IBC
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Media Lens: WikiLeaks – The Smear And The Denial – Part 2
The UK and US media smears described in Part 1 should be kept in mind when considering the gravity and importance of the latest WikiLeaks. In addition to thousands of previously unreported civilian killings, the leaks revealed more than 1,300 claims of torture by Iraqi police and military between 2005 and 2009. But these are… Continue reading
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MEDIA LENS ALERT: ‘WITH TOTAL DESTRUCTION’ – THE FAILURE OF JOURNALISM IN IRAQ
<strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>MEDIA <strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media On March 22, an Economist magazine editorial described the recent violence in Tibet as a “colonial uprisingâ€, a “revolt†against foreign occupation. This was accurate, as was the implication that China has no legitimate claims over Tibet. (‘A colonial uprising – Tibet,’ Continue reading
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Media Lens: Iraq Body Count: “A Very Misleading Exercise”
MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media October 3, 2007 MEDIA ALERT: IRAQ BODY COUNT: “A VERY MISLEADING EXERCISE” Introduction The mainstream media are continuing to use figures provided by the website Iraq Body Count (IBC) to sell the public a number for total post-invasion deaths of Iraqis that is perhaps Continue reading
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Media Lens: The Media Ignore Credible Poll Revealing 1.2 Million Violent Deaths In Iraq
The media are not, as is commonly supposed, windows on the world; they are more like paintings or sketches of windows on the world — both the ‘window’ and the ‘reality’ beyond are manufactured corporate products. Continue reading
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Media Lens: Iraq Body Count Refuses To Respond
We found that the first 18 pages of the IBC database, covering the period between July 2005 and January 2006, contained just six references to ’coalition’ helicopter attacks and airstrikes killing civilians. Our research revealed that the IBC database consistently features the same bias – massive numbers of deaths caused by insurgents as compared to… Continue reading
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Media Lens: Paved With Good Intentions – Iraq Body Count – Part 2
First, the dramatic absence of examples of mass killing by US-UK forces suggests that the low IBC toll of civilian deaths in comparison with other studies is partly explained by the fact that examples of US-UK killing are simply not being reported by the media or recorded by IBC. Visitors to the site – directed… Continue reading
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Media Lens: Paved With Good Intentions – Iraq Body Count – Part 1
On the rare occasions when the issue of civilian casualties is discussed in the mainstream media three words are invariably mentioned: Iraq Body Count (IBC). IBC describes itself as a project which maintains “the world’s only independent and comprehensive public database of media-reported civilian deaths in Iraq that have resulted from the 2003 military intervention… Continue reading
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Media Lens: Burying The Lancet – Update
In our Media Alert, Burying The Lancet – Parts 1 And 2 (September 5 and 6), we focused on the media response to a November 2004 report in The Lancet which estimated nearly 100,000 excess civilians deaths in Iraq since the March 2003 US-UK invasion. Continue reading
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Media Lens: Burying the Lancet – Part 2
In our analysis we found that in both the US and the British press, news reports initially presented the estimates of 100,000 deaths in Iraq and 1.7 million deaths in Congo without critical comment. The difference lies in the days, weeks and months that followed. Whereas the Congo figures and methodology were accepted without challenge,… Continue reading
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Media Lens: Burying the Lancet – Part 1
As a test of the independence and honesty of the mass media, few tasks are more revealing than that of reporting our own government’s responsibility for the killing of innocents abroad. In an age of ’converged’ political parties and globalised corporate influence, few establishment groups have any interest in seeing such horrors exposed, while many… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 