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Why the media have failed Gaza
[This is a transcript of my full speech for the Bristol Palestine Alliance’s March Against Media Bias at College Green, Bristol, on Saturday May 4.] Yesterday was World Press Freedom Day, and it is fitting we mark it by highlighting two things. First, we should honour the brave journalists of Gaza who have paid a […]
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“Genocide Enablers” Gaza And The Corporate Media
A key function of the state-corporate media is to deny reality. They do supply news. But it is no accident that they supply news of a type that covers up the crimes of elite power. However, the appalling violence and destruction being inflicted in Gaza by Israel are simply too great to conceal. We may […]
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Elite Fear Of The Public: Ukraine, Gaza and Assange
It is a historical fact that powerful elites do not wish to be diverted from pursuing their selfish interests by the public. Minimal, unthreatening expressions of dissent may be tolerated in ostensible ‘democracies’. But public opinion needs to be managed, manipulated or, if necessary, simply ignored. After all, as Noam Chomsky has said, real ‘democracy is […]
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Genocide: The Gaze from the Abyss
Left-progressive websites don’t always get it right. Take Media Lens, for example. In October, we discussed the corporate media invention of so-called ‘disinformation experts’. We lampooned the claim that although journalists are ‘working within profit-maximising, billionaire-owned, advertiser-dependent, government-subsidised media, they are nevertheless exposing “disinformation” without the slightest trace of bias’. Last May, the BBC unveiled […]
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The BBC Falls for Murdoch’s Bait
It should be called for what it is. The recent apoplectic, lurid coverage of what was, at best, a matter for a corporation’s human resources department dominating several news cycles even as drownings continued in the Mediterranean, war continued being waged in Ukraine and climate change continued issuing ominous reminders of its existence. The issue […]
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Killing the Story: Bakhmut, Nick Cohen, Kakhovka, Nord Stream, and Piers Morgan
The late writer, broadcaster and wit Clive James formulated what he called the ‘Barry Manilow Law’: ‘Everyone you know thinks Barry Manilow is absolutely terrible. But everyone you don’t know thinks he’s great.’ (James, cited Martin Amis, Inside Story, Vintage, 2020, e-book, p.74) A Media Lens version of this might read: ‘Everyone you know thinks […]
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Souls for Sale
In a society built on lies, the search for truth is a game. Consider the debate surrounding alleged ‘threats’ to the BBC’s ‘independence’, even as the BBC itself reports of its outgoing chairman: ‘As for Mr Sharp’s departure, I understand conversations between the BBC and the government have been had in recent days. You’d expect […]
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“That Paper Is Dead”
On 21 February 2023, climate scientist Professor Bill McGuire issued a stark warning: ‘Remember this date. First rationing of food in UK due to extreme weather. Things will only get worse as climate breakdown bites ever harder.’ This was in response to the news that British supermarkets are rationing fresh produce, including tomatoes, cucumbers and […]
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