----- Original Message -----
From: Sheila Conroy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2000 11:33 PM
Subject: [a16-international-planning] Fw: [FAIR-L] ACTION ALERT: Media
Distortion of World Bank/IMF Protests
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: FAIR-L <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2000 7:53 AM
> Subject: [FAIR-L] ACTION ALERT: Media Distortion of World Bank/IMF
Protests
>
>
> > FAIR-L
> > Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
> > Media analysis, critiques and news reports
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ACTION ALERT:
> > Media Distortion of World Bank/IMF Protests Starts Early
> >
> > April 11, 2000
> >
> > Mainstream media have begun to turn their attention to Washington, D.C.,
> and
> > the Mobilization for Global Justice, a week-long series of protests
> > coinciding with the meetings of the World Bank and International
Monetary
> > Fund (IMF) scheduled for April 16 and 17. Many of the stories draw
> parallels
> > between the events in D.C. and the World Trade Organization (WTO)
protests
> > in Seattle last year ("Seattle Protesters Are Back, With a New Target,
"
> > New York Times, 4/9/00).
> >
> > But recent TV news broadcasts have distorted or omitted basic facts
about
> > the upcoming protests. On April 6, ABC World News Tonight aired a story
> > about people arriving for an "unusual demonstration" focused on
"American
> > trade relations with China." The broadcast never even mentioned the
wider
> > targets of the protest: the World Bank and the IMF.
> >
> > On the same night, CBS Evening News presented a report loaded with
> > inaccuracies. Anchor Dan Rather opened by warning protesters that "if
> > they're hoping for a replay of last year's violence in Seattle, those
> > charged with keeping the peace in Washington, D.C., have other ideas."
> >
> > The report continues with this distortion of the Seattle protests: "By
all
> > accounts, protesters outside last December's meeting of the World Trade
> > Organization in Seattle simply got the better of police."
> >
> > That conclusion is certainly not the consensus of "all accounts." The
> > firsthand accounts of activists and bystanders alike depicted a police
> force
> > in Seattle remarkable for its brutality, not its inadequacy. It is
> doubtful
> > that many activists who were beaten or gassed at the WTO protests feel
> they
> > "got the better" of the police force. (See "Pepper Spray Gets in Their
> Eyes:
> > Media missed militarization of police work in Seattle," Extra!, 3-4/00,
> > http://www.fair.org/extra/0003/pepper-spray.html .)
> >
> > Nonetheless, the idea that protesters are interested in creating
violence
> is
> > reinforced later in the broadcast, where correspondent Jim Stewart
> > incorrectly asserts that activists are "practicing urban assault
> techniques"
> > in preparation for the protests. Ironically, moments later the report
> > features Ruckus Society program director Han Shan advocating
non-violence.
> >
> > The media focus on the potential for "violence" by the D.C. protesters
> > reflects a rewriting of what actually happened at Seattle. The New York
> > Times (4/9/00) was typical when it referred to "the unrest in Seattle,
> where
> > a rare alchemy of violence and vandalism by a small group of anarchists
> > botched crowd control."
> >
> > In fact, police began using chemical agents against non-violent
protesters
> > long before a handful of WTO opponents engaged in window-breaking. (See
> > "Prattle in Seattle," Extra!, 1-2/00,
> > http://www.fair.org/extra/0001/wto-prattle.html .) Media accounts have
> > consistently reversed the chronology, however, blaming the police
violence
> > on the vandals, who in fact were largely ignored by police. The vast
> > majority of violence-- which is a different thing than vandalism-- was
> > committed in Seattle by the Seattle police department.
> >
> > ACTION: Please contact these media outlets in the next few days, and
> > encourage them to cover the protests against the World Bank and IMF
fully
> > and fairly. You might suggest that they begin by including the views of
> > anti-World Bank and IMF activists on issues other than the potential for
> > violence.
> >
> >
> > CONTACT:
> > CBS Evening News
> > Phone: (212) 975-3691, (202) 457-4385
> > Fax: (212) 975-1893
> > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> > ABC World News Tonight
> > Phone: (212) 456-4040
> > Fax: (212) 456-4297
> > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> > New York Times
> > Washington, DC Bureau
> > Fax: (202) 862-0340
> > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> > For background on the protests, please visit http://www.a16.org .
> > Independent media coverage of the protests will be featured at
> > http://www.indymedia.org
> >
> > As always, please remember that letter are taken more seriously if they
> > maintain a polite tone. Please cc your correspondence to:
> > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> > ----------
> >
> >
> > Feel free to respond to FAIR ( [EMAIL PROTECTED] ). We can't reply to
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> >
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> >
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> >
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