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COLUMN
SIXTY-SIX, DECEMBER 1, 2001
(Copyright © 2001 Al Aronowitz)
WTC REACTIONS
FROM DANNY SCHECHTER
Subject:
Re: [AGALIST] COLUMN 26
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 09:05:15 -0400
From: Danny Schechter <Danny@mediachannel.org>
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com
SUNDAY
SEPTEMBER 16: The E Word and "America Rising"
Danny
Schechter
Sunday
is a day of prayer, but there was little time for meditation or reflection on
the TV channels I hop-scotched through, with the exception of the always
excellent CBS SUNDAY MORNING which added sensitivity and insight to the
network's problematic "AMERICA RISING" theme. I especially liked the
final few moments: shots of flowers of every color to remind us of the
importance of beauty and life.
On
the political talk shows, the rhetoric was hardened although there was,
increasingly, far more acknowledgement of how difficult a war against terrorism
will be to wage. I heard it compared to the "War on drugs" or the
"War on cancer" which have been fought without any decisive victory
for over a decade. The language is moralistic to a fault with President Bush
speaking spontaneously to reporters this afternoon, in that down home
distinctive lone star state style of his, repeating buzz words and pre-shaped
"talking points," while hemming and hawing.
JIHAD
V JIHAD
He
was proclaiming a jihad of his own. His fatwa is against "barbarians,"
vowing to cleanse the world of "evil." At BBC radio's makeshift
studios in New York---where I took part in a pre-taped conversation with CNN
news exec Chis Cramer for the World Service---a staffer said the words sound
more and more like they belong in the medieval era of "The Crusades."
In a way, the mirror antithesis of his crusade-like rhetoric comes from his
apparent adversary, the man who signs his fatwas "Usamah bin Muhammad bin
Laden." In them, he denounces his American enemy, lashing out at one US
official with his own overheated rhetoric, saying, "An infidel, and enemy
of God like you, cannot be in the same hell with his righteous
executioner." (On Sunday, Bin Laden denied personal involvement. Bush
rejected his claim.)
There
seems to plenty of EVIL to go around, and more uses for the "e-word"
(evil) every minute. Here is one example which raises anew the deeper dimension
to this confrontation which is to be found in the gap in the world between rich
and poor. That conflict is barely visible on US TV. Pervez Hoodbhoy reports from
Islamabad for ZNET that "Samuel Huntington's evil desire for a clash
between civilizations may well come true after Tuesday's terror attacks. The
crack that divided Muslims everywhere from the rest of the world is no longer a
crack. It is a gulf that if not bridged, will surely destroy both. One would
like to dismiss televised images showing Palestinian expressions of joy as
unrepresentative, reflective only of the crass political immaturity of a
handful. But this may be wishful thinking. Similarly, Pakistan Television,
operating under strict control of the government, is attempting to portray a
nation united in condemnation of the attack. Here too, the truth lies elsewhere,
as I learn from students at my university here in Islamabad, from conversations
with people in the streets, and from the Urdu press. A friend tells me that
crowds gathered around public TV sets at Islamabad airport had cheered as the
WTC came crashing down. It makes one feel sick from inside."
QUESTION
TIME?
A
BBC producer told that the all hell broke loose last week when a show that BBC
does called "Question Time" was dominated by questions from people
denouncing the United States. A former US Ambassador appearing on the show
reportedly was in tears, and the BBC was flooded with letters and calls decrying
bias. There have been, I would suspect, few shows broadcast in America that
would allow airtime to be given to such contentious points of view. In fact,
with the exception of Muslim clergymen, few Arab voices from the Middle East or
South Asia have been heard.
When
pressed by the BBC as to why CNN and other US networks are carrying on-air
banners with US flags flying and language, suggesting support for government
policy, CNN's Cramer made reference to public opinion in the US, and that many
journalists have been traumatized by what they saw. I am sure Chris, a former
BBC exec himself, does not decide personally on all the packaging. The fact is
that all of the networks are playing to the public mood, too, with
editorializing merging into their reporting. Some media companies are also
making generous donations to funds set up to help rebuild.
AOL
Time Warner gave $5 milion to charities helping the victims, while Rupert
Murdoch gave a million. (In contrast, Daimler Chrysler gave ten million!)
