Category: media
The brutal and senseless killing of three beautiful children and a Rabbi at a Jewish school in France has shocked many people around the world, including our media. Our television news presenters used adjectives like shocking and horrific to describe the killings and they were right to use such descriptions especially when the photographs showed what tiny, sweet innocent children were murdered.
What is hard to understand is why similar adjectives are not used to describe the equally brutal deaths of Palestinian children blown apart by Israeli Warplanes. Are these children somehow less sweet and innocent or are they considered to be lower species by our media?
Only on Al – Jazeera do we get photographs of the Palestinian children. In fact, any video or photographic coverage by western media tends to only show hysterical crowds of Palestinians reacting to the deaths, so perpetuating the idea that Palestinians are like reactive animals who have no self control.
Is it not enough for the Western media to be complicit in the theft of Palestinian lands and property? Or do they also need to treat them as uncontrollable mobs of so little worth and dignity that deaths of their children is not worthy of our sympathy and their innocent adult victims are no more than collateral damage?
To add to the indignity, most media reports of the Israeli Palestinian conflicts infer or state the conflict was caused by Palestinian aggression when on many occasions the reverse is true, as was the most recent case when the conflict began with the murder of a Palestinian leader by Israeli forces.
The violence began on Friday 9th March after Israel killed Zuhair al-Qaisi, head of the Popular Resistance Committees, prompting militant groups to start firing rockets over the border. Palestinian rockets damaged a building and injured an elderly woman.Israeli warplanes then attacked Gaza, killing 17 militants and 6 civilians and 83 people were injured.
A more balanced reporting that treats Palestinians with fairness and recognizes their suffering is not much to ask for but appears a road too far for the conformist western media.
Le Monde Diplomatique, hOt stories:
- The West has failed Afghan women
- Obama’s plan for nuclear sanity
- In northern Uganda, a difficult peace
- Afghanistan looks to spring
- Midnight in Paris
click here for stories
“Le Monde diplomatique is a crusading voice in journalism with especially good foreign coverage”
William Dalrymple
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949):
“Here were produced rubbishy newspapers containing almost nothing except sport, crime and astrology, sensational five-cent novelettes, films oozing with sex, and sentimental songs which were composed entirely by mechanical means on a special kind of kaleidoscope known as a versificator.”
The Sun website (14/03/12):
Get the latest news and features at The Sun – Showbiz, babes, celebrities, sport and racing, national and …Page 360 FREE on Sun iPad app … SOLDIER questioned after girlfriend is stabbed to death in front of her four-year-old son
Textbook Murdoch. Tragic.
One is vewy pwoud of one’s wecord of achievements. Gina, Andy, Tony and all my other gweat friends in Auusstrayliahh have really taken my wules on board, and with gweat gusto. Ho, ho. I’ve cwafted them with the utttmost care – tested ’em, gone beck to the dwawing board. I guess that innovation and integwity will wule the day, eh?
‘Flinty’ has even been dwopping hints thet your’s twuly may even become Her Meajestys’s wepwesentative in Auusstrayliahh. Ha, ha. Of course, this is conditional upon Tony delivewing his goods, so to speak. Ahummph.
Wules for How to be a pwoper Denialist in the Modern Age:
1) Allege thet there’s a conspiracy. Claim that scientific consensus has arisen through collusion rather than the accumulation of evidence.
2) Use fake experts to support your story. “Denial always starts with a cadre of pseudo-experts with some credentials that create a facade of credibility,” says Seth Kalichman of the University of Connecticut.
3) Cherry-pick the evidence: twumpet whatever appears to support your case and ignore or wubbish the west.
4) Carry on trotting out manufactured “evidence” even after it has been discwedited.
5) Create impossible standards for your opponents. Claim that the existing evidence is NOT GOOD ENOUGH, errphh, and, and demand MORE.
6) If your opponent comes up with evidence you have demanded, move the goalposts. (I weally, weally love this one)
7) Use logical fallacies. Hitler opposed smoking, so anti-smoking measures are Nazi. (Yes, when in Aussstrayleyah wecently, I used this one on some ghastly Garnaud chap. Worked a tweet.)
8) Deliberately misrepresent the scientific consensus and then knock down your straw man.
9) Manufacture doubt. Falsely portray scientists as so divided that basing policy on their advice would be premature.
10) Insist “both sides” must be heard and cry censorship when “dissenting” arguments or experts are rejected.
And above all, make lots of NOISE.
