WWMT - Issue 1

Loyal reader Peter K. started an interesting series that we're calling "WWMT" or "What Would Matt Think." Basically, he sends me a link to some far out uber-leftist or otherwise off-the-wall link and I say what I think about it. Simple enough...here we go.

Today's entry is from al-Jazeera and features a "documentarian" by the name of Danny Schechter. You can get the full story here, but here are the lowlights:

At the time of the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003, 70% of Americans told pollsters they believed Saddam Hussein's government was partly responsible for the 9/11 attacks.

In the prelude to the war, the Bush administration hinted at the existence of a link between Iraq and the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

However, intelligence investigations commissioned by the White House and Congress have since determined the suggested links were false.

Okay...let's get off this...



...and get serious. What the administration "hinted" at was that Saddam Hussein had ties to terrorists, which he did. Zarqawi, you know, the guy blowing up things in Iraq right now, is one of those connections. The connections to terrorism are further explained in Stephen Hayes' book titled, oddly enough, The Connection. What the media did with that isn't the administration's fault.

According to Danny Schechter, a media veteran of almost 40 years who nicknamed himself the News Dissector, the 70% figure suggests US media failed their public and led them to believe a baseless claim.

"Baseless claim" made by whom? The Great News Dissector doesn't bother to tell us that now does he...

In the post-September 11 nationalistic ardour, the film concludes the US mainstream media failed to challenge Washington over its reasons for going to war, shut out anti-war voices and blurred the lines between commentary and journalism.

Which is exactly why whenever four anti-war protestors showed up anywhere they got coverage but Support the Troops rallys with thousands got nada, zip, zilch, zero coverage.

Aljazeera.net: Why did you make this film?

Danny Schechter: I have been a journalist since the 1960s. And in some ways, this project grew out of a lifetime of work. I worked in radio; I worked in local television; I worked in cable news; I worked in ABC; I worked in mainstream and I worked in independent [media] so I think I had a wide range of experience.

I have also written six books about media issues, so I have had a chance to think about it more deeply; I think all that uniquely qualified me to take on this project.

I learned all I needed to know in the first sentence of Schechter's response. He's a hippy. Color my world, man...

Final Analysis:



...but y'all expected that though, right?