Hi. We're clearly in a period of transition, for better or much worse; where important questions are not settled and while the American public is actively exerting pressure on their representatives. I hope to cover the main areas of struggle against the war machine as well as the forces driving this potential world-wide disaster. These include the engine of the peace movement, now enriched and emboldened by Iraq vets, active GI's and their families, congress and bills to stop the Iraq war and prevent an Iran war, impeachment and other curtailings of this administration's rampage through our democracy. And, it will include the media, as well as Israel, major players in this, whether overt or hard to see. This period of public activity will inevitably change because of a war on Iran, just plain inertia or otherwise. A slogan of the 1960's was 'seize the time' and it makes ever greater sense to me, ever since. Here are two important parts of it all. Ed
----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 11:13 PM http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/749?destination=contributors%2F749 Danny Schechter: Media Downplays Anti-War March Size A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION by Danny Schechter New York: January 28: This past weekend's anti-war march was big, say the organizers and I have no reason to doubt them. They made this claim: "Washington, D.C. -- In a massive showing of public opposition to the Iraq war, 500,000 people filled the streets around the Capitol today, completely surrounding the building. Participants converged on the National Mall from all over the country to voice their support for an end to the conflict in Iraq. Three hundred buses rolled in early this morning, coming from more than 40 states and including at least 20 buses filled by New York City trade unions. United For Peace & Justice, the march coordinator, called this one of the largest and most diverse demonstrations since the war began. According to UFPJ National Coordinator and veteran peace and justice leader Leslie Cagan, "This is a decisive moment in the history of this country and of our peace movement. In November, the people of this nation voted for peace. We are here today, all ages, from all walks of life, to hold our elected officials to the mandate of the people." Add in protests in the rest of the country and it was even bigger. But is that the picture most of America received? I didn't see any report Saturday night on the front page of the Sunday NY Times online, but by the morning in the print edition, the Times wrote: "Tens of thousands of protesters converged on the National Mall on Saturday to oppose President Bush's plan for a troop increase in Iraq in what organizers hoped would be one of the largest shows of antiwar sentiment in the nation's capital since the war began." The story was carried as a headline at the bottom of the page, not prominent positioning. No Photo. A story about tennis got bigger play. The article was pushed to page 21 (although it said P. 22 on p.1) It was written by Ian Urbina and was well done, but the picture caption again said "Thousands." There was no mention of "Hundreds of Thousands" or a Half million or even that that was what organizers claimed. This was hardly the coverage "organizers hoped" for. Actually the organizers said it WAS the largest show of force since the war began with 500,000. The Times only acknowledged "tens of thousands." Does this matter? It doesn't if the numbers game doesn't matter, and sadly it does in a country where perception trumps reality. Years ago, the National Park Service which initially always underreported crowd sizes and then began having aerial photos taken that were analyzed by experts using grids, decided not to provide police estimates which were routinely reported. Perhaps that's why the march did its own count. Yesterday, the March claimed a half million -- which IS "one of the largest shows of anti-war sentiment." But the papers, maybe following the AP's earlier in the day, estimated "tens of thousands." True to form, the Washington Post online edition reported "THOUSANDS." The Huffington Post headline: "Why That Anti-War March Won't Change Anything ..." I support marches as PART of a bigger strategy, not as THE strategy. And at least this time, many activists were planning to lobby Congress. As readers know by now, I think it's kind of important to get this message out to the people through the media, and not just the message that there's opposition to the war, but that there's a movement opposing it. We need to show activism in action as a way for citizens to try to hold politicians accountable and participate in the process. Did that double message get through? This approach requires a media strategy -- and a challenge to the media -- beyond sending out press releases and getting on Pacifica radio outlets. On Saturday morning, the United For Peace and Justice website announced,"Watch live on C-SPAN!" Wow, I thought, you could see the March and Rally LIVE on CSPAN. At 1:30, I tuned in just before the march was slated to start, and sure enough several cameras were in the crowd. The only commentary I heard then was that there were "thousands" there. Sounded small. All we saw was a rapper on the stage and people milling around. No interviews. No explanation. I guess I missed it. Soon, a notice appeared on screen that CSPAN would switch away from the march to cover Hillary Clinton's first speech in Iowa. And so they did, off to East High School for a stump speech. I expected them to come back while the