Bill Dawson over at Dawson's Danube has written an outstanding follow-up to our post that further analyzes the entire Panorama report. Check it out.
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The Debate
- "In much of Europe's public debate, the true meaning of human rights has degenerated into a tool that gives anti-Americanism an aura of legitimacy. The real, horrendous human-rights violations in the Middle East, North Korea, China, Cuba, etc., are largely ignored or relegated to news blurs on the back pages. For front-page coverage, you need an American angle." ---The Wall Street Journal
- "I discovered that European social democracy, too, was a kind of fundamentalism, rigid and doctrinaire, yielding what Swedish writer Johan Norberg calls "one-idea states"—nations where an echo chamber of insular elites calls the shots, where monochrome media daily reiterate statist mantras and shut out contrarian views, and where teachers and professors systematically misrepresent the U.S. (millions of Europeans believe that free public schools, unemployment insurance, and pensions are unknown in America). The more I saw of the European elites' chronic distrust of the public, and the public's habitual deference to those elites, the fonder I grew of the nasty, ridiculous rough-and-tumble of American democracy..." ---Bruce Bawer
- "In the European media as well as on the public stage, prizes and publicity go overwhelmingly to Americans who serve as witnesses against their own government and nation. (...) The defense mechanism is simple enough: "After all, they are saying this, too, so how can we be accused of anti-Americanism?" A similar phenomenon attaches itself to Israel, where "post-" or anti-Zionist spokesmen are given top billing in the European media." ---Josef Joffe
- "The point is to be aware that for many of the foreigners issuing what they claim to be "simply constructive criticism", the evidence shows that criticizing America is all they do, criticizing America is all they ever have done, and criticizing America is all they ever will do." ---Erik Svane, Americans Anonymous
- "To get an impression, take a look at David's Medienkritik, a Web log in English dedicated, among other things, to exposing biased reporting on the United States in the German media. Be it stories about the war in Iraq, the conduct of U.S. soldiers abroad, American reservations regarding the Kyoto Protocol and the International Criminal Court or even the Katrina disaster, more often than not the German public is presented with a distorted picture. There are laudable exceptions. But generally the blows are low, and the public is left to form its opinion base on half-truths and false analyses." ---Julian Knapp
- "Negative sentiments and views have been driven not only - or even primarily - by what the United States does, but rather by an animus against what Europeans have believed that America is. While the politics, style, and discourse of the Bush terms - and of President Bush as a person - have undoubtedly exacerbated anti-American sentiment among Europeans and fostered a heretofore unmatched degree of unity between elite and mass opinion in Europe, they are not anti-Americanism's cause. Indeed, a change to a center-left administration in Washington, led by a Democratic president, would not bring about its abatement, let alone its disappearance." ---Andrei Markovits
- "Anti-Americanism is hypocrisy at its finest. You can spend your evening catching the latest episode of "24" and then complain about Guantanamo the next morning. You can claim that the Americans have themselves to blame for terrorism, while at the same time calling for tougher restrictions on Muslim immigration to Germany. You can call the American president a mass murderer and book a flight to New York the next day. You can lament the average American's supposed lack of culture and savvy and meanwhile send off for the documents for the Green Card lottery. Not a day passes in Germany when someone isn't making the wildest claims, hurling the vilest insults or spreading the most outlandish conspiracy theories about the United States. But there's no risk involved and it all serves mainly to boost the German feeling of self-righteousness." ---C.C. Malzahn
- "The protests against nuclear weapons, for instance, concentrated on American weapons. The anti-war rallies were against American-led wars. The anti death penalty campaign focused on Texas. A pattern was emerging and has never seriously been altered. A pattern of willingness to condemn America for the tiniest indiscretion - or to magnify those indiscretions - while leaving the murderers, dictators, and thieves who run other nations oddly untouched." ---Justin Webb
- The fundamental role of anti-Americanism in Europe in general, and particularly among those on the Left, is to absolve themselves of their own moral failings and intellectual errors by heaping them onto the monster scapegoat, the United States of America. For stupidity and bloodshed to vanish from Europe, the U.S. must be identified as the singular threat to democracy (contrary to every lesson of actual history)." ---Jean-François Revel
- "In five years there will be a different President and Iraq will likely be pacified. That would naturally have impacts on the strength of the resentments that have fixed themselves onto certain individuals in the present situation. But beneath the surface smolder the long-burning embers of latent anti-Americanism. It has a long tradition and will remain, also when President Bush is no longer in office and Palestine is peaceful." ---Lutz Erbring
- "A writer for the German weekly Der Spiegel told me during the Iraq debate not to take offense at the crude anti-American covers of the magazine such as the ugly, bearded, drooling Rambo figure it used to show the typical GI in Iraq. 'We're just trying to please our million readers,' he explained." ---Jeff Gedmin
Testimonials
- "...the best web guide to the German media is Davids Medienkritik." ---American Thinker
- "To David-- An army of you! Keep that slingshot ready!" Glenn Reynolds
- "The best blog on German politics" Andrew Sullivan
- "For daily commentary on the hostile German press, we direct you to Davids Medienkritik which we recommend reading on a regular basis." Geopolitical Review
- "I'm going to have to keep an eye on this gem of a blog."