(with thanks to www.durangobill.com )
the interpretOr would like to add that Monckton does not sit in the House of Lords (UK), despite his impressions to the contrary. His own story is as dodgy as his propaganda.
“News Corp papers across the world propagate the myth that prejudice has no effect on the lives of modern-day Aboriginal people.”
John Pilger @ the NewStatesman
http://www.newstatesman.com/australasia/2011/05/pilger-australia-rights
1. Reinforcing the church-state wall (LA Times)
Christianity thrives when the state stays out of its business and allows a marketplace of ideas to thrive, writes Jim Burkee.
2. The two Cadillacs fallacy (Washington Post)
Romney’s rather authentic moments suggesting he doesn’t understand the lives of average people (such as his comment on his wife’s two Cadillacs) are dismissed as “gaffes,” while Santorum’s views on social issues are denounced as “extreme,” says E.J. Dionne.
3. When Will Social Media Elect a President? (Wall Street Journal)
Twitter and Facebook will change US politics, as new technology always has. Think Nixon or ‘Obama Girl,’ says Andy Kessler.
4. Super PACs can’t crown a king (Washington Post)
The one certainty about campaign finance laws is that all of them are, and ever will be, written by incumbent legislators, writes George Will.
5. A Civil Right to unionize (New York Times)
The greatest impediment to unions is weak and anachronistic labor laws, write Richard Kahlenberg and Moshe Marvit.
6. Romney and Paul, what a curious couple (Boston Globe) (£)
It’s rare to see a bromance flourish in the hot glare of the GOP primary spotlight, but Mitt Romney and Ron Paul have something positively special going on, writes Joshua Green.
1. Is Rupert Murdoch a fit and proper person to run a company? (Daily Telegraph)
The boss must take final responsibility for the culture of criminality at News International, says Peter Oborne.
2. Egypt a year on: This is not the Tahrir dream, but there’s much to be won(Guardian)
The country is torn between an entrenched security state, politically savvy Islamists and anxious revolutionaries, writes Timothy Garton Ash.
3. This postgraduate brain drain needs plugging (Times) (£)
All the fuss about fees has obscured the bigger issue of unfunded research students, says Andrew Hamilton.
4. The regime calls it ‘cleaning’, but the dirty truth is plain to see (Independent)
The word being used by Syria is a chilling one, says Robert Fisk.
The Guardian and Daily Telegrapgh (UK) breaking that new evidence presented to the Leveson Inquiry into press standards…
“…lifted the lid on a culture at The Sun of paying “a corrupt network” of public officials for stories.”
“Rebekah Brooks, when editor of The Sun, was apprised of the hacking investigation by a police mole who was working on the original inquiry in 2006.”
the interpretOr regards this as additional and substantial evidence that issues of concern and public interest go far beyond merely rogue elements at News.
The BBC World Service, though current, considered and topical, still had a slight aura of antiquity for Keith. The locations of bureaux a poignant reminder of its scope across this earth: Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing to Delhi and west across the old Silk Road, back to Bush House, London – an image formed in Keith’s mind’s eye of RKO radio pylons bleeping into monochrome clouds and a slight cosmic haze. No wonder radio has been described as “the theatre of the mind.” Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds, the Archers…The King’s Speech.
Did video really kill the radio star? he mused. The Siri app certainly could.
He considered the implications of the app to people in war ravaged Syria – does it get any more Big Brother (strictly in the Orwellian sense) than the voice recognition software on your own phone taking upon itself to MMS the government death squads your number and GPS coordinates? It reminded Keith of another human rights vs communications scenario that emerged in the 1970’s – when the phone book/telephone directory was first published and distributed in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, a consequence was that minority Tamils were readily and easily identified – name, number, address – Knock, knock…bang, bang, bye bye.
Discover the new iPhone app that makes a killing in Syria. What are the latest government actions against human rights and freedom of press? This video will speak for itself… or maybe not.
On a contrived interview on the “Bolt Report” Andrew Bolt and his guest Liberal MLA Denis Jensen worked as a two man comedy act to convince viewers that global warming is a myth.
Bolt and Jensen attempted to give us a comedic assassination of the world’s climate scientists. In fact they managed to be as funny as a banker cutting off your overdraft. Furthermore their claims about global warming were less believable than Monty Python’s parrot news.
Bolt played a clip of Tim Flannery saying that Australia was drying up and the world heating up and juxtaposed this with clips of floods in Queensland and of the heavy snow covering parts of Europe. Bolt and Jensen claimed this was proof that the world’s climate scientists had got it wrong and the Labor Government wasting money on carbon reduction and on buying back water rights for the Murray Darling river system.