march was happening. They didn't. Instead they rebroadcast last Friday's coverage of a National Review Institute conference on conservatism. Was CSPAN that nervous, that they had to preemptively "balance" the anti-war march? Instead of the ongoing march, we heard righter than right columnist Michelle Malkin complaining that the media didn't show the "throngs" at a right-to-life march, but only a few counter demonstrators. My point is that there was no real ‘live" coverage on the main CSPAN channel that I saw in a culture with news channels that can't wait to go live. (When I worked at ABC, there was a term called SLR for Silly Live Remote referring to someone on freeway overpass "reporting live" on an ordinary rush hour where nothing was happening.) We have a media that will go "live" to the opening of an envelope, but not to anti-war marches. Coverage is more than just showing it; it is reporting on it, commenting on it, interviewing people there, etc. I flipped to Fox. If there was coverage I missed it. They were spinning a statement by John Kerry to the effect that world public opinion does not support the US war. This was being presented as "anti-American." CNN did have a report with a journalist who had been at the march discussing it, saying there were "tens of thousands," not a half million. He was in the studio, not on the Mall, with an anchor who patronizingly referred to protesters as "the kind of people we've seen before." The march was treated as ho-hummer with the only interest expressed about whether active duty soldiers were marching. The CNN man said he heard that they were, but didn't see them. It was then time for a stand-up from the White House lawn with a reporter discussing how the White House would respond to Congressional criticism of the war, as if the marchers didn't exist. And then there was a replay of a soundbyte from President Bush under a graphic banner that said, can you believe, "THE SOUNDS OF DISSENT." AP reported "tens of thousands," not half a million. "Convinced this is their moment, tens of thousands marched Saturday in an anti-war demonstration linking military families, ordinary people and an icon of the Vietnam protest movement in a spirited call to get out of Iraq." Andrea Hsu of NPR turned tens of thousands into: "Thousands of protesters gathered Saturday on the Mall in Washington, D.C." Thousands! NPR reported January 27: "While some citizens have protested against the Iraq war ever since the invasion of March 2003, the movement has failed to mobilize large numbers of people in public spaces. Has that changed now that a majority of Americans oppose the war?" http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story... Don't anti-war organizers see this as a problem? Shouldn't they make media coverage a issue? I was on Air America in LA on Saturday afternoon and feisty host Bree Walker, a former TV anchor, agreed. But the anti-war movement continues to pay lipservice to this problem, perhaps for fear of "alienating" the press. Give me a break! This is a pattern -- deliberate! Back in 2003, the Washington Post's own omsbudsman, Michael Getler, indicted his own paper for "downplaying protests." He now works for Public Television. This coverage is deplorable, but worse: the anti-war movement has not made it an issue. With more than half the country opposing the war, the movement is still being under-reported and marginalized! And not doing much about it. We still need a march on the media. Anyone with me? News Dissector Danny Schechter edits Mediachannel.org. He wrote "WHEN NEWS LIES" condemning the coverage of the war. (WmdtheFilm.com) Comments to [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** Report on anti-war lobbying in southern California ----- Original Message ----- From: Paul Krehbiel To: [EMAIL PROTECTED];[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 1/30/2007 11:31:00 PM Subject: So. California Lobbying Monday Jan. 29 Lobbying in Congressional District offices in southern California against the war on Monday, January 29, 2007 Here is a preliminary report on the lobbying that was done in Congressional District offices in Los Angeles and Orange Counties on Monday, January 29, 2007 in conjunction with the lobbying being done in Washington DC that day by United for Peace and Justice to put pressure on Congress to end the war. The delegations were constituents in the member's district, and a number were members or leaders of large organizations with a considerable number of members in the Congressional Representative's district. We want to impress upon the Congressional Representative that we represent many more voters in his or her district. Please send me any additions or corrections to this preliminary report. (Not all lobbying groups have reported yet.) Congressional Representative Becerra. (Democrat: District near downtown, East LA and Echo Park) Two delegations visited Congressman Becerra's office in Los Angeles. The first visited in the morning. Organized by Latino's Against the War, the group of six included representatives of the Mexican-American Political Association and Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, representing a very large constituent block in Becerra's district. Both organizations have been important components of Becerra's election campaigns and voter base. The message they delivered was to vote against Bush's surge of new troops into Iraq, urge Becerra to support HR 508, (the Woolsey, Lee and Waters bill to bring the troops home in six months and provide aid to rebuild Iraq) and request a Town Hall meeting