Parts 1-14 - In-House Memos on Television News Presentations
source: TBR News

During the middle of March, 2003, tbrnews received an email from a man who claimed to be a mid-level executive with a major American television network. He stated in this, and subsequent, emails that he was in possession of "thousands" of pages of in-house memos sent from his corporate headquarters in New York City to the head of the network's television news department. He went on to say that these memos set forth directives about what material was, and was not, to be aired on the various outlets of the network.

This individual claimed he was developing serious doubts about the strict control of media events and decided that he would pass this material along to someone who might make use of it.

There was the question of his job security. If someone published his name, it would be certain he was not only fired but blackballed throughout his profession.

If tbrnews.org would agree to protect his identity, he would send us these alleged thousands of pages of notes, going back to 2001.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating so we accepted his caveats and he then sent to us by disk the pages he spoke of. All are on corporate stationary, signed or initialed by the senders and again, signed or initialed by the recipients in the news division.

It was always possible that this material consisted of a very involved hoax or was something designed for the news site to use and then have it revealed that it was not original. It would not be the first time that spurious disinformation had been sent to us in the hopes that it would be used.

There were not "thousands of pages" of memos but a total of 1,497 separate pages involved. Many of them consisted of short memos while others ran to a larger format.

Naturally, someone could easily have obtained correct in-house network letterheads, made copies of them and prepared false memoranda but the sheer size and depth of the collection was impressive.

If these memos were true, they showed with a terrible clarity that at least one part of the American mass media was strictly controlled and that the news was so doctored and spun that it might as well be official news releases from the White House and Pentagon.

The best way in which to ascertain whether or not these documents contained original information was to check the dates of issuance and compare the information with subsequent news stories.

This was a terrible, time-consuming chore but by selecting random memos and looking through the archives of various national newspapers, checking AP releases and so on, the results indicated that indeed, news was being managed.

However, it was also possible that someone else did this and was preparing these after the fact and making the memos conform to published material.

That having been said, we insisted on absolutely current memos so that we could then check these against future publications. If, for example, a corporate fiat was to show certain pictures or spin a story in a certain way, it would be relatively simple to simply read the press or watch television news to see if these suggestions were implemented.

It was both shocking and gratifying to note that this proved to be the case in a preponderance of cases and so we began to put these up, either in toto or, more often, in excerpt and watch as ordained news was created before our eyes.

When a corporate order states, for instance, that certain pictures should be shown with accompanying commentary and the memo predates a published story by a week or more, then it is more than likely that the memos are not inspired guesswork but genuine.

When tbrnews put up the first two pages, there were two basic forms of public response. One was to thank us for exposing something many people believed; that the American media was controlled and not free. (That much can easily be ascertained by reading the websites of various reputable foreign publications such as the Swiss NZZ, the British Guardian, the Canadian Toronto Globe and Mail, Reuters News Service and the Jerusalem Post. What any viewer can see on these sites is certainly not reflected in the American media.)

The second response consisted of irate, and literate, statements to the effect that all of these items were just stupid hoaxes and should not be believed. "I believe," one writer who claimed to be a Professor of Journalism at an Ivy League college said, "these are just disinformation designed to discredit American journalists whose reputation for honesty and integrity is certainly beyond question. You are performing a great disservice in repeating these politically-motivated fictions"

This is certainly a true statement because if it became generally accepted that the American media was only a mechanical parrot for various political organization, it would no longer be either believed or watched. If viewers turned off their television sets, the networks would lose huge amounts of advertising revenue, reporters would be laid off and people would turn instead to the Internet for their news.

Tbrnews receives many emails on a daily basis but the input on this subject has been so great that we have decided to expand the articles, irate journalists and professors to the contrary.

In the final analysis, it is always up to the reader to make up their own mind as to the truth, or fiction, of what they read. The media has an opposite view of this.

It is fairly obvious that the average Americans get their news either from TV, mostly, or from the print media. If someone in East Peoria, Illinois sees something on CNN, the Voice of the White House, they have no reason to question it. And don't. The establishment does not worry about the lone man with a website that, as in our case, reaches perhaps 100,000 people at a time when they have control over NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN that can, an do, reach millions a day.

What to they care about people who email messages back and forth? Even if a Pentagon plan to nuke North Korea were up on the net, all that would happen is that some would say, "See, I told you so!" while others would say "Oh shame! You are questioning our Glorious Leader and putting our Brave Troops in danger!"

If some astronomer had absolute proof that a three mile wide asteroid was going to hit this planet in ten days, do you think any of the mass media would ever mention a word of it? This would cause mass panic and the last thing the establishment wants is a public that is out of control. They would find out the target area and keep away from it, along with their friends and members of their families. The rest of us would be either squashed or roasted alive but they don't care about us only so long as we pay our taxes without complaint.
If the honesty of the American mass media is brought into serious question, perhaps the establishment cannot jam their lies down the public's throat with such ease.

Walter Storch

"Authoritarian government required to speak, is silent...Representative government required to speak, lies with impunity". -- Napoleon



(March 22):.it is not conducive to maintaining an overall neutrality in the Palestine uprisings to show any pictures of the American peacenik that was run over by the Israeli army bulldozer. This is only to be mentioned as a "tragic accident" for which the IDF "is truly saddened."

(Feb 10).It is not permitted at this point to use or refer to any film clips, stills or articles emanating from any French source whatsoever.

(Feb 26) It is expected that coverage of the forthcoming Iraqi campaign will be identical with the coverage used during Desert Storm. Shots of GIs must show a mixed racial combination.any interviews must reflect the youthful and idealistic, not the cynical point of viewthe liberation of happy, enthusiastic Iraqis can be best shown by filming crowds of cheering citizens waving American flags. Also indicated would be pictures of photogenic GIs fraternizing with Iraqi children and handing them food or other non-controversial presentsof course, pictures of dead US military personnel are not to be shown and pictures of dead Iraqi soldiers should not show examples of violent deathalso indicated would be brief interviews with English-speaking Iraqi citizens praising American liberation effortsall such interviews must be vetted by either the White House or Pentagon before public airing.

(March 12) At this point in time, reference to North Korean military threats must be played down entirely. The Iraqi Freedom campaign has to be concluded in the public mind before proceeding with the next assault on the Evil Axis.

(March 26) US alliances with the Turkish/Iraqi Kurdish tribes should be played down. This is considered a very sensitive issue with the Turks and American arming and support of the Kurds could create a severe backlash in Ankara.Kurds should be depicted as 'Iraqi Freedom Fighters" and not identified as Kurds

(March 2) further references to the religious views of the President are to be deleted

(March 15) photo opportunities of the President and members of his cabinet, especially Secretary Rumsfeld, with enthusiastic GIs.

(March 19) No mention, repeat, no mention, of Palestinian suicide bombers during the Iraqi operation.

(March 25) no mention of either Wolfowitz or Pearle should be made at the present time.

(March 10).pro-Government rallies are to be given the fullest coverageif anti-Government demonstrations are shown, it is desired to stress either a very small number of "eccentrics" or shots of social misfits; i.e., with beards, tattoos, physical deformities, etc. Pro-Government supporters should be seen as clean cut with as many well-groomed subjects as possible.subjects should stress complete support for the President's programs and especially support for American military units en route to combatalso interviews with photogenic family members of participating GIs stressing loyalty and affectionAmerican flags are always a good prop in the background

(March 30) Friction between Secretary Rumsfeld and senior military field commanders in Iraq are to be strictly minimalized and used only when impossible to avoid.the Secretary's point of view on all military matters is to be stressed.important to bring out his reputation as a "man who shakes things up" and a brilliant innovator.

(March 31) .no discussion of high-level rumors about pre-emptive tactical nuclear strikes against North Korean missile, "hard" artillery positions opposite Seoul or key North Korean leadership or military commands is to be mentioned. It must be stressed that the North Korean situation is viewed as "serious but not critical" by unnamed "senior U.S. military leaders."

(March 31) .no mention of PRC strong objections to US pre-emptive actions against North Korea.a short summary of the President's refusal to "enter into any kind of negotiations" with the North Korean government.background report on the irrational and anti-democratic forces in North Koreathe desire of South Korea's officials to maintain a close relationship with their American military protectors.no discussion of anti-US demonstrations in Seoul. These can be routinely dismissed as "radical students who are not supported by the new liberal and strongly pro-American President."

April 4) sharply rising unemployment numbers, this should be countered with official interviews stressing that the unemployment situation is now stabilizing and expected to fall soon.

(March 30) Because of the seriousness of the spread of SARS, actual figures of either the infected or of any deaths from local medical facilities must be carefully vetted via the CDC press information office in Atlanta. From the highest level, it is imperative that the American public not panic over the very rapid spread of this disease. Speculations of the actual nature of SARS is not under any circumstances to be permitted. Keep in mind the currently in- place rules following the outbreak of "Legionnaires Disease."

(April 4) a discussion of French desecrations of American and British war graves in France are to receive specific notice. Also, damage to the 9/11 memorial in Paris is to be included. No pictures of swastikas or other defamatory and anti-Administration graffiti are to be shown. French official apologies are permitted..no comments equating the President with Hitler will be made.and the invasion of Iraq may not be compared with Hitler's invasion of Poland, and such allegations now being made extensively in offshore media coverage are not to receive any attention. The Iraqi campaign is officially a campaign by a democratic United States against ruthless cruelty and oppression.

(April 5). comments appearing in the left-wing British Guardian about the occupation and administration of a conquered Iraq by American military personnel are to be ignored. Pacification, liberation, freedom and gratitude towards US forces, and the President are to be stressed.

(March 29) The President's goal, to achieve oil autarchy by the United States, is suggested as a future series. Congressional denial of drilling in various environmentally "sensitive" areas may be derided as foolish misunderstanding of America's vital oil needs. The interdiction of oil shipments to the United States from Venezuela and Nigeria are not to be commented upon. The attitude of Chavez towards the United States is also considered a non-topic. He was removed from power once and it can happen a second time. File footage of large crowds of distressed and unhappy Venezuelans should be prepared against the time he is removed from power again

(April 4) If possible, pictures of the President with a book or, better, actually reading, are suggested. Commentary about his extensive reading habitsstress important historical and economic works

(April 5) Presidential visits to military units in the United States are to receive full coverage and to extend past the usual slot timespots of especially warm receptions are considered very important

(April 7) Please arrange for photo ops of President visiting wounded GIs.Use photogenic subjects w/good racial mix. Also try for pix of First Lady handing wounded subject a giftPresident decorating wounded (in hospital bed) w medal(s) Make sure subject smiles at P. Warm handshakes (if possible.)

(April 7 ) no shots of GIs looting in Baghdad. Iraqi looters should be described as "joyful" at being liberated by US. Looting to be described as a "deprived people getting food for families"all pictures from forbidden French press sources of a US General's staff car being filled with paintings and carpets to be blacklisted at Pentagon request. If such pixs show up on other networks, comment be made that General is "rescuing art treasures to preserve them for the Iraqi people." Also Iraqi rioters could be shown waving in friendly way to GIs.

( April 4 ) Alliance casualties to be played down. The massive Iraqi civilian casualties also played down. Use the phrase, "most civilian casualties caused by vindictive Saddam supporters." Again, no pixs of dead women and children.

(April 6 ) Artillery targeting of several mosques to be deleted..

(April 2) prepare a piece on the withdrawal of all US troops from S. Korea. Main theme: US pulling out to prevent N. Korea from attacking. Stress the pro-US stance of Noh and his firm support of the President and his goal of preventing N. Korean military adventurismno mention of ongoing S. Korean anti-US riots. They are to be called "radical student demonstrations" but do not show clips unless it can be determined that the numbers shown are very small.

(Jan 21, 2002 ) in any article on Enron collapse, it is not considered advisable to discuss role of K. Lay. Charges against lesser Enron executives to be stressed. Lay's extensive gifts to President to be limited to "small campaign contributions" and shift emphasis to large gifts to Ashcroft for his presidential campaign. Mention A's recusal from Enron investigations

(April 9 ) play down the Moscow meetings w. Schroeder, Putin and French. Please, no mention of NATO problems

(April 9 ) concerning Moscow meetings, say Russia, Germany and France are willing to forgive their huge Iraqi debts at the direct request of President. Stress the need for Iraq to rebuild after years of repression and need to keep her funds "to help her people."

(April 8 ) develop possible linkage between Iraqi mobs and US need to police the country for a "brief time" to prevent any attempt to stifle emerging democracy. Do not mention probability of continued large US military presence. Stress the words "restoring law and order" and "helping to make the transition to true democracy."

(April 11) US attack on Russian Ambassador's convoy either to be ignored or blamed on "unknown Arab terrorists" who support Hussein. Considered expedient that if mention is made of attack, not to identify the country involved. This incident, officially termed a misunderstanding, is being cleared up with Russia now.

( April 7) attacks on foreign media, often unfriendly to US, to be explained as a "tragic error" and use the rationale of "pro-Saddam last ditch fanatics sniping at liberating US troops." from areas attacked by US armor.

(April 13 ) SARS is now officially "under control" in the US. Air travel, in the US, has been cleared by CDC and other groups as "entirely safe." Officially, there are no deaths from SARS in the United States. Use feed clips from CBC on "complete control" of disease in Canada also mention lack of responsible reporting on subject by China.

(April 9 ) in coverage of rebuilding of Iraq's infrastructure, mention that American firms have expressed willingness to "assist Iraq people to build a new, democratic nation." No mention, by name, of Halliburton or Bechtel.

(April 10 ) show mention of restoration of Moscow statue of KGB founder(linkage here) mention Putin's former membership in KGB and very brief discussion of "growing pro-Stalinist" feelings in Russia. Consider this background for future series on same subject.

(April 16) .a pending lawsuit against the FBI concerning its 'no fly list' should be treated as a 'lack of comprehension' by the American public. Negative comments are that this new regulation is designed to prevent elements hostile to the Administration from involvement in so-called "Peace" meetings, rallies and protests. Official view, to be stressed, is that this new regulation is to prevent suspected terrorists or persons having possibly dangerous views, i.e., militant Muslims etc. from using another commercial aircraft as in the 9/11 terrorist strike. We are advised that the list will be maintained as before.

(April 18) The President's generous and statesmanlike offer to North Korea to open "substantive" negotiations should be linked with commentary about the "absolute support" in the PRC for the President's peace moves and their willingness to help reign in a terrorist and communistic leadership needs special attention.

(April 19) Regarding North Korea, it is urgently requested by the White House that any reference to the President's determination to remove the existing leadership of that country by downplayed. It should be mentioned as an "option" rather than the intention of the President.

(April 19) in liberated Iraq, the apparent rejection by "dissident elements" of the country to continued US military and business presence is to be shown to be "against the will of the newly-liberated Iraqi people..." The on-going killings of pro-US Iraqis and occasional US military personal are to be downplayed and attributed to "rogue, pro-Saddam" persons. It is to be stressed, with photos and feature articles, that the Iraqi people "warmly greet their American liberators" any discussion about the CIA connections of US-sponsored new Iraqi leadership cadres is to be curtailed.

(April 19)the portions of the Administration's plan to lift Iraqi sanctions that deal with the humanitarian aspect of the rebuilding of Iraq are to be stressed. Subsequent US de facto control of the oil there, if mentioned, will concentrate on the fact that oil revenues from liberated Iraq will initially be utilized to pay for the costs of the campaign and later to support the military and administrative systems now being implemented.

(April 20) the new Budget should be summarized as a plan to revitalize the economy, which began its decline as the result of certain actions within the previous administration, and the tax cuts are not designed to assist the wealthy but the entire American public.

(April 21) There needs to be a cohesive attitude towards SARS. We cannot hide that this disease is now rampant throughout Asia and has a growing death toll. It is considered very important not to mention the spread of the disease in the US or to acknowledge any fatalities. The latter are now ascribed as due to pneumoniaif the spread of SARS continues as predicted, mass quarantine is considered by the CDC and the Surgeon General's office as almost mandatory.Canadian officials, very concerned with the high concentration of SARS-infected persons in Toronto are informing US officials that a general quarantine in that country may be mandatory. This should be a subject for comment, mentioning that Canadian health officials see mass quarantining as the "best and easiest" solution to the rapid spread of the disease'We are working on a new vaccine that will stop this Asian (stress this here) disease and protect the American public.' No mention of the fact that such a vaccine is months away if it happens at all.and it is considered imperative that no, repeat no, panic develop in the US. In sum, this is an Asian disease that mostly affects Asians.

(April 21) Stories planted in the South Korean press about North Korean 'missile parts' found in Alaska are not to be repeated in the media unless and until it is considered necessary as groundwork for projected military action.

(April 22) the lower gas prices at the pump should be ascribed to an "overproduction" by our Middle Eastern allies. When the controls are lifted, the resulting rise is to be attributed to "lack of cooperation" by possibly hostile Arab oil producing nations that the President is seriously concerned about.

(April 22) Please continue the present blackout on Israeli military activity on the Iraqi bordersIranian activity with the Sunni elements in Iraq are to be highlighted as "unwarranted interference" in the American plans for the reconstruction of a new and democratic Iraq. Possible US military and security countermeasures are to be highlighted as "anti-militant Islamic" in nature.

(April 23) Russian attitudes about repayments of past Iraqi oil debts are on blackout

(April 27) ongoing wave of failures, or projected failures, of major US corporations should be played down and covered only if the corporation in question actually files for bankruptcy. The expressed fear is that a constant drumfire of woeful economic news will hardly encourage a badly needed recovery. The usual practice is to prosecute minor level employees involved in various fiscal manipulations while ignoring the very top people. The Enron case is an example.

