By Janine Jackson Extra! Contents Volume 27, Number 11 December 2014 the Magazine of FAIR—The Media Watch Group

Media Muddle Midterms—page 5

$4.95 December 2014 Vol. 27, No. 11

Forgetting Ferguson US’s Non-Recovery Katha Pollitt on Abortion Still Smearing Gary Webb ExtrThe Magazine of FAIR—The Media Watch Groupa! Ebola: The Big Scare

by Janine Jackson Extra! Contents Volume 27, Number 11 December 2014 The Magazine of FAIR—The Media Watch Group

EDITOR Jim Naureckas PUBLISHER Deborah Thomas 3 SoundBites PROGRAM DIRECTOR Janine Jackson SENIOR ANALYST Steve Rendall ACTIVISM DIRECTOR Peter Hart RACE LENS 4 Forgetting Ferguson Columnists Rania Khalek, Josmar Trujillo Mainstream media move on from a movement Contributing Writer by Josmar Trujillo Neil deMause 5 The ‘Center’ Always Holds Interns/Volunteers Aldo Guerrero After midterm losses, media—of course—advise Dems to move right by Peter Hart and Jim Naureckas Associates Hollie Ainbinder, Robin Andersen, Kim Deterline, Laura Flanders, Carolyn Francis, Karl Grossman, COUNTERSPIN Edward Herman, Jim Horwitz, William Hoynes, 6 ‘There Really Is No Recovery’ Sam Husseini, Norman Solomon Richard Wolff on the state of the economy Advisory Board James Abourezk, Edward Asner, Ben Bagdikian, COVER STORY Jackson Browne, Helen Caldicott, Noam Chomsky, 8 Ebola Story Puts Old Fears in New Virus Mark Dowie, Barbara Ehrenreich, Susan Faludi, Phillip Frazer, Herbert Chao Gunther, Doug Henwood, Dolores Huerta, Nicholas Johnson, Paula Kamen, Behind media obsession, a sad old story of poverty and priorities Frances Moore Lappé, Katha Pollitt, Tim Robbins, by Janine Jackson Susan Sarandon, Stacey Sher, Bob Siegel, Eleanor Smeal, Steven Van Zandt, Helen Zia BOOK EXCERPT 10 Pro-Remorse Pundits FAIR FOUNDER Jeff Cohen Supporting abortion—as long as women feel bad about it COUNTERSPIN ENGINEERS by Katha Pollitt Alex Noyes, Kelly Spivey 12 Having Their Hate and Defeating Dems Too LEGAL COUNSEL William Schaap, Joel Kupferman At Fox News Latino, immigrants go from target to target audience by Aldo Guerrero FAIR/Extra! Editorial Office 14 Still Killing the Messenger 124 West 30th Street, Suite 201 New York, NY 10001 Tel.: 212-633-6700 A feature film prompts a new round of attacks on Gary Webb by Peter Hart [email protected] http://www.fair.org Subscription Inquiries: [email protected] Cover montage based on New York City photograph by Stefan Georgi

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u Extra! 2 December 2014 S o u n d B i t e s

At NewsHour, Teaching Harper’s ‘This Is War, Dude! Civilians Die!’ Insulating Facts with Fog Not to Mess With PBS Another thing we got to get over, this nonsense about there can’t be any PBS NewsHour (10/1/14) brought Harper’s Magazine (10/14) took a civilian casualties! War is ugly, sloppy and messy, and sometimes there are on Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) to tough look at PBS and how far the civilian casualties, especially when your enemy uses human shields. If explain how deep spending cuts on system has strayed from its intended you’re going to go after ISIS, you got to suck it up and do what’s right! social programs combined with tax mission. What was supposed to be a ....My contacts within the breaks for the wealthy can be an forum for the underrepresented has chain of command, people “anti-poverty” program. It helps, of become just another outlet for elite, involved in this operation, course, when his proposals are establishment-oriented views, wrote are furious that Obama’s described in vague, euphemistic The Baffler’s Eugenia Williamson: put incredible targeting language that obscures rather than “Today, the only special-interest group restrictions on them, reveals, as when a NewsHour seg- the network clearly favors is the aging doesn’t want any civilian ment (8/13/12) described Ryan’s idea upper class: their tastes, their pet casualties! This is war, dude! of slashing Medicare benefits as a agendas, their centrist politics.” Civilians die! They’re going to die! You minimize the casualties, but people plan to “impose changes for future PBS reportedly distributed talking are going to die. —Fox News analyst (and retired US Army officer) Medicare recipients to hold down points to station managers that, rather Ralph Peters (Hannity, 9/23/14; 9/30/14) costs.” than refuting Williamson’s claims, touted awards and ratings data to head of Homeland Security, but bal- “a huge advantage among white show that it is actually doing a great anced that with Hunter’s assertion working-class voters.” A paragraph job. But that wasn’t PBS’s only reac- that Homeland Security hasn’t known later, Chozick described this as a tion. As the New York Post (9/25/14) what it was doing “for a long time.” sign of Obama’s “trouble in attracting reported, PBS pulled ads for one of its Then Raddatz sat down with for- traditional Democratic voters.” shows from the next two issues of mer Bush administration flack So is a “traditional Democratic Harper’s—so an outlet established Matthew Dowd, who offered this voter” really a white voter? In the on the principle that advertising exerts head-scratcher: “I think everybody general election in 2008, exit polls Judy Woodruff carefully avoids offending undue pressure on media outlets used has the right to say what they want to showed Obama getting only 36 per- Paul Ryan with reality. advertising pressure to retaliate say, but they have the responsibility to cent of the Kentucky white vote— against an outlet that dared to suggest say what maybe they believe to be just like John Kerry got 35 percent of The NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff it had lost touch with its principles. factually correct. The congressman that vote in 2004. epitomized this obfuscatory approach says he believes it to be factually The piece included a Kentuckian to journalism in her question to Ryan: ISIS in Mexico? correct.” who said he’s “just nostalgic for when Hard to Say Democrats were different than You talk about the Republican “I know that at least ten ISIS fighters Obama.” You know—”traditional” Party, how it needs to open up. have been caught coming across the Democrats. But I guess one of the questions Mexican border in Texas,” declared to you is, how hard is that to do, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), adding Best, Smartest, when many–certainly Democrats, that “dozens more” had evaded Whitest, Malest some independents–see the capture. There was no evidence at all Asked by the group Media Matters Republican Party as a party that to back up Hunter’s claims—when (10/22/14) why 62 percent of the has at least in the past been asked for proof, Hunter’s office Matthew Dowd to Martha Raddatz: “Every- guests on Meet the Press were white body has the right to say what they want perceived as against doing pro- asserted that future press coverage men, host Chuck Todd suggested it to say...” grams for the poor, against ex- might one day prove him correct was out of his hands: panding Medicaid health benefits? (Politifact, 10/10/14). This should It’s not wrong if someone “says he have made it a slam-dunk factcheck believes it was factually correct”—if I can’t control, sometimes, the fact Let’s see: “Many” people, espe- —but ABC News (This Week, that’s ABC’s standard for factcheck- that 90 percent of the generals cially partisan opponents, “see” the 10/13/14) had trouble simply saying ing, it really ought to give up on the and the military experts out there– GOP as having “been perceived,” “at it wasn’t true. practice. you know what I mean? Some of least in the past,” as opposing pro- ABC’s Martha Raddatz teased the this stuff is out of your control. At grams for the poor like Medicaid ex- story: “Up next, were ISIS terrorists The Race for the the end of the day, you want to put pansion. But these aren’t some caught sneaking across our southern Traditional House the best people on. You want to people’s perceptions about the past; border? Why one congressman’s Under the headline “In South, Clinton put the best, smartest people on. these are facts about the Republican claims are raising alarms.” Yes, why? Tries to Pull Democrats Back Into the Party of today. As USA Today Because they were true, or because Fold,” New York Times reporter Amy Todd did not offer an explanation (12/5/13) reported, “All 20 of the an elected official was spouting non- Chozick (10/16/14) recalled that as to why the show finds 62 percent states choosing not to expand Medi- sense? Raddatz seemed to find it hard Hillary Clinton won the 2008 Demo- of the “best, smartest people” to be caid have Republican governors.” to clarify. She got a denial from the cratic primary in Kentucky thanks to white men. n