Denis Jensen, a Liberal Party MLC, was presented to viewers as being a scientist, implying that this meant he is an expert on climate science. In fact Jensen has scant knowledge of climate science as he is a nuclear physicist. Denis has either not bothered to read IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) reports or he is deliberately lying about what the reports have consistently stated about rainfall in Australia.
“To summarize the rainfall results, drier conditions are anticipated for most of Australia over the 21st century. However, consistent with conclusions in WGI, an increase in heavy rainfall also is projected, even in regions with small decreases in mean rainfall. This is a result of a shift in the frequency distribution of daily rainfall toward fewer light and moderate events and more heavy events. This could lead to more droughts and more floods.” (IPCC)
(This has proved to be very accurate)
The IPCC report also predicted that some Australian regions, like the South Western Australia, suffer greater reductions of rainfall while more rain could fall in some Northern regions.
Bolt and Jensen correctly claim the IPCC predicts that Europe will get hotter but they incorrectly assumed this meant there will be less snow in Europe? In fact the IPCC actually predicts that while summer precipitation will be lower in most areas, winter precipitation increases in some regions. Bolt and Jensen’s scoffing was based on their own ignorance or failure to read the report.
“ Mean winter precipitation is increasing in most of Atlantic and northern Europe (Klein Tank et al., 2002). In the Mediterranean area, yearly precipitation trends are negative in the east, while they are non-significant in the west.” IPCC Fourth Report
(Snow is a large part of winter precipitation in Europe.)
Check out the following graphs and see for yourself how Jensen’s claim that the last 15 years show declining temperatures is a blatant lie.
htt
Each successive decade since 1950 warmer than the last, with 2010 being one of the warmest individual years on record.
Chart shows where the last 11 years have rated against the hottest days recorded.
| aly °C | Anomaly °F | ||
| 2011 | 11 | 0.51 | 0.92 |
| 2010 | 1 (tie) | 0.64 | 1.15 |
| 2009 | 7 (tie) | 0.58 | 1.04 |
| 2008 | 13 | 0.50 | 0.90 |
| 2007 | 7 (tie) | 0.58 | 1.04 |
| 2006 | 6 | 0.59 | 1.06 |
| 2005 | 1 (tie) | 0.64 | 1.15 |
| 2004 | 9 | 0.56 | 1.01 |
| 2003 | 4 | 0.61 | 1.10 |
| 2002 | 5 | 0.60 | 1.08 |
| 2001 | 10 | 0.54 | 0.97 |
Jensen should also have looked at Perth’s stream flows chart ( http://www.csiro.au/Outcomes/Climate/Reducing-GHG/~/media/CSIROau/Divisions/CSIRO%20Marine%20%20Atmospheric%20Research/A
The second half of the 20th century has had less than half of the usable water than the first half and it is still declining. As Jensen represents a Perth electorate it would help if he could avail him with the facts that southern areas and particularly the Southwest, has and will continue to have huge water problems. His and Bolt’s proposal that we need to build more dams not spend money reducing carbon is no joke it is appalling ignorance as Perth’s dams have not been full for decades.
Channel 10 is doing this nation a disservice in giving Bolt time to present his ignorant, wacky and untruthful anti-environmental rants. He should be pulled into line for claiming climate scientists were manipulating data unless he can provide evidence.
“Eeef Rinehart continues to increase zee stake in Fearfex media, it could leave us in ze seetuation where nearly all our major daily papers are controlled by just three peoples, Norb! Eet’s a vin for zee opportunity to vin”
Quite soo, dear Leni. Well, Radio Now is actually already across the new Stomurdhart account, Leni.
Vot are zee stretegic eempleecations, Norb?
Integration of moral courage across multiple platforms, Leni. Tony’s tickled pin…errr, delighted, delighted.
Eez eet true that Lord Christopher Sponkton eez ze new Stomurdhart ‘face’?
Under wraps, Leni. Under wraps.
Ochh, Norb, yoor smiling though…eet eez true…
Look, Gina, Rupert and Kerry are titans with vision moving forwards.
“All zee propegenda has to be populerr and has to accommodate eetself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach.”
Is that whom I think it is, Leni?
Norb FOnes: “DON’T YOU KNOWWW WHO I AM?”
We know precisely who you are, you may do, and I’m asking you to leave, Mr Fones.
