Sri Lanka - Through the Wire Service Prism
The rhetoric and the resolutions that are being adopted [at the Sri Lanka conference] will be excessive, unilateral and are already known....They will demand of the rich nations what they always...
...KHADAFFI, WHO HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF BACKING INSURGENT MOVEMENTS IN THE PHILIPPINES, IN NORTHERN IRELAND AND IN THE SUDAN, AND TO WHOM THE SABOTAGES IN EGYPT AND KIDNAPPING AND TERRORIST ATTACKS IN NUMEROUS COUNTRIES HAVE BEEN ATTRIBUTED, SAID THAT LIBYA "IS READY TO PAY THE PRICE...
...The depreciation of the summit conference in Sri Lanka by these agencies becomes clear when one notes that UPI, AP and AFP together wrote only 17% of the cables while Prensa Latina, Tanjug and IPS (together with the agencies whose material they circulate) provided 65 %. In terms of content, using only IPS as an alternative example, there are equally substantial differences...
...In contrast, the document-snatching North Koreans are everywhere - disguising themselves as journalists, operating from a mysterious boat and moving in regimented groups ("one after the other") to lobby other delegates (in their hotels--where normal delegates stay...
...The seemingly innocent paragraph which ends the dispatch is another subtle affirmation by negation...
...To stress the point, UPI uses the textual words of Waldheim ("It is no longer true...
...BUT IT IS DOUBTFUL THAT THEY IMPRESSED LIBYA'S ARAB NEIGHBORS, WHO OPENLY DESCRIBE KHADAFFI AS AN EGOMANIAC...
...If accuracy (2,544) (936) 10.05 3.70 NACLA Report 22JulylAua1982 For Kissinger and Rockefeller, the nonaligned countries are identified with the socialists and present a solid, hostile and united front, antagonistic to capitalists, from which it becomes necessary for the capitalist countries to destroy the Movement by any means, including measures to subvert it internally and destroy its unity in all the regional conferences it celebrates...
...In fact, it would be wishful thinking to supplant the agencies...
...What Do We Learn...
...On the one hand are the "socialist states" of Vietnam, Laos, etc., and on the other, the "non-socialist" countries of Singapore, the Philippines...
...Implications of violence, intemperance and abusiveness are confirmed by his supposed attempt (unsuccessful, to boot) to snatch the document...
...In UPI's hands, it becomes, "If terrorism is the struggle of the people of Zimbabwe (Rhodesia), then we are on the side of terrorism...
...THE CONFERENCE, WHICH CLOSES OFFICIALLY TOMORROW, HAS BEEN DOMINATED BY RHETORICAL AND ANGRY SPEECHES...
...who can't even find out anything more than the journalists, and who wouldn't dream of seducing reporters with a drink, and, on the other, their third world counterparts, including the Latin American news agency, all engaged in less lofty activities...
...Juan Somavia, ILET, 1977 and calm, reading a language other than his own...
...Mention of Khadaffi at the beginning is an old distortion, identifying Khadaffi, and by extension the Movement, with terrorism, intervention into the internal affairs of other countries and psychopathic deviations, a diagnosis, it should be noted, that is attributed to unidentified neighbors of dubious psychiatric credentials...
...THE LEADER OF LIBYA, COLONEL MUHAMAR KHADAFFI, ARRIVED AT THE LAST MINUTE, TOO LATE TO ATTEND THE MORNING SESSION...
...This cable is nothing but propaganda...
...Affirmation by Negation As a last observation on UPI's reporting style, we mention the following final paragraph of its August 19 cable, regarding the summit meeting's official support for a third world news agency pool...
...ILET headed an evaluation and content analysis of the raw cables transmitted from Sri Lanka by UPI, AP, AFP, EFE, Prensa Latina, Tanjug and the Czech agency CETEKA, as well as the journalist cooperative, IPS...
...COLOMBO, AUGUST 13 (UPI)--MOST OF THE GOVERNMENT LEADERS HAVE NOT EVEN ARRIVED AT THIS CAPITAL YET, BUT WITH REGARD TO BEHIND THE SCENES NEGOTIATIONS THE CONFERENCE OF NONALIGNED NATIONS HAS POSSIBLY ALREADY REACHED ITS SUMMIT...
