Forward from mart ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "NYTr List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, October 29, 2004 5:37 PM Subject: [NYTr] "Voices of Iraq" - Slick Propaganda for Bush's War
Via NY Transfer News Collective All the News that Doesn't Fit "Voices of Iraq" - Slick Propaganda for Bush's War Aimed at US Liberals [There's a new slick propaganda film selling the Iraq war and aimed at progressive and liberal viewers. It's called "Voices of Iraq," and it opens today (October 29, 2004) in 10 major US cities. From the press around this film, it seems to be a moving and skillfully edited piece of work. A search on Google using the terms "Voices of Iraq" and "film" reveals a fair number of mainstream press items about this documentary, and the following article, which gives information on personnel involved. The research by Dave Bicking in Minneapolis (below, following the PR item for the film) reveals that the publicity campaign behind the film is the work of a variety of public relations firms that are shils for the usual suspects: right-wing legal foundations, anti-environmental groups, conservative social and political campaigns, etc. If the Google results are any indication, it seems they've done a good job for "Voices of Iraq," a slick project with a well-edited final product, created from raw footage provided by "ordinary Iraqis" who were given free digi-cams (your tax dollars at work) and asked to film their friends and neighbors talking about how bad Saddam was and how they want "freedom." -NYTransfer] IndieWire.com http://www.indiewire.com/biz/biz_041021mag.html Magnolia Sets Release for "Voices of Iraq" by Eugene Hernandez "Voices of Iraq," a new documentary that includes words and images of the Iraqi people, will be released by Magnolia Pictures on October 29th, hitting ten cities in the United States, including New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Mark Cuban, an owner of Magnolia, along with Todd Wagner, championed the film in a statement Wednesday, "This is the one movie everyone should see before they vote -- the power of this movie comes from the unfiltered view that only the Iraqis themselves can provide. If the war in Iraq is an issue that impacts your vote, you have to see this movie first." Cuban told indieWIRE Wednesday that he first saw the film just five days ago, and after seeing it, felt that it needed to be seen by voters before Election Day. In an email conversation with indieWIRE yesterday he added, "I quickly marshalled together the producers, Landmark Theaters, Magnolia Pictures and Todd Wagner and in less than 4 hours we had a deal and a plan to get in 10 cities for release on Oct 29." Cuban added that the film will also be available on DVD via Netflix and via digital download on the same day. Eric Manes and Martin Kunert, former producers at MTV, joined forces with actor and Gulf War vet Archie Drury to get video cameras into the hands of Iraqis, beginning in April during the Falluja uprising. Shooting continued through September, capturing the lives of everyday citizens. "We feel it's important for people to see this film for an unfiltered look at how Iraqis see their future," Manes said in a statement. "They understand what's at stake in trying to create a fledgling democracy in the Middle East." *** [Here's the skinny on who's helping to sell this film to an unsuspecting US public. Bicking has produced a flyer that was distributed at one of the Minneapolis film showings, and activists also spoke up after the showing itself, alerting the audience to the real agenda of the film, although apparently it was transparent enough to the progressives present and most weren't fooled, although some of them were confused.--NY Transfer] sent by Joan Malerich - Oct 29, 2004 Alert: Truth and reality of the "Voices of Iraq" film: It is a conservative-backed propaganda "doc" showing in Progressive theatres. This documentary is geared to support Bush's invasion of Iraq and, thus,support Bush on election day. Contact: Dave Bicking [e-mail: dave @ colorstudy.com] who writes: ...the most damning information about the film comes from examining who is sponsoring these showings [in Minneapolis]: The email link for getting tickets is tickets @pubaffairsco.com That is the email for Public Affairs Company, www.pubaffairsco.com , a public relations firm located in St. Paul. They say,"we work with our clients to craft messages and control outcomes." Their specialty is in developing "grass roots" organizations to help businesses and organizations to lobby the government more effectively. Among their clients: Nuclear Energy Institute, American Insurance Association, Citizens for Better Medicare, St. Croix Alliance for the Interstate Bridge, Qwest, Minnesota Lawsuit Abuse Watch, and United Airlines. Oh, yes, coming full circle, one of their clients is... Iraq-America Freedom Alliance. So maybe there is a political agenda behind the showing of this film. Which brings me also to the personnel at Public Affairs Company. The head of it is Steve Knuth, a Republican who helped manage Jack Kemp's 1988 presidential campaign. "More recently, Steve has turned his political skills to managing grassroots campaigns. Those challenges have included Superfund reform (American Insurance Association), tort reform (Minnesota Lawsuit Abuse Watch, Massachusetts Civil Justice Reform Alliance and the American Tort Reform Association)..." This is the kindof grass roots that critics of PR refer to as "astroturf" (See, for example, http://www.toolworks.com/bilofsky/astrotrf.htm ) But, hey, at least they're bipartisan! One of their associates is Buck Humphrey, the DFL party hack and former state manager of the Gore /Lieberman campaign in 2000. I also googled the RSVP phone number - it turns out that Noah Rouen works for Public Issue Management, another PR firm. These guys are so shadowy that I can't even find any website for their company. But they are listed as a resource by BIPAC, a big business political action committee ("electing business to Congress") (http://www.bipac.org ) BIPAC says, "Public Issue Management's grassroots campaign development and management programs help business and association clients achieve their objectives in the field of public policy." ... And Noah Rouen (the contact person), who just wants us to hear the voices of ordinary Iraqis? Until recently, the 1st vice- chair of MN Young Republicans. In 2001, he was the spokesman for the Rod Grams MN Victory Club. And in 2002 he was employed by the Associated Builders and Contractors as a political manager of Norm Coleman's campaign. ========================================== Search the NYTr Archives at: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ To subscribe or unsubscribe or change your settings via the web, visit: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =============================================== NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] =============================================== [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. 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