Defense Secretary Leon Panetta sees a growing chance that Israel will attack Iran’s nuclear sites this spring despite resistance from the Obama administration. Meanwhile, Danny Schechter attended a conference in Iran on how Hollywood spreads propaganda.
Tag: Danny Schechter
Sundering the Social Contract
In political philosophy, the idea of a social contract is that the individual surrenders some rights for the benefits of living in a civilized society that has reasonable rules for all. However, in recent decades, the greedy rich have torn…
UK Silences Iran’s Press TV
During the Iraq War, the U.S. took aim at AlJazeera. Now, as the information wars heat up between the West and Iran, British regulators have ordered Iran’s Press TV off the air, a move that Danny Schechter says further limits public information about…
Foreclosing a Real ‘House of Lies’
Showtime’s “House of Lies” with Don Cheadle dissects the corrupt world of corporate consulting at a time when the Republicans seem poised to nominate Mitt Romney, who made millions at Bain Capital by applying similar strategies for pumping up companies and inflating profits,…
Muscling What’s Left of Democracy
The Standard & Poor’s rating agency has downgraded European countries in a move that may force the governments to crack down more on their populations and divert more money to wealthy investors, thus helping the super-rich short-circuit what’s left of democracy,…
US Political News Is a Fool’s Game
U.S. political journalists love to cover the horse race of presidential politics focused on polls and gaffes while usually obscuring the nation’s actual problems and how the candidates and their proposals relate to this real world, as Danny Schechter notes.
On Occupying the New Year
For many people around the world, 2011 was a very tough year, as millions lost jobs, suffered foreclosures and faced austerity, while the rich did fine and corporations hoarded trillions of dollars in cash. But there were glimmers of hope…
On Havel/Kim, Where’s the Objectivity?
The Western news media reacted to the deaths of two international figures, Czech Vaclav Havel and North Korean Kim Jong-il, by presenting comic-book cut-outs of the two men, following simplistic story lines that missed the more nuanced reality, writes Danny Schechter.
‘It’s So Not Over,’ Say Occupy Protests
Three months into the Occupy Wall Street movement, protesters took their message uptown in a march that surprised the police and many Christmas shoppers, but helped explain what the economic crisis means to average people, writes Danny Schechter.
Can Financial Markets Avoid Collapse?
The world’s financial system continues to teeter near a very nasty brink, with the United States and Europe disagreeing about how to pull back from the edge. Danny Shechter sees crisis, crisis, everywhere.