Norman Solomon

Ten days ago, in one of southern Tehran’s poor neighborhoods, I interviewed some voters in line to cast ballots for Iran’s next president. After a while, when an official at the polling station asked who I thought would win, I repeated the conventional media wisdom: "Rafsanjani." "It will never happen," he replied flatly. "I promise … Continue reading “From Tehran to Washington, Demagogues Rule”

Forget it! That seems to be an unstated motto for American media coverage of the Iranian presidential election. The axiom comes down to: "Don’t let history get in the way of spin." Evasion smooths the way to the next war. For maximum propaganda effect, the agenda-setting must be decoupled as much as possible from clear … Continue reading “Voluntary Amnesia in the Service of War”

Keep them behind the war curve. While some Americans are exposing the deception for the latest war, steadily lay the groundwork for the next one. Focus plenty of news reports on alienated youth in Iran, spotlighting despair that borders on nihilism. Meanwhile, give scant media attention to the growth of civil society, with many thousands … Continue reading “Behind the War Curve”

Iran’s most repressive clerics and the USA’s most militaristic neocons share a common interest: They’re very eager to see the failure of Iranian activism for democracy and human rights. On the surface, no outlook could be further from Washington’s reigning mentality than the ayatollah-led chant of “Death to America” that I heard at a big … Continue reading “Iran’s Theocrats and America’s Neocons Need Each Other”

Washington keeps condemning Iran’s government and making thinly veiled threats. But in Iran, many people are in the midst of challenging the country’s rulers, in the streets and at the ballot box. The June 17 election for president could be a turning point or a hollow spectacle – no one knows which – but the … Continue reading “Rooting for Iran’s Theocrats”

You wouldn’t know it from the media focus on Deep Throat last week, but the lies that Richard Nixon told about the Watergate break-in were part of his standard duplicity for the Vietnam War. It wasn’t just that the Nixon administration engaged in secret illegal actions against a wide range of peace advocates – including … Continue reading “From Watergate to Downing Street”

On February 27, 1968, I sat in a small room on Capitol Hill. Around a long table, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was in session, taking testimony from an administration official. Most of all, I remember a man with a push-broom moustache and a voice like sandpaper, raspy and urgent. Wayne Morse did not resort … Continue reading “War Made Easy: From Vietnam to Iraq”

Memorial Day weekend brings media rituals. Old Glory flutters on television and newsprint. Grave ceremonies and oratory pay homage to the fallen. Many officials and pundits speak of remembering the dead. But for all the talk of war and remembrance, no time is more infused with insidious forgetting than the last days of May. This … Continue reading “Media Silence on Memorial Day”

Media activism has achieved a lot. But I don’t believe there’s anything to be satisfied with – considering the present-day realities of corporate media and the warfare state. War has become a constant of U.S. foreign policy, and media flackery for the warmakers in Washington is routine – boosting militarism that tilts the country in … Continue reading “The Media and the Madness Of Militarism”

Journalists often refer to the Bush administration’s foreign policy as "unilateral" and "preemptive." Liberal pundits like to complain that a "go-it-alone" approach has isolated the United States from former allies. But the standard American media lexicon has steered clear of a word that would be an apt description of the Bush world view. Paranoid. Early … Continue reading “Little Reporting on Paranoia in High Places”