Our media's Isis threat hype machine: government stenography at its worst

[n2doc]

by Trevor Timm

If you turned on US cable news at any point last week, you might have thought this July 4 holiday would be our last weekend on earth – the supposed terrorist masterminds in Isis and their alleged vast sleeper cell army were going to descend upon America like the aliens in Independence Day and destroy us all.

CNN has led the pack in whipping Americans into a panic over the Isis threat, running story after story with government officials and terrorism industry money-makers hyping the threat, played against the backdrop of scary b-roll of terrorist training camps. Former CIA deputy director Mike Morell ominously told CBS last week that “I wouldn’t be surprised if we weren’t sitting here a week from today talking about an attack over the weekend in the United States.” MSNBC and Fox joined in too, using graphics and maps right out of Stephen Colbert’s satirical “Doom Bunker,” suggesting World War III was just on the verge of reaching America’s shores.

Nothing happened, of course. But it was an abject lesson in how irrational government fear-mongering still controls our public discourse, even when there wasn’t a shred of hard evidence for any sort of attack, only a feeling that one might happen.

The media totally bought into this frenzy, despite the fact that the FBI and other intelligence agencies openly admitted they did not have any “specific” or “credible” threat information to hinge the holiday-weekend warnings on. Naturally, we didn’t find this out until several paragraphs down in any of the articles about the subject, and on television it sometimes wasn’t mentioned at all. Even when it was, the lack of push-back or questioning was startling.

more

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/06/isis-cnn-terrorism-threat-hype-machine-government-pr

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. CNN is even worse than Fox on this. Wolf is like all terror all the time.

[Blus4u]

2. I have posted this same message on similar threads...

The "experts" appearing on these cable "news" shows are paid participants.
It is in their best financial interest for the threat level to be high.

The higher the "threat", the more appearances, the more appearances, the more $$$$'s

So they blog it up, talk it up, and eventually get to live it up.

Peace

[Agnosticsherbet]

3. If the government releases this information, what is the responsibility of the Free Press

Should they assume that it is propaganda and say nothing about it?
Should they report it briefly, and then go on to the other stories of the day?
Should they report that the Government has released this because saying nothing before a terrorist attack, and then having it come out that there were abundant warnings before the fact, is a political nightmare?

A related question:

If the government hears "chatter from chucklenuts" that implies they might strike on a national holiday, should they say, "Fuck it they're chucklenuts" or is it necessary that they give some kind of warning.

I heard the warning, laughed, and went about my holiday.
Even if ISIS planed to attack my beach, there is nothing I can do about it. I don't worry about a meteor hitting me or lightning striking me or a terrorist attack. Sure it could happen, but I refuse to hide under my bed.

And, really, I think that the more terrified group are the politicians who must explain why they did not tell people when they hear a rumor from Cousin's girlfriend's aunt that the image of Jesus on her toast told her that ISIS would attack.

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. The free press should do some critical reporting.

Government official says X.

On what basis does he say that? What is his supporting evidence?

Has that official made similar claims in the past. Did they turn out to be true?

Assuming that what the official says is true, what are the risks?

Responsible reporting would not be what CNN did. It not only uncritically reported the official statements, it analyzed for hour after hour just how scared we should be. And the answer? Very scared.

-----

One thing that gets me about the "lone wolf" threat: Imagine some guy somewhere in America shoots a bunch of people. Not so hard to imagine, is it? It happens all the time. But if that idiot with a gun says "ISIS;" we go into total lockdown. If he doesn't say "ISIS," it's just another Saturday night in America.

[Oneironaut]

5. Fear sells. They want to get as many viewers as possible.

This is why everything on the news is ridiculous - it's all overblown and Hollywood-ized to make viewers more likely to watch it.

I haven't watched cable news in years. It's too ridiculous to take seriously.

[BainsBane]

6. I don't understand why anyone even watches cable news

It's crap across the board, and it isn't news. ISIS is a threat because they are taking over huge swaths of territory. They are more akin to growing empire than terrorists, though they use terrorist tactics. Their priority is not attacking civilians in the US but building a caliphate, and they are proving pretty damn effective at doing it.

[Angry Dragon]

7. republicans scare me more than terrorists