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How the US media skews coverage of the Middle East, how Hollywood villifies Arabs, and how corporations are making a killing in Iraq. We’ll hear from three brilliant eye-opening documentaries

This summer Israel launched another war on Lebanon, all the while continuing its brutal occupation of Palestine. While the Israelis have yet to completely pull out of Lebanon after the ceasefire, the media, particularly the US media, have all but forgotten the summer war that left thousands of Lebanese dead. Today we begin the show with a focus on how the American consciousness is shaped by US media coverage. Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land is a documentary produced by the Media Education Foundation which makes a striking comparison between US and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites–oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others–work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported. Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land features Noam Chomsky, Robert Fisk, Robert Jensen, Seth Ackerman, Hanan Ashrawi, Hussein Ibish, Sam Husseini, Stav Adivi, Rabbi Michael Lerner, and others.

On the one hand the US news media distorts coverage of the Middle East, and on the other hand Hollywood plays along by infusing its film with racist portrayals of Arabs. We turn to another documentary from the Media Education Foundation – a brand new film called Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Villifies a People, based on the book by Jack Shaheen of the same name. This groundbreaking documentary dissects an aspect of cinematic history that has run virtually unchallenged form the earliest days of silent film to today’s biggest Hollywood blockbusters. Reel Bad Arabs explores a long line of degrading images of Arabs–from Bedouin bandits and submissive maidens to sinister sheikhs and gun-wielding “terrorists.” It offers devastating insights into the origin of these stereotypical images, their development at key points in US history and politics, and why they matter so much today.

“Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers,” is the latest documentary from award winning independent film maker Robert Greenwald. The film focuses its criticisms on corporate war profiteers such as Halliburton/KBR, Blackwater, Caci and Titan. Carefully researched, Robert Greenwald poses the question, “who gets killed and who’s making a killing.” In March 2004, four civilians hired by Blackwater Security Consulting in Fallujah, Iraq were killed and their bodies mutilated. In “Iraq for Sale,” the family members of those killed are interviewed revealing the disturbing truth about the privatization of war and its consequences. In addition, ex-Halliburton employees, journalists, and soldiers themselves provide testimony on the issue of war profiteering. Iraq for Sale is presented by Brave New Films, the same production company that has brought us Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price,” and “Outfoxed.” The New York Times has described the film as “a horrifying catalogue of greed, corruption, and incompetence.”

For more information, visit www.mediaed.org, www.iraqforsale.org.

Thank you Gifts:

$150 – Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land – 2 DVD set

$100 – Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Villifies a People – DVD

$75 – Iraq for Sale – DVD