Extra! u December 2014 3 R ACE L ENS Mainstream media move on from a movement Forgetting Ferguson by Josmar Trujillo

uring the first few weeks of protests in recent shooting death of a black man carry- Ferguson, Missouri, corporate media ing a toy gun in a Walmart aisle). Dpaid attention. The powerful images of Much reporting on the Walmart actions residents facing off with police after the echoed local KMOV’s focus (10/15/14) on shooting death of unarmed black teenager Walmart’s fear of a black mob reaching its Michael Brown forced corporate media to ammunition shelves. Coverage of confronta- show the country and the world the extent of tions between demonstrators and St. Louis America’s militarized police state. Rams football fans a few weeks later simi- Those media have largely moved on— larly focused on who started the fights there, even as demonstrators have organized and with a potentially symbolic picture of people even escalated their tactics. fighting over an upside-down American flag seen simply as the disputed point of a public he initial three weeks of the actions be- altercation (CBS, 10/19/14). Ttween August 9–30 produced 230 men- tions on the Big Three broadcast undits asked whether Ferguson would be Demonstrators in Ferguson, Missouri, stepped up the pres- networks combined—ABC, CBS and NBC a “moment” or a “movement,” but as I’ve sure in October. But corporate media had largely moved on P —according to a search of the Nexis news to ISIS and Ebola. heard some activists returning home from database. By the first three weeks of October the “Weekend of Resistance” tell it, the sto- (1–21), however, coverage had been reduced ries taking place in Missouri are going unno- to 41 mentions. Even CNN, which at least order of relevance to our lives. But while los- ticed by the press precisely at the time when momentarily (FAIR Blog, 8/19/14) pro- ing interest might be a natural progression a movement is beginning to really take off. duced some decent reporting in its 24-hour for most stories, mass demonstrations that The stories of coordinated actions and the news coverage, saw mentions drop from 458 expose deep racial divides and systemic emerging leaders that are planning them are to 99 during those same timespans. abuse of power by police aren’t most sto- told through social media, now that the tra- The first three weeks of October, more- ries—and don’t have expiration dates. ditional media circus has left town. That over, were arguably the defining and key mo- might not be such a bad thing; freelance jour- ment in the ongoing unrest. “Ferguson t wasn’t only network TV that underesti- nalist Ryan Shuessler left town in disgust October,” a series of actions organized by a Imated the tenacity of organizers and the over the behavior of members of the media diverse and evolving group of activists, in- staying power of those issues. In late Au- in the first few days in Ferguson (Daily cluded a “Weekend of Resistance” on Octo- gust, National Public Radio’s Morning Caller, 8/21/14), with TV crews “yelling at ber 10–13. Edition (8/27/14) reported “As Ferguson residents in public meetings for standing in “Ferguson October” was largely over- Protests Wind Down, Residents Want Out- way of their cameras” and “making small shadowed by coverage of Ebola and ISIS. rage Channeled”; the same week, Media talk and laughing at the spot where Mike But some were clamoring to move on back Bistro (8/29/14), examining media coverage Brown was killed.” in August. Fox News’ Megyn Kelly (8/20/14), of Ferguson, also described the protests as Ultimately, however, corporate media’s during those initial weeks, was already grow- “winding down.” In September, PBS (9/26/14) moonwalk away from the movement is the ing weary of her own network’s Ferguson held an “After Ferguson” town hall. predictable action of both a media and society coverage getting in the way of ISIS news. As October’s “Weekend of Resistance” faintly that wanted to enter the post-game phase of footage of live clashes between people and recaptured media’s attention, as high-profile race relations in America after the election of Ferguson police flashed onscreen during an civil rights figures like Cornel West and the Barack Obama. We aren’t in the “after” Fer- ISIS segment, Kelly protested: “The protest- head of the NAACP joined unions to peace- guson stage, just like we aren’t post-racial. So ers and the police are clashing again, all fully march and hold panel discussions on let’s get the marching band off the field, be- n right, they’re clashing again. But we’re talk- race in America, but direct actions the fol- cause the action is still going strong. ing about the death of an American who was lowing Monday organized by lesser-known beheaded.” (mostly) young activists were barely re- Missing a Premium? Prioritizing news is something we all nat- ported. Protesters in St. Louis occupied a col- Subscription Questions? urally do. The finite amount of attention paid lege campus and shut down a mall and two Email [email protected] to current events is ultimately divvied up in Walmarts (extending protests to include the

u Extra! 4 December 2014 After midterm losses, media—of course—advise Dems to move right The ‘Center’ Always Holds by Peter Hart and Jim Naureckas

ith the Democrats suffering substan- When Clinton entered the White House, tive corporate media is hoping to sell over tial losses in the 2014 midterm elec- his party dominated the US Senate, 57- the next two years: Wtions, pundits and political journalists 43; the US House, 258-176; the coun- offered the same advice as always try’s governorships, 30-18, and a large Clinton has gone public with her dis- (Extra!, 9/92, 1/95, 1/11): Move to the right. majority of state legislatures. Today, Re- agreement with Obama over his first- USA Today (11/4/14) used an interview publicans control the Senate, 55-45; the term reluctance to arm the Syrian rebels, with a former adviser to Ronald Reagan to House, 222-211; governorships, 30-18, and is expected to air other criticisms if recommend that Barack Obama deliver a and almost half of state legislatures. she becomes a candidate. “mea culpa” speech along the lines of Rea- That sets up a potential candidacy gan’s 1987 Iran/Contra address. There’s still One of the more intriguing findings from very much in the centrist Democratic time, the paper noted, for Obama to “score the 2014 exit polls is that voters overwhelm- mode that Clinton naturally inhabits, progress on big issues” if he “launches a con- ingly think the economic system favors the several strategists said: family check- certed effort to build bridges with congres- wealthy; 63 percent of respondents said so, book issues, job and worker security, sional Republicans.” up from 56 in 2012. women’s pay and healthcare equality, The news site Business Insider (11/5/14) This would suggest that a more vigorous plus a muscular projection of American quoted a “Democratic insider” as saying that brand of economic populism—often derided strength abroad. “the president has 60 days to clean house, re- as divisive or polarizing—would resonate grow his spine, and lay out an aggressive, with voters. Meanwhile, Republicans got credit from centrist agenda. If he fails at any of those, he Instead, though, various reports suggest corporate media for achieving their big win might as well just start writing his memoir.” the White House seek common ground with through centrism. Norm Ornstein noted in the Republicans on trade policies—presumably Atlantic (11/1/14) that horserace coverage here to find a model for this kind of corporate-friendly deals like the Trans-Pa- had adopted the storyline that establishment W“aggressive, centrist agenda”? Many cific Partnership. As USA Today’s Susan Republicans had vanquished Tea Party con- outlets offered the Clinton years as a Page (11/5/14) observed: servatives. As NBC’s Tom Brokaw an- recipe for success. As the New York Times nounced on election night (11/4/14), the GOP (11/5/14) reported: To be sure, turbulent midterm “sent the Tea Party elections sometimes have set the back to the locker The Obama years have in effect repre- stage for more bipartisan coop- room.” sented a political trade-off: Democrats eration. When Democrats lost Under the headline largely abandoned the more centrist, line- control of the House and Senate “Republicans’ First blurring approach of Bill Clinton to mo- in 1994, President Clinton recal- Step Was to Handle tivate an ascendant bloc of liberal voters. ibrated his strategy, reached out Extremists in Party,” That strategy twice secured the presi- to an energized Republican ma- the New York Times’ dency, but in the two midterm races it jority and a new House speaker, Jeremy Peters and Carl meant sacrificing the culturally conserva- Newt Gingrich, and succeeded Hulse (11/5/14) wrote tive districts and states that had ensured in balancing the budget and The New York Times highlighted the elec- of the GOP’s “dogged Democratic congressional majorities. passing a welfare overhaul. tion of Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst—but didn’t campaign to purge the seem to notice her far right views. party of extremists and It would be more accurate to say that the You may remember that post- regain power in the Obama-era Democratic Party abandoned ef- 1994 era of “bipartisan coopera- Senate.” forts to motivate liberal voters in pursuit of tion” as the time when the Next to this article line-blurring centrism (FAIR Media Advi- Gingrich-led GOP forced two government in the print edition of the Times was a picture sory, 1/27/11). shutdowns in 1995 and 1996. of Iowa’s Republican Senator-elect Joni Moreover, the idea that this had been a Ernst, who believes, among other things, that successful strategy in the Clinton years ig- ho better to pick up the centrist mantle the UN is engaged in a conspiracy to round nores history; as FAIR founder Jeff Cohen Wof the Clinton era than Hillary Clinton up Iowa farmers and force them to live in (L.A. Times, 4/9/00) observed, Clinton’s herself? The Washington Post’s Anne cities (FAIR Blog, 11/4/14). Yet she doesn’t ideological positioning did little to help the Gearan (11/5/14) contrasted Clinton favor- appear in the Times article about extremist n party: ably with Obama, giving a taste of the narra- candidates. Perhaps she’d been purged.

