Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition Challenge Local Media (Wed., Dec. 19)

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

From: Amjad <amjad@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Brothers and Sisters,

The following press release just went out to the media as of a few minutes ago.
I have attached it as a word file as well as printed it below in the
body of this email.
We need to make a strong showing at this demonstration, so please
make your best effort to be there.

Here is all the information:

For Immediate Release
For Further Information Contact:
Steve Miller  419-842-7847 day
419-242-7317 evening

LOCAL GROUP CONFRONTS MEDIA

TOLEDO, OH. - On Wednesday, December 19th, at 3:45 p.m., members and
friends of the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition (NWOPC) will challenge
local media to cover the underreported story of civilian casualties
among the Afghani population from the "war against terrorism."
Members of the NWOPC will converge on The Blade newspaper building
and WTOL-Channel 11 TV's headquarters in downtown Toledo with graphic
photographs of Afghani civilians killed by U.S. bombings.  They will
present the photos along with news articles from U.S. and foreign
press reporting casualties, which have not been reported or only
sparsely mentioned by local and national media.  The action will
begin at the Toledo Blade, 541 N. Superior St. in Toledo, and end at
WTOL's facility located at Summit and Cherry Streets.

Members of the NWOPC question why authoritative reports of Afghani
civilian deaths have been almost wholly missing from mainstream media
of the Afghanistan war, when credible reportage reveals that 3,500 or
more Afghan civilians have perished from deliberate or accidental
U.S. military strikes.  Additional photos and a variety of articles
will be available in a press kit and distributed to the Toledo media.

One of the members of the group, Steve Miller said, "What happened on
September 11 was an unspeakable tragedy.  But the anonymous deaths of
Afghani civilians, reported in the media as 'collateral damage' when
they are mentioned at all, only compounds the tragedy and makes it
difficult for Americans to have a fully-informed opinion of the war."
Miller continued,  "Viewers following mainstream media receive the
overriding impression that all deaths are of supporters of Bin Laden,
which is simply untrue. We need to know about innocent people dying
on both sides of this conflict."

Another NWOPC spokesperson, Amjad Doumani, suggested that the news
blackout is not accidental.  "The Pentagon pays over a million
dollars a month to tie up media access to the aerial photos from a
private-sector satellite which could reveal damage and bodies to a
resolution of about 3 feet in length.  This is a major story in
itself.  We want to know why the U.S. press isn't clamoring to cover
things fairly and fully, because that's been a hallmark of American
journalism."

The Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition is a group of concerned citizens
who have been actively advocating and lobbying for a reasoned
response to the World Trade Center and Pentagon tragedies of
September 11th, 2001.

Endorsed by:
Green Party of Northwest Ohio
Interfaith Justice & Peace Center
St. Rose Peace & Justice Committee
Toledo Metropolitan Mission
Witness For Peace  Great Lakes

Amjad
NWOPC (North West Ohio Peace Coalition)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nwopc
--
Yoshie

* Calendar of Anti-War Events in Columbus:
<http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>
* Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html>
* Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/>
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>