NPR News: National Pentagon Radio?

NPR News: National Pentagon Radio?

By Norman Solomon

Created Mar 27 2008 - 10:27am

While the Iraqi government continued its large-scale military assault in

Basra, the NPR reporter's voice from Iraq was unequivocal on the morning of

March 27: "There is no doubt that this operation needed to happen."

Such flat-out statements, uttered with journalistic tones and without

attribution, are routine for the U.S. media establishment. In the "War Made

Easy" documentary film, I put it this way: "If you're pro-war, you're

objective. But if you're anti-war, you're biased. And often, a news anchor

will get no flak at all for making statements that are supportive of a war

and wouldn't dream of making a statement that's against a war."

So it goes at NPR News, where -- on "Morning Edition" as well as the evening

program "All Things Considered" -- the sense and sensibilities tend to be

neatly aligned with the outlooks of official Washington. The critical

aspects of reporting largely amount to complaints about policy shortcomings

that are tactical; the underlying and shared assumptions are imperial.

Washington's prerogatives are evident when the media window on the world is

tinted red-white-and-blue.

Earlier in the week -- a few days into the sixth year of the Iraq war --

"All Things Considered" aired a discussion with a familiar guest.

"To talk about the state of the war and how the U.S. military changes

tactics to deal with it," said longtime anchor Robert Siegel, "we turn now

to retired Gen. Robert Scales, who's talked with us many times over the

course of the conflict."

This is the sort of introduction that elevates a guest to truly expert

status -- conveying to the listeners that expertise and wisdom, not just

opinions, are being sought.

Siegel asked about the progression of assaults on U.S. troops over the

years: "How have the attacks and the countermeasures to them evolved?"

Naturally, Gen. Scales responded with the language of a military man. "The

enemy has built ever-larger explosives," he said. "They've found clever ways

to hide their IEDs, their roadside bombs, and even more diabolical means for

detonating these devices."

We'd expect a retired American general to speak in such categorical terms --

referring to "the enemy" and declaring in a matter-of-fact tone that attacks

on U.S. troops became even more "diabolical." But what about an American

journalist?

Well, if the American journalist is careful to function with independence

instead of deference to the Pentagon, then the journalist's assumptions will

sound different than the outlooks of a high-ranking U.S. military officer.

In this case, an independent reporter might even be willing to ask a pointed

question along these lines: You just used the word "diabolical" to describe

attacks on the U.S. military by Iraqis, but would that ever be an

appropriate adjective to use to describe attacks on Iraqis by the U.S.

military?

In sharp contrast, what happened during the "All Things Considered"

discussion on March 24 was a conversation of shared sensibilities. The

retired U.S. Army general discussed the war effort in terms notably similar

to those of the ostensibly independent journalist -- who, along the way,

made the phrase "the enemy" his own in a followup question.

It wouldn't be fair to judge an entire news program on the basis of a couple

of segments. But I'm a frequent listener to "All Things Considered" and

"Morning Edition." Such cozy proximity of world views, blanketing the war

maker and the war reporter, is symptomatic of what ails NPR's war

coverage -- especially from Washington.

Of course there are exceptions. Occasional news reports stray from the

narrow baseline. But the essence of the propaganda function is repetition,

and the exceptional does not undermine that function.

To add insult to injury, NPR calls itself public radio. It's supposed to be

willing to go where commercial networks fear to tread. But overall, when it

comes to politics and war, the range of perspectives on National Public

Radio isn't any wider than what we encounter on the avowedly commercial

networks.

--

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Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107

"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their

spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their

government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are

suffering deeply in spirit,

and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public

debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have

patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning

back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at

stake."

-Thomas Jefferson

<lorad474@cs.com> wrote in message

news:dcf81da5-53f6-4459-8210-a0226b4b4308@t54g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...

On Mar 28, 8:40 am, "Gandalf Grey" <valino...@gmail.com> wrote:

> NPR News: National Pentagon Radio?

>

> By Norman Solomon

>

> Created Mar 27 2008 - 10:27am

>

> While the Iraqi government continued its large-scale military assault in

> Basra, the NPR reporter's voice from Iraq was unequivocal on the morning

> of

> March 27: "There is no doubt that this operation needed to happen."

Yeah... that's what I meant when I said - early last year - that

things over at NPR haven't been the same since they stacked the board

with 'ex'- USA psy-ops functionaries... and a Republican Nation

Committee Chairwoman...

What were those dumbasses thinking anyway...?

...

The latest thing is gratuitous Hillary bashing... it's very

obvious...and it's non-stop.

The neocons who now control NPR really want Obama in... real bad.

This should be a strong caution for voters.

----------------

Noooo, they want Obama to be swiftboated because the pug

industrialists/corporatists who annointed Bush in 2000 know they can push

McCain's Hanoi surrender into a "Hero" moment and slash Obama as

inexperienced and BLACK!