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www.giii1fordian.com
FORUM
Junk-news overshadows important
stories in mainstream media
By Jamie Metrick | staff writer
The word on the street is that the Freedom of Information Act may no longer apply to the Pentagon, Federal whistleblowers are
going the way of the dodos, and the Internet may soon be government-regulated. If these events do not sound familiar, relax, cha
“■'"lus Tost llkety b«ause ftese are several news stories listed in the Tucson Weekly's "Censored Stories: The 10 stories the nation's
^ThfTuSonWeStytakra'akad from Project Censored, *e longest-running media censorship project in the nation, which reports
ne ™that slips through the cracks of corporate media. Since 1993 they have criticized what is called junk food news - stories that
are blown out of proportion and saturate mainstream media in place of important information.
Most of the articles mentioned in 'Censored Stories' are from independent news sources, mostly Web sites. Sometimes news maga
zines like The New Yorker and Mother Jones pick up the scraps and report less glamorous ^sues, but as sociologist Carl Jensen told
the Tucson-"What's known to some isn't known to everyone. Not everyone reads The New Yorker. , u a-
For example, here are three intriguing news stories from the Tucson's list that went unnoticed m 2005 and what the media was
reporting at that time:
//I
'Halliburton secretly doing business
with key members of Iran's nuclear team"
Halliburton — the infamous energy company — sold the private
Iranian oil company. Oriental Oil Kish, key nuclear reactor compo
nents.
Reported by the Centre for Research on Globalization, this story
is fascinating because U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, president of
Halliburton in the mid-'90s, may have presided over these dealings.
Now he advocates stopping Iran's nuclear program.
Jason Leopold, the article's author, cites close but anonymous
sources for the business dealings of Kish and Halliburton.
However, in August 2005 most American news was consumed
with coverage of Hurricane Katrina. While New Orleans was one of
the biggest disasters in American history and the conduct of FEMA
was reprehensible, the reports of Katrina did not subside for months.
By the time the media attention died down, the Halliburton-Kish
story was months old.
"New report released shows increase in
urban hunger, homelessness"
As the number of Americans living in poverty increases, the cur
rent administration is refusing to deal with the issue.
According to OneWorld, the 2007 proposed budget calls for the
cutting of an important survey that causes great embarrassment for
Bush; the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Partici
pation. The survey tracks American families' use of programs like
Social Security, child care, temporary assistance for needy families
and Medicaid, among others. • .u
The survey highlights a serious yet mortifying problem m the
United States, and is critical to improving the system.
The story was published in The New Standard in December 2005,
while most of America was preoccupied with the escalating murder
trial of Scott Peterson.'Peterson was the main suspect in the disap
pearance and death of his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson. The story
received major attention for months as the trial slowly proceeded
and real news went unreported.
"Tracing the Trail of Torture: embed
ding torture as a policy from
Guantanamo to Iraq"
U.S. operatives in Iraq and Afghanistan have used torture on
detainees, to the point of death. Forty-four death reports and au
topsies from U.S. facilities released by the American Civil Liber
ties Union (ACLU) reveal that 21 of the deaths were homicides
and eight were possibly the results of abusive torture techniques.
Even though these are not the first reports of torture by the
United States, the findings imply that the American military uses
torture as a policy. Acts of torture include sleep deprivation, stran
gulation, beatings, gagging, hoods and extreme environmental
conditions.
These finding were published on the ACLU's Web site as early
as October 2005, and TomDispatch.com published its own article
in March 2005.
Meanwhile, the Karl Rove scandal was breaking in Washing
ton, D.C. News media outlets were buzzing with Rove's outing
of secret CIA operative Valerie Plame. Once Flame's cover blew,
thanks in part to the international media, everyone in the world
knew who she was and what she did.
Of course these were not the only mainstream news stories
covered in 2005; it was a good year for junk-food news. We gorged
ourselves on the trials of Michael Jackson and Terri Schiavo. We
indulged in the White House scandals of Karl Rove and Tom De
lay. We slurped up Hollywood gossip to the point of bursting.
As Peter Phillips, the current director of Project Censored told
the Tucson: "It's like seUing drugs. But (advocacy groups) don't
tolerate the drug dealer on the comer.... To just give people enter
tainment news is an abdication of the First Amendment.
