Tag Archives | Journalism

Are Americans Already Detained under NDAA?

By on October 3, 2012 in News 17

Picture: Vectorportal, Wikimedia Commons (CC)

If you’ve been following the progress(!?) of the NDAA through the tangled tendrils of our court system, you’ll remember that a group of plaintiffs including journalist Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky and Naomi Wolf have filed suit to ban the Obama White House from indefinitely imprisoning American citizens without trial or due process. They even took to Reddit to voice their concerns, not long after the President himself had appeared and crashed the site so users could “Ask Anything”. President Obama ignored any questioning of this controversial and legally dubious issue, which, along with his mysterious drone strikes, will remain a shameful stain on his historical presidency.

According to Hedges and others, the unusual maneuvering taken by the administration during this procedural are suspicious in-and-of themselves.

Via RT:

US Federal Judge Katherine Forrest in turn agreed (Section 1021) was unconstitutional. Last month Judge Forrest decided that an earlier, temporary injunction on the clause should be made permanent, but the Obama Justice Department pleaded for an emergency stay only hours later.

… Read the rest

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Undercover Agents Threaten and Attempt To Intimidate Journalists At DNC

By on September 6, 2012 in News 11

Picture: Anna Bal (CC)

Aaron Cynic writes at Diatribe Media:

Police in Charlotte, North Carolina detained and threatened two journalists covering a march outside the Democratic National Convention over the weekend. Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake and Steve Horn, a contributor to Truthout covering the DNC for WORT-FM in Madison, Wisconsin, noticed four men taking photos of a contingent of undocumented immigrants during a march called “No Papers, No Fear.” Gosztola and Horn noticed the men, who were later revealed as undercover officers, trying to blend in with demonstrators and began taking photos.

Both Horn and Gosztola were concerned the men could be shooting photos of the undocumented immigrants for targeted deportation. After following one of the men in question, the two journalists were confronted by him, who claimed he was a protester and did not like his photo taken. During the conversation, the man threatened to punch Gosztola in the teeth, then grabbed Horn and pulled him to a street corner.

… Read the rest

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Alexander Cockburn, RIP

By on July 23, 2012 in News 2

I’m sure there will be many disinfonauts who mourn the passing of Alexander Cockburn, whose research and writing informed many a dissenting American patriot. Even the mainstream media’s Gray Lady affords him a glowing obituary:

Alexander Cockburn, the mordant left-wing journalist and author who though born in Scotland thrived in the political and cultural battlegrounds of the United States, died on Saturday in Bad Salzhausen, Germany, where he had been receiving medical treatment, his family said. He was 71.

The cause was cancer, said Jeffrey St. Clair, a friend and colleague.

Mr. St. Clair announced Mr. Cockburn’s death on CounterPunch, the Web site that the two men edited. Mr. Cockburn kept his illness a secret, Mr. St. Clair, added, and continued writing until the end of his life.

“His body was deteriorating, but his prose remained as sharp, lucid and deadly as ever,” Mr. St. Clair wrote on the site.

Mr.

… Read the rest

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Steal Back Your Vote

By on June 23, 2012 in News 13

Photo: ZDRoberts (CC)

America’s best gadfly investigative reporter is gearing up for the 2012 U.S. presidential election. Annette Hinkle reports for the Sag Harbor Express:

In this election year, Greg Palast wants you to vote…but he’s afraid it may not count — especially if you’re black, Native American or Hispanic and you live in certain states — notably Wisconsin, Colorado, Florida or New Mexico.

Palast, a former private eye, has made a name for himself by exploring cases of voter suppression in this country — beginning with the infamous 2000 presidential election in which Palm Beach County, Florida became known as the home of the hanging chad.

For Palast, the real story of that election lay not in the confusing butterfly ballot which confounded the county’s predominately wealthy Jewish voters, but in two computer disks he said were slipped to him from the office of Florida’s then Secretary of State Katherine Harris.

… Read the rest

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NewsDiffs Shows Changes Made to New York Times Articles After They’re Published

By on June 18, 2012 in News 1

SOA Watch

In the first ever disinformation anthology, You Are Being Lied To, Russ Kick examined the suspicious number of changes the Associated Press makes to its articles after first publication. Now NewsDiffs, a project made at the Knight Mozilla MIT hackathon, tracks changes in the New York Times using Github. Adrianne Jeffries reports for BetaBeat:

Back in October, the New York Times made substantial changes to a report about Occupy Wall Street protesters marching over the Brooklyn Bridge. Version one opened with: “After allowing them onto the bridge, the police cut off and arrested dozens of demonstrators.” Version two, edited just 20 minutes later, opened: “In a tense showdown above the East River, the police arrested more than 700 demonstrators from the Occupy Wall Street protests who took to the roadway as they tried to cross the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday afternoon.”

The major changes drew criticism, as the question of whether the police had allowed the marchers onto the bridge was central to hundreds of disorderly conduct charges.

… Read the rest

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Baton Vs. Camera: Police Openly Hunt for Citizen Journalists (Video)

By on June 17, 2012 in News 12

Via RT:

As the consolidated corporate media machine fails in its function as the fourth estate, citizen journalists and independent press outlets are there to pick up the slack. But this important task is becoming increasingly threatened by the harsh treatment at the hands of the police force. Citizen based media is often targeted by police for reporting unfiltered truths, or they are lumped together with activists/protesters and beaten or arrested.

As more and more Americans choose alternative news sources to find out what is really happening in their country, harassing those providing first hand reports muzzles the free flow of information and poses a threat to democracy. Abby Martin explores the subject for RT.

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The 9/11 Propaganda Archive: How Scared Should You Be?

By on June 5, 2012 in News 21

Via Media Roots:

A pair of internet archivists who call themselves ‘Neuro Linguistic Programming’ have uploaded Part Two of US corporate media print publications from the immediate days and weeks following 9/11. The duo plans to post multiple full issues of Time and Newsweek as well as other timely magazines that are filled with blatant fearmongering and propaganda about terrorism.

Following 9/11, news media accelerated at an amazing rate, and most companies soon adopted internet versions of their paper or magazines. Before this was commonplace, many interesting pieces of information printed about that day most likely were never reprinted again—due to false information or just abandonment by the propagandists. As we know, many government narratives and unfounded claims about 9/11 were reprinted without any journalistic investigation.

Check out Part One, ‘The Terrorism Survival Guide’ here. Part Two, featured below, gives us a look at a Newsweek titled “Biological & Chemical Terror: How Scared Should You Be?” The featured photo is a man wearing a gasmask, and the entire issue focuses on bio terrorism.… Read the rest

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