Nuremberg and Media
MEDIA, 16 Mar 2020
Fritz Pointer | Democratic World Federalists - TRANSCEND Media Service
14 Mar 2020 – Who knew? I certainly didn’t know that journalists were among those prosecuted for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity during the Nuremberg Trials post WWII. It intrigued me even further to read that my namesake, Fritzsche (nickname, Fritz) that is, Hans Fritzsche was one of those defendants. The Nuremberg prosecution argued:
“By virtue of its functions, the German Press Division (think ABC, NBC, FOX, CNN, NPR, MSNBC, CBS, NY Times, Washington Post) became an important and unique instrument of the Nazi (think Project for the New American Century – PNAC) conspirators, not only in dominating the minds and psychology of Germans, but also as an instrument of foreign policy and psychological warfare against other nations.”
The indictment of, Fritz, not me, the German media chief, for war crimes, is certainly different from America today, when “Whistleblowers” those exposing war crimes are indicted and prosecuted. The indictment against Julian Assange is having a chilling effect on American journalism as it has been practiced for generations. It is aimed straight at the heart of the First Amendment.
The charges focus on receiving and publishing classified material from a government source. That is something journalists do all the time. This is what the First Amendment is designed to protect: the ability of publishers to provide the public with the truth. Of course, an Administration that considers the press an ‘enemy of the people’ would launch this attack. In attacking the media, it is attacking the people.
The truth is that a revengeful U.S. government was exposed with clear evidence of committing war crimes, meddling in other nations’ internal affairs and spying on adversaries, allies and citizens alike and in response imprisoning and charging the journalist who exposed these crimes. This speaks with tremendous force to the role of the US media owners in today’s world affairs.
American Propaganda Brings Memories of Nazi Germany
Today, billionaire controlled media propaganda is clearly a factor in preparing and conducting acts of aggression: by “Manufacturing Consent” by “Perception Management,” and by using Media Folks (journalists) who are CIA Assets (Operation Mockingbird), the American people are encouraged to accept obediently the criminal behavior of America’s endless regime change wars. We would all do well to read Dr. Brian Covert author of “Played by the Mighty Wurlitzer: The Press, the CIA, and the Subversion of Truth,” which is the sixth chapter within Censored 2017.
The television networks and leading newspapers are the prime sources of information for tens of millions of people in the U.S. However, these so-called “public” media are in the hands of giant firms, controlled by fabulously wealthy individuals who will stop at nothing to defend their profits and property. The bodies, the corpses of thousands, or, if necessary, millions of Iraqis, Syrians, Yemenis, Sudanese, Iranians, Palestinians and others are a small price to pay, as far as the media billionaires are concerned, for achieving American military and economic domination of the globe.
Today, the basic method of American propagandistic activity, as in Nazi Germany, is in the false presentation of facts (e.g. Mexican immigrants are rapists, drug dealers and criminals), the dissemination of provocative lies (e.g. America is a white man’s country) and the systematic deception of public opinion (Americans want endless wars for national security) are as necessary to the US for the realization of its plans for military and economic global domination, as are the production of military equipment and the drafting of military plans.
Without deliberately spreading lies and rumors, attacking freedom of the press and of speech and arresting journalists it would not be possible for American endless war to pursue its stated goal of “full-spectrum global domination” and to put in practice the war crimes and crimes against humanity of which it is guilty. In this U.S. propaganda system, it is the daily press and television that are the most important weapons and are all as guilty of war crimes as Hans Fritzsche and the propaganda work he did for the Nazis.
The Constitution for the Federation of Earth available and recommended as a viable and useful document for United Nations Charter Review states: Article 12 “Bill of Rights for the Citizens of Earth” 12.3:
“Freedom of thought and conscience, speech, press, writing, communication, expression, publication, broadcasting, telecasting, and cinema, except as an overt part of or incitement to violence, armed riot or insurrection.” And, 13.3 states: “Full access to information and to the accumulated knowledge of the human race.”
Today, the role of the American press in habituating the American people to the suffering of other peoples and, even, urging war crimes, like extrajudicial murder and assassinations of a country’s leader; it is possible that many Americans would never have participated in or tolerated the atrocities being committed throughout the Middle East, had they not been conditioned, inured, goaded, manipulated by constant media propaganda and lies. The media’s very success in manipulating public opinion is one of the strongest proofs of its culpability in the commission of war crimes.
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Fritz Pointer is a retired professor of English and African American Studies. He is the Vice President of Democratic World Federalists (www.dwfed.org). He has published numerous scholarly and creative works and articles such as “African Oral Epic Poetry: Praising the Deeds of a Mythic Hero” (2013). The older brother of the internationally known singing group, The Pointer Sisters, he has co-authored a soon to be released book Fairytale: the Pointer Sisters’ Family History. Prof. Pointer’s main interests include combating racism, advancing human rights, ending war, eliminating nuclear weapons, and nonviolent solutions to global problems.
Tags: Journalism, Justice, Media, Nuremberg Trials WWII, Social justice, War Journalism
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