Neo-craven Washington Post. Woodward made an unconscionable transition from fearless "junkyard dog" to Historian to the Court of  George W. Bush and his regent Dick Cheney. Ray sammenligner med Katherine Gun og Elizabeth Wilmshurst.

hernu

En væsentlig trussel mod pressefriheden er militariseringen af pressefolk

Er et af de vigtigste våben i en moderne krig. Derfor "embedded" journalister. Og derfor har Defense Science Board gennemgået USAs "public diplomacy" og "Strategic communication" og fundet at begge lider under, at USA vidtgående opfattes som dobbeltmoralsk - ikke mindst i de muslimske lande. Der er sket er stort fald i USAs troværdighed, isæt efter invasionen i Iraq. USA søger at overbevise et bredt publikum i den muslimske verden til at acceptere den vestlige modernismes værdistruktur - og det lykkes ikke af overangivne årsag. Selvom det påpeges i rapporten,  at "sugar-coating and fast talking are no solutions", så ser det ud til, at man vil satse på bedre propaganda i stedet for at ændre politik væk fra dobbeltmoralske, Jim Lobe, Asia Times, nov. 2004.

030706, The Nation, Access of Evil. "Former Pentagon spokesperson Victoria Clarke proclaimed the embedding process a spectacular success. For the Pentagon, it was. More powerful than any bomb or missile, the Pentagon deployed the media...During the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, MSNBC, NBC and CNN -- not only Fox - called their coverage Operation Iraqi Freedom. We expect the Pentagon to research the most effective propagandistic name to call its operation. But the media's adoption of Pentagon nomenclature raises the question: If this were state media, how would it be any different?..In 1997 the late George Gerbner, former dean of the University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School of Communication, described the media as being "driven not by the creative people who have something to tell, but by global conglomerates that have something to sell."

311006, BBC, Pentagon boosts 'media war' unit. "..to better promote its message across 24-hour rolling news outlets".

Janvier 2007, Ignacio Ramonet, Menaces sur l'information. Gratisaviserne er trussel for de rigtige aviser. Koncentrationen på få hænder truer ytringsfriheden.  Lagardere og Dassault - 2 våbenfirmaer ! - styrer en stor del af den franske presse.

JUILLET 2007, Le Monde diplomatique, Hernando Calvo Ospina, Quand une respectable fondation prend le relais de la CIA. Reporters sans frontières modtager støtte fra NED.

Aout 2007, Le Monde diplomatique, Daniel Mermet/Noam Chomsky, Entretien, Plus efficace encore que les dictatures, Le Lavage de cerveaux en liberté. " la « communication » constitue l'instrument de gouvernement permanent des regimes democratiques... l'influence des medias est plus importante sur la fraction de la population la plus eduquee." De herrer modsiger i artiklen overskriften, idet de siger at meningsundersøgelser i Iran og USA viser, et overvældende flertal for en kernevåbenfri zone omfattende i hvert fald Israel, Iran og de amerikanske styrker i området. Og det er da rart, at propagandaen ikke er mere effektiv ! Men det skyldes nok, at emnet ikke behandles i skolen. Ser vi på Chomskys udtalelse om ytringsfriheden i USA, bliver billedet anderledes: "Aux Etats-Unis, la liberté d'expression est protégée à un degré que je crois inconnu dans tout autre pays du monde. C'est assez récent. Dans les années 1960, la Cour suprême a placé la barre très haut en matière de respect de la liberté de parole, ce qui exprimait, à mon avis, un principe fondamental établi dès le XVIIIe siècle par les valeurs des Lumières. La position de la Cour fut que la parole était libre, avec pour seule limite la participation à un acte criminel." Her slår han selv fast, at det i USA er noget nyt, fra 1960 og at det er en idé fra den franske revolution. Grundtvig kæmpede for frihed for Loke så vel som for Thor. Så de fine ord i forfatninger og love har andre lande lige så vel som USA - og desværre også den samme mangel på respekt for ytringsfriheden.

