Peace campaign protests 'racist' media
Sean Cronin
News Editor
Photos by Bill Ross
9/26/01
In
an effort to hold local television media accountable for what have been deemed
by some as “warmongering” and “racist” images and stories, the Colorado Campaign
for Middle East Peace (CCMEP) staged a rally and protest march Thursday.
Brandishing banners and beating on buckets, the group of about 30 protesters met
on the south steps of the Capitol building and marched to Channel 4 headquarters
with the intent of delivering a letter voicing their concerns.
The letter addressed to Angie Kucharski, news director of Channel 4, called upon the local television news station to examine possible story alternatives. Citing that five recent newscasts — Sept. 15 through Sept. 19 — contained 15 stories concerning possible future war, 13 of which “were pro-war or inciteful (sic),” because they contained “repeated images of Middle Eastern suspects,” the letter suggested that stories with more peaceful messages be run along with those perceived to be part of the U.S. government’s “call for war.”
“Just two stories (of the 15 examined) presented some measure of an alternative; one was President Bush’s visit to a mosque, the other about racist graffiti in Boulder,” wrote CCMEP members Sergio Atallah, Bob Chofet, Stephanie Phibbs, and Micah Schaffer on behalf of “hundreds of CCMEP members.”
The graffiti found Sept. 19 on the CU-Boulder campus and erased by janitorial staff almost immediately read, “We’re gonna f—ing nuke you sandniggers.”
CCMEP, best known for its past efforts to educate local citizens on the negative effects of post-Gulf War U.S. sanctions on Iraq, also cited images shown of West Bank citizens celebrating the Sept. 11 attacks and Sept. 15 joint poll with the Rocky Mountain News as being “inflammatory and warmongering.”
The
Sept 15. poll asked people whether they agreed with such statements as: “The
government should be willing to wage all-out conventional war against any
country that harbors and protects terrorists including Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan,
the Sudan, and Libya.”
“In our society where mass media dominates what people think and discuss,” said CCMEP member Bob Choflet, “it’s more than a shame when the media promote our government’s incessant warmongering.”