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February 1, 1985 PAGE 15

Grenadian invasion

Distortions in

Newspapers and magazines typical- ly write their editorials from one specific distorted viewpoint. This was especially true during the coverage of

by OMAR SHARIF MOHAMMED

the Grenadian invasion. Editorials blatently showed biases as the world media was divided in its coverage of this incident.

Two bombs, persistently tick- ing away, finally exploded this October in Grenada. One. produced the fatal dismantl- ing of the People’s Revolu- tionary Government, a regime that refused to legitimize its existence by electoral proc- esses, belittling those proc- esses as five minute exer-

cises...But another bomb hit the beaches of the Caribbean: the invasion of Grenada by U.S. and Caribbean forces... The Caribbean Review, Vol XII, No. 4, Fall 1983.)

This is one chapter which accounted for the events that occured in the Grenadian invasion. The views por- trayed in the various media forms, the newspapers and periodicals, revealed that political biases were present, and that some of the printed articles were best described as inflammatory in their oes of the event.

The highly influential U.S. news magazine, Time, with an international readership of 5.3 million, promotes a cosmetically manicured version of the events leading up to and following the

Grenadian invasion. Time’s articles _

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‘incident was echoed - Caribbean neighbour. of Grenada--

had a tendency to be neutral, which partially revealed the anger of the majority of world presses due to U.S. territorial intervention in Grenada. An answer to such an issue seemed to lie in the ‘‘protective blanket’’ that Americans place over positions of authority. This was also the case

during the Watergate era: ‘‘even after some revelations, Americans were

reluctant to impeach Nixon because they did not want to take the risk that in punishing his performance as President, dirt would also fall on the position of the Presidency’’ (Time). These elements of American pat- riotism were also visible in Time’s accounts of the invasion in which Reagan’s, Secretary Schultz’s and Secretary Weinberger’s introductory quotations strengthened the reasons for the American invasion of Grenada in the name of justice,

|. democracy and freedom.

Time’s coverage of the incident was appropriate as it served the American people and government as ‘‘honest and democratic peoples.’’ Photo- graphs presented throughout the Time segment further embellished the official U.S. stance by glorifying the Marines as the forces of justice in

action, while defaming Grenadian socialist ties. _

The American viewpoint of the by a_ close

Jamaica. Since Jamaican people re- present a legitimate interest grouping (one with direct ties with Grenada as part of the Organization of Caribbean States and in terms of political, social, economic and military security), they are best able to provide expert testimony and a definitive answer to the Grenadian question (Caribbean Review).

The Jamaican people sympathize and condone the prevailing American

_attitudes and actions of Grenada. The

overwhelming majority © of — the Jamaican peoples envisioned — the American invasion as a-rescue mis- sion which was ‘‘designed to teach communist activists a political lesson’ (Caribbean Review).

The Jamaican government respond- ed to similar threats to its autonomy by Soviet intervention through pub- lishing anti-communist media. The Jamaican public had demonstrated their willingness to depart from com- munist ties, in addition to condemn-

ing Cuban policies in Grenada. In.

traditional Caribbean spirit, the Jam- aican government sensationalized the Grenadian invasion in order to get the maximum political mileage from this event. From this Caribbean stand- point, the invasion would seem justi- fied and, therefore the U.S. Time magazine reporting of the incident would be essentially accurate. Remarkably, the majority of world publication opinions expressed frown- ed upon U.S. territorial intervention in Grenada, while Grenadians and Jamaicans approved of the U.S. .inva- sion mission. Despite this fact, world opinion maintained its _ irrational “wrong ‘and strong’’ attitude. (The Caribbean Review, Vol XII, No. 4,

the mass media

Fall 1983.)

The minister of agriculture for Maurice Bishop’s Peoples’ Republic of Grenada, George Louison, claimed that Maurice Bishop was placed under extreme stress and strain because his position as Prime Minister was under review. The party had formulated many suggestions on how to decide the leadership question between him- self and his seemingly more com- petent Deputy Prime Minister, Bernard Coard. Coard said, at one stage, the best proposal he had heard, the least offensive one, was by somebody who said: ‘‘Maurice, take about five years in Cuba and just leave the island, take five years in a kind of exile’’ (Minutes of the New Jewel Movement).

Louison claimed that there were many other proposals: people had said court marshal, jail, and, house arrest in Grenada. Louison character- ized the party as ruthless and inflam- matory. His testimony was accurately backed up by the minutes of the extraordinary general meeting of the New Jewel Movement.

The minutes indicate that the party was experiencing internal dissension. Specifically, Maurice Bishop rejected the hardline stance taken by his ministers, who wanted to create a unified Marxist-Lenin party.

- Additionally, Bishop strongly op- posed the possibility of joint-leader- ship of the party by Coard and himself, a tactic which, if considered, would have unified the party temp- orarily and averted the dual crises experienced by Grenada. Further,

. Louison claimed that the Grenadian

people actively supported Bishop as a “‘cult-like’’ figure. -

Therefore, the political party which executed the Grenadian leader acted in the worst interests of the people, and advocated tyranny to the Grenad- ians. Without a doubt, this article gives further credibility to U.S. direc- tives depicted in Times news mag- azine. —

The rather inflammatory accounts of the Grenadian invasion are offered by The Indian Publication, - Janata: Voice of Democratic Socialism, and the Canadian national news mag- azine, Maclean’s. Both of the distort- ed viewpoints were based on ‘‘editor- ial opinion’’ rather than concrete evidence.

These statements were unsound, and therefore Maclean’s account of the invasion did not serve the best interests of the Canadian public. This modified piece of yellow journalism, was written from an emotional view- point--not only misrepresents Canada to foreigners, it actively shaped Canadians’ views or, rather, distorted them for their own _ interests-- magazine sales. e

Clearly, the Maclean’s account !s biased, and unrepresentative of Canadians.

Clearly, if human beings. are to truly understand this complex world, they must be critical consumers of information, rather than just mass consumers of information.