Extra! u December 2014 5 C OUNTER S PIN I NTERVIEW Richard Wolff on the state of the economy ‘There Really Is No Recovery’

As the midterm congressional elections the direction of a huge economy like ours loomed, the Washington Post (10/3/14) won- cannot rely on one or two statistics. dered why Democrats weren’t benefitting At any given moment, there are statistics from all the great economic news. The Wall suggesting things are getting better, statistics Street Journal (9/2/14) ran a piece head- that are suggesting things are getting worse. lined “Upbeat Economic Reports Signal Sus- Any prudent and intelligent observer has to tained Improvement.” be able to weigh all of those things in order These are just examples of the celebra- to draw a reasonable conclusion. I don’t tory tone of economic reporting. So are the think any reasonable observer would now papers right, or do the people know some- suggest that the United States is in some sort thing that journalists don’t? CounterSpin’s of wonderful situation on the uptick. Steve Rendall talked with Richard Wolff, pro- This last week, there was a meeting of the fessor emeritus of economics at the Univer- IMF in Europe, and basically the tone was sity of Massachusetts at Amherst, currently unbelievably downbeat and somber, that the BillMoyers.com teaching at the New School in New York City, Economist Richard Wolff: “The American people have a better sense of what’s happening than the journalists. And that’s prospects for the world economy—including and author of Democracy at Work: A Cure not a good sign for journalists.” the United States—are very, very frightening for Capitalism. in terms of what’s happening over the last weeks: The gyrations of the US stock market CounterSpin: That Washington Post piece were clearly linked to worries about the that wondered why the Democrats weren’t vast majority of Americans. So there really severity of the downturn in Europe, slowing showing better at polls explained, “the US is no recovery and there is no mystery why in China, and so on. economy is back on solid ground six years what you see in the press is not affecting how So a balanced approach here—which I after the Great Recession, new data showed masses of people are looking at these elec- think most Americans grasp intuitively if not Friday.” What’s the story here as you see it? tions. in the detail—shows that the American peo- For example, the unemployment de- ple have a better sense of what’s happening Richard Wolff: I’m frankly surprised that cline—much of what is the core of these sto- than the journalists. And that’s not a good the Washington Post can’t get better report- ries—has more to do with people leaving the sign for journalists. ing than that. The reason the Democrats are labor force, giving up on looking for work, not looking good in these midterm elections so they’re no longer counted as unemployed, CS: In the New York Times, I was able to is precisely because the so-called “solid rather than finding jobs. find two pieces (9/13/14, 10/16/14) pointing ground,” or the so-called recovery that we And for the few that have found jobs, one out that many of the positive economic indi- hear about, really has only affected the top statistic screams out its importance: Two- cators don’t mean much for most Americans. 5–10 percent of the people, and a large por- thirds of those who found jobs during this This reminds me—just to take one exam- tion of them are traditional Republican sup- crisis found jobs paying significantly less ple—of the “Chilean Miracle,” where elites porters. than they were earning before the crisis, and cheered a Chilean economy that could show Whereas the mass of lower- and middle- having typically fewer benefits. So anyway lots of growth, but it meant very little for income folks basically have watched a “re- you scratch it, this recovery is only that of a most Chileans. covery” that bypassed the vast majority of tiny minority at the top, and therefore should the American people. A reasonable person surprise no one if the mass of people are not RW: Exactly. It was a kind of growth which wouldn’t call that a recovery, or at least happy. if you looked at certain selected indices, would hedge it about with qualifying adjec- looked wonderful on paper. But the minute tives to talk honestly. CS: Are you seeing the same coverage that you looked at other indices—particularly The median income of an American fam- we’re seeing—lots of journalism celebrating those that were brought forward by the aver- ily—which means 50 percent earned more, the good economic news? age person, and by more balanced ob- 50 percent earned less—is about 9 percent servers—you would’ve had a much more lower today than before this crisis hit in RW: Yes, and it’s really kind of sad—the nuanced picture. 2007. That doesn’t mark a recovery. kindest word I can think of at the moment— I mean, we now know, for example, that In fact, the line downward is pretty to see that, because journalists ought to know the boom we want to recreate—that is, the straight down—a deterioration that has really better. They ought to know that any attempt ’80s, the ’90s and the first few years of this affected the lives and daily existence of the to understand something as complicated as century—was so completely dependent on

