Media critic A.J. Liebling once said, \Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one."" The actions of top media CEOs in recent weeks have verified this statement.
The Washington Post recently reported that CNN Chair Walter Isaacson laid out in a memo to all foreign correspondents not to focus on the suffering of the Afghan people. The memo stated, ""We must redouble our efforts to make sure we do not seem to be simply reporting from their vantage or perspective."" This memo came after President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleeza Rice, met with Isaacson to inform him that any images of Afghan casualties from American bombing should be countered by reminding audiences about the Sept. 11 attacks.
Other American media companies have done the same to ensure that the drums of war continue to beat unchecked. News correspondent Dan Rather said of Bush in an appearance on ""The Late Show with David Letterman,"" ""Wherever he wants me to line up, just tell me where.""
Clark Hoyt, bureau chief of Knight Ridder News corporation in Washington, D.C., also distributed a chilling memo to the editorial staff of its 32 daily newspapers. In the memo, Hoyt wrote that after seeking comment from the Pentagon they should be ""very conservative about reporting military operations.""
In the war frenzy, columnists from major newspapers around the country are complaining about journalists who do not obey the government line. Jeff Jacoby, a writer for the Boston Globe featured in the Wisconsin State Journal, wrote that the media should shed themselves of their ""neutrality fetish"" and that the public should be wary of journalists who do not put their country first. Since when have good reporters become un-American? These commentaries reflect a path toward creating puppet media controlled by the government rather than an independent free press in a democratic society.
Even before the Sept. 11 attacks, Americans had to be wary of the information coming from giant media monopolies. Research conducted by Normon Soloman has found that more than 90 percent of media publications and programs are controlled by just half a dozen corporations. AOL-Time-Warner owns CNN and is a leading member of the U.S. Coalition of Service Industries. This is a powerful business lobby that includes AT&T, United Postal Service, Enron energy corporation and Citigroup Bank. Together they constitute the multinational corporate service sector that runs the World Trade Organization. With this conflict of interest, CNN will not distribute fair and accurate coverage of the upcoming WTO talks scheduled in Qatar for Friday.
With networks like CNN being run by corporations that are actively seeking to undermine representative democracy, the Pentagon and Bush's War Cabinet members don't need to put much effort into suppressing dissenting voices here at home. In fact, Rupert Murdoch, the head of Fox News Corporation, was a major cash contributor to Bush's presidential campaign.
Now more than ever, the public needs independent media that will report the unfiltered truth about our government's actions. If the White House and the Pentagon are killing innocent civilians, we have a right to know. Media that take orders from government and military officials are worthless. If our First Amendment protections of freedom of speech and of the press are not upheld, then calls for patriotism are hypocritical. The idea that citizens should shut up and just go shopping or fly on a plane to boost the economy is offensive to any notion of American democracy.
