A powerful way to demand balanced coverage in the media is to organize or join protests against the News Media, such as the recent nationwide protest against Fox TV. On this page you will find information to help you organize a media protest in your area.
How to Organize a Peace Protest at Fox TV or other Media OutletSince the U.S. war on Iraq started, many peace groups have organized rallies at media outlets to protest their coverage of the war. Rather than reporting the reality of the war, which is bloody and has devastating consequences for human beings and the environment, many U.S. media outlets?especially the television networks?are presenting the war as if it were a video game that doesn?t actually result in death and destruction. War is not pretty, but journalism is about reporting the truth, whether it?s pretty or not. It is necessary for Americans to understand the harsh realities of war and to see the true price of sending our troops to Iraq.
Following are some general guidelines for organizing a protest at Fox TV or any media outlet. Also included here are possible talking points for media protests
Guidelines for Organizing a Protest
1. Determine the location of the protest. If it is a protest against Fox TV, find out which local TV station is the Fox affiliate (you can determine this by watching TV) and hold the protest in front of that TV station.
2.Tell people in your community about the protest. Create a flyer and email alert to tell peace activists and others in your community about the protest. A sample email alert is below. Similar text can be used for a flyer. If there?s a community radio station in your city or town, you can also ask the station to announce the protest on its airwaves. Please also tell us about the event so we can post it to the CodePink website and post it to the unitedforpeace.org website as well.
3. Prepare for the protest - permits, speakers, chants, visuals, megaphone. In some cities you will need to obtain a permit for your protest. You can get a permit by calling the police department and find out who handles permits for free speech events. In other communities, you don?t need a permit - especially if you don?t expect a big turnout. If you?ve never organized a protest and are not sure about whether you?ll need a permit, call an established peace group in your community and ask them what they would do.
You should be clear about what people are going to do when they get to the protest. If they will be holding up signs and walking around silently, that?s fine. But if you want to have them hear some speakers or have an ?open mic? so that people can speak out about what?s wrong with the media coverage of the war, someone in your group should work on the program and bring a megaphone or sound system to the protest. It?s also a good idea to come up with chants specific to the issue of media and war. You can come up with your own or email info@codepinkalert.org for a list of chants that we?ve already come up with. If you?re hoping for media coverage of your action (see below), it?s a good idea to have a visual component to the event. At a recent protest at CNN, we held up photos of Iraqis who?d been injured in the war and dressed up as injured Iraqis (in bandages and fake blood) to make the point that the media is ignoring the human costs of the war by not covering civilian casualties.
4.Tell the media about the protest. Getting media coverage of your protest will enable you to get your message out to a larger group of people in your community?whether your message is that the U.S. should pull the troops out of Iraq now or that journalists should tell the truth about the death and destruction that?s being caused by the war. One or two days before the protest, you should fax or email a media advisory to your local newspapers and TV and radio stations (a sample media advisory is below). On the morning of the protest, you should call the news desk at each of the media outlets to remind them of your protest. It is probable that they did not see your media advisory, so you need to give them a two-sentence summary of the event you have planned and why you think the event is newsworthy.
Sample Email Alert/Flyer Text
Use the language below or create your own.
THURSDAY, APRIL 3: PROTEST FOX NEWS CHANNEL?S WAR COVERAGE
Fox News Channel is the most pro-war television station in the United States. While claiming to be ?fair and balanced?, Fox actually makes no attempt to be either one. Rather than reporting the news, Fox cheerleads for the Pentagon.? Rather than reporting the reality of the war in Iraq, Fox glorifies the warriors and underplays the human cost of war.
Fox has also aggressively attacked the peace movement. In just the last few days, Fox's Bill O'Reilly proposed that anti-war protesters be arrested as terrorists, and Fox made fun of peace activists as they staged a die-in in New York City. This is not journalism, it is propaganda.
Sample Talking Points
These talking points were developed for the CNN protest last week. Talking points for Fox TV can cover similar points. Additionally, Fox can be strongly criticized for its ridiculing of anti-war protesters. Fox's Bill O'Reilly even advocated that anti-war protesters be prosecuted as terrorists.