...COLOMBO, AUGUST 16(UPI)-UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL KURT WALDH EIM TODAY EXHORTED LEADERS OF THE 85 NONALIGNED NATIONS OF THE WORLD THAT SOMETHING MUST BE DONE REGARDING THE INTERNATIONAL PROBLEM OF TERRORISM...
...The Impersonal Phrase and Other Stylistic Games If we compare reporting techniques among agencies, there are differences...
...All the members of the boards of directors of UPI and AP, for example, are nationals of the United States, as well as most of the bureau chiefs, at least throughout Latin America...
...Naturally, that sanction was passed, as was one against Chile's military dictatorship, and it was appropriate for UPI to report it, but not with such exclusivity...
...Finally, we come to the paragraph - the only one which mentions the fundamental purpose of the meeting...
...What UPI expresses openly, AFP insinuates...
...Singham, 1976 were really the issue, they would put the whole text or sentence in quotation marks, producing a quite different effect...
...Is UPI breaking with its traditional guidelines...
...There was virtually no coverage of the more relevant, unifying or positive resolutions, such as those regarding social-economic issues, though UPI did provide some information on the economic topics debated in the meeting...
...It was necessary, concluded the editorial, combining arrogance with reason, not simply to reject the "rhetoric and demands," but rather "determine which petitions are reasonable and deserve more attention than has been given in the past...
...Implication: he is probably a pseudo-journalist, a fraud...
...Secretary JulylAug 1982 1920 NACLA RDOII General Waldheim...
...When did you ever see "the so-called center government of Napoleon Duarte...
...MILITARY WITHDRAWAL FROM SOUTH KOREA "INCLUDING NUCLEAR ARMS...
...It is that transnational system as a whole that they are inherently dedicated to perpetuating...
...This should not lead us to the conclusion that there were no favorable reports on the conference...
...Once more the image of a person unable to control himself enough to speak calmly to an international meeting...
...THE THIRD WORLD MUST NOT BE DECEIVED REGARDING THE MEANING OF TERRORISM SO THAT WE RENOUNCE OUR STRUGGLE AGAINST IMPERIALISM AND COLONIALISM," HE DECLARED...
...This has two variations: the abstract "it is observed that...
...INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM HAS TAKEN ON A NEW AND MORE FRIGHTENING DIMENSION AND NEEDS OUR URGENT ATTENTION," SAID WALDHEIM IN A SPEECH TO THE FIRST DAY'S SESSION OF THE V SUMMIT CONFERENCE OF THE NONALIGNED NATIONS...
...NEWS OF THE NONALIGNED COUNTRIES WILL BE GATHERED AND DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT THE THIRD WORLD BY A PROJECTED NEWS ORGANIZATION BASED ON PLANS AGREED UPON IN NEW DELHI...
...In sum, by direct exclusion of words, phrases or whole incidents, by implicit misrepresentation, by preconditioningg" such as the New York Times quote at the beginning of this article, by overemphasis of unimportant anecdotes, by missing or distorted context and by any number of other small and large mechanisms, the world we know through the eyes of the transnational agencies is partial at best and patently false at worst...
...DESPITE REPEATED REQUESTS FROM PYONGYANG, THE GOVERNMENT OF SRI LANKA HAS NOT ALLOWED NORTH KOREA TO REESTABLISH ITS EMBASSY IN THIS CAPITAL...
...Nor is it based on the geographic limits of their coverage...
...n t> GREA1ESr L)tACFn KCV5-YARcu FACE S_ f ' THC is TStWuew W CE A1TCA' C-A!MEL op ETiOO7lll1(KY6 _ VICE ,V /tI - : " C 11 TIIS CfOJ2 TelsX Ct HW, AL...
...The phrase "there are no immediate intentions" is complemented by the ambiguous phrase "seemingly...
...illustrating that the United States only wants to help resolve problems in the world, but its influence in international relations is no longer decisive...
...They concluded that the industrialized nations "cannot ignore the voice of the nonaligned, given their own long-term interests and the interest they have in preserving peace and world stability...
...Lurking beside him a North Korean, frowning...
...TERRORISM, SAID KHADAFFI, CAN MEAN "THE PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE...
...As we will soon learn, Khadaffi had not even yet arrived at the conference...
...After another irrelevant jab at Khadaffi, this time portraying him as irresponsible, we move, at the end of the cable, to the presentation of the host country...
...Much more important, however, the perception that separates the big boys from the unsigned journalists, is that Daniel heard Khadaffi admit all the accusations made against him, whereas his subordinate seems to have missed such an amazing gaffe...
