http://www.sundayherald.co.uk/news/heraldnews/display.var.2427207.0.0.php

"Tskhinvali's Jewish quarter, already blasted in previous conflicts, is pulverised. Locals say a squall of Grad missiles levelled their homes. In many cases, only the front walls have been left standing. Minibuses and cars have been punctured with shrapnel-like Swiss cheese."

and

"Tskhinvali's hospital did not escape the fighting either. Bullet holes cover its white facade, while staff said a Grad missile had come in through the roof. Its basement, where many patients cowered and doctors tried to operate during the fighting, has yet to be cleared up. Dozens of old-fashioned iron beds are crowded into a darkened network of damp rooms; the air is thick with the smell of human waste and the ground is littered with bloodied bandages. "How can you fire a Grad missile at a hospital?," said Dr Tina Zakharova. Holding three pieces of shrapnel which she said had been extracted from the wounded, she said Georgia had a strange way of trying to win over people's hearts and minds. "This," she said, "is the kind of humanitarian aid Georgia sends us.""

I'm wondering if you ever thought of being part of a think tank or even a university center (I think NYU has a communications/media center) that could put your work out more forcefully. Even good books are published so far after the fact that they lose a lot of their steam. But we need a major effort to deconstruct the MSM, show the effects of their biased reporting and hold journalists accountable--take away this cloak of being in some kind of private club and not being called on anything. Don't know how this would play out exactly...just thinking out loud. --Mikeyfil

I'm in total agreement, and believe our efforts need to concentrate more energy on outing and discrediting these cretin enablers. I will continue to harp on this, because Americans will never wake up and find a way to take their gov't back until they see that they are being fed nothing but bullshit that is designed to keep them fighting over distractions while their country is slowly ripped out from under their feet.

All this discussion on Russia/Georgia seems to underline the points GG was making--in the "olden" days maybe we would have had a better shot at some accurate, first hand reporting on the situation--not being very knowledgeable about it, I have been trying to figure out whether the Georgians actually started things--a piece that is really missing from most US accounts--and to roycommi, if you think Bernard Henri-Levy is some kind of journalist or even a reliable observer, think again--he is a big "Israel can do no wrong" camp member. It seems that Israel is playing into this whole event somehow--sorry for my ignorance, but when everything journalistic has become part of a noise machine, it's hard to make heads or tails.

For anyone looking for a very interesting take on the US MSM, rent Barbara Trent's documentary The Panama Deception on the invasion of Panama--you can't get a clearer picture of how the corporate US media informs or fails to inform--what's particularly creepy is watching all the Bush II evildoers circa 1991--Rumsfeld, Cheney, Powell--these guys have been at their dirty deeds for a long long time.

"Tskhinvali's Jewish quarter, already blasted in previous conflicts, is pulverised. Locals say a squall of Grad missiles levelled their homes. In many cases, only the front walls have been left standing. Minibuses and cars have been punctured with shrapnel-like Swiss cheese.

This can't possibly be true. After all, didn't the Israelis supply and help to train the Georgian Army?

Sorry, I'm clogging up this thread, my last here; but search google, + tskhinvali + hospital.

Anyway, here's a bloomberg reporter and another doctor:

Quote:

In the hallway of Tskhinvali's main hospital, Dr. Lyudmila Kelekhsayeva lifted a twisted metal fragment of an exploded artillery shell from a pile of bricks and plaster on the floor to show why the entire hospital crammed into the unused basement as soon as fighting started.

At least two rooms on the second floor were blown out, filled with rubble and broken bed frames after powerful explosions removed the walls facing the street. The building's concrete facade was pockmarked with bullet holes.

After the fighting started, 280 wounded and sick were treated in the hospital's basement. Bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, illuminated rusty metal bed frames, dirt floors and crumbling concrete walls.

The hospital recorded no deaths during the fighting because wounded soldiers were moved immediately after their operations. ``No one had time to die here,'' she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Walters in Tskhinvali, South Ossetia, at Or gwalters1@bloomberg.net

Yes, yes--this is the only way things will change! I actually showed The Panama Deception (which was like an early draft for the Iraq War--right down to "he was our ally now he is the devil incarnate" spin on Noriega)to some of my college students and they were shocked--a few of them became almost physically ill--one student came up to me afterward, crying and asked "Is this what things are really like?" It's harsh to accept but unless we do, things will only get worse.

Also in reference to that comment about a "Truth and Accuracy" act--it was actually something called (I think) the Fairness Doctrine which meant that the MSM or broadcasters had to give equal time to all sides--a law Reagan did away with--and if you don't think that has made a huge difference in the way the MSM portrays issues, you aren't paying attention. I think of this every time I see right wing evangelical spokesmen given so much airtime or presented as if they actually represented a considerable percentage of how Americans think.

Glenn,

I was horrified to read in your post the other day about the Washington Post’s 12 part series on the murder of Chandra Levy. For me the fourth estate died right along with Chandra Levy. The frenzied, unrelenting, reckless, slanderous and exploitive media coverage of Ms. Levy, her death and Rep. Condit, night after night, article after article was more evidence than I needed to acknowledge corporations had triumphed in their ongoing effort to reduce the institution of journalism to just another line item on their financial spreadsheet.

I am beyond angry at the failure of the press at this point and have arrived at the point where I want them held accountable for subverting our democracy. The systemic failure of the press has fatally impaired our democratic process and makes it impossible for us, the citizens, to properly and fully fulfill out role in that process. I am appealing to the ACLU to see if this is feasible. I will include a catalogue of the various failings of our press and the consequences of those failures. So, thanks, Glenn you’ve done a lot of the work for me.