[Peace-discuss] News-Gazette - write our own reviews of events: Mother's Response to war!

[John W.]

At 10:18 PM 11/15/2007, Jenifer Cartwright wrote:

>But protests and other events with alternative viewpoints aren't social 
>events, they're news. The NG is supposed to cover news, not shift the 
>responsibility onto us/expect us to cover these by writing opinion pieces 
>and letters to the editor. We can always do that in addition to their 
>coverage, if we choose.
>
>JMHO,
>Jenifer

I hate to be the one to break this to you, Jenifer, but the "news" is 
whatever the editor of the paper or the head of the TV station's news 
department DECIDES is news.  This has changed to some degree over time - 
mostly in an undesirable direction - but not drastically.  The aim has 
always been to maximize profits - please the maximum number of 
readers/viewers while not pissing off advertisers.

Look at what an obscene percentage of the national news is about the antics 
and foibles and peccadilloes of our entertainment "celebrities" like Paris 
Hilton and Britney Spears and Kanye West.  Watch ABC's Nightline 
sometime.  While it grew steadily more "soft" during the tenure of Ted 
Koppel, it has gotten absolutely awful since his departure.  Most of it, 
especially its feature called "A Sign of the Times", is about what the rich 
in America are doing - taking their pets to gourmet restaurants and 
masseuses and psychotherapists, purchasing trendy deluxe "camping" 
vacations to exotic ports of call with all the amenities, etc.  This stuff 
is MUCH more important than how Iraqi civilians are living (and dying) 
during the American occupation.  It is, in short, "the news".  And it's 
another reason why so many Americans are fooled for so long, as Karen 
Medina pointed out in another post.

The reason Independent Media Centers, including our own Urbana IMC, now 
exist all around the country - indeed, around the world - is because 
progressives/radicals decided, after the WTO protests in Seattle in 1999, 
that if their own "alternative viewpoint" was going to get reported, they 
were going to have to report it themselves.  Nothing has changed since then.

John Wason




>Barbara kessel <barkes at gmail.com> wrote:
>Fantastic reporting and protesting, my friends.
>Just a little anecdote. My acupuncturist came to the event on Monday
>night and said today, "That was the most meaningful Veterans' Day
>ceremony I have ever been to in my life and it made me know I had to
>do more myself. The very next day I got a an e-mail call for
>"Acupuncturists without Borders" to do acu-puncture free on PTSD vets
>and I signed up for training. Also going to come to North Prospect
>next time." Barbara K
>
>On 11/14/07, Jan & Durl Kruse wrote:
> > The following letter was just sent to the News-Gazette. Not sure they
> > will print it!
> > JAN K
> >
> > Please DO Not leave out and /or change parts of this letter! (I put
> > this at the top: wanting to avoid the N-G's constant changing and
> > editing of letters without asking the writer about these changes.
> >
> >
> > November 12, the Monday after Veteran's Day an important and meaningful
> > event took place at the Urbana Civic Center: A Mother's Response to
> > war.
> > A News-Gazette reporter chose not to do a story about this event ahead
> > of time. Two local Television stations (channel 3 and 15) showed up to
> > cover the event, yet missed the true content of what actually took
> > place. However, the 60-70 people present can testify that
> > an amazing event took place. If you had attended you would have heard
> > mothers of soldiers speaking. These are soldiers who have served or
> > been wounded or are currently deployed in Iraq. These mothers spoke
> > with facts and rage, poetry and eloquence. One mother though she could
> > not be present sent her art installation: "The Decider" to show in a
> > dramatic way the devastation of the Iraq war on the soldiers and the
> > Iraqi people. This event missed out on an advance human-interest story
> > from the News-Gazette since the reporter would only do an advance story
> > if one of the mother agreed to "name" her soldier son. She said no.
> > Despite this, the AWARE organized event went forward and those who
> > attended found meaning and comfort from the presence of Iraq Veterans
> > Against War and Mothers of soldiers who say "this war must end".
> > This was an "anti-war, bring the troops home, end the war" event and
> > those speaking and listening are wondering when our government and the
> > media will catch up with the citizens of this country.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Nov 14, 2007, at 11:03 AM, Karen Medina wrote:
> >
> > > Peace Discuss,
> > >
> > > The News-Gazette just called. They are going to run my letter about
> > > the Campus Anti-war Network's chalk body outlines on the Quad.
> > >
> > > So now I am thinking that we don't necessarily need a NG reporter to
> > > show up for anti-war events -- we can write up a report on the event
> > > and submit it as an opinion piece.
> > >
> > > Anyone want to write up a quick article on Monday night's event, "A
> > > Mother's Response to War"?
> > >
> > > The power of the pen and chalk are in our hands,
> > > -karen medina
> > > p.s. It reminds me a bit of the small town newspapers that would write
> > > up social events.
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