(You
can comment to CNN though the CNN home page (cnn.com). A comment from Bob Zuber
was sent to me which advises "scroll down to the Message Board section, and
enter your comments. Once you hit the 'submit? button, you may not register
right away. You may need to submit more than once." Zuber, an environmental
activist, is not happy about he coverage but I think his complaint is with all
the networks, not just CNN. He writes: "Not in my recent memory have I
witnessed a media frenzy like this one. As a group, with notable exceptions of
course, they (TV more than the others) have closed off real discussion more
effectively than the national security team could ever have hoped. Especially
through the video shots and interviews selected for broadcast, we are being
prepared for a war that has not yet been declared, against an "enemy? that
has not yet been ascertained, and on behalf of a public that is having its
wounds exposed over and over rather than its heads engaged. Do you agree or
disagree? Post comments in the forum on Mediachannel.org as well.")
Only
Three Minutes for Osama
Profiles
of Bin Laden, who has been described as the "prime suspect" and the
personification of evil and barbarism (which he may well be), only rated three
minutes of airtime on the half hour nightly news segment of all the non-stop
coverage this past week, according to Andrew Tyndall's authoritative report
which found this week that the amount of airtime devoted to the coverage of this
one story "surpassed any week in the past decade " with 333 minutes.
(Yesterday, there was a fine FRONTLINE documentary on public television on Bin
Laden as well as an informative discussion with Afghan experts on Jim Lehrer's
PBS NewsHour. I saw nothing comparable on the networks.)
Framing
the Coverage
Tyndall
says "the crucial question now facing journalists is how to frame this
story," noting that what is to come is not a traditional conflict since
"Afghan-based Saudi exile Osama bin laden leads no nation." One had to
turn to the British press, for backgrounders, like Giles Foden's piece in the
Guardian, which explained how "US support for the Afghans fighting the Soviets
led to support for the man the US is now hunting." It turns out that
He
writes, "On American soil, the CIA used Muslim charities and mosque
communities as fronts for recruitment of fighters in their secret war against
the USSR in the Hindu Kush." As Cooley writes in Unholy Wars: "One
was [in] New York's Arab district, in Brooklyn along Atlantic Avenue... Another
was a private rifle club in an affluent community of Connecticut."
Bin
Laden and a man named Mustafa Chalaby, who ran a jihad refugee centre in
Brooklyn, were both prot?g's of Abdullah Azzam, a formative influence on bin
Laden.
How's
The Media doing where you live?
We
get letters and emails about various gaps and omissions. Example: I was told but
did not see the Philadelphia Daily News which is said to have devoted its whole
front page to the words "BLOOD FOR BLOOD" and then editorialize,
"REVENGE. Hold on to that thought. Go to bed thinking it. Wake up chanting
it." (See Phillynews.com)
That
chant is being heard across the media, but other voices are not. Like the words
of Phyllis and Orlando Rodriguez of White Plains New York, whose son Greg worked
at Cantor Fitzgerald high up in the Tower of Hell and is missing. They
circulated a letter which reads in part: "we read enough of the news to
sense that our government is heading in the direction of violent revenge, with
the prospect of sons, daughters, parents, friends in distant lands dying,
suffering, and nursing further grievances against us. It is not the way to go.
It will not avenge our son's death. Not in our son's name."
And
finally, there was this letter by an actual Afghan, Tarrim Ansary, a writer,
sent to me by several readers. (An essay of his is on Tompaine.com.) His
sentiments likewise should be heard. He writes from Los Angeles:
"I've
been hearing a lot of talk about "bombing Afghanistan back to the Stone
Age." Ronn Owens, on KGO Talk Radio today, allowed that this would mean
killing innocent people, people who had nothing to do with this atrocity, but
"we're at war, we have to accept collateral damage. What else can we do??
Minutes later I heard some TV pundit discussing whether we "have the belly to
do what must be done."
"And
I thought about the issues being raised especially hard because I am from
Afghanistan, and even though I've lived here for 35 years I've never lost track
of what's going on there. So I want to tell anyone who will listen how it all
looks from where I'm standing.
"I
speak as one who hates the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. There is no doubt in my
mind that these people were responsible for the atrocity in New York. I agree
that something must be done about those monsters.
