American Media Manipulation

Slanted News Whistleblower: The Legacy of Ted Rowse

By Cheryl Seal PART I: Trash and Treasure
Do you ever get the feeling that there are just certain things your were just meant to do? Things so important that you are given mysterious clues years before the time comes to act sort of like being on a cosmic treasure hunt? Well, my connection to Ted Rowse definitely falls into this category. In fact, it came out of a real treasure hunt years ago. Chevy Chase is a decidedly upscale bedroom community of Washington, D.C., home to a lions share of Senators and captains of business. Ive never been sure if the comedian is named for the suburb or if it was the other way around after all, as Will Rogers once pointed out, the largest collection of comedians on Earth can be found in Congress. But it is also home to my first husband (now deceased) Bobs family. Of course, you would never have guessed that the Seal boys hailed from Chevy Chase. To describe their chosen lifestyles as Thoreauvian would be a kind and glamorizing euphemism. Each and every one of them were landless back-to-the-landers who made their living by buying and selling junk (which they called antiques, whether it was a one-legged Barbie doll circa 1970 or a scrimshaw brooch circa 1850), with a special fondness for old books and papers. Bob and I lived in the wilds of Maine until the early 1990s in, at any given time, rustic cabins (as in no plumbing) or quaint (as in freeze-your-ass-off) farmhouses. When we would pull up to the family homestead in Chevy Chase at Christmas, you could almost hear the Beverly Hillbillies theme playing. Being junk dealers AND from Chevy Chase, the Seal boys had a special advantage enjoyed by few run-of-the-mill junk dealers: they knew exactly when Trash and Treasure Week would happen. Trash and treasure week is a time-honored rite of spring in Chevy Chase when homeowners clean out their cellars, attics, garages and closets and put the discarded contents out by the cherry-blossom-canopied curbs. You never know what you might find one elderly junk man swears that he once found a roll of 1930s hundred dollar bills in a coffee can, while Bob once found a first edition of For Whom the Bell Tolls. So, the Seal boys would count the days until the kick-off of the designated week. Then, as soon as the sun rose, you could see them out cruising the winding lanes in their old pickups or station

wagons, stopping at every promising looking collection of stuff and leaping out with frantic haste as if it were an Olympic event. I am sure many a Chevy Chaser was given a jolt over their morning coffee when they looked out the window to see a bearded character in an old battered army jacket and holey blue jeans (Bob was a Vietnam vet a marine stationed in Danang in 1968-69), wild hair flying, digging through their trash with the intensity of a crazed gold miner trying to stake down a contested claim. Bobs Dad, an old-style conservative was philosophical about his boys annual quest and made one simple request: If anyone asks your name, tell them its Jones. In 1987, Bob made a special trip to Chevy Chase from Maine just for trash and Treasure week. At one house, just as he drove up, he saw someone putting out a big box of papers and immediately slowed down. Papers, everything from old Boys Life magazines to scrawled, yellowing letters from someones Aunt Gertrude were his specialty. As soon as the householder had disappeared, he scarfed up the box. After going through it, he decided to make it a present to me a then-novice journalist. Back in Maine, he thrust the box into my hands: I figured you might learn something from it. He was right, indeed. In fact, it was to become my first introduction to Ted Rowse. The box of papers proved to be a collection of old letters and notes written by and to Rowse in the late 1950s and early 1960s. On old typing paper that was turning brown and crumbly, in the tiny typeface of an old click-a-clack typewriter, were notes for a book called Reader Be Damned, all about how newspapers manipulated reader perceptions of the news. It detailed how headlines were used to slant stories through the manipulative use of wording and placement. how what should have been a page 26 story is made big news by big headlines and page one placement while a big story is made minor by being buried on page 26 with an innocuous headline. In short, it was, I now think, notes for the first serious critique of the modern American news ever written. As a budding journalist, I was fascinated and shocked. In my blitheful ignorance, these things had never occurred to me before. You mean editors really did stuff like that? Now of course, I am sadder but wiser and know that editors and now, TV and radio news directors - do indeed do stuff like that. And t has only gotten worse since Rowse first tried to raise the warning in the late 1950s. In addition to the notes, there were letters all rejections from publishers. No one was interested in a book exposing the newspapers slanting techniques. There were a few letters from Rowse, too drafts, probably in which you could detect his growing frustration and despair at not being able to get the story out to the public. At the time, I had no idea who Ted Rowse was. I thought maybe he had died and his unrealized lifes work had been set out for the trash man by some unknowing relative. Or I pictured a 90-something old guy hobbling forlornly to the curb with

