Film: ?A cry of national shame?3 Sep 2007“The true story of the Iraq war has been redacted [i.e. edited out] from the mainstream corporate media,” says Brian De Palma, whose hard-hitting Iraq drama, Redacted, premiered at the Venice Film Festival last week. “If we are going to cause such disorder, then we must face the horrendous images that are the consequences of [...]
Immigration: How the BBC lost count of complaints2 Sep 2007The BBC has been forced to defend a Panorama investigation into immigration after it received many calls and emails from viewers angry at the way that it perpetuated racist myths. The programme, “Immigration ? How we Lost Count“, was transmitted on July 23 and purported be an impartial look at how the government has lost count [...]
The root of the problem30 Aug 2007Amid the huge acreage of newsprint about the “friendly fire” killing of three British soldiers by an American F-15 on August 24, there was only one article in the British daily press about the hundreds of Afghan civilians who are losing their lives as “collateral damage” at the hands of the occupation. You can [...]
Video: A US gunship at work in Afghanistan30 Aug 2007This highly disturbing nine-minute US airforce video is mentioned in a recent dispatch by Declan Walsh, the Guardian’s correspondent embedded with troops in Afghanistan. It shows the gunner of a C-130 hunting down people and dropping bombs on them. Walsh writes: “For a chilling display of the awesome power of American air strikes, look no further [...]
Fox backs Bush: Iran = al Qaeda28 Aug 2007As Iraq spirals into the abyss, Bush is whipping up a storm against Iran, helped by Murdoch’s Fox news. Here’s his full speech from last night ? plus edited “highlights” on Iran below. And here is Robert Greenwald’s frightening, must-watch video on Fox’s campaign for war on Iran. Bush on Iran, Aug 28 2007: Iran [...]
Iraq takes heavy toll on press corps18 Aug 2007The Financial Times (Aug 17) reports a detailed analysis of media workers killed in the war: The conflict in Iraq has become the deadliest of any modern war for the press, according to reports from journalist organisations that are causing deep concern in newsrooms around the world. At least 112 editors, reporters and photographers, and a [...]
Video: Shot while filming a gunbattle9 Aug 2007A Palestinian camerman is hit by a volley of bullets while filming clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants in Gaza. Watch the disturbing Reuters video here. The cameraman, Imad Ghanem, was filming for Hamas’s al-Aqsa television channel when he was fired upon. Ghanem was one of the leaders of demonstrations in Gaza calling for the [...]
Time for media to own up to Islamophobia9 Aug 2007Well butter my bottom and call me a biscuit. That despicable Dispatches programme “Undercover Mosque” has come a cropper. At the hands of the police. At the hands of the WEST MIDLANDS POLICE. West Midlands’ finest set out to investigate Muslim “preachers of hate” after Birmingham Labour MP Roger Godsiff complained that Muslims shown in the [...]
The media gangs up on Hamas1 Aug 2007Tim Llewellyn gave this talk to MWAW on July 26. Tim is a former BBC Middle East correspondent, based in Beirut from 1976-1980 and in Cyprus from 1987-1992. He is now a freelance writer and broadcaster on Middle East affairs, living in London. He has just returned from a trip to Beirut and is writing [...]
Afghanistan and the crisis of news management1 Aug 2007Not before time, here is the transcript of Tariq Ali’s talk to MWAW on Afghanistan in May. For audio of the talk, click here. Let’s we look back now at what was said when they went to war in Afghanistan, what were the war aims? They were very basic. If we look back at the speeches [...]
One-sided Reporting: Tisdall does it again25 Jul 2007Mehrnaz Shahabi writes for CASMII: The article in the Guardian by Simon Tisdall, “Iran fist-in-glove with Iraqi rebels: America builds its case”, July 24, appears on the same day the second round of Iran-US talks begins, and is the second article in just over two months by Simon Tisdall using unsubstantiated allegations ascribed to anonymous [...]
War, the media and ?legitimate? sources22 Jul 2007The Guardian’s indispensible Peter Wilby writes (July 23) on why journalists need to take “dissident” sources seriously when covering war: In the index to Alastair Campbell’s The Blair Years, you will find entries for Kosovo and Afghanistan, but not for Iraq. So if you want to search for the inside story of how Campbell spun the [...]
A glimpse of the Iraqi resistance22 Jul 2007Sami Ramadani of Iraqi Democrats Against the Occupation, and a member of Media Workers Against the War’s steering group, analyses the prospects for united action by the Iraqi resistance in light of the Guardian’s interviews with representatives of Sunni groups: The Guardian’s recent report on armed resistance organisations in Iraq and their plans to form a [...]
Video: Shooting taxi drivers in Baghdad19 Jul 2007ABC News has aired this short news item by cameraman Sean Smith of the Guardian. It will sicken you and anyone who watches it, and will make you ask why the British media hasn’t broadcast it. The clip — an all too rare honest look at the war from a reporter embedded with the Second Infantry [...]
Phone-ins are not the main problem at the BBC16 Jul 2007The BBC says a small number of its production staff are undermining public trust in the organisation. The government and the Murdoch press are using Blue Peter and a documentary on the Queen to renew their persistent attacks on pubic service broadcasting. They want more job cuts, more commercialisation and fewer opportunities for critical journalism at [...]
Iran experts admonish the Financial Times16 Jul 2007The Financial Times has refused to publish the following letter: Dear Sir, In the context of the widely-reported ambitions of US neo-conservatives to mount a military attack on Iran, we, Iranian/British academics, are disappointed to note that your article (”Al-Qaeda linked to operations from Iran“, by Stephen Fidler, dated 8th July 2007) adds the Financial Times to [...]
Terror and the media?s ?useful idiots?2 Jul 2007What is the media’s responsibility during a terror alert? Should it whip up fear to attract more readers, listeners and viewers? Should it exploit the incident to foment xenophobia, suspend civil liberties and seek revenge on ethnic groups vaguely linked to the incident? Should they assist the terrorists in creating mass panic? Of course not. Yet [...]
The myth of ?left bias? in the media29 Jun 2007The following is a shortened version of an article published by Medialens on June 27, criticising the BBC’s recent report on impartiality at the Corporation: Mainstream media discussions of media balance are limited to a single question: is the media too critical of powerful interests? Earlier this month, the press described how an internal BBC report had [...]
Which war lies will you remember him for?26 Jun 2007For 10 years Tony Blair has faithfully backed the United States in its military adventures abroad, using lies and spin to whip up public feeling in favour of war, and ignoring public opinion when this failed. What are the war lies that you will remember Blair for? Here are a few of them: Please add you own [...]
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