Media Lens
Excellent UK-based media analysis
-
Media Lens: Legitimising Mass Slaughter in Fallujah – Part 2
There is, readers will recall, one further difference. Whereas the Sudanese police were shown tear-gassing civilians in Keane’s report, US-UK forces are currently waging full-scale war on Iraqi civilian areas with main battle tanks, airburst firebombs, artillery barrages and helicopter gunships. Which issue, then, should be prioritised in BBC news reporting? And yet the BBC’s… Continue reading
-
Media Lens: Siding with Iraq – Part 2
10 November 2004 — Media Lens Johann Hari Responds On October 29, we sent out Part 1 of this Media Alert. We noted how Independent columnist Johann Hari had declared that his support for war in Iraq was qualified by an important caveat: “If you go into a war saying you want to side with Continue reading
-
Media Lens: The BBC – Legitimising Mass Slaughter in Fallujah – Part 1
In the case of Iraq, it is of course vital that domestic audiences in the US and UK be persuaded that their governments are killing Iraqis with the support of, even on behalf of, Iraqis themselves. The possibility that Iraqis might be dying in their tens of thousands for Western power and profit must, of… Continue reading
-
100,000 Iraqi Civilian Deaths – Part 2
4 November 2004 — Media Lens By way of a splendid coincidence, Media Lens received this delayed response from the BBC on November 3: Continue reading
-
Media Lens: Haiti — No News is Bad News
The beauty of news for a society like ours is that it doesn’t have to make sense. If we were introducing students to modern physics, we would feel obliged to explain Newton’s Laws and Einstein’s famous theorem, E=mc2; we would naturally point to issues raised by quantum mechanics. There would obviously be no prospect of… Continue reading
-
Media Lens: Alert: Bringing Hell to Haiti – Part 2
Jean-Bertrand Aristide told the Associated Press yesterday that he was forced to leave Haiti by US military forces. Asked if he left on his own, Aristide answered: “No. I was forced to leave. Agents were telling me that if I don’t leave they would start shooting and killing in a matter of time.” Continue reading
-
Media Lens: Alert: Bringing Hell to Haiti – Part 1
The media is good at repeatedly broadcasting footage of armed gangs roaming in trucks, and of quoting senior officials. But the absence of meaningful context and informed analysis – and above all the unwillingness to question the official version of events – means that it is often literally impossible for viewers to make sense of… Continue reading
-
Media Lens: US and UK Politicians Overlooked in Crimes Against Humanity
Should US and UK politicians be brought to account for alleged crimes against humanity in Iraq, Serbia, Vietnam, Cambodia and elsewhere? Last week’s appearance by Slobodan Milosevic, the former leader of Yugoslavia, in front of the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, was the spur for an Independent on Sunday ‘Focus’ news report by… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 