State-dominated media and Iran

State-dominated media and Iran

www.salon.com

That’s because it is written exactly the same way and with exactly the same agenda: we now turn over our media outlet to the pronouncements of anonymous government officials, who will explain — under the guise of a “news report” – why the U.S. is being victimized by an increasingly aggressive and Terroristic Iran. Both in methodology and conclusion, it is pure state-run media propaganda, by definition: shaped exclusively by official government assertions, amplified without skepticism or challenge.

(visit the link for the full news article)

It's good to see things like this being reported and hopefully reaching as many people as possible, because it helps to further erode any sense of trust that the masses of people who still watch and/or read that type of media have.

The problem has been the same for decades obviously, but the more it's brought up by journalists as internet usage increases, the faster things should change. The bigger the divide between honest fact finders/researchers and pure state propaganda reporting, the faster people should start waking up.

www.salon.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by robhines


Ironically, a media frenzy is exactly how they(Western agencies) placed the Islamic regime into Iran.

Well written piece, but it'll fall on deaf ears here.

Originally posted by InfoKartel
Well written piece, but it'll fall on deaf ears here.

There's always some deaf ears around, but I'd like to think this place along with several others on the net are the sites with the most open minded ones.

reply to post by robhines


That's what I'd like to think as well, sadly, you and I are both wrong. It's pretty much the same, everywhere.

You know what made me hesitate and leave this to be the last article I read this visit? The title.

I expected more corporate/government pablum about the evil Iran and it's puppet media.

What a pleasant, refreshing, and finally challenging article....

Perhaps a few of Salons readers will begin to notice the methods repeatedly used by the media masters to control public opinion, and how that seems to be in lockstep with the governments agenda....

I have explained to my children that my opinion goes something like this:

Whenever you hear "Al Qeada" remember it was a "patriot" group sponsored by the US to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan (for the most part)

Whenever you hear "believers of radical Islam/radical Islamist" remember - they were pronounced "radical" after they organized to openly and publicly resist the intrusion of western corporate influence within their governments and communities; they "noticed" as their leaders became money-grubbing, power-pandering, caricatures of the robber barons of the west.

Whenever you hear Iran/hostage don't forget that the Americans and English used their money and manpower to subvert and overthrow the democratically elected government of that country, and restored a monarchist oligarch regime which in true caricature fashion imposed fascist controls over the people and their lives for decades.

Whenever you hear anything about Iran (or nearly any other "bad" country on television - before you accept what they way as true ask yourself, "Why should they have spent time, money, and resources to tell me this?"

If i were to tell you what some anonymous government person said, wouldn't you first choose to assess whether I might be lying? If so.... then why not the media which has actual reasons to lie?... for profit and access.

I note that salon.com hasn't been hit with a take-down notice for using substantially unaltered material directly from the NYT publication.... where the average human needs to walk on eggshells because the copyright trolls lurk everywhere on the net. Why is "fair use" a given for their purposes, but "suspect" for a blogger? ... sorry I digress.

There is one certainty which I affirm... we must be our own press. It must not be commercial. Our barley spoken of, and poorly articulated, way of life requires an informed... not indoctrinated populace.

We should call a spade a spade... certain powerful people want to take over the affairs in the region of Iran.... and they consider us their pawns.... but irritatingly for them, they have to lie, cheat, and contrive Machiavellian networks of influence to keep us from realizing that THEY are the ones who want war, not us. After all it IS for their benefit, not ours. I would have imagined the people would never stand for their children and families being maimed and killed in another country for petty revenge, power-lust, or worse. Ever notice how THEY never seem to lose anyone? How does that work out? Randomly?

Originally posted by Maxmars
There is one certainty which I affirm... we must be our own press. It must not be commercial. Our barley spoken of, and poorly articulated, way of life requires an informed... not indoctrinated populace.

Agree on many fronts and well said. I would say that caution must be exercised with the statement that "we must be our own press". Given the speed that information travels, unless the time is taken to thoroughly review and analyze non commercial press the same opportunities exist to misinform people. Many people are inclined to accept anything in Twitter, for example, as the gospel. It must be true & socially acceptable because Twitter has so many users. Many cannot be bothered with the fine print. It seems that these days the headline, true or not, dictates acceptance until someone actually digs into and presents the facts.

brill

reply to post by brill


And it seems that there are so many distractions these days to purposefully, perhaps, make it nearly impossible for most people to find the time to actually investigate for themselves....after all, the information is already so neatly packaged, why question?