- CNN news coverage and correspondents' reports seem fixated exclusively on the advancing advancement of the American and British forces and the success of their mission. The ones embedded with the military even use terms like "OUR division", erasing all semblance of objectivity.
- CNN reports US military reports as truth, and anything coming from the Iraqi government as pure propaganda. BOTH sides are dishing out propaganda, and CNN should be wary of all government reports at this time.
- CNN played us welcoming by Iraqi citizens of US troops, but downplays the anger of other Iraqis.
- CNN does not interview the families of Iraqis hurt and killed, like they do US soldiers. They treat Iraqi lives--civilians and soldiers--as less important. CNN does not show its viewers footage of the devastation, wreckage, and bloodshed caused by the bombardments of US warplanes to Iraqi cities.
- Al-Jazeera and the BBC showed footage of people being admitted to a hospital in Basra after US raids, covered in blood, receiving treatment on the floor because the hospital could not accommodate the numbers. Why NOT CNN?
- Al-Jazeera and the BBN that showed footage of civilian buildings completely destroyed by US raids; of an Iraqi father weeping as he carried the body of his daughter from the wreckage of the building. Why not CNN?
- Al-Jazeera interviewed workers from the Red Cross who spoke out to say that the bombs dropped on cities were not hitting military targets but civilian buildings. Why not CNN?
- -we are not seeing on the U.S. Television news what people in the rest of the world are seeing--images of the reality of war: civilian death, injured people in hospitals, people going without water in major cities
- -the media need to treat the American public as adults and not hide from us the realities of the war, which we know are not pretty. War is violent and war results in death.
- -if the Pentagon had its own TV station, this is what it would broadcast. CNN does not work for the Pentagon; it's supposed to be an independent media network that reports
Sample Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: April 2, 2003 Andrea Buffa (510) 325-3653
PROTESTS AGAINST FOX NEWS CHANNEL'S WAR COVERAGE PLANNED FOR THURSDAY IN SAN FRANCISCO, WASHINGTON, DC
Women peace activists will deliver 'pink slips' to Fox News Channel bureaus for Fox's biased reporting on the Iraq war and anti-war protesters WHEN: Thursday, April 3, Noon
WHERE:? San Francisco: 901 Battery Street (at Vallejo) Washington, DC: 400 North Capitol, NW
WHAT: Peace groups will hold a protests in front the San Francisco and Washington, DC bureaus of the Fox News Channel to demand that the network dedicate air time to showing the reality of the war, including information and in-depth stories about civilian and military casualties. Fox is notorious for expressing its support for the U.S. position in the war by reporting favorably about the U.S. war efforts and ridiculing anyone who opposes them.
The activists will also give 'pink slips' to Fox broadcasters, including Bill O'Reilly and Oliver North, for their biased coverage of anti-war protests. Just last week. O'Reilly proposed that anti-war protesters be arrested as terrorists, and Fox made fun of peace activists as they staged a die-in in New York City.
"Fox News Channel is the most biased television station in the United States," said Andrea Buffa, co-chair of United for Peace and Justice. "Their motto 'fair and balanced' is a joke; except that it's not funny when we're talking about a war and Fox's role in misinforming people about both the reality of war and the nature of many people's opposition to it."
"Rather than reporting the news, Fox cheerleads for the Pentagon. They glorify the warriors and underplay the human cost of war. That's not journalism," said Jeff Perlstein, executive director of the San Francisco media accountability group Media Alliance.
"People who are watching Fox as a source of news seriously need to consider looking elsewhere for real information. They're getting a completely one-sided picture of this war," said Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the human rights group Global Exchange. "Fox doesn"t interview the families of Iraqis hurt and killed, like they do US soldiers. And Fox doesn't show its viewers footage of the devastation, wreckage, and bloodshed caused by the bombardments of US warplanes to Iraqi cities."
"Fox News Channel hates anti-war activists so much that in their coverage, they make protests look more violent than war. Americans deserve a lot more than this; they deserve to hear not only the perspectives of the Bush Administration and the military but also the thoughtful perspectives of people who believe this war is unnecessarily killing innocent people and angering others all over the world," said Gail Murphy of CodePink, the women's anti-war group.
Additional Resources
Ethical Code for Journalists
http://tvnewslies.org - Website exposing media lies |
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