(April 29) The SARS problem should again be stressed as an Asian problem and the actual death rates (now believed to be approaching 20%) are not to be publicized. It is certain that political pressure from both the Canadian and American governments will result in the Toronto case being officially downgraded.

(May 1) and concerning the serious SARS epidemic, plans are now in train to test all incoming travelers from infected areas and quarantine anyone even remotely suspected of being ill with symptoms that even remotely resemble the disease. It is the privately stated intention of the highest authority to use physical force to enforce the quarantine if it proves necessary

(May 3) US Treasury officials are now investigating the enormous amounts of US currency uncovered in Iraq. Mention of this can be made and it is considered expedient to state that this is part of Saddam Hussein's personal booty. Under no circumstances, it has to be stressed, should any mention of amounts in excess of the publically stated $600 million be made. And absolutely no mention of the possibility of these $100 bills being counterfeit

(May 6) VP Dick Cheney will announce in a few days that he will be on the Presidential ticket in 2004. Stress that his contributions to the President's energy plans have made him indispensable. Please limit mention of Cheney's connections with Halliburton and the problems with the inflated stock

(May 6) at the present time, it is anticipated that proof of Iraqs possession of WMD will be uncovered by US specialists. This proof is necessary to offset the growing criticism that Iraq had no such weapons and that the Administration had fabricated reports that it did to justify the invasion. Still photos and film clips will be supplied

(May 7) it now appears that the President's religious charities bill will not be passed in the current session. There is considerable concern in Congress over this and the religious issues here are obvious. It is felt that the President has overreached himself and in light of the rising public opposition to some of his more extreme religious views, this bill will be reintroduced later but in a different formremarks by Rev. Graham about Islam are causing the White House considerable discomfiture not only in US Muslim circles but in Arab countries (especially Saudi Arabia) as well. Graham has been instructed to issue a statement to the effect that his words were "taken out of context" and that he has great respect for all faiths

(May 8) Although the dollar's continuing drop against the euro can be seen on most financial pages, this is to be addressed as "temporary" and articles from economists can be quoted to the effect that the victory in Iraq will soon result in a surging dollar on the international marketplace.

(May 9) It is obviously going to be a long time before peace and civil order is restored in Iraqthere are serious religious issues involved here. The Administration's intentions of allowing specific Christian missionaries into Iraq to effect widespread conversions of the Muslim population is now on hold. DOS claims that this might set off major riotingWhite House officials, speaking off the record, say that this missionary activity is "close to the President's heart" but will be put on temporary hold "until we have a stronger military presence" in Iraq. Prepare some backup material on this

(May 10) Play down the story on the mobile germ labs. This is generating too much heat in the foreign press and with the left wing hippie elements in the US. We are assured that "major discoveries" will be made that will "fully support" the mobile labs.

(May 12) discovery of counterfeit US bills worldwide is to be offset with stories about entirely new, colored bills now in preparation stages. These bills will be more difficult to counterfeitflood of counterfeit $20 bills in the USthe $100 bills will not be reworked at the present time. Loss of confidence in this bill could result in its rejection by the world currency markets and this would have a disastrous effect on the economybe sure to stress this in coverage

(May 13) a series of presentations about why the decline of the dollar against the euro, the Canadian and Mexican currency, is actually a good thing for American business. Stress that US production can now increase because American goods are cheaper, and stress, more easily available to the foreign markets.

(May 15) Kill the projected stories on the privatization of the Social Security programs. A test run on this indicates that AARP will fight it. Also, kill further comments about denying "extraordinary life-saving" regimens to the very elderly. This will be viewed as state-sponsored euthanasiawork up something on the escalating costs of long term hospitalization to the public sector

(May 16) Suggested that the treatment of economics keeps away from the dropping dollar. We need to get a reputable and recognized authority to give a bite on how the current lower value of the dollar overseas is actually a benefit to US economy because it stimulates American productivity

(May 16) Chaos in Iraq is given as the reason why a massive continued US military presence in that country is to be anticipated. Stories in foreign media about GIs shooting young children for throwing rocks are not to be repeated. No pictures

(May 17) The President's new tax plan should be shown as being beneficial to most American households. Democratic criticism is to be minimized and trivialized. The Laci Peterson case and the bad weather in the mid-west (tornados) are good subjects for diversion from less than helpful political partisanship.

(May 19) SARS out of control in China and now Taiwan. Press releases from official sources stressing the "drying up" of SARS are to be given a run. Mention that the Toronto infections are now "fully cured" and make a note of the lifting of the WHO quarantine

(May 21) The White House is releasing working drawings of the mobile WMD trailers in Iraq. Commentary by approved network specialists about the death-dealing capacity of these trailers is to be presented. Stress the "apparent failure" of the UN inspection teams to locate these deadly labs The UN is needed in Iraq to feed the population but not, the White House stresses, to interfere in the internal control of either Iraq or the oil production.

(May 22) For Memorial Day, prepare pieces on heroic GIs around the world. The President will make a speech on the contribution of the military services to the freedom of the world. Give this good coveragePlay down the anger with the French. "They are coming around now" is the best theme to take.

(May 24) The mad-cow problem in Canada is causing serious economic problems in both the US and Canada. It is considered very important to stress that none of the contaminated beef ever was sent to the US. Only one cow and a few calves, all of whom have been destroyed. If this gets any credence, it could wreak havoc with the US cattle industry, not to mention the fast food and restaurant business. Mad-cow has been in the US before and kept very quiet. Let's see if we can't repeat this now.

(May 25) The decision to proceed against Iran has been taken..using file footage about the Embassy hostage crisisbrutality of the anti-Shah takeovera series of articles about the presence of alAquida units "being trained" in Iraq. Shiites are to be depicted as "ruthless fanatics" and, most especially, as "haters of the Great Satanthe United States." Also something on a Sunday program about Iranian support of the Taliban and the suggestion that they might be giving refuge to Taliban leaders.for the time being, no reference here to overt Pakistani support of fundamentalism. If the current head of Pakistan is removed and replaced by a fundamentalist government, support will be given to India to remove Pakistan from the playing fieldatomic threats on the part of the Pakis a probability

(May 26) SARS outbreak in Torontothere is no way to hide this one so keep it brief and keep it simple. Vital to avoid any talk of SARS in the US. A puff piece on development of a SARS vaccinestress very soon. Get the usual medical people and give them the usual scriptRemember, SARS is stressed as an Asian disease that is "coming under control.

(May 26) comment that the raging war between Powell and Rumsfeld is "complete nonsense." We will try to get brief interviews with both men denying these rumors and saying that "all America is now united against international terrorism." This is the watchword from the White House. Putin wants a free hand with his Muslim terrorists and after the conference, may have it. He will then have to support US drives against the Philippine muslims projected for July. Projected heavy loss of life there is to be offset with stories of torture and killing of Christian tourists and missionaries

(May 27) Prepare a human interest story about Christian "educators" going to Iraq to "assist the population in its desire for religious and cultural diversity." A number of Pentecostal people are refusing to go to Iraq because they are afraid they will be killed by militant Muslims. Discuss how they will be protected by friendly American troops

(May 29) "It's the economy, stupid!" and let's keep in mind that drumfire about bad economy is not good kids, for all of us. Do a nice bit on how the market is now rising (slowly) and full recovery is projected to be around the corner. Get the usual bites from our economists. The deflation word is not to be used and keep strictly away from the rising euro. If this gets over $1.20, talk about the "great benefits" to US home productions. "Who needs fancy, overpriced French luxury goods when we can make it better and cheaper right at home?"

(May 30) You will be getting two packets of info on the St.Petersburg business. One is to be used if we score big but the second if we have problems. Putin will be our new "best friend" instead of Blair (who has about shot his bolt at home and will soon be toast) as long as he supports official US policy about Iran andagrees to lighten up on the Iraqi debts

Part 9

(June 1) Pacification in Iraq is proving more difficult that had been anticipated by the Pentagon. The President's advisors are debating whether or not to lay this one off on the military or simply ignore it. Massive countermeasures are now being planned against anyone daring to either directly attack US units or even in unlawful assemblage, especially in mosques

(June 2) Some elements of the media are beginning to bring up certain religious issues, mostly via letters to the editors of unreliable papers. We must be careful to counteract these attacks with puff pieces on the rising tide of Christian fundamentalist support of the President and especially human interest stories about ad hoc Christian groups operating in the US in support of the President.

(June 3) The President is privately expressing annoyance with Sharon over his refusal to accept the Roadmap for Peace. Some concessions on the part of the Israelis will have to be made. Arafat will absolutely have to goif these programs are to succeed. The President needs peace in Palestine, especially as the election planning goes forward.

(June 5) the economy is still stagnant and it is important to put a good and positive face on its recovery. Prepare a series of stories about the rising market trends and the return of the small investor

(June 7) the Martha Stewart business has to be presented in the light of dedicated prosecution by Justice of even the most prominent offenders. Better that the smaller fry get cooked than the really important ones. Campaign funding? Hah, hah!

(June 10)growing unrest, even in the media, over the lack of WMD in Iraq. The President's people want it stressed that both the CIA and military intelligence gave him faulty information. It is felt that this will run its course, especially in light of the "new revelations" The public's interest is short-lived on such things and a good, lasting distraction with plenty of commentary will keep them excited until the issue fades away. The Demos are too timid to make much use of this anyway.

(June 11) It will not do anyone good to go on about the Iraq uranium business. The issue served well to introduce the need for immediate action and it should be stressed over and over again that Saddam was evil and so what if a few "inaccuracies" crept in? Our leaders are shown to be ever vigilant in their goals of making America safe from terrorists..

(June 12) Rumsfeld's stern warning to both NATO and Belgium should get a good play. It needs to be seen that the US punishes those who oppose it and rewards those who support it. Give the Polacks a good press.

(June 12) It seems that guerrilla warfare is a real thing. Too much looting, assaulting Iraqi women, too much Muslim-bashing. No discipline in the US forces and the commanders have a hard time in controlling their men. Protestors are to be shown to be "die-hard Baathist supporters of the evil Saddam" and show pictures of a "commando" camp with pictures of Saddam and anti-US slogans. And don't show these in Arabic. English is the language of our viewers, don't forget There is a blackout on guerrilla attacks in Afghanistan. The fear is that these are part of a coordinated movement in the Arab world. Do an investigative bite on "Arab fanatics" going to Iraq (for the time being, cool it with Afghanistan) going to Iraq to help kill Americans. This can lay the background for additional "anti-guerrilla" actions against other Arab states that do not cooperate. In Iran, student agitations against the religious leaders is to be given prominent space. There will be more of this in the future. It is believed to be a much safer course to topple the Iranian leadership by local groups rather than by US military and economic direct action. Large numbers of students in the streets costs money but not as much as a military action. The public will grow restive if there are too many US dead

(June 13) The Administration has gotten burnt by attacking Sharon. It won't happen again. Human interest stories about Israeli families mourning their dead is always a good thing. The Hamas people are slated for utter destruction by a possible joint US/IDF action in the near future so point out repeatedly how they are sabotaging the sincere efforts of both the President and Sharon to achieve a real and lasting peace.



Controlling the News. Part 10


In-House Memos on Television News Presentations

Note: There are many other entries dating from January, 2002. To read these, please click here

During the middle of March, 2003, tbrnews received an email from a man who claimed to be a mid-level executive with a major American television network. He stated in this, and subsequent, emails that he was in possession of "thousands" of pages of in-house memos sent from his corporate headquarters in New York City to the head of the network's television news department. He went on to say that these memos set forth directives about what material was, and was not, to be aired on the various outlets of the network.

This individual claimed he was developing serious doubts about the strict control of media events and decided that he would pass this material along to someone who might make use of it.

There was the question of his job security. If someone published his name, it would be certain he was not only fired but blackballed throughout his profession.

If tbrnews.org would agree to protect his identity, he would send us these alleged thousands of pages of notes, going back to 2001.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating so we accepted his caveats and he then sent to us by disk the pages he spoke of. All are on corporate stationary, signed or initialed by the senders and again, signed or initialed by the recipients in the news division.

It was always possible that this material consisted of a very involved hoax or was something designed for the news site to use and then have it revealed that it was not original. It would not be the first time that spurious disinformation had been sent to us in the hopes that it would be used.

There were not "thousands of pages" of memos but a total of 1,497 separate pages involved. Many of them consisted of short memos while others ran to a larger format.

Naturally, someone could easily have obtained correct in-house network letterheads, made copies of them and prepared false memoranda but the sheer size and depth of the collection was impressive.

If these memos were true, they showed with a terrible clarity that at least one part of the American mass media was strictly controlled and that the news was so doctored and spun that it might as well be official news releases from the White House and Pentagon.

The best way in which to ascertain whether or not these documents contained original information was to check the dates of issuance and compare the information with subsequent news stories.

This was a terrible, time-consuming chore but by selecting random memos and looking through the archives of various national newspapers, checking AP releases and so on, the results indicated that indeed, news was being managed.

However, it was also possible that someone else did this and was preparing these after the fact and making the memos conform to published material.

That having been said, we insisted on absolutely current memos so that we could then check these against future publications. If, for example, a corporate fiat was to show certain pictures or spin a story in a certain way, it would be relatively simple to simply read the press or watch television news to see if these suggestions were implemented.

It was both shocking and gratifying to note that this proved to be the case in a preponderance of cases and so we began to put these up, either in toto or, more often, in excerpt and watch as ordained news was created before our eyes.

When a corporate order states, for instance, that certain pictures should be shown with accompanying commentary and the memo predates a published story by a week or more, then it is more than likely that the memos are not inspired guesswork but genuine.

When tbrnews put up the first two pages, there were two basic forms of public response. One was to thank us for exposing something many people believed; that the American media was controlled and not free. (That much can easily be ascertained by reading the websites of various reputable foreign publications such as the Swiss NZZ, the British Guardian, the Canadian Toronto Globe and Mail, Reuters News Service and the Jerusalem Post. What any viewer can see on these sites is certainly not reflected in the American media.)

The second response consisted of irate, and literate, statements to the effect that all of these items were just stupid hoaxes and should not be believed. "I believe," one writer who claimed to be a Professor of Journalism at an Ivy League college said, "these are just disinformation designed to discredit American journalists whose reputation for honesty and integrity is certainly beyond question. You are performing a great disservice in repeating these politically-motivated fictions"

This is certainly a true statement because if it became generally accepted that the American media was only a mechanical parrot for various political organization, it would no longer be either believed or watched. If viewers turned off their television sets, the networks would lose huge amounts of advertising revenue, reporters would be laid off and people would turn instead to the Internet for their news.

Tbrnews receives many emails on a daily basis but the input on this subject has been so great that we have decided to expand the articles, irate journalists and professors to the contrary.

In the final analysis, it is always up to the reader to make up their own mind as to the truth, or fiction, of what they read. The media has an opposite view of this.

It is fairly obvious that the average Americans get their news either from TV, mostly, or from the print media. If someone in East Peoria, Illinois sees something on CNN, the Voice of the White House, they have no reason to question it. And don't. The establishment does not worry about the lone man with a website that, as in our case, reaches perhaps 100,000 people at a time when they have control over NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN that can, an do, reach millions a day.

What to they care about people who email messages back and forth? Even if a Pentagon plan to nuke North Korea were up on the net, all that would happen is that some would say, "See, I told you so!" while others would say "Oh shame! You are questioning our Glorious Leader and putting our Brave Troops in danger!"

If some astronomer had absolute proof that a three mile wide asteroid was going to hit this planet in ten days, do you think any of the mass media would ever mention a word of it? This would cause mass panic and the last thing the establishment wants is a public that is out of control. They would find out the target area and keep away from it, along with their friends and members of their families. The rest of us would be either squashed or roasted alive but they don't care about us only so long as we pay our taxes without complaint.
If the honesty of the American mass media is brought into serious question, perhaps the establishment cannot jam their lies down the public's throat with such ease.

Walter Storch

"Authoritarian government required to speak, is silent...Representative government required to speak, lies with impunity". -- Napoleon

Part 10

(June 10)The ongoing flap about WMD will eventually fade away. If it weren't for the peaceniks in America and the envious foreign press, this non-issue would soon evaporate. In support of this, we need more material out on the mass graves in Iraq

(June 11) and in Iran, the leaders there have been sending Shiite guerrillas into southern Iraq to foment revolution. The CIA has begun to stir up the Iranian students and it is hoped by the White House that the Iranian government will topple without the necessity of American military interventionthis has been placed on hold awaiting the outcome of the revolutionary movement now activated in Tehran and other cities

(June 11) In California, the recall against Gov. Davis is getting up quite a head of steam. The Republicans want him outtoo liberal and thereand a good conservative in his place. Iron Arnold has panache but is not reliable. If he gets in when Davis is put out, he could be a loose cannon. The White House is hand-picking their own candidate and in the meantime, the President is publically objecting to the recall while privately rejoicingThe idea here is to keep Kenneth Lay and Enron out of the news on the California mess

(June 12) Hillary Clinton is flexing her muscle again after a long silence. She wants to use her new book as a springboard to the White House next year. It is time now to go after her. Sarcasm is the best weapon herekeep away from the feminist angleit could backfire.

