\r\n\r\n\r\n MEDIA SCRUTINY OF THE WHITE BLOC<\/i>\r\n<\/b>
\r\n It's Difficult to Find an Editorial Opinion Against Trade Agreements -- Wonder Why?<\/b>\r\n By Normon Solomon<\/i><\/b>\r\n<\/p><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n| <\/td>\r\n | \r\nNorman Solomon is the author of The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media<\/i>. He writes \"Media Beat,\" a nationally syndicated column.\r\n<\/b>\r\n\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/table>\r\n\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/table>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n<\/table>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n <\/b>| <\/td>\r\n | \r\n \r\n\r\n<\/b> As police fired rubber bullets through tear gas in Quebec City, many reporters echoed the\r\nclaim that \"free trade\" promotes democracy. Meanwhile, protesters struggled to shed light on a\r\nkey fact: The proposed hemispheric trade pact would give large corporations even more\r\npower to override laws that have been enacted -- democratically -- to protect the\r\nenvironment, labor and human rights. <\/p> \r\n\r\n \r\n <\/p><\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n\r\n | \r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n
\r\nIn Newsweek<\/i>, Fareed Zakaria's accusations of \"intimidation and scare tactics\" echoed those against demonstrations for civil rights, peace in Vietnam and environmental safeguards.\r\n <\/b><\/p>
\r\n \r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n <\/table>\r\n\r\n <\/td>\r\n | \r\n \r\n\r\nNewsweek<\/i> responded to the turmoil at the Summit of the Americas with a column by Fareed\r\nZakaria, a favorite policy analyst in elite circles. He declared that \"the anti-globalization crowd\r\nis antidemocratic ... trying to achieve, through intimidation and scare tactics, what it has not\r\nbeen able to get through legislation.\" In recent decades, of course, the same was said about\r\ncutting-edge demonstrations for such causes as civil rights, peace in Vietnam and environmental\r\nsafeguards. <\/b> \r\n\r\nProtests against the likes of the World Trade Organization, and now the Free Trade Area of\r\nthe Americas, have great impact because they resonate widely. Foes of global corporatization\r\nare speaking and acting on behalf of huge grassroots constituencies. <\/p> \r\n\r\nThe ABC television program \"This Week\" deigned to air a discussion with a real-live\r\nprogressive activist, Lori Wallach of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. Journalist Cokie\r\nRoberts voiced befuddlement: \"It's gotten to the point where any time there are global\r\nmeetings, world leaders meeting, we have a sense that the protesters are going to be there, and\r\nthere's not much sense of exactly what you're protesting.\" The interview only lasted a couple of\r\nminutes. <\/p> \r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n <\/p><\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n\r\n | \r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n
\r\nMost news outlets showed little interest in the content\r\nof alternative forums in Quebec City that drew\r\nthousands of activists from all over the hemisphere.\r\n <\/b><\/p>
\r\n \r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n <\/table>\r\n\r\n <\/td>\r\n | \r\n \r\n\r\n\r\nMost news outlets showed little interest in the content of alternative forums in Quebec City that\r\ndrew thousands of activists from all over the hemisphere. Likewise, a big march in the city, with\r\nsome estimates ranging above 60,000 participants, got underwhelming coverage. For that\r\nmatter, most reporters didn't seem very deeply interested in the several thousand people who\r\nbravely engaged in militant, nonviolent direct action -- risking and sometimes sustaining injuries\r\nfrom police assaults -- while confronting the official summit. <\/b> \r\n\r\nWhat did get plenty of media attention was noted at the outset of the April 24 lead editorial in\r\nthe Wall Street Journal<\/i>, which yearned for \"a world where TV cameras prefer trade\r\nagreements to black-clad anarchists.\" Some of those few \"black-clad anarchists\" call\r\nthemselves the Black Bloc. <\/p> \r\n\r\nRoutinely slipping by, with scant journalistic scrutiny, is what we could dub the \"White Bloc\" --\r\na nexus of immense media power serving corporate interests. <\/p> \r\n\r\n \r\n <\/p><\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n\r\n | \r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n
\r\nThe White Bloc is not monolithic. But on the issue of \"free trade,\" it's difficult to find a major\r\nU.S. publication that does not editorially support accords like NAFTA, WTO and the new\r\nFTAA. \r\n <\/b><\/p>
\r\n \r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n <\/table>\r\n\r\n <\/td>\r\n | \r\n \r\n\r\nThe White Bloc is not monolithic. But on the issue of \"free trade,\" it's difficult to find a major\r\nU.S. publication that does not editorially support accords like NAFTA, WTO and the new\r\nFTAA. <\/b> \r\n\r\nThe Wall Street Journal's<\/i> editorial page, at the right edge of the Bloc, is much honored by the\r\nmedia establishment. Last year, Journal columnist Paul Gigot won a Pulitzer Prize for\r\ncommentary. This year, in mid-April, the same award went to another very conservative\r\ncolumnist for the newspaper, Dorothy Rabinowitz. But it's the unheralded daily output of the\r\nWhite Bloc that can be most breathtaking. <\/p> \r\n\r\nOn the day Rabinowitz's prize was announced, for instance, the editorial page of the Wall\r\nStreet Journal<\/i> featured a freelance article that began this way: \"In the early 1990s, America's\r\nmajor cities were on life-support, suffocating under socialistic policies that left them looking like\r\nSoviet-bloc relics.\" (It was not a humor piece, by the way.) Farther down the page was a\r\ncolumn headlined \"The Monarchy Is Worth Saving,\" written by the Journal's deputy editorial\r\nfeatures editor, who earnestly argued that British citizens need their monarchy \"as a source of\r\nauthority.\" <\/p> \r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n <\/p><\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n\r\n | \r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n
\r\nBut the White Bloc has a liberal side, too. Several New York Times<\/i> columnists take turns\r\ncondemning those who have the gall to stand in the way of corporate Progress.\r\n <\/b><\/p>
\r\n \r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n <\/table>\r\n\r\n <\/td>\r\n | \r\n \r\n\r\n\r\nBut the White Bloc has a liberal side, too. Several New York Times<\/i> columnists take turns\r\ncondemning those who have the gall to stand in the way of corporate Progress. <\/b> \r\n\r\nFree-marketeers at the Times<\/i> know how to pound away at the same line. While heads of state\r\nprepared to leave the Quebec summit, Paul Krugman ended his column by writing that the\r\nprotesters \"are doing their best to make the poor even poorer.\" Two days later, Thomas\r\nFriedman concluded his column by explaining that \"these 'protesters' should be called by their\r\nreal name: The Coalition to Keep Poor People Poor.\" <\/p> \r\n\r\nThe White Bloc (which includes people of all colors if suitably conformist) has its own forms of\r\nhip solidarity. On the \"Hardball\" national TV program, airing on both MSNBC and CNBC,\r\nhost Chris Matthews closed his April 18 interview with Friedman exactly this way: <\/p> \r\n\r\nMatthews: \"You are the future, my man. Thomas Friedman of the New York Times<\/i>.\" <\/p> \r\n\r\nFriedman: \"Thanks, bro.\" <\/p> \r\n\r\nMatthews: \"The smartest columnist in the world.\" <\/p> \r\n <\/p><\/td><\/tr>\r\n | \r\n \r\n \r\n
\r\n\r\nOriginally published at: http:\/\/www.tompaine.com\/news\/2001\/04\/26\/index.html
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