u Extra! 6 December 2014 an unsustainable level of consumer debt that the failure of leading academics and journal- high likelihood that the individuals who are it really becomes bizarre to talk about a re- ists to throw into question the system, which not finding themselves in an improved situ- covery, if you mean going back to where we given its performance now—this terrible cri- ation, who are not recovering, will feel that were, because where we were was on a train sis, the second in 75 years—is something they as individuals are somehow unable to heading into a stone wall, and that’s hardly that’s long overdue, to have an honest dis- participate in the recovery, which they’re told what we want to recreate now. cussion about whether we can’t do better, is all around them. and what the strengths and weaknesses are. And that risks them turning in on them- CS: With so many Americans losing ground, And in that context, I was struck that the selves, coming to the conclusion that they are it would seem reasonable to have a discus- latest Nobel Prize was given to two French failures, that they are inadequate, that there’s sion of whether capitalism at this stage can economists* whose entire life work is show- something wrong with them. And that only any longer sustain the American Dream for ing how market economies can run into trou- worsens the fact that they are, in fact, the vic- most of us. Why do you think media often ble, produce undesirable outcomes, ineffi- tims of this situation, and not its perpetrators. seem so reluctant to have that conversation? ciencies, waste of resources, instead of the And the media ought to do a better job of usual cheerleading that capitalism is the best honestly portraying the very mixed picture RW: I think the answer is our history. After thing since sliced bread. of what’s going on, because it’s cruel to tell World War II, the business community and I think we’re beginning to see a sea people that they are the exception when, in the wealthy kind of reached a conclusion: change, where what we should’ve been doing fact, the rule you present as such isn’t the n that they had been outmaneuvered by the for 50 years is once again on the agenda, case. mass of trade unionism, the CIO, by the So- namely to question our economic system, just cialist and Communist parties, who had to- like we question our educational system, our CounterSpin gether worked with the president at the time, medical insurance system and all the other The News Behind the Headlines FDR, to produce Social Security, unemploy- systems that make up a modern society. ment compensation, the first minimum wage CounterSpin is FAIR’s weekly and a federal jobs program that employed 15 CS: So in looking at the way the corporate radio show, hosted by Janine million people. press covers this, to take a phrase out of Jackson, Steve Rendall And all of that was paid for either by America’s radical past, would you say these and Peter Hart. It’s heard on taxes on corporations and the rich, or by are the bosses’ papers? more than 135 noncommercial pretty mandatory borrowing of their wealth stations across the United States from them. And they really decided to undo RW: Absolutely. They are the papers of the and Canada. and to prevent that kind of thing from hap- bosses, and those who have for so long lived CounterSpin provides a critical examination of pening again. in a country where it was taboo to ask serious the major stories every week, and exposes And they understood, correctly, that Roo- questions about capitalism, where it was what the mainstream media might have missed sevelt wouldn’t have done it had he not been damaging to your career prospects to do that. in their own coverage. pressured from below: by that alliance of the We have a newspaper corps that instinctively Recent Shows CIO—the greatest union organizing drive in shies away from asking those questions, even • Roberto Lovato on Mexico American history—plus the two Socialist when the mass of people’s views and the sta- Ann Jones on Afghanistan parties and the Communist Party, who tistical evidence—or at least the bulk of it— • Chris King on Ferguson worked very closely together. And so there suggest that anything less than that is simply was a decision to go after that coalition. not facing up to the severity of this situation. Mark Weisbrot on Brazil's Election The first target was its weakest link: the I think that taboo has to be broken. We • Harriet Washington on Ebola Communist Party. These folks were por- live in a country that shows, through its deal- • Carl Conetta on ‘Isolationism’ trayed as agents of a foreign power and de- ing with gay marriage and a hundred other • Richard Wolff on the State monized. When that was done, the Socialists issues, that we are capable of breaking of the Economy were equated with the Communists, and the taboos. Well, we should certainly break the Listen online, same was done to them. And we’ve watched taboo on asking systemic questions about an for the last 50 years a step-by-step decima- economic system that is simply not deliver- tion of the union movement. ing the goods to the mass of people, which, And so we are now at a point where after all, was its defense and was its self-con- we’ve inherited 50 years in which question- gratulation for the last 200 years. ing capitalism, instead of being understood If I could add—there’s a kind of psycho- as a sign of a healthy debate about our eco- logical cruelty going on in the media. If you nomic system—one that exposes its flaws keep telling people who are not in fact expe- and weaknesses alongside of its strengths riencing a recovery, because it isn’t there for and achievements—we couldn’t do that, be- the mass of people, if you keep telling them cause talking about the problems of capital- there is a recovery, then what you have is a visit our archives, ism was basically demonized as a kind of or find a station near you— disloyalty. * The prize was won by Jean Tirole, who said his fair.org And I think, unfortunately, even though late collaborator, Jean-Jacques Laffont, deserved the Cold War is long behind us, its legacy is to share it with him.

Extra! u December 2014 7 C OVER S TORY Behind media obsession, a sad old story of poverty and priorities Ebola Story Puts Old Fears in New Virus by Janine Jackson

s of early November, there have been hospital with a special isolation facility, ealthcare experts have tried to assure the four known cases of the Ebola virus in video and photos appeared showing a team HUS public that Ebola is not a very easy Athe US: Liberian Thomas Duncan, who in full-body Hazmat suits loading her gurney virus to catch. Those most at risk are was brought to Dallas Presbyterian Hos- onto the plane. Standing a little further away medical professionals who have worked in pital and subsequently died of the disease, was a man in plain clothes with a clipboard close contact with patients in West Africa, two nurses who cared for Duncan (both (Today, 10/16/14). and these are the people most aware of the cured), and a doctor who became sympto- disease’s symptoms and best able to monitor matic in New York City after returning from their own health and protect that of others. treating Ebola patients in Guinea. That knowledge didn’t seem to help Kaci The epidemic has so far killed at least Hickox. The nurse returned from Sierra 4,800 people in West Africa. There is no Leone to a political firestorm that saw New reason to believe Ebola will or could exact Jersey Gov. Chris Christie demanding she be analogous tolls here, because, despite ooga- held in an isolation tent near the Newark air- booga stories about Africans carrying tainted port—despite having no symptoms. Hickox “bushmeat” in their luggage (Newsweek, was subsequently transferred to her home in 8/21/14; FAIR Blog, 8/28/14), the forces be- Maine, where Gov. Paul LePage, with med- hind the viral outbreak largely have to do ical bona fides as obscure as Christie’s, in- with infrastructure deficits and lack of access sisted she be quarantined for a 21-day to healthcare. The panic over “Clipboard Man” demonstrated media’s lack incubation period. of understanding of how Ebola is transmitted. While warning against overconfidence, Hickox drew attention by resisting these science journalist Laurie Garrett (Counter- medically baseless restrictions, including Spin, 9/26/14) suggests a “night and day” going for a bike ride that media covered as difference between the US capacity to re- National media figures joined the ensuing though she were O.J. Simpson in a white spond to Ebola and that of worst-hit coun- social media storm. Vaughn Sterling, a senior Bronco. tries Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, producer of CNN’s Situation Room, which “have undergone brutal civil wars, are tweeted, “One of these guys didn’t get the among the poorest countries on the planet, memo.” CNN’s chief national security cor- with very weak governments that had diffi- respondent Jim Sciutto added, “Let’s hope he culty even before the epidemic in maintain- was holding his breath.” The inaccurate im- ing trust” with citizens, and where health plication was that mere proximity to an in- infrastructure is “all but nonexistent.” fected person puts one at risk. In other words, Ebola is less a story about A spokesperson for the airline (ABC a bizarre new disease and its unpredictably News, 10/16/14) came forward to explain disastrous capacities, and more a sad old that the man was the company’s medical pro- story about poverty and priorities. tocol supervisor: The returning healthcare worker was subjected to political and media demands for medically unnecessary restrictions. ut sober and data-driven isn’t exactly US Our medical professionals in the bio- Bmedia’s style, particularly when dealing hazard suits have limited vision and mo- with a disease associated with There that bility, and it is the protocol supervisor’s While pundits called her “selfish” (Han- is seen to be coming Here. The concoction job to watch each person carefully and nity, 10/29/14; O’Reilly Factor, 10/30/14) of ignorance and breathlessness has gener- give them verbal directions to ensure no and worse, Hickox tried to emphasize that ated revealing moments like the focus on close-contact protocols are violated. her treatment by officials and the press boded “Clipboard Man” (FAIR Blog, 10/17/14). There is absolutely no problem with this poorly for other returning healthcare work- When one of the Dallas nurses, Amber and in fact [it] ensures an even higher ers, and to suggest that attention be directed Vinson, was being transported to an Atlanta level of safety for all involved. toward the real crisis of Ebola victims in

