It's important for journalists to investigate the Iraqi regime's atrocities, but media must just as tirelessly investigate the U.S.'s role in Iraq's sufferings - and not merely as actions committed "by accident." Journalists might remember, for example, that the U.S. deliberately targeted Iraq's water system during the Gulf War, even while predicting that this would lead to large-scale epidemics (The Progressive, 9/01). When media fail to acknowledge the hundreds of thousands of deaths that U.S. policy has contributed to in Iraq, they obscure the plain fact that war is always, in its own right, a humanitarian disaster.
ACTION:
Please urge ABC, CBS and NBC to do in-depth reporting about the impact that war will have on civilians in Iraq, both in terms of immediate deaths and long-term suffering and death from infrastructure damage.
CONTACT:
ABC World News Tonight
Phone: 212-456-4040
mailto:PeterJennings@abcnews.com
CBS Evening News
Phone: 212-975-3691
mailto:evening@cbsnews.com
NBC Nightly News
Phone: 212-664-4971
mailto:nightly@nbc.com
As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if you maintain a polite tone. Please cc fair@fair.org with your correspondence.
For more information about the humanitarian impact of war in Iraq:
* Human Rights Watch backgrounder about the potential humanitarian crisis
in Iraq:
http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/mena/iraq021203
* The Center for Economic and Social Rights, "The Human Costs of War in
Iraq":
http://www.cesr.org/iraq/docs/humancosts.pdf
* Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq:
http://www.casi.org.uk
FAIR-L
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and activism
Feel free to respond to FAIR ( fair@fair.org ). We can't reply to everything, but we will look at each message. We especially appreciate documented examples of media bias or censorship. And please send copies of your email correspondence with media outlets, including any responses, to fair@fair.org .
You can subscribe to FAIR-L at our web site: http://www.fair.org . Our subscriber list is kept confidential.
ACTION:
Please urge ABC, CBS and NBC to do in-depth reporting about the impact that war will have on civilians in Iraq, both in terms of immediate deaths and long-term suffering and death from infrastructure damage.
CONTACT:
ABC World News Tonight
Phone: 212-456-4040
mailto:PeterJennings@abcnews.com
CBS Evening News
Phone: 212-975-3691
mailto:evening@cbsnews.com
NBC Nightly News
Phone: 212-664-4971
mailto:nightly@nbc.com
As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if you maintain a polite tone. Please cc fair@fair.org with your correspondence.
For more information about the humanitarian impact of war in Iraq:
* Human Rights Watch backgrounder about the potential humanitarian crisis
in Iraq:
http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/mena/iraq021203
* The Center for Economic and Social Rights, "The Human Costs of War in
Iraq":
http://www.cesr.org/iraq/docs/humancosts.pdf
* Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq:
http://www.casi.org.uk
FAIR-L
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and activism
Feel free to respond to FAIR ( fair@fair.org ). We can't reply to everything, but we will look at each message. We especially appreciate documented examples of media bias or censorship. And please send copies of your email correspondence with media outlets, including any responses, to fair@fair.org .
You can subscribe to FAIR-L at our web site: http://www.fair.org . Our subscriber list is kept confidential.