(MintPress) – The rise of alternative media both inside the U.S. and around the globe is a reality the White House is hoping to combat, claiming the ratings increase of global news outlets, such as Russia Today and Al Jazeera, undermine American-based programs, including CNN.
The attention in this “war on information” is based on the stories the alternative news media is covering. Providing on-the-ground coverage of civilian casualties caused by U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, for example, or children lying in hospital beds in Iraq after the U.S. invasion does not bode well for a positive U.S. image. Yet, it’s the reality. And that reality is what alternative news outlets are casting light on.
“We are in an information war, and we are losing that war, I’ll be very blunt in my assesment” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, while addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2011. “Al Jazeera is winning, the Chinese have opened up a global English language and multi-language television network. The Russians have opened up an English language network — I’ve seen it in a few countries, and it’s quite instructive.”
Clinton cites the nature of the news business in the U.S. and the U.K., claiming both markets have begun to cut back coverage, opening a gap that has been filled by organizations whose stories provide on-the-ground perspectives and don’t always paint American foreign — and domestic — policy in a positive light.
Clinton’s comments echoed allegations made by George W. Bush’s former national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, who in 2004 claimed the Qatar-based news organization Al Jazeera was “purely inaccurate” in its reporting in the Middle East. Specifics regarding inaccuracy were not given.
“I do think people have suggested that it would be a good thing if the reporting were accurate on Al Jazeera and if it were not slanted in ways that appear to be at times just purely inaccurate,” she said.
Ironically, Al Jazeera came under fire by U.S. media outlets, notably Fox News and the Guardian, for allegations that proved to be false. Fox News claimed the news outlet had broadcast terrorists beheadings of western hostages — a claim Al Jazeera rejected.
In fact, Al Jazeera pressed for a retraction, which was given by the Guardian. Fox News, however, did not correct itself. Instead, the allegations emerged once again in 2006, when it launched its English news version.
Controlling the message?
While Clinton did suggest that America was losing that information war, she did not go so far as to say Al Jazeera and other global news outlets were false in their reporting. Instead, she referred to their zest for broadcasting “news” as the reason for their success.
“Viewership by Al Jazeera is going up in the United States because it’s real news. You may not agree with it, but you feel like you’re getting real news around the clock instead of a million commercials and, you know, arguments between talking heads and the kind of stuff that we do on our news which, you know, is not particularly informative to us, let alone foreigners,” she told the Foreign Relations Committee.
The acknowledgement of a need to combat and control news, both at home and around the globe, led the White House down a dangerous path of censorship avocation. Controlling the message sent through the Internet and the airwaves is antithetical to democracy — anywhere.
As the U.S. creates an information war, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is claiming the Pentagon is attacking national security journalism, citing threats to pursue him under the Espionage Act for using his website to leak confidential — and revealing — documents.
Since its creation in 2006, WikiLeaks has released documents on the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with U.S. involvement in environmental and human rights abuses around the world. Perhaps the most famous project happened in 2010, when the media outlet released what have become known as the “war logs,” detailing ignored torture and the deaths of innocent Iraqi civilians.
Assange’s media outlet has not only been under attack by the American federal government, but also corporations, including Visa, Mastercard and Paypal, which denied servicing donations to Assange and his organization.
Now, he could face the “be-all, end-all” of American crimes — espionage, based on the argument that he provided material support for the “enemy.” He sees it differently — he provided information to the public, so that they may know the truth.
“On September 28th this year, the Pentagon renewed its formal threats against us in relation to ongoing publishing but also, extremely seriously, in relation to ongoing, what they call, solicitation,” Assange said in an interview with Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman. “So, that is asking sources publicly, you know, ‘Send us important material, and will publish it.’ They say that that itself is a crime.”
The interview was conducted inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where Assange has taken refuge, for fear the U.K. will extradite him to the U.S., where he could be subject to espionage charges.
His fate would be far worse than that applied to Bradley Manning, a former U.S. Army soldier who was arrested for allegedly passing on classified information to Assange’s WikiLeaks. Manning’s attorneys are now arguing that his case should be dismissed, claiming he’s already suffered punishment in detention. He, too, was a product of what Assange refers to as a war on national security journalism.
Rise of alternative outlets
Assange’s role as a media outlet came through the Internet, creating a space where documents could be published for readers. In a traditional newspaper-style format, that just couldn’t happen — space is limited.
The Internet has also played a role in foreign media organizations making their way into the U.S.
Democracy Now, founded by Amy Goodman, is known throughout the world as the alternative voice in — and for — America. Its platform relies on the Internet, not only for its print product, but also for its broadcasts.
The stories published by news outlets like Democracy Now harness the spirit of journalism. Stories range from environmental, domestic politics and international relations. Often, the stores present, not only the situation at hand, but answer the “why” question, providing context and full-picture understanding to the news consumer.
Other independent news organizations, including MintPress News and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, have highlighted similar stories, exposing drone strikes in Pakistan that have killed more than 800 civilians — a figure that just isn’t broadcast on the nightly news. Exposing the human rights abuses of U.S. allies and explaining the role economic benefits play in U.S. foreign relations have also been stories covered by MintPress and alternative media — issues that, again, are rarely looked into by mainstream journalism.
According to Christ Newton of Demand Media, the thirst for alternative media is due to a lack of trust of mainstream news, or a concern that issues of importance aren’t being covered.
“The audience for mainstream media sometimes prefers these outlets because they are easy to find,” he said. “Alternative media audiences have to put more effort into finding and staying in touch with various alternative media outlets. Many alternative media audiences do not trust mainstream media, or believe they ignore certain stories or details in the news.”
Foreign media outlet Al Jazeera is not easy to find for Americans, at least if they’re looking through their cable news dial. In the midst of the Arab Spring, finding the station’s coverage of events was difficult, even though it was their moment to shine.
Journalist Jeff Jarvis addressed the blackout in 2011, attempting to rally others in the hopes that pressure would cause cable companies to include the foreign outlet into their packages.
“It is downright un-American to still refuse to carry it,” he wrote in a January 2011 post on his site, Buzz Machine. “Vital, world-changing news is occurring in the Middle East and no one — not the xenophobic or celebrity-obsessed or cut-to-the-bone American media — can bring the perspective, insight and on-the-scene reporting Al Jazeera English can.”
Now, the Internet has opened the floodgates of information. Tackling this “problem” for the government has come in various forms — through punishment of whistleblowers and negative labels. Yet, news outlets reporting the truth continue to survive, providing a product that American news consumers have grown to crave in the midst of shallow reporting.