Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Pro-War Propaganda Blog, moderated by “Grandma” Suzanne Fournier, has gathered criticism in the past few days. Fournier writes regular pro-war posts for the series of Enquirer blogs hosted through Cincinnati.com.
The blog features posts like ”Beautiful Iraqi Children Smile,” complete with happy photographs of happy Iraqi children. Missing are the types of images as depicted in the collage above, from TheFreeSpeechZone.net.
Yesterday, at TPMMuckraker.com, Justin Wood writes the following, in an article entitled ”OH Paper Runs Army Flack’s Upbeat Iraq Blog”:
Here’s a blog that raised my eyebrows a bit.
Over at the Cincinnati Enquirer’s online site, Cincinnati.com, there’s a blog about Iraq written by military staffer whose job is to generate positive news about U.S. efforts to rebuild Iraq.
Grandma in Iraq is the title of the blog, written by Suzanne M. Fournier, a Public Affairs Officer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The posts are largely upbeat. “Everytime [sic] an Iraqi contractor bids on a reconstruction project. . . it is a sign that democracy is winning here,” reads one. “I am confident we’ll have another banner year of success for the benefit of the people of Iraq and democracy in the Middle East,” another says.
A few hours later, the TPMMuckraker post was picked up by The Buckeye State Blog. The introductory line provided by Buckeye State makes a powerful statement: “Right under our noses, but the good folks at TPM Muckraker sniff it out.”
Right under our noses, indeed. Take it as a lesson in always remembering to ask critical questions, else we allow this kind of insidious corporate propaganda to perpetuate itself unchecked.
The cult of pro-war propaganda has been growing. This past Sunday’s Enquirer featured an editorial entitled ”Assessing the Iraq war midstream.” Richard Myers, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met the Enquirer Editorial Board last Friday—and this column is the result of that interview.
This, just before President Bush hits town for the Reds’ Opening Day. Today’s Enquirer is filled with pro-Bush propaganda: ”Presidential visit a big hit with Reds,” ”Bush sharper than Reds, and ”Reporter’s brush with Bush.”
These articles offer nothing in the way of honest critical perspectives on the situation in the Middle-East. This, in one of Ohio’s major cities—a State where many maintain that Bush stole the past election (a claim espoused by Green Party candidate for Governor Bob Fitrakis, who is himself an international elections overseer who has co-written two books on voting irregularities in Ohio).
Instead, we get tidbits like the following.
From “Reporter’s brush with Bush”:
The president spent a little extra time with Ken Griffey Jr. Griffey gave the president a bat and had a short, quiet conversation him. The White House pool reporters were particularly interested in the Griffey-Bush summit, simply because they didn’t know who most of the Reds were.
Bush seemed very cordial and engaging…
But politics aside, when the leader of the free world walks within 10 paces of you, your heart rate picks up a bit.
From “Bush sharper than Reds”:
John Prazynski of Hamilton, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Taylor Prazynski, who died in action in Afghanistan last year, also walked onto the field with the president.
‘AN AWESOME EXPERIENCE’
Prazynski said that as he was walking out with Bush, who put his arm around his shoulder and listened to the roar of the crowd, “I asked him if he ever gets used to this.”
“He said, ‘I never will,’” Prazynski recounted. “It was an awesome experience.”
From “Presidential visit a big hit with Reds”:
The visit was relaxed and casual.
“He’s so down-to-earth,” catcher Jason LaRue said of Bush. “You don’t realize you’re talking to the president.”
Adam Dunn didn’t act as if he were talking to the leader of the free world. “Adam Dunn,” he said, extending his hand toward Bush. “How’s it going?”
Again showing his knowledge of the players, Bush commented on the University of Texas’ recent national championship in college football. Dunn spent a year at Texas before concentrating full-time on baseball.
The president took his first-pitch duty seriously. LaRue helped him warm up in the batting cage.
“It was 10, 15 pitches,” LaRue said. “He was more than ready.”
Meanwhile, concerned citizens who practice their very American rights for dissent are left with scant media to offer different perspectives. For those with Dish TV, they can tune into Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman. A recent headline at that web site announces, ”Another Civilian Massacre? U.S. Launches Investigation After Iraqi Police Accuse U.S. Troops of Murdering 11 Men, Women and Children Last Week.
Is this true? What are the details? One’s things for certain: Pro-War Grandma blogging for The Enquirer won’t have anything to say on such matters. She’s too busy finding smiling kids so we ignore images filled with death, destruction, and blood.
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