his box of notes and letters, feeling it was all too late he had given up at last. So, determined not to let this fellow journalists dream die, I studied his notes and learned from them. I became a better writer and an astute observer of the media and its tricks. In short, I owe a lot to Ted Rowse. Imagine my delight in 2000 when I discovered Internet searches and found that Arthur Rowse was indeed alive and far from being a beaten 90-something geezer! Not only that, but he had THAT VERY YEAR succeeded in getting an expose of the corporate media published! From that day, I have made every effort to call the publics attention to his work. But, it is clear from Rowses first notes in the late 1950s and from what is happening now in the Bush administration that serious news manipulation originated with a Republican administration in a Cold War atmosphere and is being pushed to its most outrageous limits by a Republican administration that wants to revive the Cold War. I have no doubt, knowing what I now know, that media manipulation was introduced in America by the CIA, which, during the 1950s, was busily founding its own overseas disinformation system a la Office of Strategic Influence. What most people dont know is that the CIA was founded by former Nazi intelligence operatives who brought to their new jobs all of the propaganda tools they had gained under Hitler and Goebbels. So, in effect, todays mainstream media propaganda can trace its choking roots back to Nazi Germany. Is this what we want for America, a land founded on the principle of free speech? All I can say is, Thank God for journalists like Ted Rowse! In fact, I for one believe that if America wants a REAL HERO, they need look no further than Mr. Rowse.

PART II: Reader Be Damned

In Part I, I recounted how I happened to be in possession of Ted Rowses notes on a book about how news is manipulated book developed back in the late 50s and early 60s The working title then: Reader Be Damned. I thought it would be a great lesson in spotting slants and in Cold War political history to share some of these notes with you. (As they had been chucked roadside and are more than 28 years old, we can assume they are in the public domain! In any case, suing us would be like trying to extract blood from a turnip). Here, Rowse gives several examples of how loaded words can be used to subtly and not-sosubtly slant news and formulate the readers opinion for them. The examples are almost all from the late 1950s.

ADMIT -- Alternative for say when the writer wants to make the speaker appear guilty of something worse than the true situation warrants implies criminal admission. STEVENSON ADMITS TAKING PRIVATE AID FOR STATE OFFICIALS Chicago Tribune. Several meanings could be read into the headline, most of them worse than the actual situation may have been. BALLYHOO derisive term when applied to a political campaign when not attribute to some source. EINSENHOWER VISIT HERE TO STIR UP DAY OF BALLYHOO St. Louis Post Dispatch BOOMERANG when used to describe political charges, it is an opinion word which may or may not be true. BOOMERANG PUTS SENATOR NIXON FOES IN AWKWARD SPOT Boston Advertiser CLEARED Word implying being found not guilty in court, a situation qute apart from Nixons situation. NIXON CLEARED: HE AND IKE WALK TO WARS AGAIN Minneapolis Star EXPLAIN Word csometimes implies full explanation to the satisfaction of everyone, an interpretation which favors the person doing the explaining. EXPENSE FUND FOR NIXON EXPLAINED BY FRIENDS Los Angeles Times ISOLATIONIST Word with almost exactly opposite meanings. Some so-called isolationists seem to be the countrys foremost advocates of aggression in the far reaches of the Pacific Ocean. The word demands a further explanation. STEVENSON ASSERTS HIS RIVAL IS PRISONER OF ISOLATIONISTS New York Times LEFTIST Broad term which swings a wide arc and means many things to many people. KEFAUVER IN BID FOR LEFTIST AID Boston Post SMEAR Aggressive word to hit back at a charge, implying that the charge is false, even though it may be true. NIXON SMEAR TRY BLASTED IN KANSAS CITY Detrit Free Press. SCANDAL Powerful opinionate word likely to mean a variety of things used as a factual word for a matter which may be up for political debate. EISENHOWER ASSERTS SCANDALS IN U.S. AID REDS COLD WAR New York Times.

