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Commentary Solomon: Spinning the Past, Threatening the Future

Commentary, March, 31 2004 Norman Solomon
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Political aphorisms don’t get any more cogent: “Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.” George Orwell’s famous observation goes a long way toward explaining why -- a...

Commentary Solomon: They Shoot Journalists, Don't They?

Commentary, March, 25 2004 Norman Solomon
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To encourage restraint in war coverage, governments don't need to shoot journalists -- though sometimes that's helpful.

Commentary Solomon: U.N. Spying and Evasions of American Journalism

Commentary, February, 27 2004 Norman Solomon
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U.N. Spying and Evasions of American Journalism

Commentary Solomon: Presidential Candidates: Compared to What?

Commentary, February, 01 2004 Norman Solomon
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Engaged in a continuous PR blitz, presidential campaign strategists always strive to portray their candidate as damn near perfect. Even obvious flaws are apt to be touted as signs of integrity and human depth. Such media spin encourages Americans ...

Commentary Solomon: For Telling The Truth

Commentary, January, 03 2004 Norman Solomon
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Few Americans have heard of Katharine Gun, a former British intelligence employee facing charges that she violated the Official Secrets Act. So far, the American press has ignored her. But the case raises profound questions about democracy and the...

Commentary Solomon: Media Clash in Brazil: A Distant Mirror

Commentary, December, 03 2003 Norman Solomon
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RIO DE JANEIRO -- After a quarter-century of intensive grassroots organizing and a victorious presidential campaign a year ago, Brazilian social movements are in a strong position as they push the left-wing Workers Party government to fulfill its ...

Commentary Solomon: Media Clash in Brazil: A Distant Mirror

Commentary, November, 21 2003 Norman Solomon
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RIO DE JANEIRO -- After a quarter-century of intensive grassroots organizing and a victorious presidential campaign a year ago, Brazilian social movements are in a strong position as they push the left-wing Workers Party government to fulfill its ...

Commentary Solomon: Brand Loyalty And The Absence Of Remorse

Commentary, October, 19 2003 Norman Solomon
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Midway through this month, a Wall Street Journal headline captured the flimflam spirit that infuses so much of what passes for mass communications these days: ÒDespite Slump, Students Flock to Ad Schools.Ó Many young people can recognize a growth...

Commentary Solomon: Triumph Of The Media Mill

Commentary, September, 15 2003 Norman Solomon
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Without a hint of intended irony, the ÒNewsHourÓ on PBS concluded its Sept. 9 program with a warm interview of Henry Kissinger and then a segment about a renowned propagandist for the Nazi war machine. Kissinger talked about his latest book. Then ...

Commentary Solomon: Green Party Taking The Plunge For 2004

Commentary, July, 31 2003 Norman Solomon
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For the 2004 presidential race, the Green dye is cast.

Commentary Solomon: Tilting Democrats In The Presidential Race

Commentary, July, 11 2003 Norman Solomon
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The corporate Democrats who greased Bill Clinton's path to the White House are now a bit worried. Their influence on the party's presidential nomination process has slipped. But the Democratic Leadership Council can count on plenty of assistance f...

Commentary Solomon: Britain: Not Quite A Parallel Media Universe

Commentary, June, 18 2003 Norman Solomon
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LONDON -- The people of Britain and the United States are living in

Commentary Solomon: A Different Approach For The 2004 Campaign

Commentary, June, 01 2003 Norman Solomon
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Eighteen months from now, citizens will vote for president. If the 2004 campaign is anything like the last one, the election returns will mark the culmination of a depressing media spectacle.

Commentary Solomon: Mark Twain Speaks to Us

Commentary, April, 22 2003 Norman Solomon
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With U.S. troops occupying Iraq and the Bush administration making bellicose noises about Syria, let's consider some rarely mentioned words from the most revered writer in American history.

Commentary Solomon: Media Time Capsule: Looking Backward At 2002

Commentary, November, 30 2002 Norman Solomon
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Imagine that you're at the ceremonial opening of a time capsule, half a century after some forward-looking Americans sealed it during a multimedia festival just before Thanksgiving 2002.

Commentary Solomon: Media Sniping Frenzy Bumps Off Politics

Commentary, October, 27 2002 Norman Solomon
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You can't call it an October surprise. Late in the month, with Election Day not far off, the television news channels have been true to form.