u Extra! 8 December 2014 West Africa. She recounted for the Maine n fact, evolutionary biologists have begun he idea that drug companies resist Sunday Telegram (11/2/14) her haunting Ispeaking of a phenomenon dubbed “protec- T“spending the enormous sums needed to final night in Sierra Leone, when she saw a tive prejudice,” in which a sort of “behav- develop products useful mostly to coun- young girl die: “To watch a 10-year-old die ioral immune system” mixes social, political, tries with little ability to pay” is chilling alone in a tent and know there wasn’t any- psychological and biological factors, leading enough, but it’s also incomplete. Left out are thing you could do...it’s hard.” to fear and hatred toward those perceived not only the Herculean effort these compa- (however inaccurately) as bearing contagion. nies put into preventing poorer countries y now, there has already been a backlash It’s not surprising to see this cocktail of fears from developing cheaper generic equivalents Bagainst the more inflammatory notions and biases “conscripted,” Washington says, (Truthout, 10/10/14), but also the role the emanating not only from the likes of Matt “to play into all sorts of agendas—closing developing world plays in creating the drugs Drudge (who advised his Twitter followers the border, for example.” in the first place. “The developed world to “self-quarantine”—10/15/14) but from Also familiar in conversations about makes a great deal of money by testing med- CNN, where Ashleigh Banfield (10/6/14) Africa are references to a supposed “fear of ications cheaply in the developing world,” evoked the possibility that ISIS might “send medicine” that’s hampering care. “We keep notes Washington: a few of its suicide killers into Ebola-affected reading that ‘we go into these areas and try to zones and then get them on some mass tran- help people but they won’t cooperate,’” Wash- Although we keep portraying Africans sit, somewhere where they would need to be ington says, a storyline that presents people as as supplicants—they’re asking for our to effect the most damage.” “irrational” who might have very real reasons help, they’re begging for medicine—in Banfield’s colleague, Don Lemon (10/9/14), to avoid people who are “helicoptering in.” my opinion the reality is exactly the op- was meanwhile treating viewers to the wis- For some, this “irrationality” is grounds posite. We owe them. dom of opthamologist Robin Cook, pre- to deny Africans care, even in the US. As sented as “The Man Who Wrote the Book on Fox News’ Andrea Tantaros (10/2/14) put it: For any potential Ebola drugs developed Ebola.” He did, of course; but the book (Out- now, in response to the virus’ encroachment break) was fiction. In these countries, they do not believe on the West, not to be distributed to Africans, Such excesses led to stories like “Worst in traditional medical care. So someone she says, would be “absolutely unacceptable, Side Effect of Ebola Is Hot Air” (Pittsburgh could get off a flight and seek treatment for obvious ethical reasons but also for eco- Post-Gazette, 10/18/14) and “Deadly Virus from a witch doctor that would practice nomic justice.” Must Be Covered Responsibly, Not Hysteri- Santeria. This is a bigger fear. Economic justice figures also in emerg- cally” (USA Today, 10/28/14). Then came ing questions, unheard in corporate media, the backlash against the backlash: The Wall his should all be familiar to those who re- about the relationship between deforestation Street Journal online (10/24/14) denounced Tmember inglorious coverage of the AIDS and changes in land use in West Africa, “The Ebola Anti-Hysteria Hysteria.” “A little crisis, in which making life-saving drugs largely in service to multinational corpora- Ebola panic might be helpful,” suggested the available to sub-Saharan Africans was dis- tions like Firestone, that appear to have in- Washington Post’s Kathleen Parker (10/16/14). missed as impractical because, as the US creased contacts between local people and Agency for International Development’s An- the bats deemed the virus’s primary carriers f the worst of Ebola coverage represents US drew Natsios (Boston Globe, 6/7/01) put it: (TheRealNews, 11/2/14). Imedia at their noisiest—and debate over whether coverage was too hysterical or not You have to take these drugs a certain o one suggests that journalists should hysterical enough shows media at their most number of hours each day, or they don’t Nknow more than medical professionals predictably self-absorbed—the story has also work. Many people in Africa have never about a disease that is largely unfamiliar highlighted some painful silences. seen a clock or a watch their entire lives. to most people, or strive to speak definitively Harriet Washington, author of Medical And if you say, 1 o’clock in the after- about evolving events. Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Ex- noon, they do not know what you are It is fair to insist that they delineate what perimentation on Black Americans From talking about. They know morning, they they know from what they don’t, and resist Colonial Times to the Present, noted that the know noon, they know evening, they speculation and rumor-mongering. Not just racism of some coverage is nothing new. know the darkness at night. because these have no place in responsible “Fears of the other” have attended percep- public health reporting, but because misinfor- tions of disease “ever since the germ theory ABC News (7/8/99) claimed without ev- mation has effects. In this case, these include first associated microbes with illness,” Wash- idence that experts believed that many pa- both the fanning of violent xenophobia —as ington told FAIR’s CounterSpin (10/24/14), tients in Africa were unlikely to follow we’ve already seen in the case of, for exam- citing “Typhoid Mary,” an Irish woman when prescriptions, so “it’s better to let [them] ple, Senegalese-American boys in the Bronx they were a “despised minority,” along with die.” being beaten up while their attackers shouted accusations that Chinese people were spreading Less explored, then as now, were priori- “Ebola!” (Gothamist, 10/27/14)—and the plague in 1900s San Francisco and charges ties of drug development. The New York individual and societal problems resulting that Jews fomented disease in Polish ghettos. Times (10/24/14) reported that an Ebola vac- from a misunderstanding of relative risk. But in present-day America, Washington cine had been shelved in early stages of test- As of this writing, you are still statisti- noted, “when infection strikes and it’s asso- ing because it didn’t look to be profitable to cally more likely to marry a Kardashian than ciated with black people, all the stops get drugmakers. “People invest in order to get to contract Ebola in the United States. Media n pulled out.” money back,” stated a source. should report accordingly.

Extra! u December 2014 9 B OOK E XCERPT Supporting abortion—as long as women feel bad about it Pro-Remorse Pundits by Katha Pollitt

want to help reframe the way we think good Chardonnay”) and urged women who about abortion. There are definitely short- ended their pregnancies to feel guilt and to Iterm advantages to stressing the anguish mourn their fetuses; she even claimed that some women feel when facing the need to emergency contraception is a form of abor- end a pregnancy, but in the long run, present- tion. (It’s not.) ing that as a general truth will hurt the pro- Andrew Sullivan (New Republic, choice cause: It comes close to demanding 2/7/05), another reluctant semi-pro-choicer, that women accept grief, shame and stigma thinks “abortion is always and everywhere a as the price of ending a pregnancy. moral tragedy.” Always? Everywhere? The I want us to start thinking of abortion as safest position for a member of the commen- a positive social good and saying this out tariat seems to be: You can have your abor- loud. The anti-abortion movement has been tion as long as you feel really, really bad far too successful at painting abortion as bad about it. for women. I want to argue, to the contrary, that it is an essential option for women—not ’m not going to take that route here. just ones in dramatic, terrible, body-and- I Terminating a pregnancy is always a soul-destroying situations, but all women— woman’s right and often a deeply moral de- and thus benefits society as a whole. cision. It is not evil, even a necessary evil. I don’t expect to convince many abortion You might make a different decision from a opponents to see my point of view. But I do particular woman who chooses not to con- want to speak to the so-called “muddled mid- tinue a pregnancy, and you might think your dle,” those millions of Americans—more decision is morally superior—but beside the than half—who don’t want to ban abortion, “Many commentators and pundits...want abortion to be legal, fact that you don’t actually know what you exactly, but don’t want it to be widely avail- at least in the early weeks, but they want to make clear it’s would do faced with those exact same cir- able either (Pew Research, 7/13). a bad thing and there’s way too much of it.” cumstances (how many people have said abortion should be legal but they would his is the view that is echoed and rein- never have one, and who then end up having Tforced endlessly in the mainstream one?), your judgment about a woman’s deci- media. Many commentators and pundits war—a plague on both your houses! sion is not relevant to the legal status of abor- take a position of “permit but discourage,” or “Here’s an uninhibited insult that the pro- tion as a whole, any more than someone maybe a better way to put it in their own case fessional ‘life’ and ‘choice’ agitators can lis- giving a speech you consider foolish reflects is “permit but deplore.” They want abortion ten to for free,” wrote Washington Post on the First Amendment, or someone voting to be legal, at least in the early weeks, but (1/17/12) columnist Dana Milbank in 2012: for a corrupt candidate raises questions about they want to make clear it’s a bad thing and suffrage. A right includes the freedom to use there’s way too much of it—not because our If these groups cared as much about the it in ways others find distressing or even high rates of abortion indicate that women issue as they claim, and didn’t have wrong. aren’t getting good sexual information and such strong financial incentives to avoid Your judgment of that woman is not even good birth control, or lack power in their re- consensus and compromise, they’d can- an interesting fact about yourself. There are lationships with men, or because poverty and cel the carnivals and get to work on the many things other people do that you think lack of support are making women terminate one thing everybody agrees would be you would never do (especially if there is, in wanted pregnancies, but because abortion, in worthwhile—reducing unwanted preg- fact, no possibility that you will ever be and of itself, is morally troubling. nancies. called upon to decide, as is the case with men It’s a seductive position for people who and abortion). That tells us you have a certain make their living by staking out intellectual Right, Planned Parenthood, stop keeping idea about yourself, that’s all. positions that resist, or appear to resist, tired contraception away from people. pieties. Defying both camps lets one feel sen- In a much-reprinted 1995 essay, Naomi bortion is often seen as a bad thing for so- sitive and judicious and mature, alert to Wolf (New Republic, 10/16/95) chalked Aciety, a sign of hedonism, materialism moral complexities, above the vulgar slogan abortion up to lazy sluttishness (“It was such and hyperindividualism. I argue that, on

