Dozens of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars gathered in Silver Spring, Maryland last weekend for the Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan hearings (3/13/08-3/16/08), where they offered harrowing testimony about atrocities they had witnessed or participated in directly. The BBC predicted that the event, organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War, "could be dominating the headlines around the world this week" (3/7/08). The hearings were covered as far afield as the U.K. (Guardian, 3/17/08), Australia (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 3/14/08), Croatia (Javno, 3/16/08), and Iran (Press TV, 3/14/08). Yet there has been an almost complete media blackout on this historic news event in the U.S. corporate media.
Despite being noted in the New York Times' Paris-based International Herald Tribune (3/13/08), Winter Soldier has yet to be mentioned in the New York Times itself. No major U.S. newspaper has covered the hearings except as a story of local interest; the few stories major U.S. newspapers have published on the event have focused on the participation of local vets (Boston Globe, 3/16/08; Boston Herald, 3/16/08; Newsday, 3/16/08, Buffalo News, 3/16/08).
The Washington Post, too, published their account in the metro section (3/15/08). In contrast, the paper published an article about pro-war demonstrators protesting the Winter Soldier hearings in the A section (3/16/08), despite the fact that they were, according to the Post, "small in number."
None of the major broadcast TV networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) have mentioned the hearings in their newscasts. PBS has been silent as well.
But for a couple of exceptions (Time, 3/15/08; NPR, 3/16/08), the hearings have been virtually ignored by all but the independent media (Democracy Now!, 3/14/08; 3/17-19/08; In These Times, 3/17/08; Alternet, 3/14/08) and military publications (Stars and Stripes, 3/15/08 and the four Military Times newsweeklies, 3/15/08, 3/17/08), in a pattern reminiscent of the near complete corporate media blackout on the first Winter Soldier hearings. FAIR founder Jeff Cohen (Huffington Post, 3/16/08) traces the beginning of his career as a media critic back to his experience of watching as “one of the rare mainstream camera crews showed up at Winter Soldier... and then abruptly packed up to leave in the middle of particularly gripping testimony.”
While the testimony of soldiers who had served multiple tours of duty was broadcast on Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now!, Free Speech TV, and the Real News network, the major broadcast networks and PBS instead devoted airtime to the pro-war assessments of Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John McCain, both of whom have only made brief visits to Iraq (NBC Nightly News, ABC World News, CBS Evening News, PBS NewsHour, all 3/17/08).
Given the common media rhetoric of "supporting the troops" (FAIR Action Alert, 3/26/03), to ignore these same troops when they speak out about the horrors of the war is unconscionable. On the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War, it is particularly important that the media reverse this silence, and include the voices of the vets who are speaking out about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan in national news coverage.
ACTION:
Contact the broadcast networks and ask them why they decided to ignore the Winter Soldiers hearings while carrying the less-informed observations on Iraq of John McCain and Dick Cheney.
CONTACT:
ABC World News
ABC World News contact web form
Phone: 212-456-7777
I started a thread right here in aznlover when it was happening, pointing people to the winter soldier website as well as Pacifica radio which were broadcasting video live... and never got a reply. Not a one.
Well, Nomad replied but in email not inside Aznlover. And that was just when Thaksin had come home and they were using every minute of their time to be together.
I did an email blast to all my contacts and Nomad was the only person who replied to me about it.
It really hurt me that people talk about supporting the troops but when soldiers come home and say things that make people feel uncomfortable, nobody pays attention.
Yes, I think we should be angry that the general news media shut down the winter soldier. Go to FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) and respond to their action request.
05-30-2008, 02:58 PM
| Posts: 1,100 | Location: 43.38 N 70.23 W | Join Date: Mar 2007 |
Apollyon
status is: quantum superposition
In all fairness though, as the article stated, the media blackout is so effective that people have no idea what Winter Soldier even is. I myself only found out about it because I subscribe to Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting and support them. Another news source that I follow is Democracy Now! | Radio and TV News who incidentally refuse corporate sponsorship. But I've made special efforts to seek out independent news outlets whose only agenda is giving people the truth.
"Newspapers" like The New York Times are nothing but government propaganda. Even when their own reporters admitted to accepting money from The White House, in one case $20,000 to write an article, there was no public outcry or outrage. Had these reporters been doctors, engineers, or other regulated professionals, they would have lost their licenses and been kicked out of their respective organizations.
The New York Times was instrumental in sending America to war against Iraq. Their Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Judith Miller was sent to prison for her complicity in the Valerie Plame affair and voice are quite rightly calling for her work to be scrutinized in detail and her prizes to be taken away. These prizes had been awarded to her for her fabrications about the existence WMDs from no less credible a source than Ahmed Chalabi that helped cement the case for war. Dave Lindorff: Revoke Judy Miller's Pulitzer
People need to understand that mainstream "news"outlets do not report the news, they skew it, or even create it in order steer public opinion in the directions that they wish.
I won't even get into the problem with racism from mainstream news media. That is a whole other issue.
LOL isnt it obvious? Since when the US media is all about empowering the masses?
To headline such news all over the US means that once people know what's going on, its a potential setback for getting future support for any warmongering by current and future US administrations.
05-30-2008, 09:39 PM
| Posts: 363 | Location: San Francisco, USA | Join Date: Feb 2008 |
Brandonsf
surfing AZNLover.com
The question is why isn't it on the front page of every major newspaper and being aired on every major news network? Why are anti-war voices not heard as loudly as pro-war voices? The answer is obvious. Whats even more obvious is that people don't seem to care.
ya i never heard of the "Winter Soldiers" until now. Well i guess one thing about the internet.... its hard to control and stifle/shutdown completely. The way it was meant to be. Guess its living up to the way the DARPA (military establishment) designed it ironically.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Apollyon
The question is why isn't it on the front page of every major newspaper and being aired on every major news network? Why are anti-war voices not heard as loudly as pro-war voices? The answer is obvious. Whats even more obvious is that people don't seem to care.
Well i wouldnt say anti war voices arent being heard, the Democrats in the U.S. pretty much harp on it, but it does have added credibility when it comes from solders, [sarcasm]and of course we dont want that.[/sarcasm]
05-30-2008, 11:23 PM
| Posts: 718 | Location: By the Coathanger | Join Date: Aug 2007 |
Xenzu
surfing AZNLover.com
I first read about Winter Soldiers in one of the major British newspapers about 3 weeks ago. It would have been either the Times, Independent or Guardian, those are the only ones I read.
I expect that later in the year it will be televised on the free-to-air SBS TV in Oz on the Cutting Edge program.
06-01-2008, 11:29 AM
| Posts: 11,218 | Location: Europe | Join Date: Aug 2005 |
Lady_Fate
status is: feeling slightly wiser
than yesterday
Apollyon, winter soldiers aren't "newsworthy" because the army couldn't get enough young people to join if they knew about the REAL cruelty of war.
So far they tease them in with promises of adventures and heroism, if they all knew what it is really about many wouldn't join.
I think it's another case of media propaganda where young people are led into decisions without being informed properly.
Sad!
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