19 December 2019 — Media Lens
Note: This alert was originally sent on 19 December but is now being resent because a technical hitch prevented it from reaching many people’s inboxes.
![[BBC News image]](https://www.medialens.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/BBC-News-studio-GE2019-768x239.jpg)
When we started Media Lens in 2001, we had a rather naïve expectation that journalists might: a) want to respond rationally to reasoned criticism; and b) have privileged access to unparalleled journalistic resources, experts and arguments that would enable journalists to respond with serious points to our challenges. In particular, we imagined that BBC journalists and editors – being funded from the public licence fee – might actually feel obliged to respond.
China’s exit in October 1949, from the sphere of US control, was perhaps the heaviest blow to strike American post-World War II global hegemony. China’s successful drive for independence had been anticipated in Washington for many months.
By Caitlin Johnstone 
