Eduardo Cohen to Speak on Media and the Middle East

Peace Action of San Mateo County will present journalist and radio producer Eduardo Cohen, who has spent many years calling out the U.S. mainstream media for the way it brings stories of the Middle East to its audience, both in print and electronically. Cohen will share his thoughts about "The Middle East Through the Tinted Lens of the U.S Media." His talk will include a timely discussion of media treatment of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, which he has studied since 1982.

Cohen will in addition discuss how the press helped the Bush Administration sell the war on Iraq and the impending war on Iran, often in the guise of the "war on terror." He will also look ahead to how the Obama administration and the media might treat our next moves in Afghanistan and Pakistan (as well as Iraq).

The New York-born Cohen has studied these kinds of issues as far back as the Vietnam war. He also spent 7 years in Latin America - an experience that helped inspire him to produce and host "The Other Americas Radio Journal," which documented disparities between news reportage and actual events in the region. "The Other Americas" ran on KPFA as well as several other stations in California.

Cohen is especially concerned with, as he puts it, "...how news media actually insulate the public from important information critical to understanding the role the United States plays around the globe and how that role is viewed by others." He feels Americans are ill-informed not only about what their county's military does, but also why the result includes the anti-American sentiment to which we have become accustomed. On February 20, we will have the benefit of Cohen's insights with regard to the Middle East, a region that continues to be extremely important in the context of peace in this world.

Admission is free and light refreshments will be available. Beck Hall is wheelchair accessible.