Page 158 - Mass Media, Mass Propoganda Examining American News in the War on Terror

148 Chapter 6

"In the last months of Donahue, we were ordered to book more right-wing
guests than left-wing, more pro-war than anti-war to balance the liberalism of
host Phil ~onahue."~' Having characterized Donahue as "a tired, left wing lib-
eral out of touch with the current marketplace" of pro-war opinions, MSNBC
dismissed him to make room for a new show hosted by conservative commen-
tator Michael Savage, in "an attempt to expand the [network's] marketplace of
idea^."^' Savage's commitment to diversity was revealed after he was fired in
mid-2003 for refemng to an unidentified caller as a "sodomite" who should
"get AIDS and die.'772
The trend toward curtailing critical anti-war perspectives at MSNBC was
not limited only to Donahue and his staff. MSNBC Host Keith Olbermann also
complained that the network expressed unhappiness when he had two main-
stream liberal guests on the show, Janeane Garofalo and A1 Franken, within a
period of three days between September 2 and September 4,2003 out of a total
of seven guests he had on air.73 Such displeasure with even mainstream liberal
perspectives revealed the extent to which the Fox Effect had taken hold of tele-
vision news.
As the stakes underlying the "War on Terror" increased with the invasion of
Iraq, the media remained intolerant of substantive anti-war dissent. Many
prominent media figures were fired or encouraged to retire, including former
CBS News anchor Dan Rather, former international correspondent for NBC
News Peter Arnett, and Jon Leibennan, a former political reporter for Sinclair
Broadcasting. Immediately following the onset of war, Peter Arnett was one of
the first to be fired, as many throughout the media incorrectly perceived him as
opposing the U.S. invasion.
A veteran reporter from the first U.S. war in the Gulf, Arnett was fired by
NBC for his initial assessment of "Operation Iraqi Freedom." In an interview
with an Iraqi satellite television, Arnett explained: "The first [U.S.] war plan has
failed because of Iraqi resistance. Now they [American leaders] are trying to
write another war plan. Clearly, the American war planners misjudged the de-
termination of the Iraqi force^."'^ Soon after Arnett's assessment, critical voices
sprang into action. Fox News said of Arnett: "He spoke out against American
armed forces: he said America's war against terrorism had failed; he even vili-
fied America's leadership."75 John Gibson of Fox News claimed: "his comments
seem to be supporting the Iraqi side."76 He "seems to cheer the Iraqi resis-
NBC
tan~e."~~ joined suit, criticizing its own reporter for his statements. NBC
News President Neal Shapiro said of Arnett's actions and comments: "It was
wrong for Mr. Arnett to grant an interview to state-controlled Iraqi TV-
especially at a time of war-and it was wrong for him to discuss personal obser-
vations and opinions in that interview. Therefore, Peter Arnett will no longer be
reporting for NBC News and MSNBC."~~ NBC reporters who expressed overtly
pro-war opinions throughout the invasion and occupation suffered no such rep-
rimand for sharing their "insights" into the conflict.
Arnett was also fired from National Geographic as the organization cited
his expression of "personal views" on Iraqi television as the reason for his dis-
missal. National Geographic released a statement which said that it "did not