Way to go Jared! My sinciere congratulations!
LM was one of the most startling examples of progressive and critical
thought. Their ex- marxist backgroud notwithstanding , they were praised by
N. Chomsky as the one of the few magazines who deserve respect because of
their truthfulness, with regards to Diechman and to aggresion on Iraq. They
were the magazine, Chomsky said, that went most far in examining the facts
on Iraq and Kuwait. I think I have this statement somewhere in my archives-
it was stated on ZNet forum- and I have posted it on LM forum some time
ago....
                Andrej

----- Original Message -----
From: Ken Freeland <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, March 18, 2000 8:27 AM
Subject: [CHOMSKY] FW: LIES OF THE MIGHTY


> The following is Jared Israel's response to Tresy Kilbourne's attempted
> rebuttal on the LIES OF THE MIGHTY,  a study of suppression of the free
> press in England.
>
> Peace,
> Ken Freeland
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, March 17, 2000 2:30 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: LIES OF THE MIGHTY
>
>
> Dear Ken,
>
> Tresy Kilbourne's ITN "refutation", which you forwarded me from the
> Chomsky
> e-list, employs techniques amazingly similar to those employed by the
> pro-NATO mass media.  It shamelessly plays to emotion, and it bears
> false
> witness.
>
> Kilbourne and the ITN say 1) they showed UNCUT footage of "haunted"
> faces and
> "menacing" looking guards.  Does that mean the jury was shown ALL THE
> FOOTAGE
> shot that day?  I don't believe it.  So what does UNCUT mean - and how
> would
> the jury know whether, indeed, it was uncut?  And as for "haunted" and
> "menacing" - clearly the climate created by a) the media's demonization
> of
> the Serbs and b) things said in the courtroom would color the jurors'
> impressions.  If you see a man squinting in the sun (as the men in the
> famous
> barbed wire sequence in fact were) and you are TOLD he is afraid, he has
> been
> tortured, etc., he will undoubtedly LOOK "haunted" - but the emotion may
> in
> fact be in the eye of the beholder.
>
> The key to the creation of the proper courtroom atmosphere was probably
> the
> doctor's testimony.  After hearing his story, any pictures would take on
> a
> haunting/menacing appearance.  But who says his story is true?  ITN and
> the
> doctor say it, that's who, and I say ITN had ALREADY lied on a giant
> scale:
> it deliberately produced film and still photos which falsely convicted a
> people - the Serbs - of crimes against humanity.  Having lied on an epic
> scale, why would ITN hesitate to produce false testimony to defend their
> lie?
>  Especially when that lie was used to support NATO policy: the
> destruction of
> the Bosnian Serb forces, which were fighting the secessionists which the
> NATO
> countries backed.
>
> If one doubts the possibility of this consider: during the war against
> Iraq
> the daughter (I believe - anyway, some relative) of the Kuwaiti
> Ambassador (a
> neighbor of Kennedy, known to Jesse Helms as well) was brought to
> testify in
> Congress.  She masqueraded as a nurse (now they have doctors!) and said
> Iraqi
> soldiers were pulling babies out of incubators.  Do you all recall that
> story?  And wasn't it a total lie?  It is not hard to produce false
> witness,
> especially if you have the combined financial/political power of all of
> NATO
> behind you, especially if NATO and a big news station's combined
> credibility
> are at stake.  Money talks; money buys lies.
>
> As I said in my article, we have a film which shows Penny Marshall's
> movements that day.  Please send this reply to the Chomsky list.  I urge
> everyone on that list: order a copy of the film.  See for yourselves.
> It
> will be available from tenc.net starting (we hope) this coming Monday,
> March
> 20.  Check tenc.net over the weekend and again Monday for news.
>
> At the end of the film, the producers show exactly how certain footage
> was
> cut to produce the "haunted" and "menacing " shots used to fool millions
> of
> people around the world, plus a few in the English courtroom last week.
> You
> see the canteen - which doesn't look in the least menacing - and hear
> the
> relaxed testimony of the chief official at the detention center.  You
> see
> Marshall and Co. setting up INSIDE the barbed wire, it's all quite
> clear.
>
> In the email you sent me, Tresy Kilbourne writes:
>
> "As they drove on to Trnopolje, the reporting team insisted on stopping
> and
> > "among the sights to greet them was that of an emaciated man stripped
> to the > waist in the heat standing behind barbed wire."
> > When the journalists left, they took with them an undeveloped reel of
> film > secretly taken by an inmate who had told Ms Marshall of torture,
> beatings and > rape."
>
> Actually, the Serbian film crew followed Marshall around all day,
> filming
> her.  When, pray tell, could she have been alone and talked - unobserved
> by
> the other crew - with the an inmate who smuggled out film.  While the
> film
> shows that Marshall was never alone, it also shows the atmosphere all
> day was
> quite relaxed.  If this WERE a death camp why would these "menacing"
> guards
> let her interview emaciated people behind barbed wire - especially when
> they
> - supposedly forbade her to visit certain (evil) parts of the camp.
>
> This all relies, as with other pro-NATO propaganda, on the impact of
> emotionally charged statements.  It's really quite shameful.
>
> By the way, if people go to
> http://www.emperors-clothes.com/images/bosnia/camp.htm.  they can look
> at a
> couple of the pictures which ITN made available to the media and which
> were
> used to present the same impression as the text your correspondent
> presents.
> Look at the second picture (BELSEN 92 is the caption).  Notice the
> structure
> of the barbed wire, foreground left.  The wire is clearly turning away
> from
> the people - that is, the men are standing near the OUTSIDE corner of a
> barbed wire enclosure. If you are unsure, show it to anyone who has
> worked in
> construction or agriculture - where they handle barbed wire.
>
> I personally come from the left I started out in the civil rights
> movement; I
> went on a freedom ride and was active with the Congress of Racial
> Equality.
> I was one of the leaders of the student movement against the war in
> Vietnam.
> Then for years I was inactive.  When I got back into things a couple of
> years
> ago I was stunned to see supposed leftists kissing NATO's ass. I felt
> like I
> had woken up in a nightmare world.   From what I've seen, Ian Williams
> is one
> of the worst offenders.  His influence at the Nation has produced
> apologies
> for NATO policies which are sometimes worse than what one gets at the NY
> Times.  And then the Nation connection is used among left-leaning folks
> to
> lend credibility to William's pro-NATO line.
>
> Best regards,
> Jared
> PS - Ms. Kilbourne makes a big point of getting the other side by going
> to
> the ITN Website - as if ITN were being silenced by big bad Emperors
> Clothes
> which is dominating the air waves.  Well, as of earlier today you could
> NOT
> go to the LM website to hear their side.  They've been shut down.  As
> far as
> I know, ITN still has a major news station, and ALL the reporting has
> backed
> their side of the story.