(June 13) North Korea is a back issue for now. We are pulling troops away from the DMZ in case we have to nuke Pyongyang

(June 14) SARS is officially dead. Monkeypox is replacing it. We have beaten SARS to death so it is best to keep the file footage for when it comes back with a bang this winter. With no vaccine in sight, buy masks, kids! If SARS combines with something else, watch out on this one

(June 15) The market is up again but just equal to last year. Not good but make a strong case for serious recovery under the President's new tax refunds. Unemployment is soaring but let's keep this minor key unless some trouble breaks out over it. Justice has evidence of serious labor unrest, especially among ghetto minorities. They never had a crack at the brass ring before and now, none at all. This in seen as potential disaster by the AG and his peopleJob corps are out of the question. Subject of a universal draft for all 18 year olds on the drawing board. Keep them out of trouble before the election and boosts up the military "just in case" there is more military action.



Part 11

(June 15) We are going to be running into serious problems with the growing resistance movements in Iraq. GIs are being killed and wounded, convoys ambushed and worst of all scenarios are coming true: The Iraqi oil is being interdicted before it can be shipped out of the country. Casualties cannot be concealed but can be minimized. No clips of dead or injured US personnelpipeline fires can be shown but voice over should stress that technicians (from Haliburton, of course) are putting out these as quickly as possible. Damage is to be minimalthe nature of the attackersthese are a handful of diehard Saddam supporterswho are being successfully tracked down and neutralized by ever-vigilant and prepared US troops. Show pictures of captured (not dead) Iraqis. Be careful to vet the shots so as not to include any captives that appear to have been beaten

(June 16) Pentagon sources now claim that it will be impossible to bring law and order to Iraq within a year and heavy US military presence must be in place to do this. An order is being prepared to exclude all foreign media, especially British and French, from guerrilla areas. The reason given is that they might be kidnapped but in reality, foreign press might take pictures that are not advisable to be seen in the US. the most severe methods of interdiction are currently being indicated including setting up detention camps, curfews, the issuance of ID cards, the closing of mosques, the detention of religious leaders and the sealing of the borders with Syria and Iran

(June 18) Now it appears that the faked (call them 'inaccurate') reports about Saddam's purchase of enriched uranium will not go away. The White House hopes that Muslim terrorists will commit some atrocity, preferably in the United States, so as to deflect rising negative attitudes on the part of the electoratealthough no one has said it, such an attack(s) would not be surprising.

(June 19) ..and it now appears that SARS is taking a breather. There are still pockets of it, especially in the Pacific rim areas, but the Canadian outbreaks seem to be pretty much under control nowThe CDC is very concerned about a renewed outbreak concomitant with the usual flu season this winter. If SARS combines with certain forms of pneumonia, the results could be a major epidemic. Use discretion in any mention of SARS and we have been advised to drop the entire subject.

(June 20) Continue with positive reports about the market upswingsno comment on the 10% unemployment rates. Work up a treatment that stresses the problems newly-graduated high school students have in finding work. Thus, the higher rates.

(June 21) The reaction of Congress, pushed by public opinion, to rescind the FCC rulings about multiple ownership of media entities will certainly not be welcome in the trade. The President says he will veto anything like this but Beltway sources on the inside say this will be veto-proof. Rupert will not be a happy camper!

(June 22) Keep up with the legislation about partial-birth abortion but stay neutral in reporting. This is a very volatile issue, especially with the women. No one wants armies of screaming women parading up and down in front of the White House or the Capitol

(June 23) withdrawal of US troops from the Korean DMZ is to be presented as an attempt to keep GIs out of harms way and, stress this, not as a prelude of a US attack (atomic or conventional) on Pyongyang. This is a hyper-sensitive area. We are all assured that North Korea will not attack unless attacked and the media has to play this aspect down. In short, the less said the better. Iran is the new target, not North Korea. Keep that strictly in mind on coverage..

Part 12

Note: This part of our posting is certainly the one that draws the most attentionfrom all over the world. Many of our readers have asked us to be more substantive in our selections so in this issue, we are trying to give fuller presentations Ed.

(June 16) and for a decade, the establishment has taken a very dim view of the internet. It is seen as a method used by dissident elements to propagandize the public and publish material that might cause great disruption in the public mind. A new program launched by a major computer company is designed to permit easy access by investigative agencies to computers and computer files of suspect persons. The rationale given is to protect copyrighted material such as popular music and video material. The actual purpose is to build into all new computers a chip ostensibly to "protect" the user from intrusion but in reality supplying a trapdoor to facilitate observation. In all probability, this program will not succeed because younger users will not want controls over their systemsall of this brings up the subject of 'Internet II' which was a DOJ project to control access to and permit close supervision of emailsthis failed but the new project is to be put forward as a boon to computer users who are afraid that their systems will be illegally entered

(June 18) The Pentagon is concerned and the White House is furious that Russian military intelligence has not only been breaking our secret military coded messages but worse, putting the contents up for all to see. The Russians have also published the exact means by which others can break US codes. New codes and systems are being rushed through in order to shut these disastrous leaks down

(June 21) The left is circulating rumors, sparked initially by a long paper by a Moody Bible Institute (of Chicago) instructor that puts forward the argument that President Bush is actually the Antichrist! The writer makes compelling parallels but for obvious reasons, this topic is not one to be covered

(June 22) The controversy swirling around the 2001 anthrax attacks is heating up, but fortunately behind closed doors. Parallels are being drawn between these attacks and the Legionnaires Disease attacks in Philly. The simple problem is that germ warfare was banned under Nixon but actually development never stopped at the Army's Maryland facility. We know that mobile labs have been built here and were planned for use in Iraq until someone thought better of it. Now, the Pentagon is afraid that the selected "target" to blame the attacks on apparently knows more about the situation than they realized and that if he were charged, he would talk and the very big cat would get out of the bag. Nailing the people at the tabloid press in Florida was a shot across our bowsthe media had best shut its mouth or look what can happen to you. There is no substantive control over the military and official Washington is terrified that they could pull another Northwoods game again

(June 28) The situation in Iraq vis a vis the guerrilla war is now reaching critical proportions. It is very obvious not only to the Pentagon, whose business it is to combat it, or to the White House who basically instigated it, that the actions of Iraqis are not, repeat not, merely sporadic lootings and local vigilantly actions but a well-organized and fully functioning guerrilla movement. This has very ugly religious overtones and has the danger of causing serious and widespread trouble in the adjoining Muslim countries. The Administration has two choices facing it: Get on or get out. Our sources indicate that Bush's temperament and personality will not permit him to retreat an inch. There is the oil question. We were supposed to secure all the Iraqi oil after kicking Hussein out and breaking his hold on the country. Bush was warned repeatedly by Pentagon experts that there was the strong probability of dangerous insurgent activity by he and his close advisors such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz discounted it. Since the President will not, and cannot, withdraw from a situation that is daily becoming more and more dangerous to American military units, his only remaining choice is to increase the number of troops in Iraq to both suppress any and all civil resistance to American occupation and , even more important, protect the oil fields and most especially the pumping stations and pipelines. Experts we have spoken with have said that this will be impossible without at least 200,000 troops in place. Pacification could take years, not weeks or months, and with elections coming up next year, inside White House sources have said the President and Rove are in a panic. Increasing damage to plant, increasing anti-US guerrilla activity and the resultant deaths of GIs is causing havoc with the planning for both the export of the vital oil and the prospects of another Vietnam to haunt the election. Options are varied but the best bet here is that Bush will replace the current commanders with someone who is known to be absolutely ruthless and will mandate the new commander to obliterate any and all opposition, especially Iranian-based Shiite religious leaders and former members of Saddam's ruling class. We are told that we will have to pull out our reporters if and when this happens. It would be a PR disaster if we had a reprise of Nam with the shooting of civilians on the 6 o'clock news. And all foreign journalists will be ordered out because the US has no control over these and both the French, British and Russians will love to show Americans shooting small children or blowing up mosques full of worshippers. A news pool is slated to be set up like the first Bush did in Desert Storm with controlled news being parceled out to the various media.

(July 2) Frist's outrage over the Supreme Court decision in the Texas sodomy case is giving the White House more problems. Frist, another devoted Christian, wants a special Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages. Both the President and the AG are fully in agreement with the thrust of this, no pun here boys, but sees trouble if the gay community (who have clout and money) sees Bush as a gay-hater. (Which we know he is) Right now, the plan is to let Frist have his way (and please, no reference here or at any time about his torture and killing of cats!) but without Presidential official approval. If Frist is successful (and it's odds on he won't get past first base with this) then Bush can smile and say that the will of the people has been done. If it flops, he can easily have plausible deniability.

Note: This article from a French source clearly illuminates the results of American press control. It is very much to the point and entirely valid.
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English/French document

THE AMNESIAS OF BARON SULZBERGER
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We Israelis enjoy full immunity, and have no doubt, if and when our government decides

to turn the Palestinians into canned meat, the New York Times will celebrate its nutritional

values.

Israel Shamir

Kid Sister

Jaffa, February 17, 2001



They've probably mentioned [the 1956 Kafr Kassem] massacre before and may have reported it at the time. But at the time the [New York] Times was not a pro-Israel paper.

It was kind of non-Zionist. So it's quite possible that they reported it accurately at the time. In recent decades, the Times has been a highly pro-Israel paper.

Noam Chomsky

Interview with David Barsamian

April 10, 2000

Propaganda and the Public Mind (2001)

The editors and the publisher of The New York Times, Baron Arthur Sulzberger, seem to suffer from acute memory losses.

Here's how the newspaper has reported to the American public several major demonstrations that took place in France, in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and in Italy during the

year 2002.

Paris, April 7, 2002
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On Sunday, April 7, 2002, a demonstration in support of the State of Israel took place in the streets of Paris (France). A Reuters wire posted the same day on the site of the French

daily Libération gives an idea of the magnitude of this event:

Au lendemain d'une mobilisation en faveur des Palestiniens, plusieurs dizaines de milliers de personnes ont manifesté à Paris et en province pour dénoncer les violences antisémites et soutenir Israël. (...) Dans la capitale française, 150.000 personnes selon les organisateurs, 53.000 selon la police, ont défilé de la place de la République jusqu'à la Bastille.

During this demonstration, hundreds of extremists organized in commandos belonging to the Betar and the Jewish Defense League (JDL) attacked journalists, policemen, Arabs, Blacks, and pacifist Jews, as reported in the French daily Le Monde in its April 8 and 9 editions (Internet):

Quand les manifestants arrivent place de la Bastille, vers 19 heures, quelques dizaines de jeunes excités les ont précédés depuis longtemps. Certains portent des blousons du Betar, ce mouvement proche de la droite nationaliste israélienne (Le Monde daté 7-8 avril), d'autres des tee-shirts jaunes de la Ligue de défense juive, organisation radicale. Pendant près de deux heures, ils prennent pour cible des Maghrébins passant par hasard sur la place ou dans les rues adjacentes. Courant par bandes, armés de casques ou de bouts de bois - souvenirs de pancartes - voire de petites battes de base-ball, les jeunes du Betar n'ont eu cure des rappels à l'ordre et des cris des manifestants pacifiques. Ils ont même frappé

ceux qui tonnaient contre eux, leurs autres cibles privilégiées étant les CRS et les journalistes. [...] Ces chasses à l'homme apparaissaient préméditées. Disposant de talkie-walkies pour éviter le réseau téléphonique saturé, ces jeunes extrêmistes, dont beaucoup paraissaient mineurs, se félicitaient des coups donnés en se tapant dans les mains, aux cris de " Plus d'Arabes, plus de problèmes ! ".

"Un noyau de 400 à 500 personnes appartenant à des mouvements extrémistes pro-israéliens, organisés en commandos très mobiles -...- n'ont cessé de provoquer

pendant plusieurs heures", a déclaré, lundi 9 avril, le préfet de police de Paris, Jean-Paul Proust, qui a affirmé que "tout serait mis en oeuvre" pour retrouver les agresseurs d'un commissaire de police en uniforme, frappé d'un coup de couteau et dont les jours ne sont pas en danger. Reporters sans frontières a demandé au procureur de la République de Paris l'ouverture d'une enquête, à la suite des violences dont plusieurs journalistes couvrant la manifestation ont été victimes. Selon l'association, un cameraman de la télévision espagnole Antena 3 a été passé à tabac " par des membres du service d'ordre de la manifestation qui portaient des brassards ". Par ailleurs, dix journalistes et techniciens de la chaîne France 2 ont été pris à partie, dont un cameraman d'origine guadeloupéenne, qui a subi des injures racistes. Un photographe travaillant pour un site Internet a été frappé à coups de pied. Les mouvements extrémistes juifs du Betar et de la Ligue de défense juive (LDJ) sont particulièrement mis en cause. Le Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples (MRAP) a demandé, lundi 8 avril, la dissolution de la Ligue de défense juive, accusant cette organisation d'avoir mené une " véritable chasse au faciès " et des

" ratonnades dans les rues de Paris ". Plusieurs témoignages rapportent, en effet, que des jeunes vêtus du T-shirt jaune de la LDJ ont poursuivi et frappé des personnes d'origine maghrébine en marge de la manifestation, sur la place de la Bastille et dans les rues voisines. Les manifestants d'un rassemblement organisé par le mouvement pacifiste Shalom

Archav (" La Paix maintenant ") ont également été pris à partie.

How did The New York Times report this event? With utmost discretion: In its national edition of Monday, April 8, 2002, there is just one photo showing the Paris crowd (Section A, page 3). Curiously, this photo is inserted in an article by Marlise Simons entitled "The Mideast in Marseille: Violence Shakes a City". Its legend indicates only:

About 50,000 people marched yesterday in Paris to protest anti-Jewish attacks and to support Israel. Clashes broke out between counterdemonstrators and marchers and a

police officer was stabbed.

Sulzberger's newspaper does not state clearly that the violence was provoked by a large group of Zionist extremists linked to the organizers of the march and that the French police

officer was stabbed by one of them.

In contrast, when, a few days later, on Wednesday, April 10, 2002, some Jewish teenagers playing soccer in a Paris suburb were beaten by masked aggressors, The New York Times

dedicated a whole article to the story under the catchy title "Gang Attacks Jews on Sport Field in France" (04/13/2002,Section A, page 3). The author, Suzanne Daley, made no reference whatsoever to the violence committed by the Betar and the JDL the previous Sunday, even if these actions may have explained a retaliatory attack on the soccer players.

Washington, April 15, 2002
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A week later, on Monday, April 15, 2002, another demonstration in support of the State of Israel took place, this time in the streets of Washington (DC).

How did The New York Times report this event? Sulzberger's newspaper did it the following day (04/16/2002) with an article and a large color photo centered on the upper part of the front page. Its legend says:

More than 100,000 demonstrators rallied yesterday at the Capitol, urging the Bush administration to support Israel and refuse negotiations with Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader.

The article mentioned the participation of several American Zionist and Israeli public figures such as Paul Wolfowitz and Benjamin Netanyahu with quotes of their declarations.

The front-page photo was taken at an angle such that the crowd seems enormous. In fact, the 100,000 figure given by The New York Times was largely inflated due to... a "coordination" problem with one of its desks: The real number was in the low thousands (see below).

London, September 28, 2002
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On Saturday, September 28, 2002, a demonstration took place in the streets of London against the war planned in Irak by the Washington administration with the full support

of the Jewish-American-Zionist lobby (JAZ) and the Israeli government. An article published in CounterPunch (09/16-30/2002), one of the best American political gazettes, gives an idea of the magnitude of this event:

The London rally on September 28 against any attac on Iraq was huge. The police and the Murdoch-owned London Sunday Times put the crowd at 150,000. The Independent reported "between 150,000 and 350,000". The rally's organizers reckoned more than 250,000 and

the Guardian said "up to 400,000".

How did The New York Times report this event? In its national editions of Sunday, September 29, and Monday, September 30, 2002 (section A), there is nothing about this demonstration.

A week earlier, on Sunday, September 22, 2002, another important demonstration had taken place in the British capital. A huge crowd had gathered in London to defend country lifestyle and... fox hunting! Interestingly, The New York Times did report this event the following day (09/23/2002) under the title "400,000 Rural Protesters Take to London Streets" with

a photo of the demonstrators and their signs.

Is Iraqi hunting a less important topic than fox hunting?

Rome, September 28, 2002
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On Saturday, September 28, 2002, a demonstration against the war in Irak took place in the streets of Rome (Italy). A Reuters wire of the same day gives an idea of the magnitude

of this event:

Des milliers de pacifistes italiens armés de drapeaux et de sifflets ont manifesté samedi dans les rues de Rome pour exprimer leur hostilité à une nouvelle guerre contre l'Irak. Accusant le président américain George W. Bush de nourrir des desseins belliqueux, le cortège s'est frayé un chemin au coeur de la Ville éternelle, avant de s'immobiliser sur une grande place du centre-ville. Selon Refondation communiste, organisateur de la marche, cette dernière a rassemblé plus de 100.000 participants. La police n'a pas fourni d'estimations mais les journalistes présents ont, quant à eux, avancé un chiffre plus proche des 50.000.

Another source (www.eurolegal.org) confirms the importance of this demonstration:

But 70% of the Italian public are against military intervention in Iraq: On 28th September 2002 around 100,000 people demonstrated on the streets of Rome against Berlusconi's support for Bush and there was also a big demonstration in Milan.

How did The New York Times report this event? In its national editions of Sunday, September 29, and Monday, September 30, 2002 (section A), there is nothing about this demonstration.

