Page 235 - Mass Media, Mass Propoganda Examining American News in the War on Terror

Catapult the Media 225

U.S. and Britain were supporting him, even providing him with dual-use tech-
nology that he could use for nuclear and chemical weapons development, as he
presumably did."38 In identifying U.S. support for Saddam Hussein, Chomsky
took a view opposite of the mainstream media establishment, which presented
the United States as diametrically opposed to his crimes against humanity. Un-
covering past support for Hussein during the Reagan and George H. W. Bush
administrations-aid put forth by many of the same officials in office in the
Bush administration today-has led many in the Progressive-Left media to ques-
tion the alleged humanitarian motivations given for the Iraq war.
The question of whether most Iraqis oppose the U.S. occupation is not a
major theme in pro-war propaganda. Daniel Ellsberg, the reporter who uncov-
ered the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War discusses the notion of
American exceptionalism in "promoting democracy" abroad by drawing a corre-
lation between the Vietnam and Iraq Wars: "What we find very hard to perceive
now as then, is that we are seen correctly by the Iraqis as foreign occupiers.
Americans just can't see themselves in such terms. . . . From the beginning to
end in Vietnam, almost no civilian or military person was ever able to perceive
his relations with the people there as a relation between foreign occupier and
either a collaborator or reluctant to~erator."~~
The Progressive-Left and mainstream media coverage of the Iraq war are
worlds apart. A more open mass media system would need to provide access to
a wider range of views, including pro-war and anti-war views, so as to expose
Americans to the widest range of opinions when deciding their stance on the
Iraq war. This has not taken place, hence the growing audience for alternative
voices as seen in those who follow the Progressive-Left media and international
news sources discussed below.
While a wide range of views has been incorporated into American media
when looking at both the corporate, mainstream press and the Progressive-Left
media, there remains a large imbalance here. Mainstream media sources retain
far greater monetary resources and control of the news medium; this translates
into greater access and range in terms of their audience size. This has certainly
been the case with progressive outlets like Truthout, Z Magazine, and the New
Standard, which are all reliant on donations, rather than advertising, in order to
operate.

Balancing Divergent Views:
British and Australian Media Examined
In assessing media framing of the Iraq war, what is left out of news reports is
often as important as what is reported. Discussion, for example, of the US. use
of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was much more limited in the American
mass media than it was in the American Progressive-Left press or in the British
or Australian media. News readers and viewers who desired to learn more about
the U.S. use of WMD would have found more coverage in some British and
Australian newspapers, as they were some of the only English-speaking dailies