170807, ICH, Norman Solomon The Convenience of Denial Backspin for War. CNNs Eason Jordan, pralede på et tidspunkt af alle de "af hæren godkendte" generaler, CNN brugte som kommentatorer. "With war euphoria riding high, Jordan was eager to shore up his - and CNN's - image as cooperative pals of the nation's military commanders. Now, Jordan is trying some backspin with the claim that he was merely checking job references."

210907, AP, Rather: Government Influencing Newsrooms. Så har selv Dan Rather opdaget det ! "Dan Rather said Thursday that the indue influence of the government and large corporations over newsrooms spurred his decision to file a $70 million lawsuit against CBS and its former parent company. "Somebody, sometime has got to take a stand and say democracy cannot survive, much less thrive with the level of big corporate and big govemment interference and intimidation in news," he said."

110208, The Independent, Nick Davies, How The Spooks Took Over The News. In his controversial new book, Nick Davies argues that shadowy intelligence agencies are pumping out black propaganda to manipulate public opinion - and that the media simply swallow it wholesale [Flat Earth News: an award-winning reporter exposes falsehood, distortion and propaganda in the global media", published by Chatto & Windus, price £17.99.]

Organisationer, der arbejder for pressefrihed:

www.projectcensored.org

www.editorandpublisher.com/

The Free Press

Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting 

The Freedom of Information Center

Consortium for Independent Journalism

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press 

Imod pressefriheden arbejder bl.a.

USAs myndigheder:

1. indrejsekontrollen

Ved tilbageholdelse af Peter Krobath (det østrigske magasin Skip) og Thomas Sjørup (Ekstrabladet).

2. Den amerikanske hær eksemplificeret ved:

Raid mod Al Arabiya TV Network's kontor i Baghdad, 241103.

Organiseringen af pressemøde Colorado Springs november 2003.

Angreb på Reuters hold 020104 i Baghdad.

Forsøg på at udelukke Washington Post's mangeårige militærmedarbejder Tom Ricks.

At man forlanger Al Jazeera ud af Falluja, 090404, Haaretz, 280404.

I sin kamp for at kontrollere nyhederne. Se Spam Daily News, 280106 og  Information Operations Roadmap (PDF, 76 sider) der findes på National Security Archive at George Washington University. Bl.a. vil DoD bekæmpe internettet og skaffe sig mulighed for at afbryde alle telefoner, alle computere, der er forbundet til det offentlige net og alle radarsystemer. Også omtalt på BBC, 280106: aktiviteterne omfatter: PRofficerer, der orienterer journalister, psykologisk aperations tropper, der prøver at manipulere fjendens opfattelser, computernetværksspecialister, der skal ødelægge fjendtlige netværk. Det afsløres, at Pentagon driver websites, der giver sig ud for neutral infromation om Afrika og Balkan. TV Marti får støtte fra psyops-militære. BBC apørger: "The US military seeks the capability to knock out every telephone, every networked computer, every radar system on the planet. Are these plans the pipe dreams of self-aggrandising bureaucrats? Or are they real?"

Israels indflydelse på pressen rundt om i Verden illustreres tydeligt af den amerikanske sag om Helen Thomas.

Kampagner

Organisationen Avaaz bedriver den slags kampagner. Lige nu mod stening, som dødsstrafmetode i Iran. Vist vil jeg også "end this brutality", men netop nu, kan den kampagne være med til at få et militært angreb på Iran til at glide ned hos "den almindelige amerikaner". "Despite Iran's signing of a UN convention that requires the death penalty only be used for the "most serious crimes" ...", hvad med at feje for egen dør - USA anvender dødsstraf i udstrakt grad, hertil kommer så nedskydning af "terrorister" uden lov og dom i et antal andre lande.

Samtidig (150710) skriver The Guardian: Classified Documents Reveal UK's Role in Abuse of its Own Citizens.

I det fhv. Jugoslavija var der i foråret 2010 en kampagne mod Grindedrab. Der var ingen kamagne i 1999, da Clinton og NATO, inkl. Danmark bombede Serbien sønder og sammen.

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