Washington, October 26, 2002
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On Saturday, October 26, 2002, a demonstration against the war in Irak took place in the streets of Washington near the White House. A report posted on the Internet site of International Answer (www.internationalanswer.org), the organizer of the march, gives an idea of the magnitude of this event:

In the largest anti-war demonstration since the Vietnam War era, more than a quarter of a million people took to the streets in Washington, DC and San Francisco. Other demonstrations took place in cities around the world. [...] The largest demonstration took place in Washington D.C., where tens of thousands of people participated in a rally that began adjacent to the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial. While the Washington Post and police put the figure at above 100,000, news anchors on Pacifica radio, which broadcast the event live, put the figure at over 200,000. [...] The march in Washington D.C. was so large that when marchers at the front of the procession returned to Constitution Avenue on their way back, they had to wait to allow demonstrators at the tail of the march to pass. Organizers say a demonstration of this magnitude had not happened since 1969, five years after Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin authorizing President Johnson to launch a war on Vietnam.

How did The New York Times report this event? In its national editions of Sunday, October 27, and Monday, October 28, 2002 (section A), there is nothing about this demonstration.

Under the pressure of the public, Sulzberger's newspaper finally published something, but four days after the march (10/30/2002),

and the article omits a lot of things. For instance, it does not mention the participation of famous activists and public figures like Ramsey Clark or Jesse Jackson and, consequently, does not quote any of them, in spite of the fact that the media had their own podium facing the stage with a battery of cameras and microphones.

I was in Washington on October 26, 2002. Under blue skies,I spent half a day in a huge crowd that gave a great lesson of democracy to the country. A very mixed and joyful crowd

of students, unionists, veterans, pro-Palestinian activists, socialist militants, Franciscan nuns, mothers and children, pacifist lawyers, sympathizers of all kinds and, probably, agents of the FBI and the Mossad. On the thousands of signs mixed with Palestinian flags, one could read devastating slogans against the planned attack and the warmongers of the Bush administration:"Drop Bush, not bombs", "We're in deep shit when our bombs are smarter than our President","Draft Richard Perle" or "Axis of evil = Rumsfeld, Bush, Powell".

In the morning, many speakers took the stage near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and I had the great privilege of hearing two extraordinary activists, the actress Susan Sarandon and the former Assistant Attorney and then Attorney General of the Kennedy and Johnson cabinets, Ramsey Clark.

Florence, November 9, 2002
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On Saturday, November 9, 2002, a demonstration against the war in Irak took place in the streets of Florence (Italy). Wires posted the same day on the Internet sites of the French daily Le Monde (via AFP) and Reuters give an idea of the magnitude of this event:

Entre 400.000 et un million de personnes, selon la police ou les organisateurs, ont participé samedi à Florence à une marche contre la guerre, point culminant du premier Forum social européen.

More than half a million anti-war protesters from across Europe marched through this Italian Renaissance city on Saturday in a loud and colorful demonstration denouncing any possible U.S. attack on Iraq. Brimming with anti-American feelings and riled by a tough new U.N. resolution to disarm Iraq, young and old activists from as far afield as Russia and Portugal joined forces for the carnival-like rally, singing Communist anthems and 1970s peace songs. [...] Authorities estimated that some 450,000 protesters flooded Florence's streets for the march on a chilly autumn afternoon. But by dusk, the crowd had swelled to over half a million, many of them arriving on specially chartered trains and buses. Organizers estimated the gathering at around one million, making it one of Italy's biggest ever anti-war rallies.

How did The New York Times report this event? This time, Sulzberger's newspaper quickly informed the American public with a front-page color photo in its Sunday edition (11/10/2002). But its legend minimizes the success of the march:

More than 100,000 said "No to the War in Iraq" as they marched yesterday in Florence.

Why did The New York Times finally decide to cover promptly a massive anti-war rally? Two reasons could explain this flip-flop. After the October march in Washington, the newspaper received more than a thousand e-mails from outraged readers protesting its coverage (source: www.fair.org). Its publisher was certainly concerned about a tarnished reputation and inclined to some damage control. Moreover, at the time of the Florence march, the mid-term elections were over (11/05/2002) and had been won by the Bush camp, the one who pushes the most for a war against Irak and the one that the bellicose JAZ lobby favors above all. Therefore, there was no immediate need for The New York Times to control further the minds and the hearts of the American public. During the election campaign, no dissident piccolo was supposed to disturb the concert for trumpets and bass drums orchestrated for or by the White House.

In a recent article published on www.counterpunch.org ("How the Press Downplayed the Protests: Deceptions and Illusions",

January 18-19, 2003,), Wayne Madsen rightly writes:

The New York Times has become the chief perpetrator of low balling anti-Bush protestor numbers. A photo caption on its web site stated, "thousands of protestors" took part in the January 18 protest. A similar anti-war protest held in Washington last October 26 was estimated at between 100,000 and 200,000. It was the largest anti-war protest since the Vietnam War, but the Times reported the number of protestors as being in the "thousands."

However, an April 15, 2002 pro-Israel rally at the US Capitol, was reported by the Times to be 100,000. In reality, the numbers were merely in the low thousands. The "Old Grey Lady" later admitted it had erroneously reported the inflated number due to a "coordination" problem with one of its desks. Five days later, a pro-Palestinian rally was held on the White House Ellipse. Organizers claim the crowd was 100,000 but Washington police chief Charles Ramsey put the numbers at between 35,000 and 50,000. Once again, the Times reported the numbers to be in the "tens of thousands." This is not just shoddy journalism but willful disinformation being perpetrated by corporate newspapers that want to curry favor with the White House, Congress, and the Pentagon.

"Expect the World" promise day after day advertisements for The New York Times. But what world are you talking about, Baron Sulzberger? Do you really live on the same planet as ours?

Perhaps the time has come to rename your rag The Zionist Times of New York.

François Costes

October 31, 2002

Revised January 23, 2003

English version 1.3

See also:

When "Doves" Lie

The New York Times plays down anti-war opinion

Jim Naureckas

FAIR

April 2003

www.fair.org/extra/0304/nyt-doves.html

Comment:

Part 13
Note: As indicated in the last posting, we are now providing more detailed material.
(July 12) We forsee problems in some of our coverage of the Iraq business. Until fairly recently, the public support has been fairly strong for the President's actions. Our own poll results showed that the President enjoyed a solid 52% national support (although the agreed figures were closer to 65%) Now, with the prolonged and escalating Iraqi resistance and growing questions about Bush's State of the Union speech and the glaring errors contained in it, it is very evident that other media elements are beginning to raise questions. We have known for some time that Tenet would take the blame for the glaring forged documents the President used to whip up a panic and gain public support for his determination to attack and occupy Iraq. We have a copy of the December, 2002 memo from the White House to the DCI concerning documentation of Iraqi WMD. Quote: The President feels that it is vital to have supportive material concerning known Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. You are requested to search your files for anything that would support this important thesis endquote. It was well-known inside our circles and the Beltway that the reports of Nigerian uranium sales to Iraq were hopeless frauds. These faked reports were duly sent over to the White House with a cover letter, a copy of which we also have in our files, to the effect that this report was the only one that addressed the President's request but also contained a specific warning that its authenticity was quote dubious at best and therefore could not be supported by other evidence endquote
As pressure on the President ratchets up over these faked papers, it is obvious that he is going to find a fall guy for his slipping reputation. Our sources indicate that Tenet (and others) will be reprimanded in public but praised in private. He will in all probability not be given the sack because, quite simply, George T knows where the bodies are buried. The best way to cover this is to be strictly neutral in comment and we must now maintain a completely neutral position in all of this. If Bush has the same problems Nixon did over Watergate, we cannot be seen by our viewers as being blindly partisan. We have to have plausible deniability in this. The NYT is now beginning to crack the wall of silence surrounding the Presidency and as they are the bellweather, best to watch them closely.
(July 13) The figures given out about a 3 billion monthly bill for the Iraq occupation and "pacification" is going to blow up in the Administration's face.(More like 5 billion a month!) The Democrats have been in disarray because they feel that by attacking the wartime President, they can be accused of disloyalty to the American peopleThe major disaster for the White House is that they cannot get oil out of Iraq. The plan always was to root out Saddam, occupy the country after securing the oil fields first and then put a CIA trained and controlled local governments into place. This puppet governments (let's face it gentlemen, that is what it would be but we can call it Iraqi autonomy) would graciously grant to the US the right to protect their oil resources and assist them in recovering their pre-Desert Storm production levels. In fact, the Iraqis would get none of the proceeds of the oil salesThe President and his top men, including Rumsfeld, were fully warned by both the CIA and MI that there was a very strong probability that internal unrest in Iraq could tie the US up for years, not months but as we know, the White House has always listened to a different drummerThe Administration is over a barrel on this because if they try to make too many scapegoats, someone will let the cat out of the bag over who really knew what and what kind of specific warnings the White House had actually receivedthe same scenario as the 9-11 warnings.It's strongly suspected that the Russians know exactly where Saddam is but will never tell usBush has refused to allow any Iraqi oil resources to flow into Russia and has also refused to pay off Saddam's bills with Russia. The President hates Putin, calling him a quote KGB thug endquote. The President is certainly a good hater!
(July 14) Happy talk at the Pentagon about a universal draft is fading away. No chance of this disaster even being broached and it should not be mentioned at all. It is doubtful that the White House will touch this one nowThere is a growing fear in counter intelligence circles that if the resistance movement in Iraq is not stopped, the resulting very bad PR might cause an "incident" somewhere in the US just before election time to whip the voters up to vote for Bush as a "wartime leader" who can put a number of draconian laws and edicts in place to "protect the American people." Someone in the FBI said to one of our people, entirely off the record, that quote it will probably be the Statue of Liberty endquote. There must be no speculation on this subject under any circumstances. If some rigged incident does happen and we comment on it in advance, new regulations could cause us serious problems If this happens, it will be Rumsfeld who plans and executes it. This will give the President the usual deniability. It is more than likely that we will get some advance notice of such an action and then decisions can be made relative to going to the public. On one hand, it would be a magnificent media coup guaranteeing ratings off the chart and on the other, a death sentence



Part 14

Note: As indicated in the last posting, we are now providing more detailed material.

(July 17) The White House is now moving into a bunker mentality, very much like Nixon during the end of the Watergate business. With mounting Iraqi opposition and facing a very capable guerrilla movement, supplied by Syria and Russia, the US has run into the stone wall we all predicted. His personality will not permit the President to withdraw in good order; the neocons and the oil people will simply not let him. Bush is stuck between the rock and the proverbial hard placeserious growing unrest in the troops coupled with very low morale, growing death tolls, lack of rotation, real fear of being fatally attacked are all leading to a situation that our Pentagon source informs us could actually erupt into open mutiny. Couple all of this with the terrible economy, the insistence of the Bush people on insane tax cuts (to help out corporate America), the obvious right wing political and religious fanatics supporting the President and we have the makings of serious, probably fatal, domestic problems. The fear is that a frantic Administration could connive at some kind of domestic terrorism if and when they perceive the President slumping badly in the polls. He already is and it looks like it might go like the economy. Today, a 65% favorite; tomorrow matching Davis' 20%.

( July 20) We have to sit on stories of serious physical abuse of Iraqi citizens. Most sensitive (and we put the blackout on this subject) are the numerous rapes and sexual assaults against Iraqis. Interesting are the unreported but fully known homosexual rapesthe real problem here is that US GI minorities are mostly responsible for these and Bush needs these votes in November so on with the lidwe don't think they can keep this shut up for too longthe Okinawa syndrome all over again.

(July 21) Blair may well fall from power as a result of the growing anger in the UKas usual, Bush has blamed the CIA for the yellowcake nonsense and now that Tenent is fighting back with strategic leaks, he is blaming his only real ally, Britainthe same problem Bush has with everyonepromise everything, deliver nothing. Sound bites followed by forgetfulness. This is going to cause serious internal problems in Mexico when the PRI realizes that Fox won't get support from Bush. The President does not realize that there is a ready-made war on our southern borderbest part is that the troops won't have so far to go this time.plans to activate the National Guards and send them off to Iraq to relieve the serious morale crisis in our troops there will certainly backfire. The weekend warriors are a military comic routine and would be sliced to pieces by grinning Iraqi guerrillas. When they start sending young convenience store managers home in rubber bags with their genitals cut off, there will be hell to pay in Middle America



Part 15

Note: As indicated previously , we are now providing more detailed material in this section. Fuller reporting will be found in our new Electronic Journal.

(July 19) SARS keeps popping up in pockets here and there but it is pretty well agreed that it has gone to ground and won't crop up again until winter flu seasonReporting on this should be limited to CDC and WHO releases but without any comment and stick it back with the truss ads

(July 20) There is a big flap going on, well behind the scenes, between Bush's top advisors and the CIA over the yellowcake issue. The issue, as far at the public is concerned at least, is whether the President had knowledge of the falsity of information that Iraq was attempting to buy uranium for use in a weapons program. His aides sent out requests to the DIA, the CIA, DoS and NSA to see if there were any usable reference materials in their files that would support such a contention. As always, there were reports and one was sent on by the CIA to White House staffers. It was noted in a cover letter that the report was quote dubious at best endquote. The Bush people put it into a speech the President was slated to deliver in Cincinatti in October of 2002. Tenent got wind of this and specifically informed the staff that the reference was badly flawed and to delete it. This was done. However, several months later, the President included it verbatim in his State of the Union address in January of 2003. It had the desired effect but backfired when leaks indicated that the report was a crude forgery. This put Bush in a very unenviable position and his staff began to find ways to deny it; to develop plausible deniability. Blair also got a copy of this and also was informed, by the CIA and British MI, that the report was a useless fake. Unfortunately, both men consulted and decided to use it. The truth of the matter is that they both were aware that the report was totally untrue. Later, when this became public knowledge, the Bush people began frantically attempting to shove the blame off on the lesser fish. Tenent bit the bullet but stated only that he had not read the President's speeches (which he had). This was put out by the staff at the White House as an "admission" that the CIA had been at fault. Our reports indicate that the highest level CIA people are outraged at this treachery on the part of the President and have been leaking all kinds of unpleasantness about Cheney, Wolfowitz and recently, about the President himself. The White House has responded by "outing" a high level CIA agent, wife of a critic. This is a criminal act but the White House people do not care. They believe that the President was quote called by God to the Presidency endquote and anything he says, or does, is acceptable. There is also a growing feud between the Bush people and the intelligence, and now the military, communities. White House staffers are threatening to release a secret report on the deaths of John Paisley, once Deputy Director of the CIA's Office of Strategic Research in September of 1978 and William Colby, formerly DCI in May of 1996. Both men had fallen afoul of senior CIA personnel and both "accidentally" were drowned under highly suspicious circumstances. Our sources indicate that Paisley had been dealing with the Soviet intelligence organs and Colby was singled out for assassination because of damning testimony he gave before a Congressional hearing that reflected badly on the Company. The CIA is certain to retaliate if these allegations of in-house "cleansing" are leaked. The odious bottom-feeder Drudge would be the most likely source for these leaks. We should be very careful about what we make public about all of this. Presidents come and Presidents go but the CIA abides and will be around long after Bush is only a memory

(July 21) The guerrilla warfare rages on in Iraq with no end in sight. A report from Rand indicates that oil from Iraq is not likely to be shipped out in the near future and as the Administration has been counting on their sales of this oil to reduce the horrific US national debt, trouble looms. Rumsfeld and Cheney, the real powers in the Beltway, want the National Guards activated to replace the mutinous brigades now on duty in Iraq. The staffers at the Pentagon are not in favor of this because these Guardsmen are badly trained and it is felt that there would be casualty disasters without end if they were dumped into the middle of a fierce guerrilla Arab holy war. The emerging hallmark of White House strategy is a blind belief in the rightness of their actions and a mounting refusal to modify any of their actions

(July 25) The House vote on the deregulation matter is a shot across the Administration's bows. So many Republicans deserted that Bush is said to be boiling with rage and threatening a veto in addition to punishment of the rebels. Considering the public uproar over Powell's FCC actions, this veto will be overridden. Reminds us of the time everyone voted against the crime bill during the Clinton years. The bill obviously was going to pass but this was Congress's way of warning the White House that they had the power and he did not. Bush's first challenge came from the courts and it has now been followed up by the House. The Senate is sure to follow. The importation of prescription drugs from overseas is another issue. It is too popular for Congress to ignoreAARP types are working overtime on this onebut both the Drug industry and certain of us in the media have filled the coffers of the GOP with baskets of gold and now expect to get what they paid for. We should come down on the side of the cheaper drugs but be strictly neutral on the media deregulation business.

(July 26) Note: This is an extract from a new source and is included here because it is contains information about important future activities.

"Two meetings held in Ortona on July 22-23 and Medina, July 24.....decision regarding counter measures against American invaders...continued support by Russian groups with logistical support including sanitized weapons with proper earlier datings....considering that vengeance attacks against prominent US military and civilian personnel in Iraq are difficult due to strong security, instead, it was suggested that attacks be made within the US proper and against religious leaders. The public deaths, preferably by explosives or by fire, of some prominent American religious fanatics now pressing to Christianize Muslim countries...suggested are Pat Robertson, Falwell, Reed, the younger Graham...not considered that any of these will have heavy security like the Vice President who hides his craven body in a steel bunker....Bush has refused in a secret report to pay any of Iraqi debts to Russia, France or Germany because they have openly thwarted his aggression at the UN and are viewed by him as putative enemies ...agreements have been made in principle with Russian and French spokesmen concerning the payments of the Iraqi debts...the shadow government has signed protocols agreeing to repay these debts ahead of all other debts when the Americans are chased out of Iraq...Germans have not yet been drawn into Controlling the News. Parts 1-14
In-House Memos on Television News Presentations
www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a441.htm

During the middle of March, 2003, tbrnews received an email from a man who claimed to be a mid-level executive with a major American television network. He stated in this, and subsequent, emails that he was in possession of "thousands" of pages of in-house memos sent from his corporate headquarters in New York City to the head of the network's television news department. He went on to say that these memos set forth directives about what material was, and was not, to be aired on the various outlets of the network.