- "David's Medienkritik is an essential read for a perspective on the European media."
- "By the way, Medienkritik is an excellent blog, and so I am adding it to the Daily Pundit blogroll."
- "I applaud David for his stance against the trashy media here in Germany"
- "Ausgezeichneter Blog, Glückwunsch! Habe sofort gebookmarkt. Ich dachte schon, ich sei der einzige, der unter der Käseglocke der deutschen Medienlandschaft erstickt... der Blog ist wie ein Hauch frischer Luft, keep up the good work!"
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February 2021
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There's nothing like a slanderous propaganda piece to get the natives all riled up. What this report is doing is not opinion but a deliberate distortion of the facts (ala Michael Moore). To say or imply that American soldiers torture and murder virtually without consequence while the US media turns a blind eye to it all is an outright falsehood.
The ROE (Rules of Engagement) for the military in Iraq are well known by both the troops and the media. For example, if a soldier is riding in a vehicle down the streets of Ramadi and is fired upon, he cannot return fire unless he sees where the fire is coming from and returning fire will not hit civilians. If he returned fire without a clear idea of the target location he will have to do "paperwork" at the minimum or worse, be disciplined. It may seem idiotic, but those are the rules. I wouldn't have believed myself expect for the fact that my son was there and that was what he experienced.
Besides, every known case of murder, manslaughter or accidental death has been prosecuted by the military (just like Maynulet was).
Posted by: Don Miguel | August 28, 2005 at 07:51 PM
Still noone got any clue why they would tweak the facts like this.
I mean they need to have some kind of reason for doing it - this cant be simply explained by some mistakes that have been made during producing the clip.
But i doubt this has reached many viewers anyway, since iraq is in the media for years now and public interest fades away..
Posted by: Zyme | August 28, 2005 at 10:20 PM
@ Zyme:
I can only think of this: It is about ideology and hate at its very core. Unfortunately I have to disagree with you on the viewer numbers. It probably reached millions. Thousands of times more than get to see our opposing viewpoint.
Posted by: RayD | August 28, 2005 at 11:59 PM
Here are the viewer numbers from the official ARD-homepage
http://www.ard.de/intern/basisdaten/fernsehnutzung/zuschauer_20und_20marktanteile_20von_20informati/-/id=55070/mi42z5/index.html
Panorama 2002: 3,24 2003: 3,59 (in millions)
I think it's reasonable to assume that about 3 mio people saw that show.
Posted by: David J. | August 29, 2005 at 11:19 AM
@ David / Ray
Was it the broadcast on august 25th ?
If so, here you go
http://quoten.daserste.de/quoten.asp?date=25.08.2005&x=12&y=9
PANORAMA 2,94 Mio Viewers -> 11,0 %
Thats indeed more than i expected.
Posted by: Zyme | August 29, 2005 at 07:24 PM
Yes, it was the one on august 25th. Thanks.
Posted by: David J. | August 29, 2005 at 07:59 PM
Guess what? The German media is blaming George Bush for Hurricane Katrina. Seriously!
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,372179,00.html
Let's say Bush signed Kyoto. Would it have made any difference? Nope!
Stupid media hacks. They are disgusting opportunist scumbags.
Posted by: LouMinatti | August 30, 2005 at 10:44 PM