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“Can there be a democracy when the content
of media is determined almost universally, by
commercial considerations?
“Can there be a democracy in a society in
which emotional appeals overwhelm reason,
where the image is routinely employed to overwhelm
thought?”
Finding answers to these questions has been
given a new urgency by the war in Iraq and the
coverage of that war. Let us ask these questions
anew – and join the struggle for answers that will
revive our democratic culture and foster a more
responsible media.
Gratitude
THIS book could not have emerged without the
support of Globalvision and the MediaChannel.
org. It was designed and produced initially with
the committed help of Tony Sutton, an international
newspaper consultant based in Toronto,
Canada, who runs ColdType.net in his spare
moments. He stepped in when other publishers
lacked the capacity or the guts to get this work
out quickly. It could not have been completed
without the active help and editorial support of a
friend who prefers anonymity and who worked
tirelessly with me to shape this book over a
spring weekend. I am thrilled that Steven L.
Mitchell of Prometheus Books recognized its
importance and decided to rush it into print.
I appreciate Victoria Graham’s professional
eye and hand as an editor. The book could not
have happened without weblog editor Jeanette
Friedman, and later Bill Curry; without support
INTRODUCTION
27
from Rory O’Connor, Tim Karr, and Michael
Summerfield of the Globalvision News Network.
I am grateful for the technical help of Doug
George and Anna Pizarro’s administrative and
editorial assistance.
And I sincerely thank the readers who send in
items, comments, donations and so many kind
words. Happily, my daughter Sarah Debs
Schechter was among them.
You can give me feedback on the analysis and
contents of this book by writing dissector@mediachannel.org.
Please visit my daily online
weblog http://www.mediachannel.org/weblog
and help us keep Mediachannel.org alive.
Just one last point: this book begins at the end
of the war with the post-war reporting and works
its way backwards. Knowing how the story is
evolving helps us put all the lies and deceptions
that led up to it, and which were repeated
throughout, into a new framework.
As you will see, a war brought to us with constant
“Breaking News” was not above faking
news. A war whose rationale had to do with disarmament
and finding weapons of mass destruction
was fought in large part with Weapons of
Mass Deception.
That’s how I saw it. Now, it is your turn. ●
Danny Schechter
News Dissector
New York, May 23, 2003
Parts of this introduction were written
for the Nieman Report, the journal of
the Nieman Foundation for Journalism
at Harvard University.