Media Lens
Excellent UK-based media analysis
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Media Lens: Putting Out The People’s Eyes – Machiavelli And The Press Complaints Commission
The results of the PCC’s work speak for themselves: if a member of the public makes a complaint against the press, he or she has about a 250:1 chance of getting an adjudication in his or her favour. Moore describes these as “pretty terrible odds” Continue reading
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Media Lens: The BBC, Impartiality, And The Hidden Logic Of Massacre — Part 2
Despite the input of hundreds of journalists working for numerous large, well-resourced corporations, we were unable to find a mainstream account that made sense of what was happening in Gaza. Continue reading
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Media Lens: The BBC, Impartiality, And The Hidden Logic Of Massacre — Part 1
In 1999, the corporation allowed its own high profile newsreader, Jill Dando, to present a DEC appeal for Kosovo at the height of NATO’s 78-day bombing campaign against Serbia. This, also, was an ongoing and highly controversial conflict, one that involved fraudulent US-UK government and media claims of a Serbian “genocide” in Kosovo (claims which… Continue reading
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Media Lens Rapid Response Media Alert: The BBC Refuses To Broadcast Gaza Charity Appeal
Despite this carnage, despite the fact that 89% of Gaza’s 1.5 million residents have received no humanitarian aid since Israel began its assault, the Guardian notes that the BBC has refused to broadcast a national humanitarian appeal for Gaza Continue reading
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Media Lens: An Eye For An Eyelash: The Gaza Massacre – Part 2
The Israeli historian Ilan Pappé notes that more than half of Palestine’s native population, close to 800,000 people, were uprooted and 531 villages were destroyed. Continue reading
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Media Lens: An Eye For An Eyelash: The Gaza Massacre – Part 1
The corporate media has been happy to echo the claim that Israel is “targeting Hamas” rather than the Palestinian people. In reality, the Palestinian people elected Hamas as its democratic government in 2006. Continue reading
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MEDIA LENS: CAN THIS BE TRUE? GEORGE MONBIOT CHALLENGES MEDIA LENS ON HYPOCRISY
How casually Monbiot has chosen to confront us with this damning public criticism. This, of course, is how internet-based media with essentially no resources are often treated by corporate journalism. If Monbiot had been targeting a powerful think tank or political party, he would perhaps have checked if the posting was “correct” Continue reading
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Media Lens: ‘Living Our Values’: Guardian News & Media And The Climate – Part 2
Earlier this month, the Observer smeared climate activists by highlighting police warnings of a “growing threat of eco-terrorism”. The alleged threat is presented by a group called Earth First!, which the paper claimed “has supporters who believe that reducing the Earth’s population by four-fifths will help to protect the planet”. Continue reading
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Media Lens: ‘Living Our Values’: Guardian News & Media And The Climate – Part 1
MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media November 25, 2008 PART 1 – IN THEORY Last week, Guardian News & Media (GNM) published ‘Living Our Values’, an independently audited account of the company’s annual performance on sustainability issues. GNM, which encompasses the Guardian, the Observer and guardian.co.uk, claims to have strong Continue reading
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Media Lens: CHILDREN IN THE CROSSHAIRS
3 November, 2008 Media Silent On Evidence Of Israeli Targeting Of Youngsters <strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media On the afternoon of Thursday 28 February, 2008, a group of <strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>Palestinian boys were playing football on some open ground near their homes in the <strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>Gaza Strip. At around Continue reading
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Media Lens: Propping Up Propaganda IRAQ, CLIMATE AND THE CORPORATE MEDIA’S FEAR OF THE PUBLIC
October 22, 2008 Since starting Media Lens in 2001, we have learned that corporate journalists are very often ill-equipped, or disinclined, to debate vital issues with members of the public. In 2004, the esteemed Lancet medical journal published a study showing that 98,000 Iraqis had most likely died following the US-led invasion. John Rentoul, chief Continue reading
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Media Lens: INTELLECTUAL CLEANSING: PART 3 — Comment Is Closed
MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media October 15, 2008 In Part 1 of this alert, we noted how journalists who threaten their employers’ interests – and the interests of their key political and corporate allies – tend to be unceremoniously dumped. We also described how the force of the law Continue reading
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MEDIA LENS: INTELLECTUAL CLEANSING – PART 2
This preference for untested Oxbridge graduates can probably be explained by the filtering process too. The selected graduates always came from the same predictable backgrounds, and were the product of lengthy filtering processes endured in the country’s education system. The Guardian appeared to be more confident that such types could be relied on without the… Continue reading
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MEDIA LENS: INTELLECTUAL CLEANSING: PART 1 – Keeping The Media Safe For Big Business
MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media October 2, 2008 Martin Tierney is one of a tiny number of mainstream journalists willing to review our book, ‘Guardians of Power’. In June 2006, he published an accurate outline of our argument in the Herald, commenting: “It stands up to scrutiny.” He added Continue reading
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Media Lens Alert: “Not Very Interesting” – Haiti, New Orleans And Media Hypocrisy
MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media September 16, 2008 On September 1, the press began warning that “the storm of the century” was about to hit New Orleans as Hurricane Gustav “bore down nearly three years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city”. (‘It’s the storm of the Continue reading
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Media Lens: Hawking The Technofix – Business As Usual And The Ultimate Genocide
What would a 4C rise mean for the planet? According to the 2006 Stern review on the economics of climate change, up to 300 million people would be affected by coastal flooding annually. Water availability in Southern Africa and the Mediterranean could drop by half, and agricultural yields in Africa may be cut by up… Continue reading
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MEDIA LENS ALERT: WHEN NEWS IS NOISE – GEORGIA, SOUTH OSSETIA AND THE POLITICAL PIPELINE
The bias is clear, but the deeper point is far more interesting – the entrenched propaganda function of the mainstream media renders it incapable of making sense of events in Georgia and South Ossetia. References to Russian self-interest are allowed, and to Western concerns about energy security. But on the real reasons why people were… Continue reading
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Media Lens Alert: Some Matter More – When 47 Victims Are Worth 43 Words
One would hardly guess from media reporting that Britain and America are responsible for killing anyone in Iraq and Afghanistan, where violence is typically blamed on “insurgents” and “sectarian conflict”. International “coalition” forces are depicted as peacekeepers using minimum violence as a last resort. Continue reading
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MEDIA LENS ALERT: NEWS INTERNATIONAL THREATENS MEDIA LENS WITH LEGAL AND POLICE ACTION
MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media July 10, 2008 On June 28 and July 3, Media Lens received repeated threats of both legal and police action from Alastair Brett, legal manager of News International’s Times Newspapers. Noam Chomsky described the threat, pithily, as “pretty sick.” (Email, June 28, 2008) David Continue reading
The New Dark Age 