[Peace-discuss] Letter in today's DI

Tue Dec 2 13:59:51 CST 2008

Laurie, 
    As someone who previously worked for the Buzz, which is the sister magazine to the DI, I agree that its journalistic integrity is pathetic. That is, of course, why I left, as most of you know. However, it WAS my PERSONAL experience with my own editors that leads me to believe that those working for the DI/Buzz don't respond to criticism, because they don't receive much constructive criticism at all.
    I doubt many of you recall, but when I interviewed and wrote about the drag kings and queens of C-Street, situating the topic within trans issues (since more than 1 of the 6 queens I interviewed were transsexuals)and the Buzz printed caricatures of drag people next to my article, it reflected how un-careful the editors were with respect to representation. When I challenged the editor and asked all the "higher-ups" to print a letter from me (explaining what happened or that it was an illustrator's misstep) or an apology at the least, they responded by telling me that it was only my opinion and they didn't receive any further criticism, which- to them- meant that I was overreacting.
    I doubt most thoughtful people get their news from the DI. Yet, is that any reason not to address propaganda, misrepresentations, and incorrect facts? I don't think so, man. No one should get away with it, because even those who don't seek better (information) pastures, need not read a bunch of bullshit.

Rachel

---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 11:55:00 -0600
>From: "LAURIE SOLOMON" <LAURIE at ADVANCENET.NET>  
>Subject: RE: [Peace-discuss] Letter in today's DI  
>To: "'David Green'" <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>, "'Peace Discuss'" <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
>
>   I find it hard to understand why you and others
>   treat the DI as if it were a real newspaper when
>   even the so-called real newspapers these days are
>   not real to newspapers.  The DI in the end turns out
>   to be an experimental training ground which allows
>   students to play at being reporters.  Being students
>   who may wish to become the future journalists of
>   Amerika and get jobs in corporate media, it is no
>   wonder that they and their professors and advisors
>   take their lead from the establishment press rather
>   than going out on their own and establishing
>   alternative papers and media of their own in which
>   they can take critical, ideological, and/or novel
>   innovative approaches to editorial and story writing
>   about things that they are familiar with and are
>   important to them and their audiences in which they
>   have firsthand knowledge.   Unfortunately, they have
>   selected to take the easy route taken by many small
>   medium sized city papers (like the News-Gazoo) and
>   rely on wire service reports and other media for
>   their subject matter and stories, as if this will
>   train the students in investigative journalism or
>   how to ask the right critical questions of authority
>   so as to get the back story.
>
>    
>
>   I suppose one could argue that one is concerned with
>   the DI content because members of its audience read
>   the stories and buy into them as THE TRUTH and as
>   documentation of reality; but I propose that those
>   who do this are the very people who could not give a
>   damn about any criticisms that might be leveled at
>   the DI, its editorial board and staff, or its
>   writers, probably will not or do not read any
>   articles or letters to the editor that you or others
>   might submit that require time to think about,
>   and/or may already access alternative sources of
>   information to balance what they get from the DI if
>   they do care about accuracy and truth in
>   journalism. 
>
>    
>
>   I would not be at all surprised to find out that the
>   article in question with the dateline from Ramallah,
>   West Bank, turned out to be a propaganda piece
>   written by the Israeli government (on its own or at
>   the behest of the US government) or by a Zionist
>   group and distributed by the AP.  We know that the
>   US government via the CIA and even the Defense
>   department have been circulating propaganda as
>   legitimate journalism via the wire services, the New
>   York Times, the Washington Post, and other papers of
>   record for years.  The planting of stories is not
>   something new and probably not restricted to the US
>   government.  Now why on earth would I even suggest
>   such a thing; maybe because it was a Jewish facility
>   that was among those attacked and some Jews of
>   Israeli citizenship were among those killed which
>   typically tends to elicit an extreme response by
>   Zionist groups and the Israeli government usually
>   after a concerted effort to demonize those that they
>   wish to attack.  Thus, if this is again the case,
>   what better way to set the stage than by planting
>   news articles on the wire services as if they were
>   legit news reports asserting motivations and
>   linkages that may or may not exist.
>
>    
>
>   Obviously, I am a snob who thinks that there are
>   better places to get one's news from than the DI -
>   especially international news.  I also think that
>   there are better places and more qualified people to
>   get ones editorial opinions and evaluations from
>   than the DI.  In fact, I am so much of a snob that I
>   do not think much of people who take the DI
>   seriously as a newspaper or treat its articles with
>   seriously, unless you are a young student who does
>   not know better or a student or faculty/staff member
>   who wants information about what is happening on
>   campus that is of interest mostly to campus
>   dwellers.  But I guess that that might cover most of
>   the people in this University dominated community,
>   including many on this list and many non-university
>   types who suck at the tit of the University.
>
>    
>
>   From: peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net
>   [mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On
>   Behalf Of David Green
>   Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 8:50 AM
>   To: Peace Discuss
>   Subject: [Peace-discuss] Letter in today's DI
>
>    
>
>   The DI's coverage (12/1) of the Mumbai atrocities,
>   an AP wire story, has the bizarre headline "Muslims
>   condemn attacks on Mumbai as foolish terrorism." Is
>   there any doubt that over 99.99% of the world's
>   Muslims condemn these events? Nor do they support
>   any kind of terrorism, foolish or otherwise. The
>   origins and motives of the perpetrators are not yet
>   clear. Nevertheless, it is misguided from the outset
>   to understand such events in fundamentally religious
>   terms, with only secondary reference to regional
>   conflict (India, Pakistan, Kashmir), class/caste
>   politics within India, or the general conditions
>   created by our insane "war on terror."
>
>    
>
>   The latter has been used to justify invasion,
>   occupation, and destruction in a predominately
>   Islamic region of the world that happens to produce
>   vast amounts of oil. The consequences of our
>   invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, our manipulation
>   of Pakistan, and our continued support for Israel's
>   occupation of Palestine have created numerous hells
>   on earth (dwarfing Mumbai's), from Kabul to Gaza and
>   beyond. Our geopolitical ambitions do nothing to
>   promote reconciliation in this region, to say the
>   least.
>
>    
>
>   The article has the equally bizarre dateline of
>   Ramallah, West Bank (that's Palestine, the word that
>   cannot be spoken). How did Palestinians and Hamas
>   get mixed up in this story? Oh yeah, we have to take
>   every chance to imply that "Islamofascism" is behind
>   all this, including Israel/Palestine, rather than
>   American-supported Zionist ethnic cleansing,
>   apartheid, forced starvation, and incipient
>   genocide. The article outrageously refers to the
>   killing of hundreds of Israeli civilians, without
>   context, as if Israel hasn't been terrorizing and
>   murdering Palestinians for over 60 years, and as if
>   it isn't getting ready to finally finish them off.
>   Perhaps, for a change, the DI might pass on the
>   opportunity to gratuitously denigrate the most
>   sadistically crushed and abandoned people on earth.
>
>    
>
>   David Green
>
>    
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