Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1999 11:40:54 -0800 (PST)
From: Norman Solomon <[log in to unmask]>
[The L.A. Times - Washington Post wire service has
sent this article to all of its client newspapers.]
The Baltimore Sun
Sunday, January 3, 1999
_______________________
CHOMSKY SWIMS AGAINST MAINSTREAM
By Norman Solomon
Noam Chomsky has been the world's most important linguist
since he revolutionized the study of language 40 years ago. In
the United States, mainstream news outlets acknowledge his
enormous stature in the field of linguistics. But the media
response to Chomsky's work in the realm of politics is a
different story.
During this decade, millions of Americans have been drawn to
the books and speeches of Chomsky the political analyst. His vast
knowledge, clarity and strong commitment to humane values make
Chomsky an appreciated speaker -- and an energizing catalyst for
social activism. At frequent appearances across the country,
overflow audiences of thousands are routine.
News media in many foreign countries are eager for political
discourse with Chomsky, who is a professor at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. It's symbolic that he is often at the
studios of WGBH in Boston -- not to be interviewed on that public
television station but to appear via satellite on broadcasts
abroad.
For the most part, Chomsky has remained off the radar screen
of U.S. mass media. With typical discretion, the nightly
"NewsHour" program anchored by Jim Lehrer, on national PBS
television, has interviewed Chomsky just once in 23 years.
Chomsky often arouses discomfort. That's fitting, says David
Barsamian, an independent radio producer who has interviewed him
many times.
"He's on the cutting edge -- he's pushing the envelope of
permissible thought," says Barsamian. "He's challenging us to
examine and re-examine our assumptions. He's like an avant garde
musician, exploring and expanding the boundaries of ... the way
people think."
Some of America's eminent journalists have derided Chomsky's
assertion that the mass media disseminate propaganda. Asked about
Chomsky's analysis, Jeff Greenfield, who was then with ABC, said:
"Some of that stuff looks to me like it's from Neptune."
Greenfield added that Chomsky's "notions about the limits of
debate in this country" are "absolutely wacko."
Chomsky is an unwavering foe of authoritarian rule --
whether by governments or corporations. During the past three
decades, dozens of Chomsky's books have exposed the undemocratic
-- and sometimes brutal -- character of institutions revered by
the American press.
His books, articles and speeches about the Middle East
infuriate those who believe that the Israeli government can do
little wrong. With meticulous documentation, Chomsky has
denounced Israel's treatment of Palestinians and the touted
"peace process." (Chomsky, who is Jewish, taught Hebrew early in
his life. He and his wife Carol -- who both lived on a kibbutz
for six weeks in 1953 -- had considered moving to Israel.)
Chomsky's approach to civil liberties has rankled people
across the political spectrum. He sees Marxist-Leninist ideology
as totalitarian, and he has been a steadfast foe of constraints
on public debate in American society. His vehement support of
absolute freedom of expression has earned him fierce
denunciations -- which peaked nearly 20 years ago, when he
defended the free-speech rights of a French denier of the
Holocaust.
"I simply do not agree that the state, or any other system
of organized power and violence, should have the authority to
determine what people think or say," Chomsky explains. "If the
state is granted the power to shut me up, my counter argument is
not that what I am saying might be valuable. That would be a
contemptible position, in my view." The best position, Chomsky
says, is the defense of free speech.
Public radio stations in many regions, except the East
Coast, air Chomsky interviews and speeches. But decision-makers
at National Public Radio News -- ostensibly devoted to depth and
breadth -- have avoided Chomsky like the plague. The number of
times that he has been on "Morning Edition" or "All Things
Considered" during the last quarter-century can be counted on one
hand.
In a letter to the public-broadcasting newspaper Current
four years ago, "All Things Considered" host Robert Siegel was
remarkably dismissive -- sniffing that Chomsky "evidently enjoys
a small, avid, and largely academic audience who seem to be
persuaded that the tangible world of politics is all the result
of delusion, false consciousness and media manipulation."
When I asked Siegel for clarification recently, he mentioned
that he had interviewed Chomsky on "All Things Considered" once
in 1988. "I should assure you that there are people of varied
political stripes who believe they should be on NPR and are
unfairly excluded," Siegel added. "The editor in chief of the New
Republic, no political bedfellow of Professor Chomsky, has
expressed himself in this regard."
But NPR News programs routinely present views in line with
the editorial outlook of the New Republic. The airing of
political perspectives akin to Chomsky's, however, is rare
indeed. That's a key point: Avoidance of Chomsky is significant
because it reflects media biases that operate across the board.
While Chomsky is out of step with the media powers-that-be,
his efforts are in sync with broad movements for social justice
throughout the world. They face massive obstacles, while
corporate power -- boosted by economic globalization -- continues
to consolidate itself.
At 70, Chomsky is working as hard as ever. No armchair
thinker, he has long been contemptuous of "intellectuals
posturing before one another." Human freedoms, he notes, are
"never a gift from above." In the real world, "protection against
tyranny comes from struggle."
At the close of his latest book, "The Common Good," Chomsky
comments on the struggles for human rights and democracy: "We've
had plenty of successes; they're cumulative, and they lead us to
new peaks to climb. We've also had plenty of failures. Nobody
ever said it was going to be easy."
|
