Newsweek: media is ignoring the antiwar movement

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Where’s the Dissent?

Antiwar protests are happening all over the country and the world but 
the mainstream media is hardly paying attention

By Jennifer Barrett
NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE

Jan. 16 —  Last Saturday, at least 5,000 antiwar protesters gathered in 
Los Angeles to hear actor Martin Sheen of “The West Wing” and other 
activists speak out against war on Iraq.

ON THE same day, more than 2,000 braved the freezing cold for a similar 
rally in Minneapolis. And since November, a group of about 200 in San 
Francisco have been trying to draw attention to the cause by stripping 
off their clothes and arranging themselves to spell out PEACE in various 
public places.

An estimated 100,000 protesters from around the country converged in the 
nation’s capital last October in what was called the largest antiwar 
demonstration in Washington since the Vietnam War era, and at least as 
many protesters are expected to return this weekend for more rallies. On 
Saturday, a mass march and rally organized by International ANSWER (Act 
Now to Stop War & End Racism) and other groups will begin at 11 a.m. on 
the National Mall and an ANSWER-led youth and student rally is planned 
for Sunday at the same time outside the U.S. Department of Justice. But 
whether members of the media will be there too is less clear. Though the 
antiwar movement is gathering steam as the possibility of war draws 
near, it has not garnered much mainstream press coverage yet. A NEWSWEEK 
Lexis/Nexis news search found that in October 2002 there were more than 
1,500 stories about U.S. troops and Iraq but only a third as many 
stories with the word “antiwar.” In the past week, about 100 stories 
have been written about antiwar protesters while about eight times as 
many stories have covered troop deployments and movement in the Persian 
Gulf. NEWSWEEK’s Jennifer Barrett spoke to Lance Bennett, founder and 
director of the Center for Communication and Civic Engagement at the 
University of Washington in Seattle, about the media’s role in the 
debate over war with Iraq. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: You coauthored a book called “Taken by Storm: The Media, 
Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy in the Gulf War” (University of 
Chicago Press) in 1994. How would you compare media coverage leading up 
to the Persian Gulf War to the media’s coverage of the growing conflict 
with Iraq now?

Lance Bennett: There has been much less public debate about the prudence 
of this war and there has been less coverage of social protest and a 
general command from the White House of media content.

NEWSWEEK: Why do you think that is?

Lance Bennett: The administration has used this issue to effectively 
support the president’s popularity and the Democrats are in an extremely 
weak position at the moment and they are unwilling to challenge that 
popularity even if they don’t feel the war is a good idea. If there is 
no official challenge to this policy, the media tend not to open the 
news gates to social voices that would challenge the policy.

full: http://www.msnbc.com/news/860481.asp?0cv=CA01

--

The Marxism list: www.marxmail.org



~~~~~~~
PLEASE clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.