This individual claimed he was developing serious doubts about the strict control of media events and decided that he would pass this material along to someone who might make use of it.

There was the question of his job security. If someone published his name, it would be certain he was not only fired but blackballed throughout his profession.

If tbrnews.org would agree to protect his identity, he would send us these alleged thousands of pages of notes, going back to 2001.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating so we accepted his caveats and he then sent to us by disk the pages he spoke of. All are on corporate stationary, signed or initialed by the senders and again, signed or initialed by the recipients in the news division.

It was always possible that this material consisted of a very involved hoax or was something designed for the news site to use and then have it revealed that it was not original. It would not be the first time that spurious disinformation had been sent to us in the hopes that it would be used.

There were not "thousands of pages" of memos but a total of 1,497 separate pages involved. Many of them consisted of short memos while others ran to a larger format.

Naturally, someone could easily have obtained correct in-house network letterheads, made copies of them and prepared false memoranda but the sheer size and depth of the collection was impressive.

If these memos were true, they showed with a terrible clarity that at least one part of the American mass media was strictly controlled and that the news was so doctored and spun that it might as well be official news releases from the White House and Pentagon.

The best way in which to ascertain whether or not these documents contained original information was to check the dates of issuance and compare the information with subsequent news stories.

This was a terrible, time-consuming chore but by selecting random memos and looking through the archives of various national newspapers, checking AP releases and so on, the results indicated that indeed, news was being managed.

However, it was also possible that someone else did this and was preparing these after the fact and making the memos conform to published material.

That having been said, we insisted on absolutely current memos so that we could then check these against future publications. If, for example, a corporate fiat was to show certain pictures or spin a story in a certain way, it would be relatively simple to simply read the press or watch television news to see if these suggestions were implemented.

It was both shocking and gratifying to note that this proved to be the case in a preponderance of cases and so we began to put these up, either in toto or, more often, in excerpt and watch as ordained news was created before our eyes.

When a corporate order states, for instance, that certain pictures should be shown with accompanying commentary and the memo predates a published story by a week or more, then it is more than likely that the memos are not inspired guesswork but genuine.

When tbrnews put up the first two pages, there were two basic forms of public response. One was to thank us for exposing something many people believed; that the American media was controlled and not free. (That much can easily be ascertained by reading the websites of various reputable foreign publications such as the Swiss NZZ, the British Guardian, the Canadian Toronto Globe and Mail, Reuters News Service and the Jerusalem Post. What any viewer can see on these sites is certainly not reflected in the American media.)

The second response consisted of irate, and literate, statements to the effect that all of these items were just stupid hoaxes and should not be believed. "I believe," one writer who claimed to be a Professor of Journalism at an Ivy League college said, "these are just disinformation designed to discredit American journalists whose reputation for honesty and integrity is certainly beyond question. You are performing a great disservice in repeating these politically-motivated fictions"

This is certainly a true statement because if it became generally accepted that the American media was only a mechanical parrot for various political organization, it would no longer be either believed or watched. If viewers turned off their television sets, the networks would lose huge amounts of advertising revenue, reporters would be laid off and people would turn instead to the Internet for their news.

Tbrnews receives many emails on a daily basis but the input on this subject has been so great that we have decided to expand the articles, irate journalists and professors to the contrary.

In the final analysis, it is always up to the reader to make up their own mind as to the truth, or fiction, of what they read. The media has an opposite view of this.

It is fairly obvious that the average Americans get their news either from TV, mostly, or from the print media. If someone in East Peoria, Illinois sees something on CNN, the Voice of the White House, they have no reason to question it. And don't. The establishment does not worry about the lone man with a website that, as in our case, reaches perhaps 100,000 people at a time when they have control over NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN that can, an do, reach millions a day.

What to they care about people who email messages back and forth? Even if a Pentagon plan to nuke North Korea were up on the net, all that would happen is that some would say, "See, I told you so!" while others would say "Oh shame! You are questioning our Glorious Leader and putting our Brave Troops in danger!"

If some astronomer had absolute proof that a three mile wide asteroid was going to hit this planet in ten days, do you think any of the mass media would ever mention a word of it? This would cause mass panic and the last thing the establishment wants is a public that is out of control. They would find out the target area and keep away from it, along with their friends and members of their families. The rest of us would be either squashed or roasted alive but they don't care about us only so long as we pay our taxes without complaint.
If the honesty of the American mass media is brought into serious question, perhaps the establishment cannot jam their lies down the public's throat with such ease.

Walter Storch

"Authoritarian government required to speak, is silent...Representative government required to speak, lies with impunity". -- Napoleon



(March 22):.it is not conducive to maintaining an overall neutrality in the Palestine uprisings to show any pictures of the American peacenik that was run over by the Israeli army bulldozer. This is only to be mentioned as a "tragic accident" for which the IDF "is truly saddened."

(Feb 10).It is not permitted at this point to use or refer to any film clips, stills or articles emanating from any French source whatsoever.

(Feb 26) It is expected that coverage of the forthcoming Iraqi campaign will be identical with the coverage used during Desert Storm. Shots of GIs must show a mixed racial combination.any interviews must reflect the youthful and idealistic, not the cynical point of viewthe liberation of happy, enthusiastic Iraqis can be best shown by filming crowds of cheering citizens waving American flags. Also indicated would be pictures of photogenic GIs fraternizing with Iraqi children and handing them food or other non-controversial presentsof course, pictures of dead US military personnel are not to be shown and pictures of dead Iraqi soldiers should not show examples of violent deathalso indicated would be brief interviews with English-speaking Iraqi citizens praising American liberation effortsall such interviews must be vetted by either the White House or Pentagon before public airing.

(March 12) At this point in time, reference to North Korean military threats must be played down entirely. The Iraqi Freedom campaign has to be concluded in the public mind before proceeding with the next assault on the Evil Axis.

(March 26) US alliances with the Turkish/Iraqi Kurdish tribes should be played down. This is considered a very sensitive issue with the Turks and American arming and support of the Kurds could create a severe backlash in Ankara.Kurds should be depicted as 'Iraqi Freedom Fighters" and not identified as Kurds

(March 2) further references to the religious views of the President are to be deleted

(March 15) photo opportunities of the President and members of his cabinet, especially Secretary Rumsfeld, with enthusiastic GIs.

(March 19) No mention, repeat, no mention, of Palestinian suicide bombers during the Iraqi operation.

(March 25) no mention of either Wolfowitz or Pearle should be made at the present time.

(March 10).pro-Government rallies are to be given the fullest coverageif anti-Government demonstrations are shown, it is desired to stress either a very small number of "eccentrics" or shots of social misfits; i.e., with beards, tattoos, physical deformities, etc. Pro-Government supporters should be seen as clean cut with as many well-groomed subjects as possible.subjects should stress complete support for the President's programs and especially support for American military units en route to combatalso interviews with photogenic family members of participating GIs stressing loyalty and affectionAmerican flags are always a good prop in the background

(March 30) Friction between Secretary Rumsfeld and senior military field commanders in Iraq are to be strictly minimalized and used only when impossible to avoid.the Secretary's point of view on all military matters is to be stressed.important to bring out his reputation as a "man who shakes things up" and a brilliant innovator.

(March 31) .no discussion of high-level rumors about pre-emptive tactical nuclear strikes against North Korean missile, "hard" artillery positions opposite Seoul or key North Korean leadership or military commands is to be mentioned. It must be stressed that the North Korean situation is viewed as "serious but not critical" by unnamed "senior U.S. military leaders."

(March 31) .no mention of PRC strong objections to US pre-emptive actions against North Korea.a short summary of the President's refusal to "enter into any kind of negotiations" with the North Korean government.background report on the irrational and anti-democratic forces in North Koreathe desire of South Korea's officials to maintain a close relationship with their American military protectors.no discussion of anti-US demonstrations in Seoul. These can be routinely dismissed as "radical students who are not supported by the new liberal and strongly pro-American President."

April 4) sharply rising unemployment numbers, this should be countered with official interviews stressing that the unemployment situation is now stabilizing and expected to fall soon.

(March 30) Because of the seriousness of the spread of SARS, actual figures of either the infected or of any deaths from local medical facilities must be carefully vetted via the CDC press information office in Atlanta. From the highest level, it is imperative that the American public not panic over the very rapid spread of this disease. Speculations of the actual nature of SARS is not under any circumstances to be permitted. Keep in mind the currently in- place rules following the outbreak of "Legionnaires Disease."

(April 4) a discussion of French desecrations of American and British war graves in France are to receive specific notice. Also, damage to the 9/11 memorial in Paris is to be included. No pictures of swastikas or other defamatory and anti-Administration graffiti are to be shown. French official apologies are permitted..no comments equating the President with Hitler will be made.and the invasion of Iraq may not be compared with Hitler's invasion of Poland, and such allegations now being made extensively in offshore media coverage are not to receive any attention. The Iraqi campaign is officially a campaign by a democratic United States against ruthless cruelty and oppression.

(April 5). comments appearing in the left-wing British Guardian about the occupation and administration of a conquered Iraq by American military personnel are to be ignored. Pacification, liberation, freedom and gratitude towards US forces, and the President are to be stressed.

(March 29) The President's goal, to achieve oil autarchy by the United States, is suggested as a future series. Congressional denial of drilling in various environmentally "sensitive" areas may be derided as foolish misunderstanding of America's vital oil needs. The interdiction of oil shipments to the United States from Venezuela and Nigeria are not to be commented upon. The attitude of Chavez towards the United States is also considered a non-topic. He was removed from power once and it can happen a second time. File footage of large crowds of distressed and unhappy Venezuelans should be prepared against the time he is removed from power again

(April 4) If possible, pictures of the President with a book or, better, actually reading, are suggested. Commentary about his extensive reading habitsstress important historical and economic works

(April 5) Presidential visits to military units in the United States are to receive full coverage and to extend past the usual slot timespots of especially warm receptions are considered very important

(April 7) Please arrange for photo ops of President visiting wounded GIs.Use photogenic subjects w/good racial mix. Also try for pix of First Lady handing wounded subject a giftPresident decorating wounded (in hospital bed) w medal(s) Make sure subject smiles at P. Warm handshakes (if possible.)

(April 7 ) no shots of GIs looting in Baghdad. Iraqi looters should be described as "joyful" at being liberated by US. Looting to be described as a "deprived people getting food for families"all pictures from forbidden French press sources of a US General's staff car being filled with paintings and carpets to be blacklisted at Pentagon request. If such pixs show up on other networks, comment be made that General is "rescuing art treasures to preserve them for the Iraqi people." Also Iraqi rioters could be shown waving in friendly way to GIs.

( April 4 ) Alliance casualties to be played down. The massive Iraqi civilian casualties also played down. Use the phrase, "most civilian casualties caused by vindictive Saddam supporters." Again, no pixs of dead women and children.

(April 6 ) Artillery targeting of several mosques to be deleted..

(April 2) prepare a piece on the withdrawal of all US troops from S. Korea. Main theme: US pulling out to prevent N. Korea from attacking. Stress the pro-US stance of Noh and his firm support of the President and his goal of preventing N. Korean military adventurismno mention of ongoing S. Korean anti-US riots. They are to be called "radical student demonstrations" but do not show clips unless it can be determined that the numbers shown are very small.

(Jan 21, 2002 ) in any article on Enron collapse, it is not considered advisable to discuss role of K. Lay. Charges against lesser Enron executives to be stressed. Lay's extensive gifts to President to be limited to "small campaign contributions" and shift emphasis to large gifts to Ashcroft for his presidential campaign. Mention A's recusal from Enron investigations

(April 9 ) play down the Moscow meetings w. Schroeder, Putin and French. Please, no mention of NATO problems

(April 9 ) concerning Moscow meetings, say Russia, Germany and France are willing to forgive their huge Iraqi debts at the direct request of President. Stress the need for Iraq to rebuild after years of repression and need to keep her funds "to help her people."

(April 8 ) develop possible linkage between Iraqi mobs and US need to police the country for a "brief time" to prevent any attempt to stifle emerging democracy. Do not mention probability of continued large US military presence. Stress the words "restoring law and order" and "helping to make the transition to true democracy."

(April 11) US attack on Russian Ambassador's convoy either to be ignored or blamed on "unknown Arab terrorists" who support Hussein. Considered expedient that if mention is made of attack, not to identify the country involved. This incident, officially termed a misunderstanding, is being cleared up with Russia now.

( April 7) attacks on foreign media, often unfriendly to US, to be explained as a "tragic error" and use the rationale of "pro-Saddam last ditch fanatics sniping at liberating US troops." from areas attacked by US armor.

(April 13 ) SARS is now officially "under control" in the US. Air travel, in the US, has been cleared by CDC and other groups as "entirely safe." Officially, there are no deaths from SARS in the United States. Use feed clips from CBC on "complete control" of disease in Canada also mention lack of responsible reporting on subject by China.

(April 9 ) in coverage of rebuilding of Iraq's infrastructure, mention that American firms have expressed willingness to "assist Iraq people to build a new, democratic nation." No mention, by name, of Halliburton or Bechtel.

(April 10 ) show mention of restoration of Moscow statue of KGB founder(linkage here) mention Putin's former membership in KGB and very brief discussion of "growing pro-Stalinist" feelings in Russia. Consider this background for future series on same subject.

(April 16) .a pending lawsuit against the FBI concerning its 'no fly list' should be treated as a 'lack of comprehension' by the American public. Negative comments are that this new regulation is designed to prevent elements hostile to the Administration from involvement in so-called "Peace" meetings, rallies and protests. Official view, to be stressed, is that this new regulation is to prevent suspected terrorists or persons having possibly dangerous views, i.e., militant Muslims etc. from using another commercial aircraft as in the 9/11 terrorist strike. We are advised that the list will be maintained as before.

(April 18) The President's generous and statesmanlike offer to North Korea to open "substantive" negotiations should be linked with commentary about the "absolute support" in the PRC for the President's peace moves and their willingness to help reign in a terrorist and communistic leadership needs special attention.

(April 19) Regarding North Korea, it is urgently requested by the White House that any reference to the President's determination to remove the existing leadership of that country by downplayed. It should be mentioned as an "option" rather than the intention of the President.

(April 19) in liberated Iraq, the apparent rejection by "dissident elements" of the country to continued US military and business presence is to be shown to be "against the will of the newly-liberated Iraqi people..." The on-going killings of pro-US Iraqis and occasional US military personal are to be downplayed and attributed to "rogue, pro-Saddam" persons. It is to be stressed, with photos and feature articles, that the Iraqi people "warmly greet their American liberators" any discussion about the CIA connections of US-sponsored new Iraqi leadership cadres is to be curtailed.

(April 19)the portions of the Administration's plan to lift Iraqi sanctions that deal with the humanitarian aspect of the rebuilding of Iraq are to be stressed. Subsequent US de facto control of the oil there, if mentioned, will concentrate on the fact that oil revenues from liberated Iraq will initially be utilized to pay for the costs of the campaign and later to support the military and administrative systems now being implemented.

(April 20) the new Budget should be summarized as a plan to revitalize the economy, which began its decline as the result of certain actions within the previous administration, and the tax cuts are not designed to assist the wealthy but the entire American public.

(April 21) There needs to be a cohesive attitude towards SARS. We cannot hide that this disease is now rampant throughout Asia and has a growing death toll. It is considered very important not to mention the spread of the disease in the US or to acknowledge any fatalities. The latter are now ascribed as due to pneumoniaif the spread of SARS continues as predicted, mass quarantine is considered by the CDC and the Surgeon General's office as almost mandatory.Canadian officials, very concerned with the high concentration of SARS-infected persons in Toronto are informing US officials that a general quarantine in that country may be mandatory. This should be a subject for comment, mentioning that Canadian health officials see mass quarantining as the "best and easiest" solution to the rapid spread of the disease'We are working on a new vaccine that will stop this Asian (stress this here) disease and protect the American public.' No mention of the fact that such a vaccine is months away if it happens at all.and it is considered imperative that no, repeat no, panic develop in the US. In sum, this is an Asian disease that mostly affects Asians.

(April 21) Stories planted in the South Korean press about North Korean 'missile parts' found in Alaska are not to be repeated in the media unless and until it is considered necessary as groundwork for projected military action.

(April 22) the lower gas prices at the pump should be ascribed to an "overproduction" by our Middle Eastern allies. When the controls are lifted, the resulting rise is to be attributed to "lack of cooperation" by possibly hostile Arab oil producing nations that the President is seriously concerned about.

(April 22) Please continue the present blackout on Israeli military activity on the Iraqi bordersIranian activity with the Sunni elements in Iraq are to be highlighted as "unwarranted interference" in the American plans for the reconstruction of a new and democratic Iraq. Possible US military and security countermeasures are to be highlighted as "anti-militant Islamic" in nature.

(April 23) Russian attitudes about repayments of past Iraqi oil debts are on blackout

(April 27) ongoing wave of failures, or projected failures, of major US corporations should be played down and covered only if the corporation in question actually files for bankruptcy. The expressed fear is that a constant drumfire of woeful economic news will hardly encourage a badly needed recovery. The usual practice is to prosecute minor level employees involved in various fiscal manipulations while ignoring the very top people. The Enron case is an example.

(April 29) The SARS problem should again be stressed as an Asian problem and the actual death rates (now believed to be approaching 20%) are not to be publicized. It is certain that political pressure from both the Canadian and American governments will result in the Toronto case being officially downgraded.