...Both are private entities, as are AFP and Reuters, though the latter do have ownership and control structures that link them to their own governments...
...Economic issues, for example, were the subject of most notable importance, consensus and advances at the conference...
...Let's begin with another "tone setter," the day before the official opening of the conference...
...bSaR- FrTATC...
...If the unsigned UPI dispatch was not a complete enough example of this agency's peculiarly subjective manipulation of language, correspondent Leon Daniel made it much more evident, as the following from his news commentary for UPI shows...
...Actually giving us contextual information about what is going on...
...They do not characterize the "agenda setting," the establishment of topics to think about...
...Structure and Context Now that the stage is set and the actors in place in the reader's mind, let's move to UPI's coverage of the opening session...
...21 JulylAugl982 nttlcJfPERCENTAGE OF LINES TRANSMITTED BY THE NEWS AGENCIES IN RELATION TO EACH OF THE SELECTED THEMES* AFP AP CETEKA EFE IPS PL TANJUG UPI TOTAL 7.39 6.41 3.51 3.77 8.22 3.55 5.63 13.39 5.70 5.07 4.70 4.14 1.99 11.93 2.59 2.62 5.49 4.90 4.40 1.92 0.38 22.13 1.07 2.61 4.74 1.97 3.68 3.26 12.07 2.13 5.49 0.03 1.68 1.42 8.23 2.48 1.45 0.85 5.02 1.23 5.46 2.13 0.47 0.44 2.37 0.36 0.00 0.00 5.08 1.79 0.53 2.93 3.18 1.51 THEMES Middle East New International Economic Order Panama South Africa Angola Third World News Agency Pool Total lines transmitted about the whole conference, with percentages *Ta (797) (1,220) (5,036) (9,447) (4,433) (911) (25,324) 3.15 4.82 19.89 37.30 15.00 3.60 100.00 iken from the news flow received in teletype terminals in Mexico, not necessarily reflecting the total number of dispatches from the central transmitter in Colombo, Sri Lanka...
...Second, we have discreet, friendly South Koreans, only "a few" have come, and they are "always willing to offer a drink...
...First we have a West German- thoughtful 18The role of the news agencies within the transnational system may be compared to the headlights on an automobile: to light up the road, pick out the danger signals and changes in the route, inform those steering the system about everything that concerns their interests and help find a sound and stable road to follow...
...Out of his entire speech, UPI chose terrorism as the most important theme, and in fact the only one on which we learned he remarked...
...Since the product of the agency is information, and all information is basically ideological, an agency is considered transnational in this definition when its activities correspond to the mercantilist concept of news...
...COLOMBO, AUGUST 20 (UPI)-THE LEADERS OF THE THIRD WORLD CLOSED THE V SUMMIT CONFERENCE OF NONALIGNED NATIONS TODAY WITH A CALL TO ESTABLISH AN OIL EMBARGO AGAINST FRANCE AND ISRAEL, Moving from coverage of the inaugural speech to that of the meeting's closure, we see that we are to believe that the conference was mainly directed at the problem of Entebbe, and along with it, the Middle East conflict...
...Note also the carefully placed quotation marks - "including nuclear weapons"- which, used so narrowly ceases to be "textual" and instead reads "one should doubt this...
...As one can see from the chart of topics, Israel is mentioned in 25% of the cables...
...The other observations of the colorful Mr...
...NO," ANSWERED THE JOURNALIST...
...Through this mechanism the agencies remain seemingly neutral, objective and impartial...
...It is virtually never used for an organization, government, country, etc., in favor with the agency...
...In the above UPI dispatch, reworked quotes illustrate the biased perceptions--intentional or careless - offered to readers in the reporter's coverage of the Libyan premier's speech...
...DRESSED IN A FULL ARAB TUNIC, BLACK FEZ AND DARK GLASSES, KHADAFFI ASKED THE CONFERENCE OF 85 NATIONS TO UNDERSTAND HIS POSITION...
...There is no mention in the article where this declaration came from or the reasons for the prince's objections...
...IF TERRORISM IS THE STRUGGLE OF THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE (RHODESIA), THEN WE SUPPORT TERRORISM," SHOUTED KHADAFFI, WHO HAD ADMITTED FINANCING MUSLIM INSURGENT ACTIVITY IN THE PHILIPPINES, GUERRILLAS IN NORTHERN IRELAND AND EXTREMISTS IN THE UNITED STATES...
