[News] "Democracy Now" and the "Progressive" Alternative Media: Valued Cheerleaders For Imperialism and War

[Anti-Imperialist News]

*"Democracy Now" and the "Progressive" Alternative Media: Valued 
Cheerleaders For Imperialism and War *

by Finian Cunningham
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=31874

Global Research <http://www.globalresearch.ca>, July 13, 2012

The major Western mainstream media outlets have been running a "shock 
and awe" propaganda offensive against the Syrian government of President 
Bashar Al Assad for nearly 16 months. The misinformation has been 
unrelenting, monolithic, unverified, one-sided and, frankly, 
increasingly preposterous.

With the suppression of mounting facts that Western governments are 
waging a covert war of aggression in Syria, the Western public is right 
to treat the conventional media sources with skepticism and outright 
contempt. Such media are seen as "politicized" and "unreliable", serving 
a naked imperialist agenda for Western regime change. In a word, they 
are damaged goods.

This is where a segment of the so-called alternative media can play a 
valuable propaganda function for Western powers. Because such media are 
supposed to be independent, critical, non-corporate, the public tends to 
consider their reports as objective and unbiased.  One such 
"alternative" news service is "Democracy Now" hosted by Amy Goodman. 
Goodman is seen as something of a campaigning critical journalist 
shedding the light of truth on the depredations of the US government, 
corporations and the Pentagon. But a closer look at what Goodman's 
"Democracy Now" is reporting on Syria shows that the purported critical 
broadcaster has become a purveyor of Western government propaganda. 
While the mainstream media's propaganda function is obvious to the 
informed public, Goodman's "Democracy Now" plays a more subtle role. 
Camouflaged with the trappings of critical, independent journalism, 
"Democracy Now" serves to sow powerful seeds of misinformation in a way 
that the "compromised" mainstream media cannot.

This misinformation from "Democracy Now" is valuable to the ruling elite 
because to many of its readers it is not seen as misinformation.

Rather, the "news" on "Democracy Now" is viewed as reliable and 
representing the views of the anti-war, anti-imperialist constituency. 
In this way, Goodman is a valuable asset to Washington and Wall Street 
because her broadcasts can serve to disorient and undermine a 
constituency that is normally opposed to Western warmongering and 
imperialism. Many of the subscribers to "Democracy Now" may see through 
the misinformation. Many, though, may not, and therefore will become 
embedded with the imperialist agenda. The fact that Democracy Now 
ratings appear to be holding up would indicate that a lot of its 
followers are oblivious to the insidious effect of such misinformation. 
As such, Democracy Now is more valuable to the powers-that-be than, say, 
the /New York Times/ or the /Financial Times/. "Democracy Now" ensures 
that the agenda of the powerful becomes infiltrated in a constituency 
that would otherwise be opposed to that agenda.

First, let's recap on the mainstream propaganda offensive against Syria.

Since mid-March 2011, when violence was initially reported in that 
country, the Western mainstream television, radio and press studiously 
ignored the evidence of covert foreign-backed subversion and terrorism. 
Instead these outlets have sought to portray the protests as part of the 
pro-democracy Arab Spring popular movements that were seen in Egypt, 
Tunisia, Yemen and Bahrain. The mainstream media have run saturation 
coverage to demonise the government in Damascus as a "brutal, 
authoritarian regime" that is cracking down mercilessly on its civilian 
population demanding democratic reforms. The narrative is monolithic in 
the major media outlets on both sides of the Atlantic. Whether the New 
York Times, Washington Post, CNN, or the Financial Times, Guardian, 
Independent, Le Monde, BBC, ITN, the Irish national broadcaster RTE or 
the Middle East's much-vaunted Al Jazeera -- the "story" on Syria is 
uncannily uniform. A noble, civilian mass-based movement is being 
savagely crushed by a tin-eared dictator, so the story goes.

Every possible smear campaign against the Assad government has been 
indulged in and indeed fabricated. From the alleged killing of innocent 
civilians by the national armed forces, to the perpetration of massacres 
by pro-government militias, to self-inflicted car bombs in urban centres 
by Assad secret services, to the feckless shopping habits of the 
president's wife. Russia Today, Press TV,/ Der Spiegel, the 
//Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung/, the Vatican News Service (Agenzia 
Fides), to name a few, have been honorable exceptions in mainstream 
media journalism for conveying a more accurate picture of what is really 
happening inside Syria -- showing that "protesters" are far from 
peaceful civilians, and much of the violence is actually stemming from 
Western, Turkish and Arab-backed mercenaries that have infiltrated the 
country. As the facts of US and NATO-backed violence in Syria become 
more transparent and harder to conceal owing to the sheer volume of 
covert involvement, the Western public has rightly become more skeptical 
about what the mainstream media outlets are telling them. Indeed, the 
blatant misinformation and lies that are being sold as journalism is 
increasingly seen as contemptible.