(May 1) and concerning the serious SARS epidemic, plans are now in train to test all incoming travelers from infected areas and quarantine anyone even remotely suspected of being ill with symptoms that even remotely resemble the disease. It is the privately stated intention of the highest authority to use physical force to enforce the quarantine if it proves necessary

(May 3) US Treasury officials are now investigating the enormous amounts of US currency uncovered in Iraq. Mention of this can be made and it is considered expedient to state that this is part of Saddam Hussein's personal booty. Under no circumstances, it has to be stressed, should any mention of amounts in excess of the publically stated $600 million be made. And absolutely no mention of the possibility of these $100 bills being counterfeit

(May 6) VP Dick Cheney will announce in a few days that he will be on the Presidential ticket in 2004. Stress that his contributions to the President's energy plans have made him indispensable. Please limit mention of Cheney's connections with Halliburton and the problems with the inflated stock

(May 6) at the present time, it is anticipated that proof of Iraqs possession of WMD will be uncovered by US specialists. This proof is necessary to offset the growing criticism that Iraq had no such weapons and that the Administration had fabricated reports that it did to justify the invasion. Still photos and film clips will be supplied

(May 7) it now appears that the President's religious charities bill will not be passed in the current session. There is considerable concern in Congress over this and the religious issues here are obvious. It is felt that the President has overreached himself and in light of the rising public opposition to some of his more extreme religious views, this bill will be reintroduced later but in a different formremarks by Rev. Graham about Islam are causing the White House considerable discomfiture not only in US Muslim circles but in Arab countries (especially Saudi Arabia) as well. Graham has been instructed to issue a statement to the effect that his words were "taken out of context" and that he has great respect for all faiths

(May 8) Although the dollar's continuing drop against the euro can be seen on most financial pages, this is to be addressed as "temporary" and articles from economists can be quoted to the effect that the victory in Iraq will soon result in a surging dollar on the international marketplace.

(May 9) It is obviously going to be a long time before peace and civil order is restored in Iraqthere are serious religious issues involved here. The Administration's intentions of allowing specific Christian missionaries into Iraq to effect widespread conversions of the Muslim population is now on hold. DOS claims that this might set off major riotingWhite House officials, speaking off the record, say that this missionary activity is "close to the President's heart" but will be put on temporary hold "until we have a stronger military presence" in Iraq. Prepare some backup material on this

(May 10) Play down the story on the mobile germ labs. This is generating too much heat in the foreign press and with the left wing hippie elements in the US. We are assured that "major discoveries" will be made that will "fully support" the mobile labs.

(May 12) discovery of counterfeit US bills worldwide is to be offset with stories about entirely new, colored bills now in preparation stages. These bills will be more difficult to counterfeitflood of counterfeit $20 bills in the USthe $100 bills will not be reworked at the present time. Loss of confidence in this bill could result in its rejection by the world currency markets and this would have a disastrous effect on the economybe sure to stress this in coverage

(May 13) a series of presentations about why the decline of the dollar against the euro, the Canadian and Mexican currency, is actually a good thing for American business. Stress that US production can now increase because American goods are cheaper, and stress, more easily available to the foreign markets.

(May 15) Kill the projected stories on the privatization of the Social Security programs. A test run on this indicates that AARP will fight it. Also, kill further comments about denying "extraordinary life-saving" regimens to the very elderly. This will be viewed as state-sponsored euthanasiawork up something on the escalating costs of long term hospitalization to the public sector

(May 16) Suggested that the treatment of economics keeps away from the dropping dollar. We need to get a reputable and recognized authority to give a bite on how the current lower value of the dollar overseas is actually a benefit to US economy because it stimulates American productivity

(May 16) Chaos in Iraq is given as the reason why a massive continued US military presence in that country is to be anticipated. Stories in foreign media about GIs shooting young children for throwing rocks are not to be repeated. No pictures

(May 17) The President's new tax plan should be shown as being beneficial to most American households. Democratic criticism is to be minimized and trivialized. The Laci Peterson case and the bad weather in the mid-west (tornados) are good subjects for diversion from less than helpful political partisanship.

(May 19) SARS out of control in China and now Taiwan. Press releases from official sources stressing the "drying up" of SARS are to be given a run. Mention that the Toronto infections are now "fully cured" and make a note of the lifting of the WHO quarantine

(May 21) The White House is releasing working drawings of the mobile WMD trailers in Iraq. Commentary by approved network specialists about the death-dealing capacity of these trailers is to be presented. Stress the "apparent failure" of the UN inspection teams to locate these deadly labs The UN is needed in Iraq to feed the population but not, the White House stresses, to interfere in the internal control of either Iraq or the oil production.

(May 22) For Memorial Day, prepare pieces on heroic GIs around the world. The President will make a speech on the contribution of the military services to the freedom of the world. Give this good coveragePlay down the anger with the French. "They are coming around now" is the best theme to take.

(May 24) The mad-cow problem in Canada is causing serious economic problems in both the US and Canada. It is considered very important to stress that none of the contaminated beef ever was sent to the US. Only one cow and a few calves, all of whom have been destroyed. If this gets any credence, it could wreak havoc with the US cattle industry, not to mention the fast food and restaurant business. Mad-cow has been in the US before and kept very quiet. Let's see if we can't repeat this now.

(May 25) The decision to proceed against Iran has been taken..using file footage about the Embassy hostage crisisbrutality of the anti-Shah takeovera series of articles about the presence of alAquida units "being trained" in Iraq. Shiites are to be depicted as "ruthless fanatics" and, most especially, as "haters of the Great Satanthe United States." Also something on a Sunday program about Iranian support of the Taliban and the suggestion that they might be giving refuge to Taliban leaders.for the time being, no reference here to overt Pakistani support of fundamentalism. If the current head of Pakistan is removed and replaced by a fundamentalist government, support will be given to India to remove Pakistan from the playing fieldatomic threats on the part of the Pakis a probability

(May 26) SARS outbreak in Torontothere is no way to hide this one so keep it brief and keep it simple. Vital to avoid any talk of SARS in the US. A puff piece on development of a SARS vaccinestress very soon. Get the usual medical people and give them the usual scriptRemember, SARS is stressed as an Asian disease that is "coming under control.

(May 26) comment that the raging war between Powell and Rumsfeld is "complete nonsense." We will try to get brief interviews with both men denying these rumors and saying that "all America is now united against international terrorism." This is the watchword from the White House. Putin wants a free hand with his Muslim terrorists and after the conference, may have it. He will then have to support US drives against the Philippine muslims projected for July. Projected heavy loss of life there is to be offset with stories of torture and killing of Christian tourists and missionaries

(May 27) Prepare a human interest story about Christian "educators" going to Iraq to "assist the population in its desire for religious and cultural diversity." A number of Pentecostal people are refusing to go to Iraq because they are afraid they will be killed by militant Muslims. Discuss how they will be protected by friendly American troops

(May 29) "It's the economy, stupid!" and let's keep in mind that drumfire about bad economy is not good kids, for all of us. Do a nice bit on how the market is now rising (slowly) and full recovery is projected to be around the corner. Get the usual bites from our economists. The deflation word is not to be used and keep strictly away from the rising euro. If this gets over $1.20, talk about the "great benefits" to US home productions. "Who needs fancy, overpriced French luxury goods when we can make it better and cheaper right at home?"

(May 30) You will be getting two packets of info on the St.Petersburg business. One is to be used if we score big but the second if we have problems. Putin will be our new "best friend" instead of Blair (who has about shot his bolt at home and will soon be toast) as long as he supports official US policy about Iran andagrees to lighten up on the Iraqi debts

Part 9

(June 1) Pacification in Iraq is proving more difficult that had been anticipated by the Pentagon. The President's advisors are debating whether or not to lay this one off on the military or simply ignore it. Massive countermeasures are now being planned against anyone daring to either directly attack US units or even in unlawful assemblage, especially in mosques

(June 2) Some elements of the media are beginning to bring up certain religious issues, mostly via letters to the editors of unreliable papers. We must be careful to counteract these attacks with puff pieces on the rising tide of Christian fundamentalist support of the President and especially human interest stories about ad hoc Christian groups operating in the US in support of the President.

(June 3) The President is privately expressing annoyance with Sharon over his refusal to accept the Roadmap for Peace. Some concessions on the part of the Israelis will have to be made. Arafat will absolutely have to goif these programs are to succeed. The President needs peace in Palestine, especially as the election planning goes forward.

(June 5) the economy is still stagnant and it is important to put a good and positive face on its recovery. Prepare a series of stories about the rising market trends and the return of the small investor

(June 7) the Martha Stewart business has to be presented in the light of dedicated prosecution by Justice of even the most prominent offenders. Better that the smaller fry get cooked than the really important ones. Campaign funding? Hah, hah!

(June 10)growing unrest, even in the media, over the lack of WMD in Iraq. The President's people want it stressed that both the CIA and military intelligence gave him faulty information. It is felt that this will run its course, especially in light of the "new revelations" The public's interest is short-lived on such things and a good, lasting distraction with plenty of commentary will keep them excited until the issue fades away. The Demos are too timid to make much use of this anyway.

(June 11) It will not do anyone good to go on about the Iraq uranium business. The issue served well to introduce the need for immediate action and it should be stressed over and over again that Saddam was evil and so what if a few "inaccuracies" crept in? Our leaders are shown to be ever vigilant in their goals of making America safe from terrorists..

(June 12) Rumsfeld's stern warning to both NATO and Belgium should get a good play. It needs to be seen that the US punishes those who oppose it and rewards those who support it. Give the Polacks a good press.

(June 12) It seems that guerrilla warfare is a real thing. Too much looting, assaulting Iraqi women, too much Muslim-bashing. No discipline in the US forces and the commanders have a hard time in controlling their men. Protestors are to be shown to be "die-hard Baathist supporters of the evil Saddam" and show pictures of a "commando" camp with pictures of Saddam and anti-US slogans. And don't show these in Arabic. English is the language of our viewers, don't forget There is a blackout on guerrilla attacks in Afghanistan. The fear is that these are part of a coordinated movement in the Arab world. Do an investigative bite on "Arab fanatics" going to Iraq (for the time being, cool it with Afghanistan) going to Iraq to help kill Americans. This can lay the background for additional "anti-guerrilla" actions against other Arab states that do not cooperate. In Iran, student agitations against the religious leaders is to be given prominent space. There will be more of this in the future. It is believed to be a much safer course to topple the Iranian leadership by local groups rather than by US military and economic direct action. Large numbers of students in the streets costs money but not as much as a military action. The public will grow restive if there are too many US dead

(June 13) The Administration has gotten burnt by attacking Sharon. It won't happen again. Human interest stories about Israeli families mourning their dead is always a good thing. The Hamas people are slated for utter destruction by a possible joint US/IDF action in the near future so point out repeatedly how they are sabotaging the sincere efforts of both the President and Sharon to achieve a real and lasting peace.



Controlling the News. Part 10


In-House Memos on Television News Presentations

Note: There are many other entries dating from January, 2002. To read these, please click here

During the middle of March, 2003, tbrnews received an email from a man who claimed to be a mid-level executive with a major American television network. He stated in this, and subsequent, emails that he was in possession of "thousands" of pages of in-house memos sent from his corporate headquarters in New York City to the head of the network's television news department. He went on to say that these memos set forth directives about what material was, and was not, to be aired on the various outlets of the network.

This individual claimed he was developing serious doubts about the strict control of media events and decided that he would pass this material along to someone who might make use of it.

There was the question of his job security. If someone published his name, it would be certain he was not only fired but blackballed throughout his profession.

If tbrnews.org would agree to protect his identity, he would send us these alleged thousands of pages of notes, going back to 2001.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating so we accepted his caveats and he then sent to us by disk the pages he spoke of. All are on corporate stationary, signed or initialed by the senders and again, signed or initialed by the recipients in the news division.

It was always possible that this material consisted of a very involved hoax or was something designed for the news site to use and then have it revealed that it was not original. It would not be the first time that spurious disinformation had been sent to us in the hopes that it would be used.

There were not "thousands of pages" of memos but a total of 1,497 separate pages involved. Many of them consisted of short memos while others ran to a larger format.

Naturally, someone could easily have obtained correct in-house network letterheads, made copies of them and prepared false memoranda but the sheer size and depth of the collection was impressive.

If these memos were true, they showed with a terrible clarity that at least one part of the American mass media was strictly controlled and that the news was so doctored and spun that it might as well be official news releases from the White House and Pentagon.

The best way in which to ascertain whether or not these documents contained original information was to check the dates of issuance and compare the information with subsequent news stories.

This was a terrible, time-consuming chore but by selecting random memos and looking through the archives of various national newspapers, checking AP releases and so on, the results indicated that indeed, news was being managed.

However, it was also possible that someone else did this and was preparing these after the fact and making the memos conform to published material.

That having been said, we insisted on absolutely current memos so that we could then check these against future publications. If, for example, a corporate fiat was to show certain pictures or spin a story in a certain way, it would be relatively simple to simply read the press or watch television news to see if these suggestions were implemented.

It was both shocking and gratifying to note that this proved to be the case in a preponderance of cases and so we began to put these up, either in toto or, more often, in excerpt and watch as ordained news was created before our eyes.

When a corporate order states, for instance, that certain pictures should be shown with accompanying commentary and the memo predates a published story by a week or more, then it is more than likely that the memos are not inspired guesswork but genuine.

When tbrnews put up the first two pages, there were two basic forms of public response. One was to thank us for exposing something many people believed; that the American media was controlled and not free. (That much can easily be ascertained by reading the websites of various reputable foreign publications such as the Swiss NZZ, the British Guardian, the Canadian Toronto Globe and Mail, Reuters News Service and the Jerusalem Post. What any viewer can see on these sites is certainly not reflected in the American media.)

The second response consisted of irate, and literate, statements to the effect that all of these items were just stupid hoaxes and should not be believed. "I believe," one writer who claimed to be a Professor of Journalism at an Ivy League college said, "these are just disinformation designed to discredit American journalists whose reputation for honesty and integrity is certainly beyond question. You are performing a great disservice in repeating these politically-motivated fictions"

This is certainly a true statement because if it became generally accepted that the American media was only a mechanical parrot for various political organization, it would no longer be either believed or watched. If viewers turned off their television sets, the networks would lose huge amounts of advertising revenue, reporters would be laid off and people would turn instead to the Internet for their news.

Tbrnews receives many emails on a daily basis but the input on this subject has been so great that we have decided to expand the articles, irate journalists and professors to the contrary.

In the final analysis, it is always up to the reader to make up their own mind as to the truth, or fiction, of what they read. The media has an opposite view of this.

It is fairly obvious that the average Americans get their news either from TV, mostly, or from the print media. If someone in East Peoria, Illinois sees something on CNN, the Voice of the White House, they have no reason to question it. And don't. The establishment does not worry about the lone man with a website that, as in our case, reaches perhaps 100,000 people at a time when they have control over NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN that can, an do, reach millions a day.

What to they care about people who email messages back and forth? Even if a Pentagon plan to nuke North Korea were up on the net, all that would happen is that some would say, "See, I told you so!" while others would say "Oh shame! You are questioning our Glorious Leader and putting our Brave Troops in danger!"

If some astronomer had absolute proof that a three mile wide asteroid was going to hit this planet in ten days, do you think any of the mass media would ever mention a word of it? This would cause mass panic and the last thing the establishment wants is a public that is out of control. They would find out the target area and keep away from it, along with their friends and members of their families. The rest of us would be either squashed or roasted alive but they don't care about us only so long as we pay our taxes without complaint.
If the honesty of the American mass media is brought into serious question, perhaps the establishment cannot jam their lies down the public's throat with such ease.

Walter Storch

"Authoritarian government required to speak, is silent...Representative government required to speak, lies with impunity". -- Napoleon

Part 10

(June 10)The ongoing flap about WMD will eventually fade away. If it weren't for the peaceniks in America and the envious foreign press, this non-issue would soon evaporate. In support of this, we need more material out on the mass graves in Iraq

(June 11) and in Iran, the leaders there have been sending Shiite guerrillas into southern Iraq to foment revolution. The CIA has begun to stir up the Iranian students and it is hoped by the White House that the Iranian government will topple without the necessity of American military interventionthis has been placed on hold awaiting the outcome of the revolutionary movement now activated in Tehran and other cities

(June 11) In California, the recall against Gov. Davis is getting up quite a head of steam. The Republicans want him outtoo liberal and thereand a good conservative in his place. Iron Arnold has panache but is not reliable. If he gets in when Davis is put out, he could be a loose cannon. The White House is hand-picking their own candidate and in the meantime, the President is publically objecting to the recall while privately rejoicingThe idea here is to keep Kenneth Lay and Enron out of the news on the California mess

(June 12) Hillary Clinton is flexing her muscle again after a long silence. She wants to use her new book as a springboard to the White House next year. It is time now to go after her. Sarcasm is the best weapon herekeep away from the feminist angleit could backfire.

(June 13) North Korea is a back issue for now. We are pulling troops away from the DMZ in case we have to nuke Pyongyang

(June 14) SARS is officially dead. Monkeypox is replacing it. We have beaten SARS to death so it is best to keep the file footage for when it comes back with a bang this winter. With no vaccine in sight, buy masks, kids! If SARS combines with something else, watch out on this one

(June 15) The market is up again but just equal to last year. Not good but make a strong case for serious recovery under the President's new tax refunds. Unemployment is soaring but let's keep this minor key unless some trouble breaks out over it. Justice has evidence of serious labor unrest, especially among ghetto minorities. They never had a crack at the brass ring before and now, none at all. This in seen as potential disaster by the AG and his peopleJob corps are out of the question. Subject of a universal draft for all 18 year olds on the drawing board. Keep them out of trouble before the election and boosts up the military "just in case" there is more military action.



