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■ Movie review
‘WMD’ loses strength in scattershot approach
Danny Schechter's "Weapons of Mass Deception"
is critical of the war, but more so of media coverage
BY RYAN NYBURG
PULSE EDITOR
The current presidential adminis
tration has long claimed that the
"Mission Accomplished" banner
seen during the famous flightsuit
press conference was a spontaneous
show of support from the troops sta
tioned on the USS Abraham Lincoln.
What is not mentioned is that cam
eramen onboard the ship were not al
lowed to shoot the president from any
angle that did notshowthe banner
behind him. There is no criticism in
herent in my pointing this out. It's just
an example of press manipulation, the
sort any intelligent administration
would use.
Since the release of "Fahrenheit
9/11" there has been a slew of docu
mentaries both criticizing and/or sup
porting the administration and/or the
conservative media. For the first
twenty minutes or so, "Weapons of
Mass Deception" seems to be anoth
er wave in this endless barrage of
right- and left-wing polemics and
senseless political aggrandizing. But
after that first twenty minutes it be
gins to become something different.
"WMD" was created by Danny
Schechter, a long-time media critic,
author and reporter. Schechter's view
on the war becomes immediately ap
parent with his opening, a cheesy
homage to "Apocalypse Now." In a
way this turns outto be helpful be
cause it gives the viewer a chance to
understand where Schechter is com
ing from. He is critical of the war, but
not nearly as critical as he is of the
American news media that covered
the war.
Schechter documents the way
broadcast and print journalists cov
ered the aftermath of September 11,
2001, in a way that was highly favor
able forthe administration, asking
few questions and mostly cheer
leading the way for an invasion. He
also covers how the administration
began using PR and marketing
tactics to handle the media, present
ing the war as a product to sell. They
create a simple, black-and-white
story line for reporters to follow and
sell it to them using basic marketing
tactics, framing the message to suit
their purposes.
The film does not criticize the ad
ministration for using these tactics,
but views it more as a given. If you
want to manipulate news coverage
in your favor, this is how to do it.
What you are trying to accomplish is
beside the point. The news outlets,
on the other hand, are lambasted for
their lack of objectivity and perspec
tive. Facts are rolled out that accuse
the major news networks of massive
errors of journalistic judgment. Fox
owner Rupert Murdoch paid Sad
dam Hussein's administration
$500,000 to allow reporters to oper
ate in Iraq before the war. NBC par
ent company General Electric re
ceived $600 million in Iraq
reconstruction bids from the Bush
administration. And so on it goes.
The film really picks up during its
discussion of the journalist
embedding program thattook place
during the initial invasion. In
Schechter's view, the program was
an ingenious way to control the press.
Reporters develop personal connec
tions with the troops they cover,
making it difficult to criticize them or
their actions. At one point in the film it
is mentioned that the whole idea was
a breach of journalistic ethics, since it
is wrong to accept anything of value
from the people you cover, which
these reporters certainly did.
In the end, the documentary is an
interesting piece of media criticism,
though often is too scattershot and
repetitive to have a strong effect.
That most of the information it pres
ents has been shown too often by too
many other documentaries doesn't
help matters. But as a critique of
news coverage, it makes for at least
an engaging 98 minutes.
"Weapons of Mass Deception" will
be shown as part of the Bijou Art Cin
emas' late night program on Feb. 18
through Feb. 20.
ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com
Random House seeks repayment from Sean Combs
BY HILLEL ITALiE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Random House Inc. is suing Sean
"P. Diddy" Combs, alleging thatthe
hip-hop mogul never paid back a
$300,000 advance for a memoir he
never completed.
In papers filed Monday atthe state
Supreme Court in Manhattan, the
publisher alleged that Combs and his
corporation, Bad Boy, have "simply
kept the money they never rightfully
earned." Random House is seeking
the advance's return, plus interest.
"Random House has seldom re
sorted to a legal course of action with
its prospective authors who don't
write the books we have contracted
for, but Mr. Sean Combs has left us no
choice," the publisher said in a
iTivrr
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statement Tuesday.
Combs' publicist, Rob Shuter, said
Tuesday there was a "disagreement
with Random House that we hoped
would be resolved without litigation.
We anticipate that this will be re
solved quickly.”
According to the court papers,
Combs signed with Random House
in 1998 and then arranged on his
own to collaborate with Mikal
Gilmore, a contributing editorto
Rolling Stone and author of the ac
claimed "Shot in the Heart." A man
uscriptwasto be completed by
Dec. 15,1999, but the deadline
passed and, in early 2000, Random
House notified Combs that he was in
breach of contract and that the pub
lisher wanted the money back.
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