Media discussed as part of Teach-in
War coverage questioned for motives, accurate reporting
Karline Koehler
Issue date: 3/17/05 Section: Campus News
The U.S. news media shirked their responsibility in their coverage of the war in Iraq, political activist John Stauber told students, faculty and community members Sunday night in the Council Fire Room of Davies Center.
"The war in Iraq would have been absolutely impossible to sell to the American public without lies, deception and a massive propaganda campaign," said Stauber, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy in Madison and founder of quarterly online publication PR Watch.
"The government, the authorities repeat outrageous falsehoods," he said. "If the news media echoes those big lies ... they're going to be believed."
The speech was part of a four-day Teach-in on the war in Iraq. Last semester, Stauber spoke on mad cow disease in the Forum Series.
Stauber said public opinion was swayed toward the war because of unsubstantiated claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and
was working with al-Qaeda.
"Now even the Bush administration admits every one of those assertions was false," he said. "People in other countries ... understood that this administration wanted to attack Iraq since before it came into office."
Senior Jamie Miley, who served in Iraq, said the U.S. media paid too little attention to the good things troops accomplished there.
"When I came back on leave and I heard what the media were saying, I felt totally betrayed," he said. "It wasn't at all what happened over there. I felt horrible."
Miley recalled helping reestablish a water supply in the city of An Nasiriyah in southeast Iraq, where Saddam Hussein had cut off it off to undermine Shiite power. Citizens had to drink from the Euphrates River in 120-degree summer heat, he said. Work to build bridges, roads, schools and clinics also went mostly unnoticed, he said.
"The war in Iraq would have been absolutely impossible to sell to the American public without lies, deception and a massive propaganda campaign," said Stauber, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy in Madison and founder of quarterly online publication PR Watch.
"The government, the authorities repeat outrageous falsehoods," he said. "If the news media echoes those big lies ... they're going to be believed."
The speech was part of a four-day Teach-in on the war in Iraq. Last semester, Stauber spoke on mad cow disease in the Forum Series.
Stauber said public opinion was swayed toward the war because of unsubstantiated claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and
| "When I came back on leave and I heard what the media were saying, I felt totally betrayed." -Jamie Miley Senior |
"Now even the Bush administration admits every one of those assertions was false," he said. "People in other countries ... understood that this administration wanted to attack Iraq since before it came into office."
Senior Jamie Miley, who served in Iraq, said the U.S. media paid too little attention to the good things troops accomplished there.
"When I came back on leave and I heard what the media were saying, I felt totally betrayed," he said. "It wasn't at all what happened over there. I felt horrible."
Miley recalled helping reestablish a water supply in the city of An Nasiriyah in southeast Iraq, where Saddam Hussein had cut off it off to undermine Shiite power. Citizens had to drink from the Euphrates River in 120-degree summer heat, he said. Work to build bridges, roads, schools and clinics also went mostly unnoticed, he said.
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