I want to see the MANAGER, NOW!!!
The manager isn’t available right now.
I want to see the MANAGER, RIGHT NOW!!!
This performance, this outburst is upsetting other staff and diners and it’s not the first time, is it Norb?
You’re really asking ME, Norb Fones, to leave?
No Mr Fones. I’m now actually telling you to leave. I’m the new owner of ‘Flossmirror’ and we’re not putting up with any more of your bullying, hectoring, disgusting behaviour. As well as changing our ghastly name, we’re doing a spot of spring cleaning too, so OUT YOU GO…
I’ll destroy you. I command an audience of millions!! MILLIONS!!!
Well, we don’t need millions of bigoted morons rocking up here, so you and your friend, who’s incidentally just returning from the bathroom, can s-o-d right o-f-f.
Vell Norb, theeese has been luvelee.
Just had a call from Henry, dear Leni, and we need to meet him back at the ranch…err presto…
Murdoch’s most unabashed, if entertaining retainer is Greg Sheridan, foreign editor of The Australian. On one his adoring trips to the United States, home of Murdoch HQ, Sheridan wrote, “The US is the greatest possible argument for media deregulation. Every morning, I flick between Fox, CNN and MSNBC as I eat my cereal… why did it take so long for pay TV to get to Australia?”. He was referring, as if instinctively, to his master’s pay TV company, Foxtel. As for terrorism, Sheridan blames “Pilgerist Chomskyism” for “ideologically fuelling the followers of Osama bin Lenin, sorry Laden.” (more at http://www.johnpilger.com)
DON”T YOU KNOW WHO I AM? For the love of…
Norb, Norb. Zee legs were a beet chewy. Snot a deezaster.
I’M NORB FONES. NORB FONES! R-A-D-I-O nOw, NORB FONES, for fxxxxxx
Sir, sorry, but the special is consistently regarded as one of our signature dishes. We’ve just never experienced a…
SIGNATURE dish!? Why, you little…
Mr Fones, how lovely to see you. Welcome back to Flossmirror.
Reeferstool. Meeting Reeferstool at 1.15
Errr, can you run that by me…no, ok, Reeferstool. This way please, Mr Fones.
Hmmph.
EEf it eezn’t Norbert Fones? Velll, my dear men, how lovelee to meet you agen, und here in zee antipodes.
Fräulein Reeferstool. ’tis smashing to see you, oh..”Do not follow where the path may lead.
Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. A white trail upon the winds of time…”
Ochhh, Norb. You remembered! Johannesburg und zee Eugene Terre Blanche. Ze stewpenduss moral coorage of ze Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging…
Heady days, Leni. Heady days.
Tell me, tell me. Tony und zee Lesser Anchilles? Vot about yoor show?
Leni, the marvels of technology traverse the globe and traduce time itself.
Vell, Norb, velll…?
The show must go on. Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.
Und failure is blindness to ze strateegic element in ze events; success is ze readiness for instant ecktion when ze opportune moment arrives. Zee Oppurtunity to Vin und on zee united front.
United in deed, Leni, and moving forwards. Heck, yeah…
“well, hello Tony”
Norb, hello there. Did you receive it ok?
Courier dropped it in at reception at sparrow’s.
That’s great mate. Great. Ahhhm, any initial thoughts?
An icon, an extension…erhmm. Team fantastic, mate.
And Leni. Leni’s in with you at Flossmirror for the working lunch?
Etched in stone. Etched in stone. Well, more ‘topline’ please, Tony…We’re gagga for Opportunity to Win! Flinty’s even ordered a custom pair and has the heads up on the auction. A masterstroke from the maestro himself!
Norb, heck. What can I say? As you know, preparation and committment are key drivers. There’s raw determination in Opportunity to Win.
And moving forwards on a euuhhu, united front too no doubt…
Quite frankly, yes. A united front. A signature, a hallmark.
On the auction, Tony, how’s the physical regime? Umm, do you envisage shedding à la ‘like peeling off a sock’?
Absolutely. Yes, Norb
…a great Australian, listeners. He’s one of us and proud of us. Jamie just wants hardworking mums and dads to be able to have fun in the club. Fun in the club without the leering latte drinkers clamping down on their liberties, their freedom to pokie. It just makes me so angry, we all work soo, soo hard. Up next on Radio nOw, here’s the great Sir Cliff with ‘Summer Holiday’…”
…Oh, thank fxxx for that. $440 is a bloody joke, Henry! no, nO, NO. Claire! Claire! coffee, NOW, this instant
‘Instant, Mr Fones?’
