Media Alliance Response

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN Staff/p pbACTION ALERT FROM MEDIA ALLIANCE/b/p pTuesday’s attacks were a horrible tragedy. They are to be condemnedbr / by all peace-loving people in the world. In order for people to bebr / able to think critically about what happened and make informedbr / decisions about what the U.S. government’s response should be, theybr / need to hear a diversity of voices and perspectives in the mediabr / coverage of these events. Many of those voices have been missing;br / for example, the mainstream media has, by and large, not includedbr / the points of view of people who support non-violent responses tobr / the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon./p pWe encourage Media Alliance members and other media activists tobr / hold the mainstream media accountable for its problematic coverage.br / Right now the mainstream media is encouraging an environment inbr / which war or some other form of violent restribution is inevitable. /p pWe also encourage people to seek out a variety of perspectivesbr / from alternative media sources.o Contact CNN and Fox News Channel.br / br /CNN, Washington Bureau, 202-898-7900 (ask for the news room)br / br /CNN News President, Walter Isaacson, 404-827-1500br / br /Fox News Channel, 212-301-3100 (Jama Vitale), FAX 212-301-4224br / br /Fox News Channel Comment Line: 888-369-4762; a href="mailto:comments@foxnews.com"comments@foxnews.com/a/p pFollowing are some talking points for your calls to these outlets:/p p1. Their coverage needs to include pacifist perspectives. So farbr / the discussions in the mainstream media have centered on which formbr / of violent retribution is preferred. Avoiding discussion of otherbr / responses, including non-violent ones, contributes to an atmospherebr / that further perpetuates the cycle of violence that manifestedbr / itself on Tuesday./p p2. Their coverage needs to include perspectives that opposebr / racist and xenophobic stereotyping and behavior, especiallybr / against Arabs and Arab Americans. Although outlets have coveredbr / the recent spate of hateful attacks on Arab Americans, therebr / need to be voices included that explicitly defend immigrants.br / Immigrants of all backgrounds have always been, and are today,br / a central part of U.S. society and our many communities./p p3. Their coverage needs to include analysis of the root causesbr / that led the people who perpetrated the attacks on Tuesday tobr / want to kill thousands of civilians (and themselves too). Onebr / such root cause is the longstanding, widespread, and devastatingbr / violence that has been the result of U.S. foreign policy. Somebr / recent examples include the U.S.-driven sanctions on Iraq whichbr / have killed more than 1.5 million children, the billions of dollarsbr / in military aid to Colombia which the U.S. has used to fuel abr / deadly civil war, and the hundreds of millions of dollars inbr / military aid to Israel to enforce an occupation in violation ofbr / numerous U.N. resolutions. /p pAdditionally, reporters should acknowledge the role of the Unitedbr / States in training and aiding many parties that the U.S. governmentbr / subsequently has labelled as "terrorists" (e.g. Saddam Hussein,br / Osama bin Laden, etc.). Reporting that the terrorists "are againstbr / American values" and "hate our freedom" is inadequate./p p4. Their coverage needs to include perspectives that oppose newbr / policies that will use the recent attack as a pretext to increasebr / military spending, fast track Star Wars, and curtail civil liberties. /p pPeople who can speak to these topics can easily be found by CNNbr / and Fox News Channel through the websites listed above or throughbr / the Institute for Public Accuracy, a href="http://www.accuracy.org" title="www.accuracy.org"www.accuracy.org/a./p poOther possible actions:/p pForward a list of alternative news sources (above) to friends andbr / family who aren’t already familiar with these media outlets./p pWrite a letter to the editor of a newspaper (SF Chronicle,br / letters@sfchronicle.com; NYT, letters@nytimes.com; LA Times,br / a href="mailto:letters@latimes.com"letters@latimes.com/a)./p pCall in to radio talk shows that don’t include the perspectivesbr / described above (AM: KGO 810 AM, 415-808-0810)./p p/pPbRESOURCES/ALTERNATIVE MEDIA/b/p pYou can find a variety of analytical articles and news stories onbr / the following websites: a href="http://www.commondreams.org" title="www.commondreams.org"www.commondreams.org/a, a href="http://www.alternet.org" title="www.alternet.org"www.alternet.org/a,br / a href="http://www.zmag.org" title="www.zmag.org"www.zmag.org/a, a href="http://www.indymedia.org" title="www.indymedia.org"www.indymedia.org/a./p pOn radio, tune in to KPFA 94.1 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area. Inbr / other parts of the country, tune in to Democracy Now! at your localbr / Pacifica affiliate station; or check out your community radio station.br / You can hear Democracy Now on the web at a href="http://www.wbix.org" title="www.wbix.org"www.wbix.org/a. (If you wantbr / to know why you can't hear the show in New York City, Los Angeles,br / Washington, DC, and Houston, see a href="http://www.pacificacampaign.org" title="www.pacificacampaign.org"www.pacificacampaign.org/a. Then dobr / something about it!)/p pThe Detroit Free Press has put together an excellent guide for journalistsbr / titled, "100 Questions and Answers About Arab Americans." The guide isbr / available online at a href="http://www.freep.com/jobspage/arabs/index.htm" title="http://www.freep.com/jobspage/arabs/index.htm"http://www.freep.com/jobspage/arabs/index.htm/a. /p pThe following web sites and published articles can also serve as valuablebr / resources for journalists covering this national tragedy: /p pArab American Anti-Discrimination Committee - a href="http://www.adc.org/" title="http://www.adc.org/"http://www.adc.org//abr / br /Arab American and Chaldean Council - a href="http://www.arabacc.org/" title="http://www.arabacc.org/"http://www.arabacc.org//abr / br /Arab American Chamber of Commerce - a href="http://www.arabchamber.org/" title="http://www.arabchamber.org/"http://www.arabchamber.org//abr / br /Arab American Institute: a href="http://www.aaiusa.org/" title="http://www.aaiusa.org/"http://www.aaiusa.org//abr / br /Arab Film Distribution: a href="http://www.arabfilm.com" title="http://www.arabfilm.com"http://www.arabfilm.com/abr / br /"Arab - Americans, Muslims Fear Backlash" by the Associated Pressbr / br /-http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Attacks-Arabs-and-Muslims.html?sebr / br /"Bay Area Muslims fear reprisals, misplaced blame" by the San Jose Mercurybr / br /News - a href="http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/backlash12.htm" title="http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/backlash12.htm"http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/backlash12.htm/a/p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p