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MASKING SAVES LIVES

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

A Letter to Cindy Sheehan--Darkness Before Dawn--Danny Schechter

"Personally, I know how she feels. When I made the film, WMD (Weapons of Mass Deception) challenging the media role in the war, many anti-war groups paid lip service to its message and then did little or nothing to promote it. Perhaps that's why some activists call MoveOn.org "Walkon.org" when it comes to the issues of media deception or for that matter, any issues that also holds Democrats and corporate media institutions accountable.

"It is so much easier and emotionally self-righteous to attack easier targets such as the Republicans and Bush White House. Lets face it, the media has not really changed and nor have many Democrats. They believe in convenient truths and don't recognize the importance of demanding media integrity. Don't forget that most of the media coverage was hostile to Democrats setting a timeline and many pundits pressured them to relent in the name of "pragmatism," patriotism, or getting the pork they wanted for their own districts.

"I don't think Cindy has really resigned from politics. But she is upset and has a right to be. She has lost so much and is also apparently in debt -- something this director of the film In Debt We Trust can relate to.

"Sometimes I wish I could resign from the media reform movement that I helped organize because it has been so hard for us to get support for Mediachannel.org, our fabulous media and democracy online network now in its seventh year. We will have to close our doors in a month unless we can find the funding to keep our modest operation alive.

"Unfortunately, our movement, like many others, has a hard time working together and prefers pricey conferences, "events," and behind the scenes lobbying to mass outreach, education, and organizing.

"Again, it's predictable to bash Fox News rather than focus on all the biased coverage across the spectrum. We need help to keep going even as some of our original backers suffer "funder fatigue," turning away from supporting long term movement-building work, and independent journalism, in favor of celebrity-oriented events that get their names in the paper.

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