For fxxxing christ sakes…FRESH, fresh coffee. NOWWW!!!
But Norb, the integration opportunities on this are absolutely standout. Free to air, inflight horizons and associated platforms. And we’re talking ks, big Ks.
Do I have to remind you YET AGAIN, that I work my butt off as it is, Henry. Claire! Tissues. Aloe vera, for fxxx’s sake. NOT THOSE, they’re tea tree. Claire, quite frankly, I want mine! I want mine now!
Here, Norb, have one of mine, proffered Henry.
Take that disgusting, soggy item away from me NOW!!
But, the other item, Norb, is the MoystCheeks live read & promo. I thought you might want to check out the product, the merchandise? They’re bringing to the table circa $210 for openers?
Oh, fxxxing well pass it back here then, Henry! What does a MAN have to do in this…And what’s the latest on dear Tony? You know damn well that he and I are off to the Lesser Antilles and Sir Cliff’s over Easter, Henry. EASTER 2012. Meinpantz is a glorious opportunity with synergy and innovation on touchpoints and associated extensIONS!! We must be united…we will move forwards…with opportunity to WIN!
Of course, of course, Norb. Just didn’t want to bombard you with detail. Trying to keep it all tight and topline and Australia Day’s up well in advance of Barbados. Leni’s parachuting in for lunch Friday and Claire’s across your diary.
Misss Reeferstool. Pick and stick, hey Henry. P..e..ck und s..ss..te…ckk
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
(ps. not condoning Norb Fones’ horrible behaviour – the character he’s based on may exist and transcripts of off-mike rants may show ‘Fones’ to be even more repulsive off-mike than on)
Three recurring trends re economics and broadcast news:
1. An over-reliance on official sources skilled at spinning data to bolster politically motivated “consumer confidence”, and create impressions, not backed by fact.
2. A tendency to quote and rely on experts and luminaries with questionable track records and personal or ideological agendas.
3. A tendency to look at “progress” through the eyes of people in power or in powerful economic institutions with the assumption that if they do well, wealth/prosperity will trickle down into the lives of ordinary people.
More @ http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/01/2012111124839271411.html
The Weakened Caucasian’s Inquirer section devotes front and inside front pages to Foreign Editor, Greg Sheridan’s interview with Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu and Bibi’s “vision of a demilitarised Palestinian state”.
The ‘interview’ is soft, obsequious and disingenuous, but don’t take our word for it…
The Glasgow Media Group is based in the Sociology department of Glasgow University and has close links with other academic groupings such as the MRC, Medical Sociology Unit at Glasgow University,Centre for Statistics in Medicine and the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford University ( in jointly funded projects for the ESRC and Nuffield.)
A recent Glasgow Media Group study, Israel & Palestine: Competing Histories (Greg Philo and Mike Berry), examined how television covered the Israeli attack on Gaza in December 2008 and on the Gaza flotilla in 2010. It shows the very sophisticated level of public relations now offered by Israel and how news has often reproduced this without offering an alternative perspective from the Palestinians. The impact on public opinion is explored through new audience research which greatly extends that of the first edition. It includes new findings on how the impact of even the most terrible images of war can be reduced by controlling audience beliefs about the origins of violence.
Should we expect similar access and coverage in the Weakened Caucasian for Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas? Let’s not hold our breath…
the interpretOr is committed to open media and as such, we’re supporting Al Jazeera’s efforts to expand their footprint in the US – an alternative news source to Fox, CNN and the traditional networks.
For example, Al Jazeera has limited broadcast in the US – 5 years since Al Jazeera English launched, the channel is still only available in a handful of US cities. With 70 bureaus across the globe, Al Jazeera claims more than 1,000 staff from 50 nationalities and provides diverse and meaningful perspectives. In Australia, AJ English is becoming a more significant source of international news for SBS bulletins.
For any visitors to the interpretOr based in the US, Al Jazeera English have initiated a campaign to expand their footprint:
US call to action:
Tweet w/ #DemandAlJazeera / #DemandAJE.
2. “Like” us on Facebook and share AJE articles.
3. Share extensive US media coverage of AJE.
4. Find your TV service provider and Demand AJE.
5. Read more facts and figures about the channel.
more also on our blogroll and @ http://www.aljazeera.com/
share your feelings @rupertmurdoch
Huge crowds and many near-riots were reported wherever Nike’s new $1,800 “Air Israel” sandals went on sale. Police in Seattle said about 20 people were pepper-sprayed after fights broke out amongst a queue of 13,000 youths gathered on Christmas Eve. One man was arrested for punching an officer. “He did not get his sandals; he went to jail,” said a spokesman.
