I have noticed a couple of glaring contradictions in the way the corporate mass media are covering this war. With constant repetition, they portray the missiles and bombs which are striking Baghdad as precise, satellite-guided weapons that invariably strike their targets within a few feet of intended impact, causing very few civilian casualties. If these missiles are so accurate, why did several of them veer way off course and hit Iran?

Donald Rumsfeld has stated that Iraqi television showing the captured American soldiers is a violation of the Geneva Convention. I noticed that American television is showing pictures of the captured Iraqi soldiers. What's the difference? Also, the United States is really in violation of the Geneva Convention for torturing Afghan prisoners at Bagram air base in Afghanistan and keeping the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba shackled and hooded. Denial of sunlight and sleep leads to severe mental problems and is a terrible form of torture.

CNN, MSNBC, and Fox are treating this war more like a gigantic fireworks display than as something which causes intense human suffering. During the Vietnam War, there were courageous journalists who showed the reality of that war-the children running with napalm burning their flesh, the huts burning, the My Lai massacre and the fear and anger on people's faces. Not any more. Grenada, Panama, the first Persian Gulf war, Yugoslavia and now this war against Iraq have all been very controlled, sanitized versions of the reality of war. One sees maps and discussions with generals and military analysts about strategy and tactics. There are other discussions about the intricacies of all the various weapons systems. No opponents of the war are allowed to question its morality or the possible economic and political reasons for it. If pictures of wounded Iraqi children are shown, there are always commentators there questioning whether these aren't fictitious creations of Iraqi propaganda.

Then, there is the rampant lying that always accompanies war. How many times have I heard that Umm Oasr, Nasiriya and Basra have been captured, only to later find out that fierce fighting was still going on there? Neither side tells the truth about casualties. I heard a story that the Republican Guard is using civilians as human shields. Do they really need to do this? Those Iraqi parents who have lost children by the thousands to sanctions and cancers from depleted uranium are certainly angry enough to fight themselves. I am confident that after the conclusion of this war, weapons of mass destruction will suddenly be "discovered" so that they can adequately justify this mass destruction of Iraqi civilization.

CNN is immediately calling every American soldier who is killed a hero, and they then conduct interviews with family members of soldiers involved in the war, showing their wives and little children. They repeatedly ran a quote by the father of a soldier who was killed saying that antiwar demonstrators could better spend their time working for charity or picking up litter. These are blatant propaganda techniques. Are the American people so anesthetized by decades of sophisticated propaganda by the mass media and in school that they simply can't visualize the motivations of the American government as being anything other than noble and protective? If so, we are going to be subject to one war after another on behalf of corporate power and control, which is what really motivates all wars of aggression by capitalist nations.

the corporate media doesn’t give it properly coverage for the protests,

it’s difficult to change this because economical and political interests normally control mass media. which makes it very difficult to have a large and strong space for activists voice and images.

this is serious, because even if we publish our own web sites and use free radios and magazines, probably the people who will access these independent media are the people who already shares this opinion.

and it is crucial to get “non-alternative” normal people to hear our voices and see “other words” rather them official conservative mass media pro-war opinion.

so, finally…

the idea to be proposed is an intent to have the best use of the creative and courageous will to realize direct actions and civil disobedience,

and was inspired in the brazilian land-less peoples movement (MST)

these people, who doesn’t have land to grow their own food, and believing that land is a public resource, they plan and execute big-farm occupies. with this, they fight for their rights and also get a good public attention and exposition on local, national and international media (and this way, putting the land distribution on discussion).

and… if we can see and realize the airwaves also as public limited resource…

and the fact that this resource is being monopolized by some few companies (which doesn’t give it a good use, because they don’t allow really free speech space or large participation and discussion),

so, the proposal is that people organize to peacefully occupy the commercial tv studios (and also radios).

it could be planned many ways to get in, move to the live studios, make sit ins inside it, present a letter of manifesto, demanding the civil society more space and control of the media vehicles, and demanding specific dates and times to make free-from-censorship-and-control programs and interviews.

or even demanding that some alternative documentary and interview previously recorded are played on live.

…

this was an initial idea, which I think deserves more thoughts and discussions to be improved.

but I really believe it could have some good results,

“waking up” many many people all around.

best wishes,

marcos menezes

marcos@rbc.org.br

why corporations control mass media ?

this question should be asked more, and debated.

and a new idea could grow:

why not civil society administrate and control mass media (speacilly tv channels).

i believe thats the right thing.

and you?