Iran has been involved in just one war...and that was when Iraq took the opportunity to invade when there was internal strife/revolution going on in Iran in 79-80...something that, from what i understand, we, the US, INSTIGATED.

We instigate and instigate and then point fingers at everyone else...it makes it even more convenient for most to believe the lie because who wants to admit America is not so much heroic any more but the neighborhood bully?

reply to post by brill


Excellent point. It is true that we have a penchant for being attracted to sensational and celebrity-related gossip. But in matters of governance and foreign affairs it seems only now that people are starting to use the communication channels for the purposes of keeping abreast of what's going on.... which must explain why the governments of the world are so keen on putting stoppers in the pipes....

reply to post by queenannie38


I have to agree. But I will say it is best to recall that "we" didn't do anything to the people of Iran.... the leadership of our governments did..... we may accept their 'motivations' based on what they claim is true, or what they can mold into a suitably motivational story... but in the end "we" are used... and it is "they" who are the architects of conflict, not "us."

Sadly, the same can be said not of our 'declared' enemies, but "their" leaders as well.

None of whom set foot on a battlefield until it's a nice and safe photo-op ... (which doesn't stop them from telling tall tales about their own "heroic risks to life and limb" which many believe...)

I just recommend this book
Manufacturing Consent
by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman

reply to post by Maxmars


Yes. But yet....our government is *supposed to be* WE the people...ultimately I think that's where it has to stop since that is where it began...if that makes sense.

The people don't want war...not the citizens...of the US...of Iran...of Israel. They are speaking out on facebook about it...I think it is a good thing and if social media brings about change, then that says a lot about people as well as governments...

reply to post by blackcube


For those wanting an idea of the books contents there is a free video documentary by the same title:

Google Video Link

It's 2 and half hours long ... a bit dated, but nevertheless an eye-opener to say the least.

reply to post by queenannie38


In the case of Iran especially (and the Middle East generally) "we" the people have NEVER had a say. I understand the ideal, and the principle of adhering to the 'representative' model of government - and I think it could work - if it were allowed to. But it is not.

We should be heard, but we aren't.
They should be accountable, but they are not.
War should not be the political tool of commerce... but it is.

Originally posted by queenannie38
reply to post by brill

 

And it seems that there are so many distractions these days to purposefully, perhaps, make it nearly impossible for most people to find the time to actually investigate for themselves....after all, the information is already so neatly packaged, why question?

Precisely. The modern masses love being spoon fed why bother wasting "my" time when someone else has done the work for me. Like many here I have frank conversations with fellow workers and friends. The moment one deviates from common acceptance and goes rogue with information or details it is either ridiculed or agreed to be utter nonsense. Needless to say the subject quickly changes. I'm certainly not implying I am the voice of truth or reason but just trying to present another viewpoint. People need to challenge information and stop blindly accepting the majority view. It may well prove right but to go unchallenged presents a disservice to all.

Originally posted by queenannie38
Iran has been involved in just one war...and that was when Iraq took the opportunity to invade when there was internal strife/revolution going on in Iran in 79-80...something that, from what i understand, we, the US, INSTIGATED.

We instigate and instigate and then point fingers at everyone else...it makes it even more convenient for most to believe the lie because who wants to admit America is not so much heroic any more but the neighborhood bully?

As much as I am anti US government I also believe that other global influences, notably governments, contribute equally to the overall problem. The current Iranian regime and former Iraqi governments have their share of the blame too. I'm over simplifying but you get the idea. Specifically though with Iran the points MaxMars presented are completely noteworthy and valid. It is encouraging to see that other viewpoints are being shared with children. It is equally important to let them ultimately make their own decisions armed with more than a single idea.

brill

I do not watch the television or listen to music, other than very rare occasions. I have my life, and everyone informs me I am goal oriented. Usually all my research is done from reading books, or journals, but the nature of an article I was writing required first hand knowledge, the knowledge necessary pertained to websites such as this. Quite by accident I stumbled onto this site, and I stayed.