...THE EFFORT FAILED AND THE COUNCIL WAS UNABLE TO APPROVE ANY RESOLUTION ON THE TOPIC...
...In this context, her criticism of the measures taken by Israel loses all force...
...Their forms and ways of taking sides and making news subjective are different, but there are common stylistic mechanisms of distortion among all of them...
...IPS mentions the theme in 21% of its dispatches and dedicates nine cables completely to it, while UPI and AFP minimize it significantly...
...The second distortion is the insertion of extraneous information: whereas AP focuses on Khadaffi's response to accusations of financing terrorism, UPI dedicates a paragraph to listing the accusations themselves...
...HE ASKED A WESTERN CORRESPONDENT...
...The following sentence is a good example of both: "The Prince (Sufanuvong) also rejected the declaration of Kuala Lumpur in 1971 which proposed the establishment of a zone of peace, liberty and neutrality in the region...
...The perceptive Daniel notes what the unnamed correspondent apparently missed - Khadaffi shouted...
...h~~~h...
...Moreover, no doubt is cast on the assertion that the German is ajournalist, while his opposite number is a "North Korean with press credentials...
...What UPI finds relevant in Prime Minister Bandaranaike's speech is her "sharp" criticism of the United States, Israel, South Africa and Rhodesia...
...3) Syntax...
...Bear in mind also that newspaper editors cut from the bottom up...
...So-called" appears to be an objective adjective by suggesting the agency is not responsible for the term which follows even though, out of respect, they repeat it...
...But to the editors' credit, it must be added that they acknowledged that many of the debates would "undoubtedly transcend diplomatic hypocrisy and center on real problems...
...Looking more closely, we see that Waldheim's comments serve merely as a tag for two paragraphs on the position of the United States on this issue (a country not even represented at the meeting...
...In addition to quantitative comparisons, we offer here some qualitative examples of UPI's coverage...
...It has ceased to mean "sic," and now implies doubt...
...Khadaffi Targeted Again COLOMBO, AUGUST18 (UPI)ACCORDING TO LIBYAN LEADER MUHAMAR KHADAFFI, WHO ALSO SPOKE IN TODAY'S SESSION, TERRORISM CAN ALSO EXPRESS "SUPPORT FOR A JUST CAUSE...
...There were, as the AP dispatch shows, but they were the exception...
...according to AP, Khadaffi's qualifier is when it means...
...BESIDES THE SOUTH KOREANS, THE AMERICANS ARE ALSO HERE UNOFFICIALLY TO TRY TO LEARN ABOUT THE DETAILS OF THE PROCEEDINGS...
...So what is this about...
...It is irrelevant, for example, whether the agency is state, mixed or privately owned...
...THE 120-MEMBER NORTH KOREAN DELEGATION IS THE LARGEST IN THE CONFERENCE AND OPERATES FROM A SHIP ANCHORED IN THE PORT OF COLOMBO...
...IN THIS CASE, TERRORISM SIGNIFIES THE STRUGGLE OF A PEOPLE FOR THEIR "INDEPENDENCE...
...A MEMBER OF THE UNITED STATES INFORMATION SERVICE GENTLY COMPLAINED ABOUT A DISPATCH FROM A LATIN AMERICAN NEWS AGENCY WHICH SAID THAT THE NORTH AMERICANS DEDICATED THEMSELVES TO OFFERING DRINKS TO THE REPORTERS...
...Dissecting UPI Cables To best analyze the contribution of these agencies, it is necessary to evaluate the content of the cables themselves...
...INFORMED SOURCES AT THE MEETING SAY THAT THE LIBYAN DELEGATION WANTS THE CONFERENCE TO ADOPT A RESOLUTION DEMANDING THE EXPULSION OF ISRAEL FROM THE UNITED NATIONS...
...IF TERRORISM IS THE STRUGGLE OF THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE (RHODESIA...
...and also with transnational enterprises...
...IT IS SUPPORT FOR A JUST CAUSE...
...SPEAKING TO THE CONFERENCE OF NONALIGNED NATIONS, KHADAFFI ANSWERED PUBLICLY FOR THE FIRST TIME SOME OF THE PUBLISHED ACCUSATIONS, ATTRIBUTED TO WESTERN DIPLOMATIC SOURCES, THAT HE WAS FINANCING INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM...