Unfortimately, as 2006 comes to a close we have added yet
another notch to American's media belt. The problein is not
getting better, thanks to increased media monopolization.
Next year the nation needs to go on a low-fat news diet, with
only lean cuts of vital information.
Nov. 2006
Greensboro. N.C.
RAs
Staff Editorial
There are three types of resident ad
visors at this school: the power trippers
with a Napoleon complex, the RAs who
complacently follow the rules, and the
outlaw RAs who understand the true
meaning of their job. None of these RAs
deserve scorn for what they do. They
are all products of their circumstances,
the rules and guidelines set by Campus
Life.
There is an extraordinary amount of
pressure placed on the RAs. They have
to go out amongst their peers and "bust."
These are students that RAs see every
day in the cafeteria and in class. Students
see the RAs that follow protocol as the
enemy, an extension of Public Safety and
Campus Life instead of a source of help.
The job of a resident advisor should
be to assist their residents in need. In or
der for that to happen, trust needs to be
built between residents and RAs. If an
RA is known for indiscriminately writ
ing people up with zeal and glee, their
residents won't go to them for help. A
student's fear of getting written up su
percedes their fear of alcohol poisoning.
This is twisted and dangerous."
There are shining examples of god
RAs out there. They ignore the enor
mous pressures of Campus Life to write
up students without using thought or
free will. They are willing to turn a blind
eye to the minor infractions like having
a drink in your dorm room. In turn they
are rewarded.
Their residents trust and respect them
and, most importantly, come to them
with their serious problems. There is no
debate. It is more important for RAs to
handle issues of sexual assault, alcohol
poisoning and drug overdose than noise
violations and underage drinking. With
the current set-up this is impossible.
Campus Life should encourage RAs
to give warnings instead of citations.
Write-ups are effective in stopping drink
ing like jail time is effective in stopping
crime. If RAs work to be friends with
their residents, establish real friendships
with real trust, a safer, healthier campus
environment will develop. Disasters like
alcohol poisoning, depression and sexu
al assault won't have to fall through the
cracks of non-communication like they
do so often right now.
Death count in Iraq increases
Recent report claims more than half a million dead
Continued from page I
The Hopkins report, with its
margin of error, estimates between
400,000 and 900,000 deaths since
March2003. According to The Wash
ington Post, the researchers are 95
percent certain of the estimate. But
because it is significantly higher
than any others, and since its release
coincides with midterm elections,
it became instantly controversial.
So far, no one has been able to
disprove or discredit them. All crit
ics can do is compare the figures to
lower estimates, and argue that the
survey's findings are "unlikely."
Speaking in December 2005,
U.S. President George W. Bush
estimated that 30,000 civilians
had died since the war began in
March of 2003. If the Hopkii^
report is valid, then Bush's esti
mate is 20-times too low and cov
ers just two months of the war.
Other estimates are probably
more valid than the extremes from
Hopkins and Bush. According to
an editorial in The Washington
Post: "The independent British
organization Iraq Body Count re
ports 44,000-49,000 deaths, which is
probably too low. President Bush's
"about 30,000" in December was
obviously too low. The Iraqi group
Iraqiyun reported 128,000 between
the invasion and July 2005, which
is probably closer to the mark. Ex
trapolated to the present, the fig
ure would be in the high 100,000s
or low 200,000s. But nearly 400,000
couldn't possibly be the answer."
William A. Arkin of The Wash
ington Post used a recent United
Nations survey to show the faults
of the Hopkin's figure. For August
2006, the U.N. identified 3,009 ca
sualties, or roughly 100 a day, and,
according to Arkin, the violence in
Iraq at present is widely considered
to be at its peak. Yet the Hopkins re
port claims an average of 500 deaths
for every day since March of 2003.
Arkin asks, "Is it possible that the
U.N. is not seeing four out of every
five Iraqis who is dying, even today?
It is possible. But it is not likely."
The large figures have sparked
a very necessary discussion, not
just about statistical validity, but
about a much more serious topic.
Whether 30, 50, 100, 200, 400,
600, or 900 thousand have died in
Iraq, the number is unacceptable.
According to recent public
opinion polls from WorldPu-
blicOpinion.org, a majority of
Iraqis favor U.S. withdrawal, and
nearly half approve of the insur
gent attacks upon U.S.-led forces.