The P.U.-Litzer Prizes for 2003

These are the "good ole days?" give me a break.
-T

Announcing The P.U.-Litzer Prizes for 2003

Norman Solomon, AlterNet
December 19, 2003
Viewed on December 23, 2003

The P.U.-litzer Prizes were established more than 
a decade ago to give recognition to the stinkiest 
media performances of the year.

As usual, I have conferred with Jeff Cohen, 
founder of the media watch group FAIR, to sift 
through the large volume of entries. In view of 
the many deserving competitors, we regret that 
only a few can win a P.U.-litzer.

And now, the 12th annual P.U.-litzer Prizes, for 
the foulest media performances of 2003:

Media Mogul of the Year -- Lowry Mays, CEO of Clear Channel

While some broadcasters care about their 
programming, the CEO of America's biggest radio 
company (with more than 1,200 stations) admits he 
cares only about the ads. The Clear Channel boss 
told Fortune magazine in March: "If anyone said 
we were in the radio business, it wouldn't be 
someone from our company. We're not in the 
business of providing news and information. We're 
not in the business of providing well-researched 
music. We're simply in the business of selling 
our customers products."

Liberating Iraq Prize -- Tom Brokaw

Interviewing a military analyst as U.S. jet 
bombers headed to Baghdad on the first day of the 
Iraq war, NBC anchor Brokaw declared: "Admiral 
McGinn, one of the things that we don't want to 
do is to destroy the infrastructure of Iraq, 
because in a few days we're going to own that 
country."

"The More You Watch, The Less You Know" Prize -- Fox News Channel

According to a University of Maryland study, most 
Americans who get their news from commercial TV 
harbored at least one of three "misperceptions" 
about the Iraq war: that weapons of mass 
destruction had been discovered in Iraq, that 
evidence closely linking Iraq to Al Qaeda had 
been found, or that world opinion approved of the 
U.S. invasion. Fox News viewers were the most 
confused about key facts, with 80 percent 
embracing at least one of those misperceptions. 
The study found a correlation between being 
misinformed and being supportive of the war.

"Clear It with the Pentagon" Award -- CNN

A month after the invasion of Iraq began, CNN 
executive Eason Jordan admitted on his network's 
"Reliable Sources" show (April 20) that CNN had 
allowed U.S. military officials to help screen 
its on-air analysts: "I went to the Pentagon 
myself several times before the war started and 
met with important people there and said, for 
instance -- 'At CNN, here are the generals we're 
thinking of retaining to advise us on the air and 
off about the war' -- and we got a big thumbs-up 
on all of them. That was important."

"Conservative Times for the 'Liberal' Media" Award -- ABC News

Over the years, ABC correspondent John Stossel 
became known for one-sided, often-inaccurate 
reporting on behalf of his pro-corporate, "greed 
is good" ideology. He boasted that his on-air job 
was to "explain the beauties of the free market," 
received lecture fees from corporate pressure 
groups, and even spoke on Capitol Hill against 
consumer-protection regulation. In May of this 
year, when Stossel was promoted to co-anchor of 
ABC's "20/20," a network insider told TV Guide: 
"These are conservative times. ... The network 
wants somebody to match the times."

"Coddling Donald" Prize -- CBS's Lesley Stahl, ABC's Peter Jennings and Others

On the day news broke about Saddam Hussein's 
capture, Stahl and Jennings each interviewed 
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. In step with 
their mainstream media colleagues, both failed to 
ask about Rumsfeld's cordial 1983 meeting with 
Hussein in Baghdad on behalf of the Reagan 
administration that opened up strong diplomatic 
and military ties between the U.S. government and 
the dictator that lasted through seven years of 
his worst brutality.

Military Groupie Prize -- Katie Couric of NBC's "Today" Show

"Well, Commander Thompson," said Couric on April 
3, in the midst of the invasion carnage, "thanks 
for talking with us at this very early hour out 
there. And I just want you to know, I think Navy 
SEALs rock."

Noblesse Oblige Occupation Award -- Thomas Friedman, New York Times

In a Nov. 30 piece, Times columnist Friedman 
gushed that "this war (in Iraq) is the most 
important liberal, revolutionary U.S. 
democracy-building project since the Marshall 
Plan." He lauded the war as "one of the noblest 
things this country has ever attempted abroad." 
Friedman did not mention the estimated 112 
billion barrels of oil in Iraq ... or the 
continuous deceptions that led to the "noble" 
enterprise.

Norman Solomon is co-author of "Target Iraq: What 
the News Media Didn't Tell You."
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© 2003 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
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