...and the attribution of their own opinions to unidentified observers (who are nonetheless presumed to be impartial) or experts (presumed to be informed specialists...
...A WEST GERMAN JOURNALIST WAS THOUGHTFULLY READING AN ENGLISH COPY OF A DOCUMENT WHEN A SCOWLING NORTH KOREAN WITH PRESS CREDENTIALS ASKED HIM WHERE HE HAD GOTTEN IT AND TRIED, WITHOUT SUCCESS, TO SNATCH IT AWAY...
...Thus what was most relevant in the cables was that the general debate was presented as a theme of conflict, division, clashes and violence, instead of fraternity, unity, consensus and peace in the framework of acknowledged differences...
...More than 50% of the dispatches of AFP were dedicated mainly to pointing out differences and conflicts, real or invented, in the Sri Lanka conference...
...In fact, AP is a cooperative of newspapers and IPS is also a cooperative, albeit of journalists...
...MANY OF THE NATIONAL LEADERS DECIDED NOT TO ATTEND THE MONOTONOUS SESSION OF THE CONFERENCE TODAY...
...Over half of the dispatch is ostensibly dedicated to the declarations of U.N...
...As is commonly known, the content of headlines and lead paragraphs is strategic, both because it condenses material which will be elaborated further on, and because a high percentage of readers only read the first paragraphs, knowing that they report the substance of what will follow...
...BUT THEY HAVE PROBABLY LEARNED NO MORE THAN THE JOURNALISTS, SINCE THE PREPARATIONS ARE MADE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS...
...Finally, there is the decision by UPI to edit what we can learn about Khadaffi's views on the subject, while AP relies on generous quoted passages to offer us Khadaffi's own ideological-political interpretation, leaving the reader to agree with his examples or not...
...Looking more closely, we find that the cable is structured to reinforce some predictably contrasting images...
...REFERRING TO THE RAID ON ENTEBBE, SHE SAID THAT "WHILE ACTS OF KIDNAPPING CANNOT BE ACCEPTED, MEASURES AGAINST THE KIDNAPPERS AND IN DEFENSE OF THE VICTIMS OF THIS CRIME CANNOT JUSTIFY A VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND A NATION'S SOVEREIGNTY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE...
...SOME SOUTH KOREAN DIPLOMATS WERE IN THIS CAPITAL TO OBSERVE THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE SUMMIT CONFERENCE AND INFORM THE GOVERMENT OF SEOUL...
...HAVE I BOUGHT ANYONE A DRINK...
...2) The impersonal.phrase...
...THE SOUTH KOREANS, WHOSE NATION IS NOT A MEMBER OF THE NONALIGNED GROUP AND THEREFORE HAD NO OFFICIAL REPRESENTATION IN THE CONFERENCE, ALSO MADE THEIR PRESENCE FELT AT THE MEETING...
...In fact, it is inconceivable that a head of state would expose himself to the international diplomatic recriminations that would result from such an admission...
...IF THE STRUGGLE OF THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE (RHODESIA) IS TERRORISM, THEN WE SUPPORT THIS KIND OF TERRORISM," DECLARED KHADAFFI...
...It is neither...
...And finally, it has nothing to do with the nationality of its owners...
...Finally we have the tour de force contrast - between, on the one side, the innocent, gently chiding North Americans...
...Using the case of Entebbe, UPI shows that in spite of the good intentions of the "western" nations, particularly the United States, the Security Council was unable to pass any resolution...
...These specifics do not even begin to address the news agencies' use of expressions which are not sufficiently clear, or the avoidance of context which might serve to clarify...
...AFTER THE JULY 4 RAID ON UGANDA'S ENTEBBE AIRPORT TO RESCUE HOSTAGES TAKEN BY PALESTINIAN COMANDOS, WESTERN MEMBERS OF THE [UN] SECURITY COUNCIL TRIED TO ADD A CONDITIONAL STATEMENT ABOUT THE RAID IN A GENERAL DEBATE ABOUT TERRORISM...
...Defining Taenenational Agencies Why are UPI, AP, Reuters and AFP included in this category while IPS, Prensa Latina, Tanjug and others are not...
...Used enough, it becomes doctrine, a compound noun instead of an occasional biased adjective: Angola's Soviet-backedCuban-led-MPLA...