BBC and wires flashing that internationally renowned Fear Trade spokesperson, Ben Harridan, was among the first to secure a pair. Breathless Ben was quoted as follows on his thrilling new purchase:
“Phew, heck, huhhh. The new Air Israels are the definitive sandal. An a-m-a-z-ing piece of kit.They promise more grip and traction while climbing in areas such as Le Massif Cavité Anal des Politiques. I guess another huge breakthrough is the built in pocket for cheese triangles and…quite frankly, they’re so flexible that….”
“A TITANIC battle of wills took place yesterday between the Gillard government and the Abbott opposition…”GREG SHERIDAN, FOREIGN EDITOR, The Australian
This imediately under the headline:
‘Opposition has key to stopping boat arrivals’
Errr, Sheridan, the Titanic sank. Here’s hoping HMS News may too.
The Weakened Caucasian continues with its campaign to demonstrate to readers and the broader community that it doesn’t actually represent the public interest.
“Business to politicians: time to lead as boom ‘won’t last forever.”
BY: JOHN DURIE, The Australian, December 17, 2011 12:00AM
Well John, Farto, Woopert et al, call this news? At least we have a federal government that actually demonstrates a degree of humanity – errr, and a bit of leadership too. Whoops, but the News agenda is to represent the interests of ‘Business Politicians’ aka Fear Trade ambassadors. Lovers of numbers.
When politicians and business are symbiotic, Newsworld is very happy – they loved John ‘the flag’ and his steely determination, his ‘big picture’ (sic) world of more numbers, toil, division and fear.
Refugees fear rapid influx of boatpeople: The Australian (13/12/11)
Has anyone else had enough of the Murdoch/Stokes media monopolies? Is Australia fairly respresented and reflected by these conservative and consumerist media empires?
Buy more crap, worry about what car you drive, mutter about ‘boat people’, be obedient, conform, ignore your existential crisis…and whatever you do, for christsakes don’t ever watch ‘American Beauty’.
To be continued…
BATTLE
TO STEM
THE TIDE
This headline, laid out as above and in CAPS, is the opening story of the ‘Inquirer’ section of this weekend’s Weakened Caucasian, (10-11 Dec, 2011). The language is negative, emotive and aggressive – battles can be painful and destructive. BATTLEs even more so. STEM THE TIDE brought to us by the corporation, and its people, who were avid cheerleaders for the invasion of Iraq, platinum sponsors of the Fear Trade.
For refugees fleeing the ravages of war and persecution, there is a BATTLE also. A BATTLE to stay alive. A BATTLE TO STEM THE TIDE of the horror of one’s situation and experiences. Shame on you ‘News’.
As ’11 comes to a close, Reporters Without Borders‘ December report includes the following table for the year to date:
| PRESS FREEDOM BAROMETER |
59 Journalists killed |
169 Journalists imprisoned |
127 Netizens imprisoned |
|---|
The green elements of the above table are ‘hot’ and link directly to Reporters Without Borders, (http://en.rsf.org/).
Leni Reeferstool, Australian Media Director of the Fear Trade, has expressed shock, disappointment and outrage over the award of the Australia Network to incumbent, ABC.
Vee vonted to be moving forwards on a united froont. Look, at the end of the day, thee morkett vill deeliverr thus best outcome. Ze uneeforms ver ready, the luvelee pendants…
Embattled Federal Opposition leader, Tony Abbott, has echoed Reeferstool’s concerns:
It’s, umm, it’s about choice. A free market of ideas. Quite frankly, it’s an outrage. Our footprint moving forwards, is at the end of the day, an index of our liberties, our freedom as consumers. The vision and sheer insight of luminaries of the likes of Ben Harridan, Ms Reeferstool…it u, it’s…a sad day for freedom, for cho….
ABC, BBC and wires reporting US drone has been shot down over Iran. Fox News (sic) will not confirm whether the drone in question is one ‘Roger Ailes’ – the outspoken US ‘Ailes’ drone is distinguished by red markings with black symbols upon white circles…there are suggestions that it may have run out of bile, though sources close to the ‘Ailes’ drone have ridiculed such a notion.