Part 11

(June 15) We are going to be running into serious problems with the growing resistance movements in Iraq. GIs are being killed and wounded, convoys ambushed and worst of all scenarios are coming true: The Iraqi oil is being interdicted before it can be shipped out of the country. Casualties cannot be concealed but can be minimized. No clips of dead or injured US personnelpipeline fires can be shown but voice over should stress that technicians (from Haliburton, of course) are putting out these as quickly as possible. Damage is to be minimalthe nature of the attackersthese are a handful of diehard Saddam supporterswho are being successfully tracked down and neutralized by ever-vigilant and prepared US troops. Show pictures of captured (not dead) Iraqis. Be careful to vet the shots so as not to include any captives that appear to have been beaten

(June 16) Pentagon sources now claim that it will be impossible to bring law and order to Iraq within a year and heavy US military presence must be in place to do this. An order is being prepared to exclude all foreign media, especially British and French, from guerrilla areas. The reason given is that they might be kidnapped but in reality, foreign press might take pictures that are not advisable to be seen in the US. the most severe methods of interdiction are currently being indicated including setting up detention camps, curfews, the issuance of ID cards, the closing of mosques, the detention of religious leaders and the sealing of the borders with Syria and Iran

(June 18) Now it appears that the faked (call them 'inaccurate') reports about Saddam's purchase of enriched uranium will not go away. The White House hopes that Muslim terrorists will commit some atrocity, preferably in the United States, so as to deflect rising negative attitudes on the part of the electoratealthough no one has said it, such an attack(s) would not be surprising.

(June 19) ..and it now appears that SARS is taking a breather. There are still pockets of it, especially in the Pacific rim areas, but the Canadian outbreaks seem to be pretty much under control nowThe CDC is very concerned about a renewed outbreak concomitant with the usual flu season this winter. If SARS combines with certain forms of pneumonia, the results could be a major epidemic. Use discretion in any mention of SARS and we have been advised to drop the entire subject.

(June 20) Continue with positive reports about the market upswingsno comment on the 10% unemployment rates. Work up a treatment that stresses the problems newly-graduated high school students have in finding work. Thus, the higher rates.

(June 21) The reaction of Congress, pushed by public opinion, to rescind the FCC rulings about multiple ownership of media entities will certainly not be welcome in the trade. The President says he will veto anything like this but Beltway sources on the inside say this will be veto-proof. Rupert will not be a happy camper!

(June 22) Keep up with the legislation about partial-birth abortion but stay neutral in reporting. This is a very volatile issue, especially with the women. No one wants armies of screaming women parading up and down in front of the White House or the Capitol

(June 23) withdrawal of US troops from the Korean DMZ is to be presented as an attempt to keep GIs out of harms way and, stress this, not as a prelude of a US attack (atomic or conventional) on Pyongyang. This is a hyper-sensitive area. We are all assured that North Korea will not attack unless attacked and the media has to play this aspect down. In short, the less said the better. Iran is the new target, not North Korea. Keep that strictly in mind on coverage..

Part 12

Note: This part of our posting is certainly the one that draws the most attentionfrom all over the world. Many of our readers have asked us to be more substantive in our selections so in this issue, we are trying to give fuller presentations Ed.

(June 16) and for a decade, the establishment has taken a very dim view of the internet. It is seen as a method used by dissident elements to propagandize the public and publish material that might cause great disruption in the public mind. A new program launched by a major computer company is designed to permit easy access by investigative agencies to computers and computer files of suspect persons. The rationale given is to protect copyrighted material such as popular music and video material. The actual purpose is to build into all new computers a chip ostensibly to "protect" the user from intrusion but in reality supplying a trapdoor to facilitate observation. In all probability, this program will not succeed because younger users will not want controls over their systemsall of this brings up the subject of 'Internet II' which was a DOJ project to control access to and permit close supervision of emailsthis failed but the new project is to be put forward as a boon to computer users who are afraid that their systems will be illegally entered

(June 18) The Pentagon is concerned and the White House is furious that Russian military intelligence has not only been breaking our secret military coded messages but worse, putting the contents up for all to see. The Russians have also published the exact means by which others can break US codes. New codes and systems are being rushed through in order to shut these disastrous leaks down

(June 21) The left is circulating rumors, sparked initially by a long paper by a Moody Bible Institute (of Chicago) instructor that puts forward the argument that President Bush is actually the Antichrist! The writer makes compelling parallels but for obvious reasons, this topic is not one to be covered

(June 22) The controversy swirling around the 2001 anthrax attacks is heating up, but fortunately behind closed doors. Parallels are being drawn between these attacks and the Legionnaires Disease attacks in Philly. The simple problem is that germ warfare was banned under Nixon but actually development never stopped at the Army's Maryland facility. We know that mobile labs have been built here and were planned for use in Iraq until someone thought better of it. Now, the Pentagon is afraid that the selected "target" to blame the attacks on apparently knows more about the situation than they realized and that if he were charged, he would talk and the very big cat would get out of the bag. Nailing the people at the tabloid press in Florida was a shot across our bowsthe media had best shut its mouth or look what can happen to you. There is no substantive control over the military and official Washington is terrified that they could pull another Northwoods game again

(June 28) The situation in Iraq vis a vis the guerrilla war is now reaching critical proportions. It is very obvious not only to the Pentagon, whose business it is to combat it, or to the White House who basically instigated it, that the actions of Iraqis are not, repeat not, merely sporadic lootings and local vigilantly actions but a well-organized and fully functioning guerrilla movement. This has very ugly religious overtones and has the danger of causing serious and widespread trouble in the adjoining Muslim countries. The Administration has two choices facing it: Get on or get out. Our sources indicate that Bush's temperament and personality will not permit him to retreat an inch. There is the oil question. We were supposed to secure all the Iraqi oil after kicking Hussein out and breaking his hold on the country. Bush was warned repeatedly by Pentagon experts that there was the strong probability of dangerous insurgent activity by he and his close advisors such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz discounted it. Since the President will not, and cannot, withdraw from a situation that is daily becoming more and more dangerous to American military units, his only remaining choice is to increase the number of troops in Iraq to both suppress any and all civil resistance to American occupation and , even more important, protect the oil fields and most especially the pumping stations and pipelines. Experts we have spoken with have said that this will be impossible without at least 200,000 troops in place. Pacification could take years, not weeks or months, and with elections coming up next year, inside White House sources have said the President and Rove are in a panic. Increasing damage to plant, increasing anti-US guerrilla activity and the resultant deaths of GIs is causing havoc with the planning for both the export of the vital oil and the prospects of another Vietnam to haunt the election. Options are varied but the best bet here is that Bush will replace the current commanders with someone who is known to be absolutely ruthless and will mandate the new commander to obliterate any and all opposition, especially Iranian-based Shiite religious leaders and former members of Saddam's ruling class. We are told that we will have to pull out our reporters if and when this happens. It would be a PR disaster if we had a reprise of Nam with the shooting of civilians on the 6 o'clock news. And all foreign journalists will be ordered out because the US has no control over these and both the French, British and Russians will love to show Americans shooting small children or blowing up mosques full of worshippers. A news pool is slated to be set up like the first Bush did in Desert Storm with controlled news being parceled out to the various media.

(July 2) Frist's outrage over the Supreme Court decision in the Texas sodomy case is giving the White House more problems. Frist, another devoted Christian, wants a special Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages. Both the President and the AG are fully in agreement with the thrust of this, no pun here boys, but sees trouble if the gay community (who have clout and money) sees Bush as a gay-hater. (Which we know he is) Right now, the plan is to let Frist have his way (and please, no reference here or at any time about his torture and killing of cats!) but without Presidential official approval. If Frist is successful (and it's odds on he won't get past first base with this) then Bush can smile and say that the will of the people has been done. If it flops, he can easily have plausible deniability.

Note: This article from a French source clearly illuminates the results of American press control. It is very much to the point and entirely valid.
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English/French document

THE AMNESIAS OF BARON SULZBERGER
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We Israelis enjoy full immunity, and have no doubt, if and when our government decides

to turn the Palestinians into canned meat, the New York Times will celebrate its nutritional

values.

Israel Shamir

Kid Sister

Jaffa, February 17, 2001



They've probably mentioned [the 1956 Kafr Kassem] massacre before and may have reported it at the time. But at the time the [New York] Times was not a pro-Israel paper.

It was kind of non-Zionist. So it's quite possible that they reported it accurately at the time. In recent decades, the Times has been a highly pro-Israel paper.

Noam Chomsky

Interview with David Barsamian

April 10, 2000

Propaganda and the Public Mind (2001)

The editors and the publisher of The New York Times, Baron Arthur Sulzberger, seem to suffer from acute memory losses.

Here's how the newspaper has reported to the American public several major demonstrations that took place in France, in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and in Italy during the

year 2002.

Paris, April 7, 2002
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On Sunday, April 7, 2002, a demonstration in support of the State of Israel took place in the streets of Paris (France). A Reuters wire posted the same day on the site of the French

daily Libération gives an idea of the magnitude of this event:

Au lendemain d'une mobilisation en faveur des Palestiniens, plusieurs dizaines de milliers de personnes ont manifesté à Paris et en province pour dénoncer les violences antisémites et soutenir Israël. (...) Dans la capitale française, 150.000 personnes selon les organisateurs, 53.000 selon la police, ont défilé de la place de la République jusqu'à la Bastille.

During this demonstration, hundreds of extremists organized in commandos belonging to the Betar and the Jewish Defense League (JDL) attacked journalists, policemen, Arabs, Blacks, and pacifist Jews, as reported in the French daily Le Monde in its April 8 and 9 editions (Internet):

Quand les manifestants arrivent place de la Bastille, vers 19 heures, quelques dizaines de jeunes excités les ont précédés depuis longtemps. Certains portent des blousons du Betar, ce mouvement proche de la droite nationaliste israélienne (Le Monde daté 7-8 avril), d'autres des tee-shirts jaunes de la Ligue de défense juive, organisation radicale. Pendant près de deux heures, ils prennent pour cible des Maghrébins passant par hasard sur la place ou dans les rues adjacentes. Courant par bandes, armés de casques ou de bouts de bois - souvenirs de pancartes - voire de petites battes de base-ball, les jeunes du Betar n'ont eu cure des rappels à l'ordre et des cris des manifestants pacifiques. Ils ont même frappé

ceux qui tonnaient contre eux, leurs autres cibles privilégiées étant les CRS et les journalistes. [...] Ces chasses à l'homme apparaissaient préméditées. Disposant de talkie-walkies pour éviter le réseau téléphonique saturé, ces jeunes extrêmistes, dont beaucoup paraissaient mineurs, se félicitaient des coups donnés en se tapant dans les mains, aux cris de " Plus d'Arabes, plus de problèmes ! ".

"Un noyau de 400 à 500 personnes appartenant à des mouvements extrémistes pro-israéliens, organisés en commandos très mobiles -...- n'ont cessé de provoquer

pendant plusieurs heures", a déclaré, lundi 9 avril, le préfet de police de Paris, Jean-Paul Proust, qui a affirmé que "tout serait mis en oeuvre" pour retrouver les agresseurs d'un commissaire de police en uniforme, frappé d'un coup de couteau et dont les jours ne sont pas en danger. Reporters sans frontières a demandé au procureur de la République de Paris l'ouverture d'une enquête, à la suite des violences dont plusieurs journalistes couvrant la manifestation ont été victimes. Selon l'association, un cameraman de la télévision espagnole Antena 3 a été passé à tabac " par des membres du service d'ordre de la manifestation qui portaient des brassards ". Par ailleurs, dix journalistes et techniciens de la chaîne France 2 ont été pris à partie, dont un cameraman d'origine guadeloupéenne, qui a subi des injures racistes. Un photographe travaillant pour un site Internet a été frappé à coups de pied. Les mouvements extrémistes juifs du Betar et de la Ligue de défense juive (LDJ) sont particulièrement mis en cause. Le Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples (MRAP) a demandé, lundi 8 avril, la dissolution de la Ligue de défense juive, accusant cette organisation d'avoir mené une " véritable chasse au faciès " et des

" ratonnades dans les rues de Paris ". Plusieurs témoignages rapportent, en effet, que des jeunes vêtus du T-shirt jaune de la LDJ ont poursuivi et frappé des personnes d'origine maghrébine en marge de la manifestation, sur la place de la Bastille et dans les rues voisines. Les manifestants d'un rassemblement organisé par le mouvement pacifiste Shalom

Archav (" La Paix maintenant ") ont également été pris à partie.

How did The New York Times report this event? With utmost discretion: In its national edition of Monday, April 8, 2002, there is just one photo showing the Paris crowd (Section A, page 3). Curiously, this photo is inserted in an article by Marlise Simons entitled "The Mideast in Marseille: Violence Shakes a City". Its legend indicates only:

About 50,000 people marched yesterday in Paris to protest anti-Jewish attacks and to support Israel. Clashes broke out between counterdemonstrators and marchers and a

police officer was stabbed.

Sulzberger's newspaper does not state clearly that the violence was provoked by a large group of Zionist extremists linked to the organizers of the march and that the French police

officer was stabbed by one of them.

In contrast, when, a few days later, on Wednesday, April 10, 2002, some Jewish teenagers playing soccer in a Paris suburb were beaten by masked aggressors, The New York Times

dedicated a whole article to the story under the catchy title "Gang Attacks Jews on Sport Field in France" (04/13/2002,Section A, page 3). The author, Suzanne Daley, made no reference whatsoever to the violence committed by the Betar and the JDL the previous Sunday, even if these actions may have explained a retaliatory attack on the soccer players.

Washington, April 15, 2002
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A week later, on Monday, April 15, 2002, another demonstration in support of the State of Israel took place, this time in the streets of Washington (DC).

How did The New York Times report this event? Sulzberger's newspaper did it the following day (04/16/2002) with an article and a large color photo centered on the upper part of the front page. Its legend says:

More than 100,000 demonstrators rallied yesterday at the Capitol, urging the Bush administration to support Israel and refuse negotiations with Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader.

The article mentioned the participation of several American Zionist and Israeli public figures such as Paul Wolfowitz and Benjamin Netanyahu with quotes of their declarations.

The front-page photo was taken at an angle such that the crowd seems enormous. In fact, the 100,000 figure given by The New York Times was largely inflated due to... a "coordination" problem with one of its desks: The real number was in the low thousands (see below).

London, September 28, 2002
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On Saturday, September 28, 2002, a demonstration took place in the streets of London against the war planned in Irak by the Washington administration with the full support

of the Jewish-American-Zionist lobby (JAZ) and the Israeli government. An article published in CounterPunch (09/16-30/2002), one of the best American political gazettes, gives an idea of the magnitude of this event:

The London rally on September 28 against any attac on Iraq was huge. The police and the Murdoch-owned London Sunday Times put the crowd at 150,000. The Independent reported "between 150,000 and 350,000". The rally's organizers reckoned more than 250,000 and

the Guardian said "up to 400,000".

How did The New York Times report this event? In its national editions of Sunday, September 29, and Monday, September 30, 2002 (section A), there is nothing about this demonstration.

A week earlier, on Sunday, September 22, 2002, another important demonstration had taken place in the British capital. A huge crowd had gathered in London to defend country lifestyle and... fox hunting! Interestingly, The New York Times did report this event the following day (09/23/2002) under the title "400,000 Rural Protesters Take to London Streets" with

a photo of the demonstrators and their signs.

Is Iraqi hunting a less important topic than fox hunting?

Rome, September 28, 2002
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On Saturday, September 28, 2002, a demonstration against the war in Irak took place in the streets of Rome (Italy). A Reuters wire of the same day gives an idea of the magnitude

of this event:

Des milliers de pacifistes italiens armés de drapeaux et de sifflets ont manifesté samedi dans les rues de Rome pour exprimer leur hostilité à une nouvelle guerre contre l'Irak. Accusant le président américain George W. Bush de nourrir des desseins belliqueux, le cortège s'est frayé un chemin au coeur de la Ville éternelle, avant de s'immobiliser sur une grande place du centre-ville. Selon Refondation communiste, organisateur de la marche, cette dernière a rassemblé plus de 100.000 participants. La police n'a pas fourni d'estimations mais les journalistes présents ont, quant à eux, avancé un chiffre plus proche des 50.000.

Another source (www.eurolegal.org) confirms the importance of this demonstration:

But 70% of the Italian public are against military intervention in Iraq: On 28th September 2002 around 100,000 people demonstrated on the streets of Rome against Berlusconi's support for Bush and there was also a big demonstration in Milan.

How did The New York Times report this event? In its national editions of Sunday, September 29, and Monday, September 30, 2002 (section A), there is nothing about this demonstration.

Washington, October 26, 2002
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On Saturday, October 26, 2002, a demonstration against the war in Irak took place in the streets of Washington near the White House. A report posted on the Internet site of International Answer (www.internationalanswer.org), the organizer of the march, gives an idea of the magnitude of this event:

In the largest anti-war demonstration since the Vietnam War era, more than a quarter of a million people took to the streets in Washington, DC and San Francisco. Other demonstrations took place in cities around the world. [...] The largest demonstration took place in Washington D.C., where tens of thousands of people participated in a rally that began adjacent to the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial. While the Washington Post and police put the figure at above 100,000, news anchors on Pacifica radio, which broadcast the event live, put the figure at over 200,000. [...] The march in Washington D.C. was so large that when marchers at the front of the procession returned to Constitution Avenue on their way back, they had to wait to allow demonstrators at the tail of the march to pass. Organizers say a demonstration of this magnitude had not happened since 1969, five years after Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin authorizing President Johnson to launch a war on Vietnam.