...MADAME BANDARANAIKE ASKED THE DELEGATES, WHO REPRESENTED MORE THAN HALF THE WORLD'S POPULATION, TO FORGE INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND ECONOMIC ORDER...
...ONE AFTER ANOTHER, GROUPS OF NORTH KOREANS DISEMBARK AND HEAD FOR THE VARIOUS HOTELS TO MAKE CONTACT WITH DELEGATES FROM OTHER COUNTRIES TO WHOM THEY HAND COPIES OF THEIR RESOLUTION...
...The answer is not based on the form of ownership...
...KHADAFFI SAID THAT THE ACCUSATIONS HAD BEEN FORMULATED BY "IMPERIALISM, INTERNATIONAL ZIONISM AND RACISM...
...A.W...
...17NACLA Report Furthermore, these agencies' operations are interlinked with other branches of the transnational production system--advertising, radio, TV, etc...
...Adding a complementary figure, 30% of the dispatches had leads referring to such conflicts...
...IF TERRORISM IS THE STRUGGLE OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE WHO WERE EXPELLED FROM THEIR TERRITORY IN 1948, THEN WE ACCEPT THIS ACCUSATION AND TREAT IT AS AN HONOR SINCE WE SUPPORT THE OPPRESSED AND COLONIZED PEOPLE FOR THE RESTORATION OF THEIR TERRITORY, THEIR INDEPENDENCE AND THEIR SOVEREIGNTY...
...SEEMINGLY, THERE ARE NO IMMEDIATE INTENTIONS TO SUPPLANT THE WESTERN WORLD NEWS AGENCIES WHICH OPERATE INDEPENDENTLY OF GOVERNMENT CONTROL FROM THEIR OWN COUNTRIES...
...THE SOUTH KOREANS ARE ALWAYS READY TO OFFER A DRINK TO LOCAL JOURNALISTS AND TO REMIND THEM THAT THE DIPLOMATIC MISSION OF NORTH KOREA WAS EXPELLED FROM COLOMBO IN 1971 ON SUSPICION OF HAVING BACKED A STUDENT REBELLION THAT ENDANGERED THE GOVERMENT OF PRIME MINISTER SIRIMAVO BANDARANAIKE...
...New York Times editorial, August 17, 1976 This acid commentary by the New York Times is a classic example of "tone setting...
...IN THIS CASE, TERRORISM HAS ANOTHER MEANING, ANOTHER CONNOTATION...
...IN HIS SPEECH IN THE AFTERNOON SESSION, WALDHEIM REVIEWED THE CONFLICTIVE AREAS OF THE WORLD, AND POINTED OUT TO THE DELEGATES THAT "IT IS NO LONGER TRUE THAT ONLY THE GREAT POWERS HAVE DECISIVE INFLUENCE IN THE FORMATION OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS...
...Thus the struggles of the nonaligned nations are always seen, from UPI's point of view, as linked to terrorism and conflict...
...an agent, an image furthered by the description of other "presumed" North Korean journalists peering over the shoulders of other journalists...
...First are the reworked quotes: In the UPI cable, by limiting what is within the quotation marks, Khadaffi's support of terrorism can mean support for ajust cause...
...By implicit contrast, the third world news agencies would operate no other way than dependent on the controls of their governments...
...IT IS SUPPORT FOR A JUST CAUSE...
...COLOMBO, AUGUST 19 (UPI...
...The inability of the Security Council to move, it would appear, is no fault of the United States...
...FOR DAYS, LOCAL NEWSPAPERS HAVE BEEN PUBLISHING PAGE-LONG ADVERTISEMENTS PRAISING THE HEAD OF THE LIBYAN GOVERNMENT, COLONEL MUHAMAR KHADAFFI...
...The sensationalist language of UPI, for example, contrasts with the apparent seriousness of France's AFP...
...But is it...
...THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES HAVE ASKED THE UNITED NATIONS ON VARIOUS OCCASIONS TO ADDRESS SUCH TERRORIST ACTS AS AIR PIRACY AND KIDNAPPING AND EXECUTIONS OF DIPLOMATS, BUT THE INTERNATIONAL BODY HAS NOT TAKEN UP THIS ISSUE BEFORE NOW...
...what UPI names and qualifies, AFP lets slip by connotation...
...Let's see how...