Harridan felt slightly euphoric after sharing quality time with Dumsfled on Boket – Phase IV, ‘Pacific Century’, holidays in the pipeline with Sir Cliff and Bliar…he just has so god-darn-much to look forward to!
“Heck, life’s good, ” he exclaimed to himself as he ripped the lid off the Tuperware container and pulled out a nicely ironed pair of socks…”But what’s this ghastly, pinko propaganda…?” he snarled, as he glimpsed a snippet of the day’s ‘Democracy Now’ bulletin:
…the New York Air National Guard base at Hancock Field near Syracuse, New York, after trespassing to protest the MQ-9 Reaper drones, which the 174th Fighter Wing of the Guard has remotely flown over Afghanistan since late 2009. The protesters draped themselves in white clothes splattered with blood-red pigment and then staged a “die-in” at the main entrance to the base. They said their act of nonviolent civil disobedience aimed to visualize the indiscriminate killing of civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan by drones operated by personnel sitting in front of computers thousands of miles away.
“…drones are, quite frankly, a safe and hygenic means of …maintaining order, and at the end of the day….”
How real is an Iranian nuclear threat? As rhetoric and momentum begin to build, the interpretOr will be probing more into this issue. After the ‘dodgy dossier’ that formed the rationale on the invasion of Iraq, should we not continue to question assumptions and pre-conceptions and scrutinise available evidence?
This is the question investigated by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker, (see link below). Hersh was pivotal in breaking the stories of Vietnam War era My Lai massacre of 1968 (story broke ’69), and more recently the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib during Gulf War II.
“There is no conclusive evidence that Iran has tried to build a bomb since 2003. The two most recent National Intelligence Estimates (N.I.E.s) on Iranian nuclear progress, representing the best judgment of the senior officers from all the major American intelligence agencies, have stated that there is no conclusive evidence that Iran has made any effort to build the bomb since 2003″
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/06/06/110606fa_fact_hersh#ixzz1czlIQdqi
Wikipedia also cites the following:
In a 2004 article, he (Hersh) alleged that Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld circumvented the normal intelligence analysis function of the CIA in their quest to make the case for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Protecting and promoting the UK in a digital world | Cabinet Office.
(this is a hotlink, as headlined in bold, received directly by the interpretOr, from UK Cabinet Office, via Twitter 25/11/11)
Big PR number with David Cameron quotes and associated justifications. A press release really, that we’ll try to deconstruct and post on in the not too distant…David Cameron was PR head honcho for Carlton Television and is a Tory. This triumphant announcement mid phone hacking enquiry. NO PROTECTION has been a theme of the evidence thus far…
nanoo, nanoo...
Here’s an extract in the interim:
As part of this action plan Government will:
• Continue to build up in GCHQ and MOD our sovereign UK capability to detect and defeat high-end threats.
More tea, vicar? A Tory PM. Again. And there was even a woyal wedding wecently too. Wonder if this legislation was discussed by David Cameron at last year’s Christmas lunch get together with Brooks, Murdochs, Freuds, car salesmen who present a television franchise via the BBC? What a recipe for food poisoning!
Cameron’s 2010 Christmas lunch with Rebekah Brooks and the Murdochs
News Limited media editor Stephen Brook has taken a quote from Barack Obama and enthusiastically misused it as a defence of The Australian newspaper’s defence of the indefensible. Brook claimed Obama was speaking about press freedom when he said “Certain rights are universal, among them freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion and freedom of citizens to choose their own leaders.” Obama added, “These are not American rights or Australian rights or Western rights. They are human rights. They stir the soul.”
Brook noted that Obama’s was alluding critically to China’s poor human rights record but Brook then deviated radically to claim that somehow this speech related to the record of Bob Brown. It is hard to think of anyone in Australian politics who has shown more courage and stood up more strongly for human rights than Bob Brown, but in the time honoured fashion of the Murdoch press, Brook was not letting facts get in the way of propaganda.
Brook was doing what he first learned at The Australian and that is media and marketing. He was trying to sell us the idea that the Murdoch media was being unfairly targeted by a media inquiry first mooted by Bob Brown. Poor little News Limited was being picked on according to those quoted by Brook. Famous boxer and former boss of News Ltd John Hartigan claims Julia Gillard was “looking for someone to blame.” Fairfax boss Greg Hywood while giving evidence at the inquiry was obviously mystified why we need an inquiry saying: “What is the issue?”
