Page 294 - Mass Media, Mass Propoganda Examining American News in the War on Terror

284 Chapter 11

Iran's uranium enrichment, although advertised as necessary in domestic
energy production, is often characterized in the American mass media as a ploy
designed to mask the development of nuclear weapons. In its summary of Iran's
"nuclear challenge," the editors of the New York Times claim that, "Despite its
ritualistic denials, Iran gives every indication of building all the essential ele-
ments of a nuclear weapons program."22 "Every indication" of a continued nu-
clear program, however, is not apparently taken to include the International
Atomic Energy Agency's (the UN's international nuclear watchdog agency)
assessments, which have "not uncovered evidence to support accusations that
Iran has a secret nuclear weapons program," in fact citing "very good coopera-
tion" by Iran in the inspections process and in allowing the IAEA access to sus-
pected sites.23 "Every indication" of a threat also seems to exclude available
intelligence estimating that "Iran is about ten years from developing the key
ingredients needed for a nuclear weapon,"24 rather than on the brink of develop-
ing a weapon that will pose a threat to the West. This prompts the overlooked,
but vital question: what exactly is the tangible threat of Iran, if any, to the U.S.
and its allies? Equally important, is it the U.S. that is the major threat to Iran,
rather than the other way around? Also, why has the Iraqi WMD scandal not led
reporters, pundits and editors to more rigorously question official statements
regarding Iran's alleged development of WMD? These questions are cast aside
in U.S. mainstream political and media discourse, but are vital for consideration
for any educated, democratic citizenry.
Despite a lack of substantive evidence demonstrating a clear and present
danger from Iran, the Bush administration and mass media continue to push
forward with the argument that Iran is of immediate or near-immediate danger to
the U.S. William Beeman and Donald Weadon, writing in the Sun Francisco
Chronicle, believe that the Iranian clergy serves a vital purpose in the search for
new enemies after the end of the Cold War: "Iran is a perfect villain, just what
America needs, and the nuclear issue is a perfect pretext for this hostile behav-
ior--one that plays well to a nervous American
Media and government statements reinforcing the idea that Iran is a serious
threat to the U.S. have been effective, it seems, in convincing the American pub-
lic that Iran may be an emerging threat to the West. One CMVKJSA Today pub-
lished Gallup Poll released in 2006 showed that Americans are concerned that
"the [Bush] administration won't do enough to keep Iran from developing nu-
clear weapons," although they are also worried that the administration "will be
too quick to use military force if diplomacy fails."26 Public skepticism of an
American attack might increase, however, if the administration begins to more
actively push for military confrontation with Iran, assisted by media support for
an aerial attack, or some other form of action.
Major media outlets have attempted to reconcile the contradictions between
official rhetoric promoting the immediate or near-immediate threat of Iran with
intelligence skeptical of any immediate danger. The Los Angeles Times, for ex-
ample, actually invoked the IAEA as confirming the Iranian government's secret
nuclear strategy, although the newspaper admits that there is an "absence of
clear evidence" of an Iranian weapons program after "nearly two years of