u Extra! 10 December 2014 the contrary, access to legal abortion is a Journalism in the Public Interest good thing for society, and helping a woman obtain one is a good deed. Instead of shaming women for ending a Extra! receives no money from advertisers pregnancy, we should acknowledge their re- or corporate underwriters, and depends on alism and self-knowledge. We should accept that it’s good for everyone if women have subscribers for its existence. Please consider only the children they want and can raise subscribing or spread the word by giving a well. Society benefits when women can gift subscription to Extra!. Choose a commit to education and work and dreams traditional print subscription, a digital PDF without having at the back of their mind a edition or both together. concern that maybe it’s all provisional, be- cause at any moment an accidental preg- nancy could derail them for life. It’s good for I want to subscribe to the print people to be able to have sexual experiences edition of Extra!. and know that birth-control failure need not o be the last word. Yes! Send me a two-year subscription It would not make us a better country if (20 issues) to Extra! for $45! o more girls and women were nudged and bul- I want a one-year subscription (10 issues) lied and cajoled and humiliated and fright- to Extra! for $25. ened into bearing children they are o I’m a subscriber, please renew me early! ill-equipped to raise, even if more men could o somehow be lassoed into marrying or sup- One year (10 issues) for $25. o porting them. It would simply mean more Two years (20 issues) for $45. lost hope, more bad marriages and family I’d like to have the digital edition misery, more poverty and struggle for o women, their partners and their kids. Don’t I’d like a two-year digital subscription to we have way too much of all that already? Extra! for $27! o I want a one-year digital subscription to realize that my perspective is going to Extra! for $15! Isound insufficiently nuanced to those who pride themselves on being judicious and Want both? Get print + digital balanced and above the fray. In American po- o litical discourse, the safest place to be is in One-year print + digital (pdf) subscription the middle, lamenting “extremes on both for $35 o sides.” The woman, the fetus—can’t they Two-year print + digital (pdf) subscription just get along? Isn’t there a combination of for $65 rules and regulations and birth control and women not being drunken tramps that will Give a gift subscription just make this whole tedious business go And we’ll send it out with a gift card. Name______away? And while we wait for that to happen, o let’s wring our hands to show how moral and A one-year print subscription (10 issues) Address ______to Extra! for $25. thoughtful we are, not forgetting to mention o City ______“new” developments like ultrasound that A one-year digital subscription to Extra! State/Zip ______supposedly have changed everything. for $15! Email Address______That attitude is definitely the one to take Gift to: if you want to be seen as ethically serious for o o Name______MasterCard VISA decades after Roe. But what does that ap- o Discover o American Express proach do, really, but let us feel superior, up Address ______No.______on Pundit Mountain, to all those messy City ______women down there in the steamy valley, try- Exp. Date______State/Zip ______ing to make a reasonable life for themselves Signature______as best they can? We talk about respecting Email Address______n life. But what if we tried respecting them? Card to read “from______” FAIR Katha Pollitt is an essayist, critic and poet 124 West 30th Street, Suite 201 To order, please fill out form and mail whose column appears biweekly in The Na- New York, NY 10001 in coupon, visit fair.org, or send a check tion. This is an excerpt from her book Pro: Re- payable to FAIR. claiming Abortion Rights (Picador). fair.org

Extra! u December 2014 11 At Fox News Latino, immigrants go from target to target audience Having Their Hate and Defeating Dems Too by Aldo Guerrero

he anti-immigrant reporting of Fox The FNL report was not exactly a mirror News Channel (FNC) comes as no sur- image of the FNC’s, being more “fair and bal- Tprise, considering that its viewership is anced.” Although FNL acknowledged harsh similar to the base of the Republican conditions in those countries were central fac- Party—older white conservatives. The grow- tors, Republican criticisms of Obama’s DACA ing Latino share of the population, however, program, and suggestions that ending it might spurred the creation of the website Fox News solve the problem, were also mentioned. Latino (FNL) to try to capture this audience. Fox News president Roger Ailes (New starker contrast could be found two Republic, 2/11/13), who oversees both out- Amonths later. FNL (9/11/14) ran an exclu- lets, describes the Latino demographic as Roger Ailes’ attempt to capitalize on a “tremendous business sive and rather affecting report about five both a “tremendous business opportunity” opportunity”— and win votes for the Republican Party. children fleeing gang violence in El Salvador. and a potentially capturable segment of the A gang had threatened to kill the children electorate: “The fact is, we have a lot—Re- after they witnessed the gang shoot their 21- publicans have a lot more opportunity for cies—particularly the Deferred Action for year-old neighbor. Their hometown was de- them.” Though he corrected himself— Childhood Arrivals program—for encourag- scribed as having a “far higher murder rate changing “we” to “Republicans”—for the ing young refugees to come. than the national average.” Their mother— long-time Republican operative Ailes, the Citing an El Paso Intelligence Center re- who fled an abusive husband in El Salvador political interests of the network and the port (7/7/14; Breitbart Texas, 7/14/14), to live in the United States—had paid smug- party are interchangeable. FNC’s Megyn Kelly (Kelly File, 7/16/14) glers “tens of thousands of dollars” for their There have been various instances where asserted that children were crossing the bor- safe passage. Clearly, violence was a central both FNC and FNL covered the same story der only because they “believe they will get theme to this particular story—as it was for with different headlines catering to different asylum, thanks to policy statements by Pres- the broader refugee crisis. audiences. For example, the liberal Media ident Obama, and are not, as was claimed, One would be hard-pressed to find such Matters (8/8/14) compared the two outlets’ fleeing any increased violence back at empathetic coverage on FNC. Unfortunately, use of different headlines to describe an home.” Violence as the primary motive for the FNL piece was published in early Sep- unauthorized immigrant student receiving a these children leaving their countries was tember, when media coverage of the refugee scholarship for his immigration activism: merely, as Bill O’Reilly (O’Reilly Factor, crisis had largely subsided. The FNL headline (8/6/14) read: “In Rare 7/16/14) put it, a “myth that the far left is put- FNC, by that point, had shifted its atten- Move, University Grants $22k Scholarship ting out.” Reducing the emphasis on violence tion to the purported negative impacts immi- to Undocumented Student.” FNC went with in those countries made it easier for FNC grant children would have on US public the blunt slur of “Money for Illegals.” pundits and Republican lawmakers to call for schools. Brenda Buttner, host of the FNC But the differences between FNC and the children’s swift deportation. business program Bulls & Bears (8/9/14), FNL go beyond headlines. Coverage of the Over at FNL, meanwhile, a Q&A-style prefaced a discussion on the surge of immi- child refugee crisis, where thousands of un- article (7/20/14), neutrally headlined “A Primer grant children: “Forget the Ebola scare. Is it accompanied minors attempted to cross the on the Border Crisis—Its Causes, Politics and really the back-to-school scare?” She briefly southern border from Central American the Bickering Among Lawmakers,” attempted mentioned that some children were quaran- countries, provides a good case study. to answer why there was a sudden influx of tined with chickenpox, but the panel discus- immigrant children. Its answer: sion that followed focused on how much of ike other corporate media outlets, FNC a financial burden these children would be- Llargely avoided meaningful context by Crime, gang violence, poverty across come to local public school districts. While downplaying the violent conditions of the Central America, a desire to reunite with most states require children to be vaccinated three Central American countries—Guate- parents or other relatives. White House against chickenpox anyway, telling viewers mala, El Salvador and Honduras—that pro- officials also say smugglers have per- that their children are threatened by disease- vided the bulk of the refugees (Extra!, 9/14). suaded families to pay them to bring carrying immigrants (who want to benefit FNC consistently blamed the Obama admin- children to the US by lying to them from free public schools) is a great way to istration’s supposedly lax immigration poli- about their fate in this country. capitalize on xenophobic fears.