"But
the Taliban and Ben Laden are not Afghanistan. They're not even the government
of Afghanistan. The Taliban are a cult of ignorant psychotics who took over
Afghanistan in 1997. Bin Laden is a political criminal with a plan. When you
think Taliban, think Nazis. When you think Bin Laden, think Hitler. And when you
think 'the people of Afghanistan? think 'the Jews in the concentration
camps." It's not only that the Afghan people had nothing to do with this
atrocity. They were the first victims of the perpetrators. They would exult if
someone would come in there, take out the Taliban and clear out the rats nest of
international thugs holed up in their country."
When
I read that email, one word stood out: "THINK."
It is something we media people have to start doing more of. ##
*
* *
FROM STEVE ROSENTHAL
Subject:
My Home
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 23:15:44 -0400
From: Steve Rosenthal <magicny@sprynet.com>
The
Magic Shop Recording Studio
Good
evening.....
Today,
although the air is better, the dust cloud still rises from the remains of the
Two Towers...we have all come to work to try and act normal..... As i?m sure
many of you know, The Magic Shop is 10 blocks from the World Trade Center
complex in Lower Manhattan . These past 6 days have been disturbing,
frightening, and revealing...Before the networks turn my city into a 12 part
made for TV miniseries 'the War Between The Oceans?, i thought i might share
some thoughts with you about what it's been like here, and what is to
come.....
Firstly,
my thoughts and the rest of my staff's go out to Derek McCrann, one of our
staff whose father is among the missing from the bombing...His dad was on one of
the top floors of the WTC, and even though it's 6 days later we all still hold
out hope that he will be discovered.. Matt Barchetto, our studio manager, has 2
friends from home who worked at Cantor and Fitzgerald who are also among the
missing. On a better note, i?m happy to report that Nat Priest, one of our
technical gurus, emerged dusty but alive from his loft across the street from
the Towers..He and his girlfriend Gail had an unbelievably harrowing day living
thru the bombing and the collapse of the Towers onto his (thankfully) pre-war
apartment house.....
When
i came to the studio last week, the area was deserted, and under armed guard. I
needed ID to get past the police and soldiers.. Most people walking the streets
were wearing masks to protect them from the dust and debris still coming from
the Towers.. It was like a ghost city.... Through it all, late last week John
Agnello was here braving the dust and the chaos, mixing his new project "34
Satellite"....i will always admire his courage and determination, not to be
pushed away from what he needed to do...
My
family and extended family have been donating medical supplies, food, clothes to
the various sites around the city...My 14 year old daughter, Tracy, and I went
on Thursday to the relief checkpoint at 14th street and the river to bring
supplies and yesterday we delivered candy and even a giant bag of dog food for
the dogs who are searching for survivors, courtesy of the Gilson family. Last
nite we had a benefit show at the Living Room arranged by Jenifer Jackson for
the Red Cross, and on Sat. afternoon twenty Living Room artists came together
courtesy of Leslie Nuchow, and sang songs at all of the various important
Today,
although the air is better, the dust cloud still rises from the remains of the
Two Towers.....we have all come to work to try and act normal....My admiration
for the British public grows with each day as i consider that they were bombed
for almost 60 days straight during the last world war, and still they managed to
get up every day and live their lives...We hope to learn from their
example......
As
for the mood here, it is one of quiet determination and disbelief. There are
candles outside the door of the studio and photos on the walls of the subways
....people hoping and searching against all reason, for their loved ones to
reappear....If you watch TV you would think all Manhattanites were ready to
march off to war, however we realize that the front lines for these upcoming
battles won't be Jerusalem or Paris, but Broadway and Fifth Ave., so our
patriotism is tempered by the reality of death and destruction ..... Common
sense says we need to retaliate, but modern sense says war won't be
enough.....
Of
course it had to happen here..... NYC is the great experiment ... It is the
great experiment in international living and social contract... On the subway
today there were Asians, Africans, Muslims, Jews, Europeans, New Yorkers and
even a Canadian or two.... Everyday we live the experiment, and try not to be
frightened by those who don't look like us and don't agree with us, and
somehow for the most part we succeed....
We
are here and ready to work, not for the president, not for the economy, but for
our own city..... The place we call home
Steve
Rosenthal
Sept.17, 2001 ##
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