How the US media still block anti-war protests to boost US agenda

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News Websites
31 Mar 2023 20:08

In attendance at the March 18 protest, Noam Chomsky explains that "media rarely stray far from the basic framework imposed by systems of power."

People marching as they take part in an anti-war protest amid increased tensions between the United States and Iran at Times Square in New York, US, January 4, 2020 (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

A protest marking the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq marched last week at the White House to demonstrate against war - but US media didn't bat an eye to show it.

At least 2,500 people attended the demonstration on March 18, 2023, to commemorate the invasion and to shout anti-war slogans, but the US media have done what they are notorious for doing: cover and conceal what doesn't fit their narrative.

Organized and led by the ANSWER Coalition, protesters were calling for peace negotiations and a halt to US weapon funding to Ukraine, US military spending cuts, and freeing Julian Assange and Indigenous prisoner Leonard Peltier, according to the coalition's national director Brian Becker.

Even though national and local media were notified two weeks ahead of the protest, Becker stated that none of the press bothered to show up.

Some of the signs out here in front of White House:

“Path to peace in Ukraine: negotiate, don’t escalate!”

“For peace: disband NATO”

“Stop U.S. funding for Israeli Apartheid.” pic.twitter.com/bQo1IvdHbz
— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) March 18, 2023

“We talked to reporters and gave them details about our planning events during the two weeks before the march—the kinds of things that journalists years back used to like to attend to hear what the activists were saying and thinking, but nobody showed up from the media at those sessions,” Becker said. “I guess those who make the decisions about assignments and coverage didn’t want this event covered.”

Noam Chomsky attended the March 18 protests as a speaker and stated, "Media rarely stray far from the basic framework imposed by systems of power."

FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) founder Jeff Cohen explained that the censorship goes all the way back to the 1980s, “I think the ignoring of local and even national antiwar marches kicked in during the mid-and late 1980s around movements opposing US intervention in Central America."

Foreign coverage of the March 18 protest was more abundant than local media coverage in the country itself, which goes to show how selective US media have been in their narrative when it comes to matters that don't mold with the American agenda.

The website cited Al Mayadeen as one of the foreign news outlets that have covered the March 18 protest "professionally".