: In this Section, Rowse identifies several different manipulated headline types.

LOADED HEALINE DEVICES

Nameless Head --Source of statement or charge not revealed in head intentionally because it would make the story less newsworthy: TRUMAN CALLED ON TO MEET RED ISSUE SQUARELY (Boston Post head on a statement by Senator McCarrah, a perennial Truman enemy Parrot Head --Where newspaper appears to repeat someone elses opinion as its own: BYRNES OUT FOR IKE FOR COUNTRYS GOOD New York News Philadelphia Inquirer BYRNES BACKS EISENHOWER, PUTS U.S. ABOVE PARTY

Two-faced Head Words with double meanings

BOYS AND GIRLS SAME ALL OVER, RED DAILY FINDS Boston Globe ALLEGHENY WATER NEEDS TO BE AIRED (E&P) FARM DOG SAVE MASTER FROM ATTACKING HOG (E&P) Quiz Show Head --question not necessarily at issue but thrown in to remind readers of possible link with unfavorable: WILL TRUMAN PARDON HISS? -- NY J. A. Missing Head: --Headline and story which should be, but is not, on page one in order to play down news paper doesnt like.

Manufactured Head --Creation of headline writer, not an accurate reflection of the story SENATOR MORSE SUPPORTS PROBES BY MCCARTHY Boston Post PRESS STUDY POSSIBLE Times Disguised Head --Interpretive or background articles with news-type headlines: TRUMAN RALLIES VOTES OF LABOR BY FEAR TACTICS Advertiser EISENHOWER, NIXON PROVE REAL CHAMPS Herald NIXON WELFARE STATE New York Post REPUBLICANS BELIEVE TICKET STRONGER THAN EVER NOW Philadelphia Bulletin Broken Head --Meaning broken up by too many punctuations such as this story announcing engagement: JULIUS: WED NOW! RORY: DO IT RIGHT! SO THEY WAIT Globe Swollen Head --Headline too big for story, such as this two-line, 8-column head in Boston Post: KREMLIN NEWSPAPERS IN HUB LIBRARY READING ROOM This situation was old stuff in many libraries and never considered much of a menace Headless Head --Missing subject may give headline double meaning: CLIMB ON ADLAI BANDWAGON Globe FINE GIS WIFE FOR SALE IN BLACK MARKET New York Post Hopeful Head --Prediction that may or may not come true: CONSUMER PRICES TO REMAIN STEADY NY Times

Dead Head --statement of little or no meaning: IN CRITICAL CONDITION NY Times --or a statement weaker than the story itself: STEVENSON POISED FOR TOUR OF EAST NY Times FIRM ON RIGHTS Kansas City Star PRESIDENT SET FOR WIND-UP Times Dizzy Head --One with mixed reference that can be misinterpreted: WIFE STABS MATE WITH ANOTHER WOMAN (E&P) BOY HURT DIVING IN FAIR CONDITION (E&P) PRESIDENT SET FOR WIND-UP NY Times Egg Head --big words that may not be understood by average reader: IKE CASTIGATES U.S. FARM POLICY Cute Head --END JUSTIFIES JEANS IN GINA LOLLOBRIGIDA CASE (E&P) Pointed Head -Opinionated head: TRUMAN CALLED ON TO MEET RED ISSUE SQUARELY Boston Post (The head implies that he has not met issue squarely, but that is a matter of opinion) CORRUPTION IN STATE NOTHING NEW TO ADELAI Des Moine Register Opinion Head --Use of descriptive or opinion words as fact: NIXON SMEAR TRY BLASTED Detroit Free Press BUNGLED BILLIONS: U.S. AID POLICY FALLS SHORT Philadelphia Inquirer Wooden Head --neutral words that fail to describe adequately controversial story: EISENHOWER DISCUSSES TREATY CURB NY Herald Tribune

Hawker Head --trying to sell something by strategic placement, such as the sample telegram printed on page one praising Nixon for readers to clip and send NY Journal American