25 January 2020 — Defend Wikileaks
New York Times: “Federal prosecutors in Brazil have brought charges against US journalist Glenn Greenwald for reporting on leaked cellphone messages showing widespread corruption of Brazilian public officials. Greenwald is accused of being part of a “criminal organization” that hacked into the cellphones of several prosecutors and other officials to obtain the messages.”
25 January 2020 — Moon of Alabama
At 10:01 UTC today the Associated Press tweeted that “hundreds” gather in central Baghdad to demand that American troops leave the country.
Thirty eight minutes earlier CNN had already reported that “hundreds of thousands” are protesting in Baghdad against the U.S. troop presence in Iraq.
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24 January 2020 — FAIR
Janine Jackson interviewed media scholar Gregory Shupak about the Soleimani assassination for the January 10, 2020, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.
23 January 2020 — Media Reform Coalition
22 January 2020 — FAIR
by Lucas Koerner
In Jacobin (2/5/19)…
It’s been a year since Juan Guaidó began his US-anointed mandate as “interim president” of Venezuela.
Following the opposition leader’s failure to secure reelection as National Assembly president this month, Washington and its corporate media stenographers have hysterically decried a “coup” (FAIR.org, 1/10/20) against the coup leader, moving absurdly to recognize a new parallel parliament that he can still be in charge of.
However, the January 23 anniversary of Guaidó’s farcical self-proclamation has a darker legacy largely ignored by the corporate media: the almost unprecedented US decision to recognize a leader with no effective state control has unleashed a level of economic warfare unseen outside of Cuba, Iran or North Korea.
22 January 2020 — Caitin Johnson
Journalist Glenn Greenwald has been charged by the Bolsonaro government in Brazil with the same prosecutorial angle used by the US to target WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
21 January 2020 — FAIR
This Washington Post headline (1/7/20) is probably true.
Even when critical of US actions, media commentary on recent US bombings and assassinations in the Middle East is premised on the assumption that the US has the right to use violence (or the threat of it) to assert its will, anytime, anywhere. Conversely, corporate media coverage suggests that any countermeasure—such as resistance to the US presence in Iraq—is inherently illegitimate, criminal and/or terroristic.
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15 January 2020 — True Publica
TruePublica Editor: In January 2015, the BBC warned the government that its global news presence will end up marginalised by overseas rivals such as Russia Today and al-Jazeera unless multimillion-pound cuts were reversed. The global news division included the BBC World Service, which had suffered big cuts. It was a stark warning that Britain’s global ‘soft-power’ was declining. In November that year, the taxpayer was quietly lumbered with an £85m bill. Lord Hall, the BBC Director-General of the day, welcomed what he described as “the single biggest increase in the World Service budget ever committed by any government.’ However, after the Brexit result, funding by the government accelerated very quickly.
10 January 2020 — Moon of Alabama
[As always, Moon of Alabama’s preliminary analysis of flight PS 752 that crashed after takeoff from Tehran’s airport, reveals the vast gulf between so-called mainstream media coverage of events and the reality. WB]
Reuters asks: “Who Ya Gonna Believe Me Or Your Lying Eyes?”
18 December 2019 — Mint Press
In the face of a mountain of condemnation over how it provided a key role in helping Boris Johnson win last week’s UK general elections, BBC Director-General Baron Hall of Birkenhead has called for the corporation’s critics to be purged from the internet.
12 December 2019 — FAIR
New York (10/28/02) hyped Jeffrey Epstein as a “relentless brain” with a “keen eye for the ladies.”
Multimillionaire predator Jeffrey Epstein died in suspicious circumstances at a Manhattan correctional facility on August 10. The wealthy and powerful New York financier, a convicted sex offender, stands accused by dozens of women and girls of trafficking, rape and sexual abuse. He was an enormously influential and well-connected man who counted as friends billionaire business owners, Hollywood stars, British royals, and even top media figures like Katie Couric and Charlie Rose—with some of his associates falling under suspicion of condoning or even participating in a pedophile ring.
