[KFCF Friends] [EVENT] Norman Soloman at CSUF

[subs-admin@kfcf.org]

Hi all,

Sorry for the last-minute notice; life is crazy and my email/internet
access is still dicey. Seems to be working tonight!  Please, if you are
familiar with Norman Soloman - and even if you're not - he is one of the
best progressive media critics I can think of and a must-hear. I've
heard him speak before, and he's as dead-on as they get. His bio and
biblio is below.

Given the conflict with this important event that the Fresno Free
College Foundation is most proud to co-sponsor, the FFCF Board meeting
previously scheduled at the same time is postponed until Dec. 4 (same
time and place, one week later. Please refer to www.kfcf.org for
details).  See you there! - Deb

Media and The War
 Journalism or Propaganda

Norman Solomon
Executive Director, Institute for Public Accuracy, San Francisco

Tuesday, November 27, 2001
7-8:30 p.m UC200

Sponsored ed by the Campus Coalition for Peace and Civil Liberties,
Fresno Peace,  the Beth Anne Harnish Lectures, and KFCF 88.1 FM

NORMAN SOLOMON - Brief Bio

Norman Solomon is an author and nationally syndicated columnist on media
and politics. He is the winner of the 1999 George Orwell Award for
Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language
(presented by the National Council of Teachers of English) for his ninth
book, "The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media." In the introduction to
that book, Jonathan Kozol wrote: "The tradition of Upton Sinclair,
Lincoln Steffens, and I.F. Stone does not get much attention these days
in the mainstream press ... but that tradition is alive and well in this
collection of courageously irreverent columns on the media by Norman
Solomon. ... He fights the good fight without fear of consequence. He
courts no favors. He writes responsibly and is meticulous on details,
but he does not choke on false civility."

Solomon's op-ed articles have appeared in many newspapers including the
Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, New York Times, Boston
Globe, Miami Herald, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer and Baltimore Sun.
His articles have also appeared in the International Herald Tribune,
Canada's Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star.

Solomon's book "Wizards of Media Oz: Behind the Curtain of Mainstream
News" (co-authored with Jeff Cohen), was published in 1997. A review in
The Nation magazine said: "One of the great values of this book is that
it demolishes the myth that liberalism dominates the media.... This
nifty, easily digestible compendium ought to be used in high school and
college courses to help the young learn how to be discriminating news
consumers. At a time when the syndicated rantings of ultra-right media
critics...are widely available, 'Wizards of Media Oz' provides a bracing
antidote. Skilled puncturers of the conventional wisdom, Solomon and
Cohen continue to provide us with (as Studs Terkel puts it in his
introduction to the book) 'all the news that the Respectables find unfit
to print.'"

Solomon co-authored the 1990 book "Unreliable Sources: A Guide to
Detecting Bias in News Media." A review in the Washington Post Book
World concluded that the book "makes a worthy addition to the library of
any student of American news media, social structure and political
science."

Norman Solomon has appeared on hundreds of media outlets including the
PBS  "NewsHour With Jim Lehrer," ABC-TV's "Good Morning America,"
C-SPAN's "About Books," CNN's "Crossfire" and "TalkBack Live," MSNBC,
Fox News Channel, PRI's "Marketplace" and NPR's "All Things Considered,"
"Morning Edition" and "Talk of the Nation."

Solomon's 1995 book "Through the Media Looking Glass," co-authored with
Jeff Cohen, drew praise from Booklist, which called it "a lively
counterpoint to the dominant conservative critique of the 'liberal'
media." A review in the Los Angeles Times declared: "The bold,
muckraking tone of these columns offers a welcome respite from the
decerebrated discourse that too often passes for contemporary
journalism."