Commentary Solomon: Determined Journalism Can Challenge Injustice

Commentary, October, 13 2002 Norman Solomon
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You might remember the old movie "Twelve Angry Men," starring Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb and E.G. Marshall. Most of the dramatic film takes place inside a jury room as a dozen people deliberate at the end of a murder trial. It's sweltering hot. At t...

Commentary Solomon: Baghdad, Autumn 2002: City Of Doom

Commentary, September, 21 2002 Norman Solomon
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BAGHDAD -- When Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz described the box that Washington has meticulously constructed for Iraq, he put it this way: ÒDoomed if you do, doomed if you donÕt.Ó

Commentary Solomon: What If We Didn't Need Labor Day?

Commentary, September, 04 2002 Norman Solomon
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Labor Day may be a fitting tribute to America's workers. But what about the other 364 days of the year? Despite all the talk about the importance and dignity of working people, they get little power or glory in the everyday world of news media.

Commentary Solomon: THE OLD SPIN ON THE

Commentary, August, 18 2002 Norman Solomon
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With the "New Economy" now in shambles, it's easy for media outlets to disparage the illusions of the late 1990s -- years crammed with high-tech mania, fat stock options and euphoria on Wall Street. But we hear very little about the fact that much...

Commentary Solomon: Three Decades Later, Watergate Is A Cautionary Tale

Commentary, July, 12 2002 Norman Solomon
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Thirty years have passed since Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein began to cover the Watergate story. The investigative journalism that they did back then still stands out as exceptional. Unfortunately.

Commentary Solomon: Profiles In Media Courage

Commentary, June, 16 2002 Norman Solomon
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The Committee to Protect Journalists released a bleak report the other day. "Attacks on the Press in 2001" is a thick document with details about media suppression in much of the world. While American readers may feel very fortunate, they have no ...

Commentary Solomon: War On Terrorism: Winking At Nuclear Terror

Commentary, June, 05 2002 Norman Solomon
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Two countries -- each with dozens of atomic bombs -- are threatening to make war on each other. Large numbers of troops have mobilized. Deadly cross-border clashes are intense. And people in charge of both governments have become more bellicose by...

Commentary Solomon: Still Not Good Enough -- From Barbie To Botox

Commentary, May, 28 2002 Norman Solomon
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In a twist of fate, obituaries appeared for the inventor of the Barbie doll just as a $50 million advertising campaign got underway for an anti-wrinkle drug with a name that memorably combines the words "botulism" and "toxin." Expensive injections...

Commentary Solomon: Media And The Hazards Of Political Faith

Commentary, April, 30 2002 Norman Solomon
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Weeks before the 20th century ended, the pundit Michael Kinsley was uncommonly direct in a Time essay that defended the virtues of the World Trade Organization with these closing words: "But really, the WTO is OK. Do the math. Or take it on faith....

Commentary Solomon: Alice's New Adventures In Medialand

Commentary, April, 24 2002 Norman Solomon
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Alice climbed out of the news hole. She seemed badly shaken. "I thought Wonderland was curious indeed," she said, "but Medialand is even more peculiar."

Commentary Solomon: American Journalism: A Class Act

Commentary, April, 18 2002 Norman Solomon
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Like most people, American journalists are apt to look at the very rich with awe. Names like Bill Gates, George Soros and Warren Buffett have the ring of modern-day royalty -- high above the rest of us, and maybe even vaguely immortal.

Commentary Solomon: Six Months Later, The Basic Tool Is Language

Commentary, March, 24 2002 Norman Solomon
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Cameras have recorded countless defining moments. And many months after Sept. 11, some nightmarish televised glimpses of that day's horrors still resonate deeply. Visual images are powerful. Yet there's no substitute for words that sum up what mig...

Commentary Solomon: Pentagon's Silver Lining May Be Bigger Than Cloud

Commentary, March, 04 2002 Norman Solomon
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Pentagon's Silver Lining May Be Bigger Than Cloud

Commentary Solomon: Bad News When Madmen Lead The Blind

Commentary, February, 27 2002 Norman Solomon
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The autumn started with a huge national jolt of shock, fear, grief and anger. Winter has begun with many worries here at home and grim satisfaction about warfare abroad. A line from "King Lear," early in Act 4, is hauntingly appropriate:

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