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FORMER ABC/CNN PRODUCER TAKES NEWS MEDIA TO TASK OVER IRAQ WAR
Noted Journalist and Filmmaker Danny Schechter Accuses Media Corporations of “Collusion” with Bush Administration

New York, NY — As the number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq continues to ratchet up with each day, and America becomes increasingly polarized, more and more people turn to the nightly news to gain perspective on a war few seem to understand. But if Danny Schechter has his way, the way America sees the news will soon irrevocably change.

An award-winning filmmaker and journalist, Schechter and his publishers at SelectBooks in Manhattan are preparing to release an explosive expose on news reportage of the Iraq conflict. Titled When News Lies: Media Complicity and the Iraq War, Schechter’s book goes beyond the conventional discussion of right-wing media versus more left-leaning outlets, to expose what the author refers to as the media marketing of the war to the population. According to Schechter, it was this effort to push the idea of war to an American public still reeling from the events of September 11, 2001 that made the entire misadventure possible. “Most of the anti-war movement focused on the crimes of the Bush Administration (while) ignoring the mainstream media, its far more effective accomplice,” says the veteran network news producer. “The government orchestrated the war while the media marketed it. You couldn't have one without the other.”

Schechter’s voice is not the only one trying to draw attention to this disturbing trend. In When News Lies, Schechter is joined by Vanity Fair columnist Michael Wolff, who penned the book’s foreword and was himself part of the media team covering the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Also contributing to the book are independent journalist Dahr Jamail and Colonel Sam Gardiner (USAF, retired), an information warfare specialist.

SelectBooks, Inc. is releasing When News Lies in a special Digital Media Edition, which will include a DVD of Schechter’s feature-length documentary Weapons of Mass Deception, an account of television coverage of the initial U.S. invasion. The idea, according to publisher Kenzi Sugihara, is to offer the public a full corpus of information on the topic in an effort to pick up the challenge that national news media seem to have ignored.

When News Lies: Media Complicity and the Iraq War will be available in January 2006.