ASAP before votes are taken on war related issues such as upcoming appropriations legislation. A second group of five constituents visited Becerra's district office that afternoon, including members of SCOPE and other neighborhood based organizations urging Becerra to sign on to HR 508, to be present at demonstrations, and support the demands of the coalition to bring the troops home now and stop funding the war. This group- talked of having follow-up visits, and to develop a campaign that intensifies pressure on Becerra. Congressional Representative Schiff. (Democrat: District includes Pasadena, Glendale and other parts of San Gabriel Valley). A group of 50 constituents, organized by the San Gabriel Valley Neighbors for Peace & Justice, Foothills Peace Coalition, Progressive Democrats, American Friends Service Committee, Coalition for World Peace, LA US Labor Against the War and others demonstrated on Raymond Ave. in front of Schiff's district office in Old Town Pasadena from 3-6 pm on Monday holding the Jan. 27 Action Coalition banner that read Bring the Troops Home Now, and Stop Funding the War. A delegation of seven people met with a Schiff aide for almost an hour, including Schiff challenger in last years Democratic Primary election, Bob McCloskey; a member of the State Democratic Party executive committee, and members of United Teachers of Los Angeles, SEIU, and CNA who live in Schiff's district. All three unions have endor sed anti-war resolutions and represent large blocks of constituents in Schiff's district. The delegation urged Schiff to support HR 508 as the first step in bringing the troops home now, and to vote to stop all funding of the war, except whatever is necessary to remove our troops from the Middle East, and to provide all necessary aid including medical and psychological care to our returning veterans. Congressional Representative Waxman. (Democrat: west LA) A group of at least two constituents, organized by Coalition for World Peace, visited Waxman's district office and presented a letter requesting that Waxman state publicly support for bringing our troops home now and to stop funding the war. The delegation also asked for follow-up meeting. Congressional Representative Berman. (Democrat: San Fernando Valley area) A group was being organized to visit Berman's district office but no report has been received yet. One member of the group who couldn't go, sent an email to the district office urging immediate withdrawl of troops from Iraq. Congressional Representative McDonald. (Democrat: Long Beach, Torrance, South Bay area) A two person delegation organized by Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) visited McDonalds' district office and brought letters from families with relatives in the service urging Congress to stop funding the war and to bring the troops home, including postcards urging Congress to defund the war. Congressional Representative Royce. (Republican: N. Orange County, Fullerton) A delegation of four people visited Royce's district office, organized by MFSO and joined by Code Pink. One person has a nephew in Iraq. The group brought letters from military families urging that Congress stop funding the war. Congressional Representative Campbell. (Republican: Laguna, Coasta Mesa, Newport, S. Orange County) A two-person delegation visited Cambell's district office, organized by MFSO, urging defunding of the war and bringing the troops home. One member has a nephew in the military. Congressional Representative Rohrabacher. (Republican: Huntington Beach, well-to-do coast-line of Long Beach and Palos Verdes) A delegation of seven people visited his district office, organized by MFSO. Two members of the delegation had sons in Iraq. One person was an active duty service member who is opposed to the war and whose military husband is being deployed to Iraq now. They told an aide that growing numbers of constituents, including military members and their families are opposed to the war, want the troops brought home and funding stopped for the war. One aide was polite; a second aide argued aggressively with the group. Congressional Representative Loretta Sanchez. (Democrat: Garden Grove, City of Orange) A delegation organized by MFSO planned a visit to her district office but was unable to go on Monday. They will reschedule. Congressional Representative Sherman. (Democrat: Sherman Oaks, San Fernando Valley) A delegation organized by Coalition for World Peace could not go on Monday but will reschedule. A number of people who visited Congressional district offices urged ongoing lobbying visits, and intensifying levels of pressure. This is extremely important since an appropriations bill to continue funding the war is upcoming in the very near future and this is the key piece of legislation to oppose. Without funding, the war can not continue. Thanks to every organization and person who participated in this lobbying, and a special thanks to MFSO for taking responsibility for organizing delegations to five offices. This lobbying will continue. For others who want to get involved, please send me your name and contact information and and we can help you organize a group to lobby your Congressional Representative. Paul Krehbiel [EMAIL PROTECTED] (member of Coalition for World Peace and January 27 Action Coalition) _______________________________________________ Jan27action mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit our website at http://LinuxBeach.net/jan27action/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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