Hot Type, for the week of August 19, 2005 -- continued The curious assortment of cosponsors included Lockheed Martin, Subway, and various media entities, who'd be providing publicity: the Washington Post, two Washington-area TV stations, and radio station WTOP. When the role of the media was called into question, in view of the debate over the war in Iraq, a WTOP vice president explained, "We're not making a connection between the war and 9/11." Plenty of critics of the war in Iraq would agree that there's no connection, beyond 9/11 giving President Bush cover to start a war he wanted to fight anyway. But the Pentagon's press release drew no distinction between American troops and the war they're fighting at the moment. And it's probably not a coincidence that Clint Black made the charts with a song that goes like this: It might be a smart bomb They find stupid people too And if you stand with the likes of Saddam One just might find you. I roq, I rack 'em up and I roll I'm back and I'm a high tech GI Joe I've got infrared, I've got GPS And I've got that good old fashioned lead The involvement of the media in the Freedom Walk became a national issue in large part because of Christopher Hayes, a contributing editor at In These Times. (Hayes also happens to be the author of this week's Reader cover story.) On August 11 he wrote a sharply indignant e-mail to Jim Romenesko's popular media-news Web site: "Bracket for a moment the heinous company in which this places the Bush administration (Cuba, Iran, and China, just to name a few of the regimes that regularly utilize state-sponsored marches and rallies as propaganda tools), and bracket for a moment the fact that this march for 'freedom,' which will take place on public streets, apparently requires participants to register with the DoD." What really widened Hayes's eyes was the willingness of the media to sign on. "Funny," he wrote, "I thought it was the role of the press to challenge not collude with the government when it attempts to disseminate propaganda." He pointed out that the rally was being organized "by the United States military, the same entity currently administering and promoting an increasingly unpopular war, one that remains the single biggest news story in the nation." Romenesko immediately posted Hayes's e-mail, and the heavily read blogger Atrios immediately picked it up. Denunciations rolled in from coast to coast: "Wait waitwaitwait! The fucking Washington Post is sponsoring a fucking Pentagon march/!?!?" Meanwhile, Post columnist Marc Fisher had gone online to take questions from readers and been hammered. "I mean, how inappropriate is it to hold a parade and country hoedown on the Mall to celebrate 9/11?" "If only Leni Riefenstahl hadn't died. Truly, she was the only person who could do film justice to something like this." Fisher allowed that the promotional tone of the event was "yucky." The next day the Post ran a story in which various media execs tried to defend themselves. A spokesman for the commonly owned TV stations insisted, "You don't lose your patriotism because you become a journalist." A Post spokesman said lamely, "The event was never presented to the Post as a rally to support the war. We would be disappointed if it took that approach." On August 15 the paper's Newspaper Guild leaders issued a resolution asking the paper to withdraw from the Freedom Walk, and media critic Howard Kurtz said in an online interview with readers that he wished his paper weren't involved with it. The Post caved. By the end of the day it had announced it would make a contribution directly to the Pentagon Memorial Fund and that would be that. As for the Freedom Walk, "It appears that this event could become politicized," said the Post. Two conclusions can be drawn. No matter how liberal the media's working stiffs might be, they can count on their corporate bosses to provide them with conservative cover. And though the so-called coalition of the willing the Bush administration slapped together to share the burden of the war in Iraq was a huge disappointment, the Pentagon hasn't given up on coalition building. Baby steps. News Bite Last week I wrote about endcabviolence.com, a Web site looking for dirt on the late Haroon Paryani. He's the cabdriver who died under the wheels of his own cab last February 4. "Have you had a memorable, unusual or bad experience with this cab driver?" asks the Web site, alongside a picture of Paryani. The site was launched by friends of Paryani's fare that night, Michael Jackson, who's accused of resolving an argument with the cabbie by taking control of the cab and driving over him three times. Jackson's in jail awaiting trial. Now a second site is fishing for tipsters. Stopkillingchicagocabdrivers.com was launched by Chicago Dispatcher, a trade paper for the city's taxi drivers. Alongside a photo of Jackson, the site asks: "Have you witnessed Mr. Jackson using illegal drugs or otherwise behaving violently or erratically? If so, please share your story with us." In addition to the usual questions about what they've read in the papers, jurors will now have to be asked about Web sites they've visited. Send tips, tirades, and comments to hottype@chicagoreader.com Copyright © 2005 Chicago Reader, Inc. All rights reserved.