...THE HEADS OF STATE OR GOVERNMENT OF MORE THAN HALF OF THE 85 NONALIGNED NATIONS ARE LEADING THE DELEGATIONS PRESENT, WITH THE REST LED BY HIGH LEVEL OFFICIALS...
...In a comparison with AP's unusually full and fair coverage (below), we can appreciate at least three techniques of distortion...
...the current effort is limited to trying to break in on their monopoly, with, as the Yugoslav communications expert, Pavlic, put it, "equal rights and possibilities...
...Or is this an anecdotal cable, meant to entertain us with the curious aspects of the event before it officially begins...
...Three stand out in particular: 1) The use of quotation marks...
...THEN WE ARE ON THE SIDE OF TERRORISM," DECLARED THE LIBYAN LEADER...
...Then there is the negative qualifier, which exonerates the noun from connotation, neutralizing it...
...THE ADVERTISEMENTS PRESENT THE COLONEL, AN ADVOCATE OF A HARD LINE IN MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS, AS A YOUNG VISIONARY...
...Further semantic alchemy in the UPI version is the inversion of the quote which appears in the AP cable as, "If the struggle of the people of Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) is terrorism, then we support this kind of terrorism" (italics ours...
...Appropriate enough, one might say...
...Without a context, one is led to believe that the Laotian government is against peace, liberty and neutrality...
...The rhetoric and the resolutions that are being adopted [at the Sri Lanka conference] will be excessive, unilateral and are already known....They will demand of the rich nations what they always ask in all the meetings of the poor nations...
...THE NORTH KOREANS ARE ASKING FOR A RESOLUTION WHICH INCLUDES THE DEMAND FOR A U.S...
...Their hypothesis that the transnational news agencies discriminated against the countries of the third world was amply demonstrated...
...PRIME MINISTER SIRIMAVO BANDARANAIKE OF SRI LANKA, THE HOST COUNTRY, INAUGURATED THE CONFERENCE WITH A SPEECH IN WHICH SHE SHARPLY CRITICIZED THE UNITED STATES, ISRAEL, SOUTH AFRICA AND RHODESIA...
...Both the affirmation and the negation are implicit...
...These are mechanisms of qualifying and classifying (or failing to) which cast doubt or reproduce bias...
...OTHER NORTH KOREANS, PRESUMABLY WITH JOURNALIST CREDENTIALS, WERE SEEN IN THE PRESS CENTER LOOKING OVER THE SHOULDERS OF REPORTERS TO SEE WHAT THEY WERE WRITING...
...BEFORE HUSSEIN ONN, PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA, [spoke] THE PRESIDENT OF CAMBODIA' S COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT, KHIEU SAMPHAN, CALLED THE UNITED STATES "THE LARGEST AND MOST BARBARIC POWER IN THE WORLD," IN A SPEECH PRONOUNCED TO A HALF EMPTY AUDITORIUM...
...Daniel hardly bear comment, except to wonder why, in his concern about descriptions, he did not feel compelled to define Malaysia's form of government, since he was so diligent in clarifying for the reader that of Cambodia...
...Like the headlights, they are small but decisive...
...without their valuable information the system loses operational control and efficiency and runs the risk of crashing into unforeseen obstacles...
...L T(CS AQO 7Ttier wmrr HagZ, HAS Ui5 rAuwI*kXP ') RF 00( IU1tRP~ HIS FlOe mD(ATb I-16 Z, I ,SKIL)6 AMP(~I.- .' , F, %A7h)~ 0%J55 A a195 tEITER ACVI IIJ& IT THAT O."7 HAVE 5TW % EMT REF, 7 ~ 8SR A5 IT f5 ft't TO o5 Ou THE faR \ p COLOMBO, SRI LANKA, 18 (AP) (MYRON L. BELKIND)- LIBYAN LEADER MUHAMAR KHADAFFI DECLARED TODAY THAT HE SUPPORTS TERRORISM WHEN IT IS TANTAMOUNT TO "THE STRUGGLE OF A PEOPLE FOR INDEPENDENCE, FOR A JUST CAUSE...
...In fact, it casts radical doubt on the term ("so-called progressive bloc...
...BUT HE DENIED SUPPORTING CRIMINAL TERRORIST ACTS SUCH AS KIDNAPPING AND ROBBERIES WHICH HE SAID ARE SEVERELY PUNISHED IN LIBYA...
Vol. 16 • July 1982 • No. 4
