Misinformation

Middle Easterners are seen as terrorist or as Islamic fundamentalists because of the public’s lack of knowledge about the region and its people. Leading to the harassment and discrimination of Middle Easterns, proven by the reactions after 9/11 as well as past events such as the Oklahoma City bombings where the first suspects to be considered were Middle Easterners.

This lack of knowledge effects policy; the public seeing Middle Easterners as a threat advocate passing of laws that take away civil liberties and due process rights and change immigration laws.

Entertainment for years has painted Middle Easterners as terrorist or Islamic fundamentalist for entertainment purposes, by doing this they are doing their job-entertaining the masses but they should practice responsible journalism-what are future consequences, is portrayal of a certain class of people and its effects, and are the portrayals accurate.

Rumor: War with Iran

The Bush administration is already trying to sell a war with Iran as it did with Iraq, by making the same allegations it made against Iraq.

This cartoon was chosen because the same tactics used to convince the public to support the war on Iraq are being used again but this time for going to war with Iran. The public easily forgets and moves on to new headlines. But it is important to remember past events, to learn from them and to question governmental actions especially if they have proven to cause harm before.

(cartoon:http://politicalhumor.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://cagle.com/news/IranNuclearPower/main.asp)

Article about Iranian media in the BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4804328.stm

This picture offers another side to the Iran nuclear debate. American media coverage seems to cover the issue with only the American perspective in mind: that we are in danger if Iran builds weapons of mass destruction. However the media does not look at the deeper issue: why Iran and North Korea would want to build weapons of mass destruction and what messages is our government sending to Iran and North Korea. They do not look at the bigger picture.