Unfortunately Brook didn’t read the other stories in the same November the 18th edition of the Australian, as one article on the front page is titled, “Fairfax four facing probe by MP’s.” This article deals with allegations of illegally hacking into an electoral database which is being investigated by Victoria Police.
The previous day an article entitled “Accused cop read terror raid file,” revealed that a Victorian police detective was committed to trial for wilful misconduct endangering the lives of others and interfering with the administration of justice. It appears from the article that the detective was illegally passing highly secret information on terrorists, who were later convicted of planning a lethal attack on Holsworthy military base, to a senior journalist Cameron Stewart from The Australian.
While pretending to champion free speech The Australian uses Daniel Pipes as a writer on Middle East issues. Pipes is well known for his viciously anti- Arab prejudice. Pipes advocated collective punishment of Palestinians by proposing that when a Palestinian commits an act of terrorism his whole village should be obliterated. As a project of his Middle East Forum, Pipes set up campus watch which created a McCarthy style website dossier that encouraged US university students and academics to report lecturers who made any criticism of Israel. He used this information to try have these lecturers blacklisted.
If the above instances of wrongdoing are not enough, the fact that the Murdoch press is not reporting the news accurately and in fact deliberately and regularly misrepresents the true picture of climate change and thereby offends the other face of free speech, that is the responsibility to tell the truth.
The climate change campaign is a malignant feature of the Murdoch media empire that has terrible consequences for all who occupy this planet. If it succeeds in its aims of preventing action on the greatest threat ever faced by mankind it will go down in history as the greatest example of infamy toward humanity and as an enemy of truth and thereby free speech.
23 November 2011 is the inaugural International Day to End Impunity
more than 500 journalists 
have been killed in the last 10 years.
In nine out of 10 cases, the
murderers have gone free.
WHAT IS IMPUNITY?
The International Day to End Impunity is a call to action to demand justice for those who have been killed for exercising their right to freedom of expression and shed light on the issue of impunity.
Every day around the world journalists, musicians, artists, politicians, and free expression advocates are being silenced, often with no investigation or consequences to their persecutors.
Impunity has always been ranked as a top priority for IFEX members, (International Freedom of Expression Exchange: The global network for free expression). So it came as no surprise that at the 2011 IFEX Strategy Conference in Beirut, Lebanon, IFEX members announced they were joining forces to launch the first ever International Day to End Impunity on 23 November, the anniversary of the single deadliest attack on journalists in recent history: the 2009 Maguindanao massacre in the Philippines.
This initiative is applauded by the interpretOr and many of our friends and links: Index on Censorship, Reporters Without Borders et al.
French news service AFP (Agence France Presse) are today reporting that artist Ai Weiwei has been buoyed by ‘a huge wave of solidarity’ involving 30,000 other Chinese people raising 8.5 milion Yuan to support his very fragile predicament. This is a situation whereby freedom of expression in contemporary China is the core issue.
In addition to his thought provoking and magnificent art, Ai Weiwei had investigated the needless deaths of school children who died in shonkily built schools that had collapsed in earthquakes of recent years. Icon of art became enemy of the state. Consume away, if you can, but whatever you do, don’t question…
In cognitive psychology, dichotic listening is a procedure commonly used to investigate selective attention in the auditory system. In dichotic listening, two different auditory stimuli (usually speech) are presented to the participant simultaneously, one to each ear, normally using a set of headphones. Participants are asked to attend to one or (in a divided-attention experiment) both of the messages. They may later be asked about the content of either message….
Page 1 of the Weekend Australian (12-13 Nov ’11) had leads from the paper’s foreign editor, Greg Sheridan, and political editor, Denis Shanahan. The messages were mixed and perhaps even ‘dichotic’:
“There will be no military bases (US) in Australia”: Greg Sheridan, 1st paragraph of p1
“Mr Obama and Julia Gillard will announce a new joint US-Australia military base in Darwin”: Denis Shanahan, p1
Have your say on our poll below…
Alleged mafia boss, Jimmy ‘baldy-capra-baddy’ Murdoch, broke his vow of Omerta at yesterday’s Commons select committee hearing into phone-hacking and related venal shennanigans.
An unusually emotional Jimmy ‘baldy-capra-baddy’ Murdoch, blurted out:
“OK, ok, ok, – derr waz one lone hacker. Weee paid heem deee moneez and hee hack dee pheunes.”
Attributing his ‘lone hacker’ theory to economising and his “buesineszzs educaion ” (sic), baldy-capra-baddy’ defended this position, despite substantial evidence to the contrary.
the interpretOr 