u Extra! 12 December 2014 report also quoted two supporters of the of seven Republicans had positive stories change: AP itself and the Congressional dedicated to them, including Sen. Marco Hispanic Caucus. The three sources who Rubio, Sen. Ted Cruz, former Florida Gov. defended the use of “illegal” were former Jeb Bush, Jeb Bush’s son George P. Bush, Homeland Security Secretary Janet New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and two Napolitano, the conservative Media Re- congressional candidates. search Center, and the Americans for Five Democrats had stories dedicated to Legal Immigration Political Action Com- them, with three receiving positive coverage: mittee. Labor Secretary Tom Perez, Rep. Luis ALIPAC described AP’s changes as Gutierrez and a mayoral candidate in Rhode “totalitarian steps to make ‘illegal immi- Island. The other two, who received more On Fox News Channel, the “immigrant child” would more grants’ disappear with a stroke of a pen,” negative coverage, were Rep. Joe Garcia, likely be IDed as an “illegal alien kid.” and announced it would now refer to immi- who is fighting allegations of corruption, and grants as “illegal invaders.” Such ultra right- Hillary Clinton, who received flak from im- FNC emphasized the word “illegal” to wing vitriol was sure to rev up the migration activists—as if Republicans aren’t describe immigrant children now in school. anti-immigrant audience that FNC caters to. also criticized by immigration activists. For In two articles (8/30/14, 9/2/14) covering the The FNL version (4/2/13) used a more good measure, a Pew study (10/29/14) of “crisis in the classroom,” children were re- straightforward and neutral headline: “‘Illegal “waning” Latino support for Democrats was ferred to as “illegal” a total of 11 times, with Immigrant’ Dropped From Associated Press also featured. references to “illegal immigrant children,” Stylebook.” Journalist José Antonio Vargas, By fear-mongering about Latino immi- “illegal minors” and “illegal alien kids” in the Applied Research Center and AP (again) grants, FNC is able to pander to xenophobic the headlines, in quotes from Republican were mentioned as supporting the changes. white conservatives who make up the base lawmakers and in the reporters’ own words. For opposition, the right-wing Federation for of the Republican Party, while FNL, with When FNL (10/14/14) did its own report- American Immigration Reform and ALIPAC feel-good coverage of Latino conservatives, ing on the situation, the word “illegal” was were represented, but ALIPAC’s vitriolic can make a bid to expand the party by bring- never used to characterize the children. In- comments on the “totalitarian” changes and ing in Latinos. It’s a powerful strategy—so stead, they opted to use alternative—and less its determination to use “illegal invaders” long as the two target audiences don’t com- n pejorative—phrasing, such as “newly arrived were not mentioned, presumably so as not to pare notes. migrants” and “unaccompanied minors.” alienate the Latino audience. The tone of the coverage was also more $20 and this T-shirt is yours! sympathetic and lacking in fear-mongering. s long as violence and poverty exist in Instead of fixating on the supposed damage ALatin America, they will likely be the these children will do to US public schools, central drivers for migration. It is politi- the story focused on the difficulties these cally convenient for FNC to whitewash the children personally face in overcoming gaps pervasive violence and harsh economic con- in education and receiving social services. ditions of Central America—and ignore the The story even mentions how violence in contributions US policies have made to these their home countries prevented traveling to conditions (FAIR Blog, 7/14/14). school, which adds credence to the claim that The refugee crisis and the school prob- violence is central to families’ decisions to lems that followed were stories framed as “il- migrate. Most of these details were absent in legals” coming to take advantage of the o Sm o Med o Large o XLarge conservative FNC coverage. And, once again, United States’ offerings. The repetition of the story appeared on FNL only after FNC this tired trope paves the way for the further had already reported on it. antagonization of all immigrant communi- Name______ties. But most importantly to FNC, misrep- Address ______hen comparing the content of the two resenting the Latino immigrant experience City ______outlets, Associated Press reports up- engages their white Republican viewership. W State/Zip ______loaded to the channels’ websites were Meanwhile, by focusing on Latino issues not included. In 2013, AP (4/2/13) an- without the xenophobic spin—and occasion- o MC o VISA o Discover o AmEx nounced it would drop the use of “illegal im- ally providing insightful reporting that digs No.______migrant” in its stories (FAIR Blog, 4/4/13), deep into the plight of immigrant Latinos— having concluded that “illegal” should only FNL is able to expose a broad Latino audi- Exp. Date______be used to describe actions, not people. (AP ence to conservative ideas that might lead Signature______still accepts “illegal immigration.”) them into the Republican fold. During the Includes shipping, no international orders please. Unsurprisingly, FNC (4/3/13) was criti- election season, FNL featured reports that FAIR cal of this change, given that the phrase is focused on individual candidates and elected 124 West 30th Street, Suite 201 central to its immigration coverage. The officials and their relationship to the Latino New York, NY 10001 headline for its report stressed that the community. In 10 days shortly before the fair.org changes were “under scrutiny,” although the midterm elections (October 21–30), a total

Extra! u December 2014 13 A feature film prompts a new round of attacks on Gary Webb Still Killing the Messenger by Peter Hart

n 1996, in the wake of the explosive “Dark since she summarizes the series as “accusing Alliance” series for the San Jose Mercury the CIA of selling cocaine in South Los An- INews (8/18–20/96), the Washington Post geles,” it does not appear that she knows was one of the major newspapers to attack what its thesis was. investigative journalist Gary Webb (Extra!, Over a year before, when there was some 1–2/97). news about the casting for the film, Mercury Eighteen years later, they were still at it. News columnist Scott Herhold (2/10/13)— The October 10 release of the biopic Kill who worked as an editor during the “Dark the Messenger brought renewed focus on Alliance” controversy—wrote that Webb Webb’s story, which documented how CIA- was “a journalist of outsized talent,” but was linked drug traffickers were supplying US “fundamentally a man of passion, not of fair- drug dealers with cheap cocaine that helped ness.” And he shared his qualms about the fuel the crack epidemic in the 1980s. series: “I’ve never fully understood why the For the Washington Post, the release of CIA would want to start a crack cocaine epi- the movie about Gary Webb was just a new demic.” Since that wasn’t what Webb wrote, opportunity to smear his reputation. it’s hard to fully understand his question. Instead of holding Webb accountable for hat task fell to Jeff Leen, an assistant claims he didn’t make, let’s assume that Tmanaging editor at the paper. “An ex- Webb’s reporting set out to prove what the traordinary claim requires extraordinary first installment of his series actually said proof,” he wrote in a Sunday Outlook feature was its thesis: (10/17/14). By that standard, Leen argued, Webb failed: “The Hollywood version of his for Extra! (1–2/97) the original Webb hit that a San Francisco Bay Area drug ring story—a truth-teller persecuted by the cow- pieces put words into Webb’s mouth and then sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and ardly and craven mainstream media—is pure “debunked” those claims. The Post Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and fiction.” funneled millions in drug profits to a But Leen’s attempted takedown fell apart devoted paragraph after paragraph… to Latin American guerrilla army run by with his very first claim: illuminating what Webb had already ac- the US Central Intelligence Agency. knowledged in his articles–that while he Webb’s story made the extraordinary proves Contra links to major cocaine It’s hard to say how Webb was wrong claim that the Central Intelligence importation, he can’t identify specific about any of that. Leen pointed to a 1998 Agency was responsible for the crack CIA officials who knew of or condoned CIA inspector general report that he says cocaine epidemic in America. the trafficking. cleared the agency. But Leen’s reading of the

