CNN Protest Against Sanitizing War

SAN FRANCISCO, On Wednesday, over 150 demonstrators came out yesterday to protest CNN's coverage of the Iraqi war.

The protest, organized by Global Exchange, Media Alliance and Code Pink, was to highlight the fact that CNN and other cable and national news channels should show the graphic realities of war, not the sanitized, video game-like coverage that is saturating the airwaves currently.

Demonstrators brought pictures of people who have been affected by the bombings, depleted uranium and starvation due to sanctions and demanded that this imagery be shown to the world.

Other criticism heard were that the media played a role in ushering the American people into this war by refusing to have, or limiting, war critics on their broadcasts, and by using "embedded" military and CIA men as consultants on their broadcasts.

Organizers also said it is not enought to just put the cameras on war protesters but that networks need to broadcast interviews with organizers of anti-war groups and coalitions.

Please see http://www.media-alliance.org/action/mediawarletter.html for a good analysis of the media coverage.