The Houla massacre on 24 May is a case in point. The BBC and other 
mainstream media outlets have been shown to be outrageously wrong in 
their initial rush to blame the atrocity on Syrian government forces 
when the evidence has slowly emerged that it was most likely the grisly 
work of Western-backed mercenaries.

It is all the more disquieting when a supposedly informed, alternative 
news service, Democracy Now, peddles such blatant misinformation -- more 
than six weeks after the massacre occurred and after evidence has been 
reported that points convincingly to Western-backed perpetrators. On 9 
July, Goodman broadcast an interview with Rafif Jouejati 
<http://www.democracynow.org/2012/7/9/syrian_opposition_spokesperson_any_transition_deal#transcript>, 
a spokesperson for a Syrian opposition group called the Syrian Local 
Coordination Committees, based in Washington DC. Despite the mounting 
evidence of Western, Turkish and Saudi/Qatari covert operations, Goodman 
gave her guest a free rein to regurgitate the litany of mainstream media 
calumnies on Syria. Without a hint of scepticism from Goodman, her guest 
said:

/"The bottom line is that the majority of the country is engaged in a 
popular revolution for freedom, for democracy, for dignity... We have 
mountains of evidence indicating that [Assad's] armed forces have been 
engaged in systematic torture, rampant detentions, massacres across the 
country." /

Really? The majority of the country engaged in a popular revolution for 
freedom, democracy and dignity? That sounds more like the fanciful 
imagination of someone safely based in Washington DC. By contrast, 
sources in Syria have confirmed that people are terrified by 
Western-armed gangs running amok in their communities, kidnapping, 
murdering, evicting families from their homes and burning down business 
premises. According to the leaked Arab League Observer Mission Report, 
which had initially been commissioned by the Arab League at Washington's 
request:

"/In Homs, Idlib and Hama, the Observer Mission witnessed acts of 
violence being committed against Government forces and civilians that 
resulted in several deaths and injuries. Examples of those acts include 
the bombing of a civilian bus, killing eight persons and injuring 
others, including women and children, and the bombing of a train 
carrying diesel oil. In another incident in Homs, a police bus was blown 
up, killing two police officers. A fuel pipeline and some small bridges 
were also bombed. "
/
/"Such incidents include the bombing of buildings, trains carrying fuel, 
vehicles carrying diesel oil and explosions targeting the police, 
members of the media and fuel pipelines. Some of those attacks have been 
carried out by the Free Syrian Army and some by other armed opposition 
groups."/ (League of Arab States Observer Mission to Syria, Report of 
the Head of the League of Arab States Observer Mission to Syria for the 
period from 24 December 2011 to 18 January 2012 
<http://globalresearch.ca/Report_of_Arab_League_Observer_Mission.pdf>*,*  Ironically, 
these fact-finding observations of the AL Observer Mission , went 
against the interests of its Western sponsors. It was barely reported by 
the mainstream media)

According to the/ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung/ (FAZ):

/"Those killed were almost exclusively from families belonging to 
Houla's Alawi and Shia minorities. Over 90% of Houla's population are 
Sunnis. Several dozen members of a family were slaughtered, which had 
converted from Sunni to Shia Islam. Members of the Shomaliya, an Alawi 
family, were also killed, as was the family of a Sunni member of the 
Syrian parliament who is regarded as a collaborator. Immediately 
following the massacre, the perpetrators are supposed to have filmed 
their victims and then presented them as Sunni victims in videos posted 
on the internet/." (Neue Erkenntnisse zu Getöteten von Hula.Abermals 
Massaker in Syrien 
<http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/neue-erkenntnisse-zu-getoeteten-von-hula-abermals-massaker-in-syrien-11776496.html>, 
/Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung/, June 7, 2012 translated from the German,
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/neue-erkenntnisse-zu-getoeteten-von-hula-abermals-massaker-in-syrien-11776496.html) 


The FAZ report quoted above echoes eyewitness accounts collected from 
refugees from the Houla region by members of the Monastery of St. James 
in Qara, Syria. According to monastery sources cited by the Dutch Middle 
East expert Martin Janssen 
<http://opinie.deredactie.be/2012/06/02/de-verschrikkingen-van-houla/>, 
armed rebels murdered "entire Alawi families" in the village of Taldo in 
the Houla region.