That is not true. Webb’s report showed As Webb himself put it in a talk he gave in that a major crack dealer in California was 1996 that aired on CounterSpin (1/3/97), the working with suppliers linked to the CIA- series “doesn’t say that the CIA masterminded backed Contras, who were waging a terrorist the influx of crack cocaine into America. campaign in Nicaragua in the hopes of re- What it says is that this Nicaraguan cocaine moving the left-wing Sandinista government. ring brought tons of cocaine into California.” Some of the money from the drug trade went But Leen deceptively asserted that Webb to supporting the Contras. only admitted this error much later, writing that “in his book he took pains to distance he idea that Webb reported that the CIA himself from the crack claim.” Titself was directly dealing drugs, and that it was “responsible for the crack epi- een wasn’t the only one. A column in USA demic” in this country, is a misrepresentation Today by Susan Paterno (10/28/14) ar- L Gary Webb said his series “doesn’t say that the CIA master- designed to undermine Webb. And it’s not gued that Webb “pushed the story’s thesis minded the influx of crack cocaine into America.” even a new one. As Norman Solomon wrote far beyond what the facts could support.” But

u Extra! 14 December 2014 intervening with the Justice Department to begin with. As he explained to the Huffing- retrieve cash for one of the Contra-affili- ton Post’s Ryan Grim (10/10/14), the proper ated drug dealers—was confirmed by the way to react to charges that CIA assets were CIA report. running drugs was with a blithe shrug:

hat report wasn’t the only thing the Post Pincus said that Webb’s core story about Teditor baldly mischaracterized. At one the Contras and cocaine didn’t resonate point, Leen argued that even some of not because it didn’t have any truth to Webb’s admirers agree he was wrong— it, but because it was obviously true. bringing in journalist Nick Schou, who wrote “This is a problem that came up–it’s the book Kill the Messenger, which the probably a question of how long you movie was in part based on, to back up his cover these things,” he said. “It came up claim that the series had major flaws. during the Vietnam War, where the US Leen cites an LA Times op-ed (8/18/06), was dealing with the Hmong tribes in but it’s an extraordinarily deceptive summa- Laos and some of the people that were tion of Schou’s argument—which was that flying airplanes that the agency was the CIA had in fact “covered up Contra drug using were also [running] drugs.” trafficking for more than a decade,” and that its own investigation “confirmed key chunks Webb’s mistake, then, was not in con- of Webb’s allegations.” Asked to respond to necting the CIA to drugs, but in being so being included in Leen’s Webb attack, Schou naive as to think that connection was a big Extra! (1–2/97) debunkd corporate media’s efforts to kill the told NarcoNews (10/20/14) that Leen’s deal. The sophisticated thing to do when you messenger in real time. worthless and whiny op-ed perfectly hear about such issues is to ignore them, as captures the craven mentality of cow- Pincus and the most of the media had done n CIA’s self-investigation was remarkably nar- ardice of most of Webb’s critics at the for years. row; not only did the report confirm the core three major papers.... The fact remains of Webb’s series, some argue it actually that Webb’s story nonetheless forced the FAIR TV showed that the scandal was even bigger CIA to admit that the true flaw of “Dark Weekly video report at fair.org than Webb thought. Alliance” was hardly one of hyperbole As Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. but the exact opposite-–the story radi- Clair of CounterPunch (10/17/14) wrote, cally understated the scandal. the CIA report “proved on close reading to buttress Webb’s accusations.” In one pas- ut for one of Webb’s most important crit- sage, a cable very explicitly instructed field Bics, longtime Washington Post intelli- officers in Costa Rica to look the other way gence reporter Walter Pincus, the issue when word of a Contra-linked drug deal was not how much cocaine was being traf- surfaced. And one of the more remarkable ficked by the CIA’s proteges, but whether stories in “Dark Alliance”—about the CIA such trafficking really amounts to a story to No Comment A five-minute recap that explains ne of the most common criticisms of Webb’s original series was that it “didn’t even have a how the media mishandled some of comment from the CIA” (San Jose Mercury News, 2/13/14)—a sign that he wasn’t really the big stories of the week Ointerested in hearing the Agency’s side. The notion that a “no comment” from the agency would have made “Dark Alliance” more credible to its critics is absurd on its face. But it’s not true Recent Shows— that Webb did not seek out responses from the government agencies he reported on. It’s right there in the first installment of the series: Joni Ernst, Midterms and CNN ‘Debates’ Climate Change None of the government agencies known to have been involved with [drug traffickers Norwin] #TimeFail, Climate Change Dodge, Meneses and [José] Blandón over the years would provide the Mercury News with any infor- Erasing Non-Voters mation about them. A Freedom of Information Act request filed with the CIA was denied on national security Ebola, Rand Paul PR and grounds. FOIA requests filed with the DEA were denied on privacy grounds. Requests filed Silencing Mumia months ago with the FBI, the State Department and the Immigration and Naturalization Service have produced nothing so far. ABC Factcheck Fail, Chuck Todd’s None of the DEA officials known to have worked with the two men would talk to a reporter. Disqualification Question, Questions submitted to the DEA’s public affairs office in Washington were never answered, de- Malala's Message spite repeated requests. —P.H. Watch at fair.org

Extra! u December 2014 15 The Fight of Our Lives And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Over a MILLION people visited the FAIR website this year, Dear FAIR Supporters, viewing over 2 million pages of hard-hitting, reader-supported media criticism. The audience for our FAIR TV video Here’s some bad news for corporate media: FAIR had a segments doubled this year. And our reach via Facebook tremendous 2014. has doubled as well, meaning that hundreds of thousands of people are hearing from FAIR every single month. War debate? You didn’t get one from the elite media. As the US launched into a new phase of war in Iraq and Syria, That’s right: FAIR’s work has never been seen by so many a FAIR study released in November showed that critics people. were almost invisible. But here is the bad news. We are facing our worst Visit We caught CNN presenting Ann Coulter—yes, that Ann financial crisis of the past two decades. Two of our Coulter—as a solo expert on climate change. And we largest sources of general operating support have pulled fair.org documented that the massive, secret Trans Pacific their grants. That leaves us relying on people like you to online Partnership trade agreement was never mentioned on pick up the slack. the major TV networks. to FAIR has made deep budget cuts. Our staff is smaller than A study we released in June showed that poverty remains ever. We’ve made painful sacrifices to keep putting out donate a minor concern on the evening newscasts. Our study of timely, engaging work. cable news pundits showed a remarkable tilt in favor of white men. The question is: Will it be enough to keep FAIR in the fight in 2015? On Labor Day we showed that while corporate CEOs make the guestlist, labor leaders remain shut out of the Sunday Our most loyal readers, supporters and activists are the only chat shows. And “public television” is not so public after ones who can provide the answer. We need you now more all—FAIR showed that the boards of major stations are than ever. dominated by wealthy, corporate-linked elites. Hopefully, FAIR activists stood up with thousands of others to defend Peter, Janine, Jim & Deborah reporter James Risen against the Justice Department. Your donation to FAIR, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, is tax-deductible!

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