Center for Media and Democracy: PR watch: Pentagon Propoganda

The coverage available lately on The Center for Media and Democracy, specifically on prwatch.org has been rocking the world of journalism in its comprehensive exposure and summation of the extent of Pentagon Propoganda in a complicit newsmedia. This issue is of huge import to our university as it reveals an intentional breach of journalistic integrity on behalf of the U.S. military's 'Pentagon military analyst program', which directly embedded (and continues to embed) hired military analysts into network news stations without acknowledging this fact to viewers. Now, Network Media is maintaining it's compliance in delaying or refusing to report these findings, which are on the level of or grander than the famous Pentagon Papers of times past.

You can view a brief and halted debate from PBS's newshour below (you can practically see CPB execs shaking in their boots in the background) between CMD reporters and an ABC exec.:


-----a good article on PRwatch.org's website:

Pentagon, TV Networks Fear Debating Iraq Propaganda Scandal - Stauber vs. Zelnick on NewsHour

-----an on alternet (written by CMD writers)

Pentagon Propaganda: So Much Worse Than We Thought

-----also, lily posted this article from the NYtimes

Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand

We gotta get the word out on campus!! This would make a great topic for a discussion next fall in conjunction with a Journalism student group. We could bring folks from CMD and possibly some journalists who wish to speak out about this. A great place to do it, eh?

Russel Means

There will be a lecture held on April 22, 2008 at 6:00 in Keller Auditorium (Geology Bldg.) by Russel Means, the radical Native-American activist. He is an Oglala Sioux who grew up in San Francisco and is well known as an activist, actor and musician. He is renowned as having led AIM (The American Indian Movement) to take Mount Rushmore in 1970 and in 1973 led them to occupy Wounded Knee. His messages of justice and an end to racism and disempowerment are said to be very inspiring. It is a very pertinent time to pay attention to Indigenous struggles as native peoples all over the world increasingly find their land, resources, autonomy and traditions threatened by governments and multinational corporations.
I am fairly sure it is free, if you are interested in more information there are fliers all over town.

Amy Goodman in Columbia!

Good news SPAistas! The one and only Amy Goodman will be here in columbia on April 27th, touring with her new book which she cowrote with her brother David called: Standing Up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times.
The deal is that is starts with a 75 dollar (yikes!) reception at the Upper Crust?! at 6:30. Then, from 7:45 to 9:30 a talk/booksigning will occur (which will cost $15) at the Blue Note. More info can be garnered here. What can SPA do? It will be well promoted by her own team, so we are left to enjoy it! yay!

The Listening Project

On Tuesday, April 29th, SPA will be screening the documentary "The Listening Project" in Middlebush Auditorium @ 7pm. The directors will be present to answer questions after the filming! [Facebook]



The film follows four unique Americans through fourteen countries – from a Shanghai hip-hop club to a war-ravaged Kabul neighborhood to a village at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro – in each place asking “what do you think of America?” In beautifully-photographed locales, we encounter fascinating and diverse characters who reveal not only the impact of the U.S. on their lives, but also their perspectives on crumbling empires, human fellowship, and what it means to be a citizen in a globalized world.

For more info, please visit The Listening Project, or view the video above.

First Post!

Hello everyone and welcome to the new Students for Progressive Action blog. We will be using this as our new website. There are many reasons for the switch from the old static website, but most importantly is that using a blog will allow for many people to add content, update the site and pretty much make the site more accessible to all involved with SPA. This is in contrast to the old site where pretty much I was the only one able to change things.

So anyways, here it is feel free to post articles and content. And if you would like to be added as a contributer, just email me.