How to Change the Debate: Lessons from the Snowden Affair
Edward Snowden is apparently still hanging out in the transit lounges of the Mocow airport, but his story spins on. European leaders are waving their fists at the idea that the US spied on them, and few countries seem to be willing to allow a plane that might be carrying Snwoden to land for a refueling stop.
The "debate" in the media over the whole matter is a strange one. The questions asked are not, in the main, the ones I'd ask.
Juan Cole, the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan, last week summed up the atmosphere of disinformation that reigns on US television: "...the way to distract the public in a democracy is to allow more and more vigorous debate about a more and more narrow set of issues. By narrowing the debate to “how illegal were Snowden’s actions?” instead of allowing the question, “how legal are the NSA’s actions,” the US mass media give the impression of debating both sides of a controversy while in fact suppressing large numbers of pertinent questions."
This is occuring at a time when Greece has completely shut down its publicly-supported broadcast media, as a budget austerity measure, and when Stephen Harper and his friends are menacing CBC/Radio Canada.
It used to be said that the first casualty in a war is the truth, but it seems the death count is rising even in this time of purported peace.
The "debate" in the media over the whole matter is a strange one. The questions asked are not, in the main, the ones I'd ask.
Juan Cole, the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan, last week summed up the atmosphere of disinformation that reigns on US television: "...the way to distract the public in a democracy is to allow more and more vigorous debate about a more and more narrow set of issues. By narrowing the debate to “how illegal were Snowden’s actions?” instead of allowing the question, “how legal are the NSA’s actions,” the US mass media give the impression of debating both sides of a controversy while in fact suppressing large numbers of pertinent questions."
This is occuring at a time when Greece has completely shut down its publicly-supported broadcast media, as a budget austerity measure, and when Stephen Harper and his friends are menacing CBC/Radio Canada.
It used to be said that the first casualty in a war is the truth, but it seems the death count is rising even in this time of purported peace.
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