Media Blacks Out Iran Peace Delegation Representing 50+ Million in US

Posted by Bruce Wilson at 12:59 PM on March 4, 2007.

In their book The Record of The Paper : How The New York Times Misreports US Foreign Policy, Howard Friel and Richard Falk amply document how New York Times mis-reporting helped pave the way for the US invasion of Iraq.

[they] demonstrate how the newspaper of record in the United States has consistently, over the last 50 years, misreported the facts related to the wars waged by the United States. From Vietnam in the 1960s to Nicaragua in the 1980s and Iraq today, the authors accuse the New York Times of serial distortions. They claim that such coverage now threatens not only world legal order but constitutional democracy in the United States.

In late February 2007, delegates representing the National Council Of Churches, which has roughly 45 million members, and other religious groups traveled to Iran and met with top Iranian religious and political leaders, in hopes of increasing trust and reducing tensions that might lead to war between the US and Iran. On Monday February 26th the delegation gave a Washington press conference about the trip. Beyond a vitriolic New York Post parody of the delegation Not a single major US media venue has opted to cover the story.

Ironically, New York Times has just published a story about how the anti-war "Out of Iraq [US] Congressional Caucus" has been blacked out by the media, but the Times is itself appears to be blacking out the story of a peace delegation to Iran representing upwards of perhaps 60 million Americans or more. (see interview with delegate member Jim Winkler)

Meanwhile, the NYT - which has so far declined to cover the peace efforts - opted to run a February 7th op-ed. that appears to treat favorably a new Christian "pro-Israel" lobbying group that advocates for a US nuclear attack on Iran and whose founder says publicly that he thinks the war he wants (for religious reasons) will set in motion a global conflict that he thinks could kill most Jews on Earth. Also, top GOP leaders meet often with Mr. Hagee. Are these GOP leaders just "pandering", eh ? Well, we sure better hope they are. Dick Armey says George W. Bush believes in the "End Times", "The Rapture", "The Apocalypse" and so on but says GW isn't trying to actually make those things happen. How lucky do we feel ?

Tagged as: iran, christian, iraq, peace, new york times, mccain, hagee, apocalypse, ncc, national council of churc, winkler, antiwar

Bruce Wilson writes for Talk To Action, a blog specializing in faith and politics.