How did The New York Times report this event? In its national editions of Sunday, October 27, and Monday, October 28, 2002 (section A), there is nothing about this demonstration.

Under the pressure of the public, Sulzberger's newspaper finally published something, but four days after the march (10/30/2002),

and the article omits a lot of things. For instance, it does not mention the participation of famous activists and public figures like Ramsey Clark or Jesse Jackson and, consequently, does not quote any of them, in spite of the fact that the media had their own podium facing the stage with a battery of cameras and microphones.

I was in Washington on October 26, 2002. Under blue skies,I spent half a day in a huge crowd that gave a great lesson of democracy to the country. A very mixed and joyful crowd

of students, unionists, veterans, pro-Palestinian activists, socialist militants, Franciscan nuns, mothers and children, pacifist lawyers, sympathizers of all kinds and, probably, agents of the FBI and the Mossad. On the thousands of signs mixed with Palestinian flags, one could read devastating slogans against the planned attack and the warmongers of the Bush administration:"Drop Bush, not bombs", "We're in deep shit when our bombs are smarter than our President","Draft Richard Perle" or "Axis of evil = Rumsfeld, Bush, Powell".

In the morning, many speakers took the stage near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and I had the great privilege of hearing two extraordinary activists, the actress Susan Sarandon and the former Assistant Attorney and then Attorney General of the Kennedy and Johnson cabinets, Ramsey Clark.

Florence, November 9, 2002
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On Saturday, November 9, 2002, a demonstration against the war in Irak took place in the streets of Florence (Italy). Wires posted the same day on the Internet sites of the French daily Le Monde (via AFP) and Reuters give an idea of the magnitude of this event:

Entre 400.000 et un million de personnes, selon la police ou les organisateurs, ont participé samedi à Florence à une marche contre la guerre, point culminant du premier Forum social européen.

More than half a million anti-war protesters from across Europe marched through this Italian Renaissance city on Saturday in a loud and colorful demonstration denouncing any possible U.S. attack on Iraq. Brimming with anti-American feelings and riled by a tough new U.N. resolution to disarm Iraq, young and old activists from as far afield as Russia and Portugal joined forces for the carnival-like rally, singing Communist anthems and 1970s peace songs. [...] Authorities estimated that some 450,000 protesters flooded Florence's streets for the march on a chilly autumn afternoon. But by dusk, the crowd had swelled to over half a million, many of them arriving on specially chartered trains and buses. Organizers estimated the gathering at around one million, making it one of Italy's biggest ever anti-war rallies.

How did The New York Times report this event? This time, Sulzberger's newspaper quickly informed the American public with a front-page color photo in its Sunday edition (11/10/2002). But its legend minimizes the success of the march:

More than 100,000 said "No to the War in Iraq" as they marched yesterday in Florence.

Why did The New York Times finally decide to cover promptly a massive anti-war rally? Two reasons could explain this flip-flop. After the October march in Washington, the newspaper received more than a thousand e-mails from outraged readers protesting its coverage (source: www.fair.org). Its publisher was certainly concerned about a tarnished reputation and inclined to some damage control. Moreover, at the time of the Florence march, the mid-term elections were over (11/05/2002) and had been won by the Bush camp, the one who pushes the most for a war against Irak and the one that the bellicose JAZ lobby favors above all. Therefore, there was no immediate need for The New York Times to control further the minds and the hearts of the American public. During the election campaign, no dissident piccolo was supposed to disturb the concert for trumpets and bass drums orchestrated for or by the White House.

In a recent article published on www.counterpunch.org ("How the Press Downplayed the Protests: Deceptions and Illusions",

January 18-19, 2003,), Wayne Madsen rightly writes:

The New York Times has become the chief perpetrator of low balling anti-Bush protestor numbers. A photo caption on its web site stated, "thousands of protestors" took part in the January 18 protest. A similar anti-war protest held in Washington last October 26 was estimated at between 100,000 and 200,000. It was the largest anti-war protest since the Vietnam War, but the Times reported the number of protestors as being in the "thousands."

However, an April 15, 2002 pro-Israel rally at the US Capitol, was reported by the Times to be 100,000. In reality, the numbers were merely in the low thousands. The "Old Grey Lady" later admitted it had erroneously reported the inflated number due to a "coordination" problem with one of its desks. Five days later, a pro-Palestinian rally was held on the White House Ellipse. Organizers claim the crowd was 100,000 but Washington police chief Charles Ramsey put the numbers at between 35,000 and 50,000. Once again, the Times reported the numbers to be in the "tens of thousands." This is not just shoddy journalism but willful disinformation being perpetrated by corporate newspapers that want to curry favor with the White House, Congress, and the Pentagon.

"Expect the World" promise day after day advertisements for The New York Times. But what world are you talking about, Baron Sulzberger? Do you really live on the same planet as ours?

Perhaps the time has come to rename your rag The Zionist Times of New York.

François Costes

October 31, 2002

Revised January 23, 2003

English version 1.3

See also:

When "Doves" Lie

The New York Times plays down anti-war opinion

Jim Naureckas

FAIR

April 2003

www.fair.org/extra/0304/nyt-doves.html

Comment:

Part 13
Note: As indicated in the last posting, we are now providing more detailed material.
(July 12) We forsee problems in some of our coverage of the Iraq business. Until fairly recently, the public support has been fairly strong for the President's actions. Our own poll results showed that the President enjoyed a solid 52% national support (although the agreed figures were closer to 65%) Now, with the prolonged and escalating Iraqi resistance and growing questions about Bush's State of the Union speech and the glaring errors contained in it, it is very evident that other media elements are beginning to raise questions. We have known for some time that Tenet would take the blame for the glaring forged documents the President used to whip up a panic and gain public support for his determination to attack and occupy Iraq. We have a copy of the December, 2002 memo from the White House to the DCI concerning documentation of Iraqi WMD. Quote: The President feels that it is vital to have supportive material concerning known Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. You are requested to search your files for anything that would support this important thesis endquote. It was well-known inside our circles and the Beltway that the reports of Nigerian uranium sales to Iraq were hopeless frauds. These faked reports were duly sent over to the White House with a cover letter, a copy of which we also have in our files, to the effect that this report was the only one that addressed the President's request but also contained a specific warning that its authenticity was quote dubious at best and therefore could not be supported by other evidence endquote
As pressure on the President ratchets up over these faked papers, it is obvious that he is going to find a fall guy for his slipping reputation. Our sources indicate that Tenet (and others) will be reprimanded in public but praised in private. He will in all probability not be given the sack because, quite simply, George T knows where the bodies are buried. The best way to cover this is to be strictly neutral in comment and we must now maintain a completely neutral position in all of this. If Bush has the same problems Nixon did over Watergate, we cannot be seen by our viewers as being blindly partisan. We have to have plausible deniability in this. The NYT is now beginning to crack the wall of silence surrounding the Presidency and as they are the bellweather, best to watch them closely.
(July 13) The figures given out about a 3 billion monthly bill for the Iraq occupation and "pacification" is going to blow up in the Administration's face.(More like 5 billion a month!) The Democrats have been in disarray because they feel that by attacking the wartime President, they can be accused of disloyalty to the American peopleThe major disaster for the White House is that they cannot get oil out of Iraq. The plan always was to root out Saddam, occupy the country after securing the oil fields first and then put a CIA trained and controlled local governments into place. This puppet governments (let's face it gentlemen, that is what it would be but we can call it Iraqi autonomy) would graciously grant to the US the right to protect their oil resources and assist them in recovering their pre-Desert Storm production levels. In fact, the Iraqis would get none of the proceeds of the oil salesThe President and his top men, including Rumsfeld, were fully warned by both the CIA and MI that there was a very strong probability that internal unrest in Iraq could tie the US up for years, not months but as we know, the White House has always listened to a different drummerThe Administration is over a barrel on this because if they try to make too many scapegoats, someone will let the cat out of the bag over who really knew what and what kind of specific warnings the White House had actually receivedthe same scenario as the 9-11 warnings.It's strongly suspected that the Russians know exactly where Saddam is but will never tell usBush has refused to allow any Iraqi oil resources to flow into Russia and has also refused to pay off Saddam's bills with Russia. The President hates Putin, calling him a quote KGB thug endquote. The President is certainly a good hater!
(July 14) Happy talk at the Pentagon about a universal draft is fading away. No chance of this disaster even being broached and it should not be mentioned at all. It is doubtful that the White House will touch this one nowThere is a growing fear in counter intelligence circles that if the resistance movement in Iraq is not stopped, the resulting very bad PR might cause an "incident" somewhere in the US just before election time to whip the voters up to vote for Bush as a "wartime leader" who can put a number of draconian laws and edicts in place to "protect the American people." Someone in the FBI said to one of our people, entirely off the record, that quote it will probably be the Statue of Liberty endquote. There must be no speculation on this subject under any circumstances. If some rigged incident does happen and we comment on it in advance, new regulations could cause us serious problems If this happens, it will be Rumsfeld who plans and executes it. This will give the President the usual deniability. It is more than likely that we will get some advance notice of such an action and then decisions can be made relative to going to the public. On one hand, it would be a magnificent media coup guaranteeing ratings off the chart and on the other, a death sentence



Part 14

Note: As indicated in the last posting, we are now providing more detailed material.

(July 17) The White House is now moving into a bunker mentality, very much like Nixon during the end of the Watergate business. With mounting Iraqi opposition and facing a very capable guerrilla movement, supplied by Syria and Russia, the US has run into the stone wall we all predicted. His personality will not permit the President to withdraw in good order; the neocons and the oil people will simply not let him. Bush is stuck between the rock and the proverbial hard placeserious growing unrest in the troops coupled with very low morale, growing death tolls, lack of rotation, real fear of being fatally attacked are all leading to a situation that our Pentagon source informs us could actually erupt into open mutiny. Couple all of this with the terrible economy, the insistence of the Bush people on insane tax cuts (to help out corporate America), the obvious right wing political and religious fanatics supporting the President and we have the makings of serious, probably fatal, domestic problems. The fear is that a frantic Administration could connive at some kind of domestic terrorism if and when they perceive the President slumping badly in the polls. He already is and it looks like it might go like the economy. Today, a 65% favorite; tomorrow matching Davis' 20%.

( July 20) We have to sit on stories of serious physical abuse of Iraqi citizens. Most sensitive (and we put the blackout on this subject) are the numerous rapes and sexual assaults against Iraqis. Interesting are the unreported but fully known homosexual rapesthe real problem here is that US GI minorities are mostly responsible for these and Bush needs these votes in November so on with the lidwe don't think they can keep this shut up for too longthe Okinawa syndrome all over again.

(July 21) Blair may well fall from power as a result of the growing anger in the UKas usual, Bush has blamed the CIA for the yellowcake nonsense and now that Tenent is fighting back with strategic leaks, he is blaming his only real ally, Britainthe same problem Bush has with everyonepromise everything, deliver nothing. Sound bites followed by forgetfulness. This is going to cause serious internal problems in Mexico when the PRI realizes that Fox won't get support from Bush. The President does not realize that there is a ready-made war on our southern borderbest part is that the troops won't have so far to go this time.plans to activate the National Guards and send them off to Iraq to relieve the serious morale crisis in our troops there will certainly backfire. The weekend warriors are a military comic routine and would be sliced to pieces by grinning Iraqi guerrillas. When they start sending young convenience store managers home in rubber bags with their genitals cut off, there will be hell to pay in Middle America



Part 15

Note: As indicated previously , we are now providing more detailed material in this section. Fuller reporting will be found in our new Electronic Journal.

(July 19) SARS keeps popping up in pockets here and there but it is pretty well agreed that it has gone to ground and won't crop up again until winter flu seasonReporting on this should be limited to CDC and WHO releases but without any comment and stick it back with the truss ads

(July 20) There is a big flap going on, well behind the scenes, between Bush's top advisors and the CIA over the yellowcake issue. The issue, as far at the public is concerned at least, is whether the President had knowledge of the falsity of information that Iraq was attempting to buy uranium for use in a weapons program. His aides sent out requests to the DIA, the CIA, DoS and NSA to see if there were any usable reference materials in their files that would support such a contention. As always, there were reports and one was sent on by the CIA to White House staffers. It was noted in a cover letter that the report was quote dubious at best endquote. The Bush people put it into a speech the President was slated to deliver in Cincinatti in October of 2002. Tenent got wind of this and specifically informed the staff that the reference was badly flawed and to delete it. This was done. However, several months later, the President included it verbatim in his State of the Union address in January of 2003. It had the desired effect but backfired when leaks indicated that the report was a crude forgery. This put Bush in a very unenviable position and his staff began to find ways to deny it; to develop plausible deniability. Blair also got a copy of this and also was informed, by the CIA and British MI, that the report was a useless fake. Unfortunately, both men consulted and decided to use it. The truth of the matter is that they both were aware that the report was totally untrue. Later, when this became public knowledge, the Bush people began frantically attempting to shove the blame off on the lesser fish. Tenent bit the bullet but stated only that he had not read the President's speeches (which he had). This was put out by the staff at the White House as an "admission" that the CIA had been at fault. Our reports indicate that the highest level CIA people are outraged at this treachery on the part of the President and have been leaking all kinds of unpleasantness about Cheney, Wolfowitz and recently, about the President himself. The White House has responded by "outing" a high level CIA agent, wife of a critic. This is a criminal act but the White House people do not care. They believe that the President was quote called by God to the Presidency endquote and anything he says, or does, is acceptable. There is also a growing feud between the Bush people and the intelligence, and now the military, communities. White House staffers are threatening to release a secret report on the deaths of John Paisley, once Deputy Director of the CIA's Office of Strategic Research in September of 1978 and William Colby, formerly DCI in May of 1996. Both men had fallen afoul of senior CIA personnel and both "accidentally" were drowned under highly suspicious circumstances. Our sources indicate that Paisley had been dealing with the Soviet intelligence organs and Colby was singled out for assassination because of damning testimony he gave before a Congressional hearing that reflected badly on the Company. The CIA is certain to retaliate if these allegations of in-house "cleansing" are leaked. The odious bottom-feeder Drudge would be the most likely source for these leaks. We should be very careful about what we make public about all of this. Presidents come and Presidents go but the CIA abides and will be around long after Bush is only a memory

(July 21) The guerrilla warfare rages on in Iraq with no end in sight. A report from Rand indicates that oil from Iraq is not likely to be shipped out in the near future and as the Administration has been counting on their sales of this oil to reduce the horrific US national debt, trouble looms. Rumsfeld and Cheney, the real powers in the Beltway, want the National Guards activated to replace the mutinous brigades now on duty in Iraq. The staffers at the Pentagon are not in favor of this because these Guardsmen are badly trained and it is felt that there would be casualty disasters without end if they were dumped into the middle of a fierce guerrilla Arab holy war. The emerging hallmark of White House strategy is a blind belief in the rightness of their actions and a mounting refusal to modify any of their actions

(July 25) The House vote on the deregulation matter is a shot across the Administration's bows. So many Republicans deserted that Bush is said to be boiling with rage and threatening a veto in addition to punishment of the rebels. Considering the public uproar over Powell's FCC actions, this veto will be overridden. Reminds us of the time everyone voted against the crime bill during the Clinton years. The bill obviously was going to pass but this was Congress's way of warning the White House that they had the power and he did not. Bush's first challenge came from the courts and it has now been followed up by the House. The Senate is sure to follow. The importation of prescription drugs from overseas is another issue. It is too popular for Congress to ignoreAARP types are working overtime on this onebut both the Drug industry and certain of us in the media have filled the coffers of the GOP with baskets of gold and now expect to get what they paid for. We should come down on the side of the cheaper drugs but be strictly neutral on the media deregulation business.

(July 26) Note: This is an extract from a new source and is included here because it is contains information about important future activities.

"Two meetings held in Ortona on July 22-23 and Medina, July 24.....decision regarding counter measures against American invaders...continued support by Russian groups with logistical support including sanitized weapons with proper earlier datings....considering that vengeance attacks against prominent US military and civilian personnel in Iraq are difficult due to strong security, instead, it was suggested that attacks be made within the US proper and against religious leaders. The public deaths, preferably by explosives or by fire, of some prominent American religious fanatics now pressing to Christianize Muslim countries...suggested are Pat Robertson, Falwell, Reed, the younger Graham...not considered that any of these will have heavy security like the Vice President who hides his craven body in a steel bunker....Bush has refused in a secret report to pay any of Iraqi debts to Russia, France or Germany because they have openly thwarted his aggression at the UN and are viewed by him as putative enemies ...agreements have been made in principle with Russian and French spokesmen concerning the payments of the Iraqi debts...the shadow government has signed protocols agreeing to repay these debts ahead of all other debts when the Americans are chased out of Iraq...Germans have not yet been drawn into this because they are not considered 100% secure and many American spies have infiltrated the BND and Foreign Office in Pullach and Berlin and all would be reported immediately to the CIA regional headquarters at....several American spies and traitors have been identified in the area under discussion and will be removed quietly."




















this because they are not considered 100% secure and many American spies have infiltrated the BND and Foreign Office in Pullach and Berlin and all would be reported immediately to the CIA regional headquarters at....several American spies and traitors have been identified in the area under discussion and will be removed quietly."











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