Also of significance is the report of /Der Spiegel/ (March 29, 2012) 
entitled "An Executioner for Syria's Rebels Tells His Story" 
<http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/profile-of-rebels-in-homs-and-their-executioners-a-824603.html>. A 
system of "burial brigades" for those executed confirms an organized 
process of mass-murder and extra-judicial killings. This single "burial 
brigade", according  to the executioner's testimony, was responsible for 
the arbitrary execution of 350-400 people including "prisoners" and 
"traitors".  The "traitors" are Sunni civilians within the occupied 
urban and rural areas, who express their opposition to the rule of 
terror of the Free Syrian Army (FSA):
*
/"Since last summer, we have executed slightly fewer than 150 men, which 
represents about 20 percent of our prisoners,"/*/ says Abu Rami. ... But 
the executioners of Homs have been busier with traitors within their own 
ranks than with prisoners of war. "If we catch a Sunni spying, or if a 
citizen betrays the revolution, *we make it quick*," says the fighter. 
*According to Abu Rami, Hussein's burial brigade has put between 200 and 
250 traitors to death since the beginning of the uprising." (*//Der 
Spiegel, /March 29, 2012) 
<http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/profile-of-rebels-in-homs-and-their-executioners-a-824603.html>

The Vatican News Service Agenzia Fides largely confirms that the Western 
backed  "opposition forces" rather than the Al Assad government were 
responsible for countless atrocities:

"/In Homs, called the "martyred city", "opposition forces have occupied 
two areas, Diwan Al Bustan and Hamidieh, where there are all the 
churches and bishoprics," the Archimandrite told Fides. "The picture for 
us -- he continues - is utter desolation: the church of Mar Elian is 
half destroyed and that of Our Lady of Peace is still occupied by the 
rebels. Christian homes are severely damaged due to the fighting and 
completely emptied of their inhabitants, who fled without taking 
anything. The area of Hamidieh is still shelter to armed groups 
independent of each other, heavily armed and bankrolled by Qatar and 
Saudi Arabia. All Christians (138,000) have fled to Damascus and 
Lebanon, while others took refuge in the surrounding countryside/.

/The Syrian soldiers in fact, continue to face foreign fighters, 
mercenaries Libyans, Lebanese militants from the Gulf, Afghans, Turks. 
"The Sunni Salafist militants - says the Bishop - continue to commit 
crimes against civilians, or to recruit fighters with force. The 
fanatical Sunni extremists are fighting a holy war proudly, especially 
against the Alawites. When terrorists seek to control the religious 
identity of a suspect, they ask him to cite the genealogies dating back 
to Moses. And they ask to recite a prayer that the Alawites removed. The 
Alawites have no chance to get out alive."/ (Agenzia Fides, Vatican News 
Service, 4 June 2012 
<http://www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=31658&lan=eng>)

These reports were known to the alternative media. "Democracy Now" chose 
to ignore them.

*Overblown Casualty Figures, Blamed on the Government

*Goodman also indulged in the overblown casualty figures from dubious 
Syrian opposition sources as if they were verifiable accurate data. She 
even sounded like Hillary Clinton in talking up the "defection" of the 
hapless former Syrian Brigadier General Manaf Tlass as "significant" 
when informed sources discount that news as a minor irrelevance.

In the interview between Goodman and her guest (whom sources describe as 
belonging to a family formerly aligned with the Syrian government), 
Bashar Al Assad was portrayed as an unhinged leader who is in denial 
over massacres -- massacres, as we have noted, that have most likely 
been carried out by Western-backed death squads as confirmed by numerous 
reports.

Preposterously, Assad was described as guilty of much worse crimes than 
former Egyptian and Libyan rulers Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi. 
Then the "alternative" Democracy Now broadcast this statement from the 
supposed opposition spokesperson 
<http://www.democracynow.org/2012/7/9/syrian_opposition_spokesperson_any_transition_deal#transcript>as 
if it were normal discourse:
/
"I would like to think that we will proceed with full prosecution in the 
International Criminal Court. I think the longer this issue goes on and 
the more violence he [Assad] commits, the more likely he will wish to 
have a fate such as Gaddafi's." /

Recall that the Libyan leader was lynched on a roadside by a 
NATO-directed mob, and sodomised with a knife before being shot dead. It 
may also be recalled that "Democracy Now" gave prominent broadcasts 
supporting NATO's intervention in Libya and justifying the criminal 
subversion of that country. 
<http://www.democracynow.org/2011/9/14/after_gaddafis_fall_a_revitalized_libya#transcript> 
Going by the latest coverage on Syria, Democracy Now is acting once 
again under a "progressive" cloak as a propaganda tool for US-led 
imperialist intervention. Given the misplaced respect among many of the 
public seeking independent, alternative, accurate news and analysis, 
this insidious role of Democracy Now is reprehensible. May it be 
suggested, in the name of media transparency, that the programme be 
aptly renamed "Imperialism Now".

/*Finian Cunningham* is Global Research's Middle East and East Africa 
Correspondent cunninghamfinian at gmail.com 
<mailto:cunninghamfinian at gmail.com> /

-- 
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863-9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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