True Lies

From Publishers Weekly
Making an extensive contribution to ongoing critiques of the media, Web-based Guerrilla News Network reporters Lappé and Marshall charge that the public is served by members of "a lazy and compliant news media" who often act as mere "glorified stenographers" to the government and corporate sources they rely on for information and answers. To back up their claims, the authors collect un- and under-reported news stories from the past few years, giving careful scrutiny to alternative versions of election fraud, conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11, the notion of American empire, Gulf War illness and military vaccinations, "crossover" voting (voting in two primary elections) and electronic voting machines. Perhaps the most compelling chapter deals with the U.S. military use of depleted uranium in armor-tipped weapons. Introduced in the first Gulf War and used again in the Balkans, the recent invasion of Iraq saw a renewed proliferation of these "radioactive kinetic penetrators." This time they were used in heavily populated areas now occupied by American forces as well as Iraqi civilians. Why, the authors ask, "has the mainstream American media paid so little attention to this literally radioactive issue?" Lappé and Marshall also critique the left-leaning organizations and activists for distortions in their dispatches. Their own presentation, which allows most of the stories to speak for themselves without heightened language, does manage to lead by example. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

USA Today
When questioning government policies is characterized as near treasonous… one appreciates the skillful dissent displayed by the Guerilla News Network.

Metroactive.com
Like any outlaw journalists, [Stephen Marshall and Anthony Lappe] ask questions people don't want to answer...

Book Description
Our media sucks. But you already knew that. In True Lies, the Guerrilla News Network's Stephen Marshall and Anthony Lappé don't offer up another cranky complaint about media and politics. They hit the road, investigating some of the biggest stories the corporate media is ignoring. True Lies traces these digital Don Quixotes' travels around the globe, from the frontlines in Iraq to small town America. Along the way, you'll meet heroes and geniuses, the paranoid and the plain perplexed about what's happening in the real America behind the headlines. From the poisoning of our own soldiers, to the turning over of the most fundamental act of democracy to corrupt corporations, to the unanswered questions of 9/11, the authors from the popular web site GNN.tv examine what has become a cultural phenomenon of mass denial. As an Oxford historian explains to them, "Life is lubricated by lies." This may be the tagline for our times.

About the Author
Anthony Lappé is a writer and television producer. He has written articles for more than twenty publications, including Details, Paper, The New York Times, New York magazine, and Salon, among many others. He's tracked down an American fugitive who hijacked a plane to Cuba in 1971, hung with LA gangbangers fighting a new war in El Salvador, and was given a tour inside an underground pot farm in Manhattan. In television, he received a grant from the U.S. government to help set up a Palestinian television station in the West Bank. In addition, he has worked as a correspondent for The New York Times Video News International, and as a producer for Worldwide Television News, MTV News and Specials, and Fuse. He has a Masters in journalism from Columbia University and a BA in Politics from NYU. Stephen Marshall is a founding partner and creative director of GNN, as well as a writer and Sundance-award winning director. His critically acclaimed VHS magazine project, Channel Zero, was one of the first successes of the small-format video revolution. In 1997, Stephen was the host and producer of Voice of Free Nigeria, a pirate radio show that was part of a covert movement to overthrow the regime of Sani Abacha. Since co-founding GNN, Stephen has written on subjects ranging from media monopolies to the Homeland Security Act. Coca-Karma, his investigative report on Coca-Cola's unreported multi-billion dollar copyright infringement lawsuit, has drawn over 500,000 readers to the site. Stephen has also directed controversial music videos for Ad Rock, Eminem and 50 Cent. Ian Inaba produces and directs investigative documentaries and music videos for GNN. He has spent the past three years producing NewsVideos for GNN and developing GNN.tv. Mr. Inaba holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Wharton School of Business.


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Making an extensive contribution to ongoing critiques of the media, Web-based Guerrilla News Network reporters Lapp and Marshall charge that the public is served by members of "a lazy and compliant news media" who often act as mere "glorified stenographers" to the government and corporate sources they rely on for information and answers. To back up their claims, the authors collect un- and under-reported news stories from the past few years, giving careful scrutiny to alternative versions of election fraud, conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11, the notion of American empire, Gulf War illness and military vaccinations, "crossover" voting (voting in two primary elections) and electronic voting machines. Perhaps the most compelling chapter deals with the U.S. military use of depleted uranium in armor-tipped weapons. Introduced in the first Gulf War and used again in the Balkans, the recent invasion of Iraq saw a renewed proliferation of these "radioactive kinetic penetrators." This time they were used in heavily populated areas now occupied by American forces as well as Iraqi civilians. Why, the authors ask, "has the mainstream American media paid so little attention to this literally radioactive issue?" Lapp and Marshall also critique the left-leaning organizations and activists for distortions in their dispatches. Their own presentation, which allows most of the stories to speak for themselves without heightened language, does manage to lead by example. Agent, Ian Kleinert of Literary Group International. (Oct. 5) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.


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