Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers November 11th, 2003

I can't imagine a better way to top off Veteran's Day than by learning how to help make the tremendous price paid by our brave veterans a little less necessary. That's what the 2003 Celebration of Peace hosted by the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers (www.MAPM.org) at the Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis was all about.

When I finally managed to locate the only unlocked entry door, I walked into the church and was treated to a smorgasbord of literature, signs and bumper stickers presented by a wide variety of peace organizations and causes. I was unable to resist the temptation of delicious homemade cookies and other treats at nearly every table.

Hundreds of people attended this event including a significant contingent from St Joan’s. When we finally made our way to the sanctuary where the program was being held, we were treated to soothing piano music and vocals from local jazz phenomenon, Larry McDonough.

MAP President Leslie Reindl

Leslie Reindl, the president of the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers (MAP), briefly welcomed us and gave initial introductions. The Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus kicked off the program by entertaining us with three of their signature songs. This was followed by Jane Powers' (also of MAP) introduction of the keynote speaker, Danny Schechter.

Shechter is a world-renowned journalist of over 30 years. He was one of the first producers on CNN and spent eight years as an investigative reporter for ABC's "20/20". He is currently active as a media watchdog, author, and film producer. His credits include the books, "The More You Watch, the Less You Know", "Media Wars: News at a Time of Terror", and the recent release "Embedded: Weapons of Mass Deception: How the Media Failed to Cover the War on Iraq". He also produced the film "Counting on Democracy" on the corrupted 2000 presidential election in Florida. Other films and information can be found on the website www.globalvision.org.

Journalist Danny Shechter

Shechter began his talk mentioning some ties to Minnesota including meeting Paul Wellstone just before his tragic death. He also mentioned an anecdote in which he was supposed to do a commercial for a camera store promoting a Honeywell camera. The commercial went something like “If you want to buy a camera from a corporation that’s responsible for killing babies you can get it at…”. He was sued by the camera store, but the case was dropped in court after generating a lot of publicity on Honeywell’s weapons programs.

He mentioned his recent trip to the first National Media Reform Conference in Madison, Wisconsin and the lack of mainstream media attendance and coverage of the important event. He said the first amendment to our Constitution provides not only a right, but also an obligation that has largely been unfilled.

He spoke at some length about recent attempts by the FCC and others to relax media ownership rules. He believes a deal may have been made between media moguls and federal regulators that basically said, “If you waive the rules, we’ll wave the flag”.

He claims the many examples of bias and distortion indicate we’re in a life or death fight for the soul of our democracy. One of his contributions to counteract attempts to manipulate media content is the creation of a channel to monitor the other media channels. It can be found on the web at www.mediachannel.org.

He listed four things we can do:

1. Inform ourselves.
2. Fight for media literacy.
3. Support media reform.
4. Support independent media.

The local chapter of the Veterans for Peace closed the program by ringing the bells for peace. They said this is often chosen by their members for their funeral ceremonies to replace the traditional firearm salute.

Paul Oman is a software engineer and compulsive barefoot waterskier who skis in shows with the Twin City River Rats. In winter, Paul plays hockey and sings in St. Joan's choir. He hosts some events with the St. Joan Singles group and lives in Brooklyn Center.