I stayed because of what I realized in my visits. Insulated as I was in my world of books and journals, socializing with Muslims more often than anyone else, although I do speak with those of other faiths, but you know how it is. We stay with those groups we feel accepted in and a part of. I knew media was lying, but as someone who is not a television viewer, I do not think I came close to realizing the full extent.

I find myself being shocked and dismayed by the portrayal of Muslims, Islam, and sovereign nations in media. Because of the knowledge I possess, I see such blatant lies passed off from media outlets that it is difficult to understand how anyone would ever believe such things.

My view of the world is what you may call a separatist one. I believe it is up to individual countries to make decisions for themselves, and it is not the right of anyone to speak or act except the people affected. The only time this should change is when policies affect people outside the nation, such as with of wars of aggression. A country should be able to decide who she wants to engage in commerce with, who she wants as allies, and how to best govern herself. One system will never work for every nation, as varying cultures have different values and ideals.

But the western media is shocking, because the lies are so great one can see straight through them. Perhaps not if you are insulated from the world, or have only seen the world through the glasses of the battlefield. Which is why I stayed on this site. I was hoping to share my glasses with others, so that others might benefit from another, less insulated view.

I do sincerely hope that media changes, and with the internet I think it will, as alternative sources are more readily available.

I started doing some research about disinformation in the media, and here are some things I found. I will be writing an article on this topic, and because I will be publishing I wont post it here, but I will share this;

www.nytimes.com...

"The Pentagon is developing plans to provide news items, possibly even false ones, to foreign media organizations as part of a new effort to influence public sentiment and policy makers in both friendly and unfriendly countries, military officials said.

Little information is available about the Office of Strategic Influence, and even many senior Pentagon officials and Congressional military aides say they know almost nothing about its purpose and plans. Its multimillion dollar budget, drawn from a $10 billion emergency supplement to the Pentagon budget authorized by Congress in October, has not been disclosed.

Headed by Brig. Gen. Simon P. Worden of the Air Force, the new office has begun circulating classified proposals calling for aggressive campaigns that use not only the foreign media and the Internet, but also covert operations."

-The public outcry against this was so strong the pentagon publicly stated this office was shutting down. However, Donald Rumsfeld is on record stating;

www.fas.org...

Rumsfeld:

"And then there was the office of strategic influence. You may recall that. And "oh my goodness gracious isn't that terrible, Henny Penny the sky is going to fall." I went down that next day and said fine, if you want to savage this thing fine I'll give you the corpse. There's the name. You can have the name, but I'm gonna keep doing every single thing that needs to be done and I have."

-the DOD website has since removed this transcript from their site, the transcript in the above link was copied directly from their site before it was taken down... If you go to this link www.defense.gov... you can see that the article is in the archives section of the official DOD website but if you click the link it comes up as a removed page

articles.latimes.com...

-This article was written by an LA Times military affairs analyst after the shut down of the office of strategic influence and subsequent comments made by Rumsfeld. The author of this article is not stupid, he knew about the closing of the office of strategic influence and exactly what Rumsfeld said, this is the LA Times, not some fly by night newspaper, this proves that the comments were in fact made by Rumsfeld, and serious military analysts believed this was still an ongoing operation.

The Military's New War of Words

"In a policy shift that reaches across all the armed services, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and his senior aides are revising missions and creating new agencies to make "information warfare" a central element of any U.S. war. Some hope it will eventually rank with bombs and artillery shells as an instrument of destruction."

reply to post by robhines

reply to post by Jameela


Spend less time with your books and journals and you will find out what the world is really like. I don’t need the thoughts and musing of others to influence my concept of reality

Originally posted by redneck13
reply to post by Jameela

 

Spend less time with your books and journals and you will find out what the world is really like. I don’t need the thoughts and musing of others to influence my concept of reality

Not influence, challenge. Our belief systems need to stand trial against opposing views to prove their worth, only then can someone develop a strong sense of identity and reality. If your beliefs are easily crushed, your reality probably could use some influence.

Learn from the great, then choose to honor or discredit them, not the other way around.

reply to post by DestroyDestroyDestroy


Learn from the great what?
A writer?
A doctor?
A ditch digger?
A toad?

Enlightenment can only thrive within yourself. You are not the same as anyone else.
If you need the influence of others to comprehend your own beliefs, you are truly lost.