Wolfowitz apologizes for calling journalists in Baghdad cowards

Paul Wolfowitz, the US deputy defense secretary and one of the architects of the war in Iraq, issued a rare apology June 25 after he said at a hearing before the House Armed Services committee that journalists in Baghdad are too negative and too afraid to cover the news.

US officials in Baghdad and Washington have repeatedly blamed the press, both Arab and western, for presenting a bad image of the occupation.

Iraq has proved one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists to work. According to the International News Safety Institute, a journalists’ support group, 30 Iraqi and foreign journalists and their staff have been killed in Iraq in the first six months of this year.

In his letter of apology, Wolfowitz wrote: “Our hopes now are that through your efforts and those of coalition military and civilian forces, Iraq will someday know the full blessing of liberty, especially a robust and prospering free press.” (Guardian (UK))

AP sues for access to Bush military records

The Associated Press (AP) sued the Pentagon and the Air Force June 22, seeking access to all records of George W. Bush’s military service during the Vietnam War. The lawsuit seeks access to a copy of Bush’s microfilmed personnel file from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Austin.

The White House says the government has already released all the records of Bush’s military service.

Controversy surrounds Bush’s time in the Texas Air National Guard because it is unclear from the record what duties he performed for the military when he was working on the political campaign of a US Senate candidate in Alabama. There are questions as to whether the file provided to the news media earlier this year is complete, says the lawsuit.

The White House has yet to respond to a request by the AP in April asking the president to sign a written waiver of his right to keep records of his military service confidential. (AP)

FCC rules sent back for review

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was ordered by the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia to review its new rules that let companies such as News Corp. and Viacom Inc. buy more television stations and newspapers because the FCC had failed to reasonably justify its decision.

The court also blocked implementation of the media ownership rules, approved a year ago by the FCC under Chairman Michael Powell, until the agency acts.

The decision affects rules that let a single media company own a daily newspaper, three TV stations, eight radio stations, and a cable system in the same large city. It doesn’t affect legislation passed by Congress earlier this year that allows a company to own TV stations reaching as much as 39 percent of the national audience.

The ruling lends support to a coalition of disparate groups who argued that allowing further media consolidation would reduce the diversity of local news and programs and that Powell is too closely tied to media mega-corporations.

More individuals sent comments to the FCC in Washington on this issue than on any topic before, the agency has said, and nearly all opposed the new rules. (Bloomberg News)