12 May 2015 — Media Lens
The famous physicist Albert Einstein was fond of Gedankenexperimenten – thought experiments – which tested his understanding of physics problems and stimulated solutions to them. For example, when he was a teenager, Einstein asked himself, ‘What would the world look like if I rode on a beam of light?’ Pursuing this question, he eventually came up with the Special Theory of Relativity and the most famous equation in science, E=mc2.
12 August 2013 — RT
Saudi Arabia policies are enormously hypocritical. They discriminate against 10 percent of their own population, the Shiites, while saying they are intervening in Syria for more democracy, journalist Pepe Escobar told RT.
25 July 2013 — http://www.statewatch.org/ – e-mail: office@statewatch.org
1. USE OF DRONES: A new poll has found that the US policy of drone strikes remains unpopular around the world
2. EU: FREEZING AND CONFISCATION OF ASSETS
3. EU: ACCESS TO EU DOCUMENTS: Council’s public register of documents hits 2 million mark
Continue reading
14 July 2013 — Media Channel
Durban, South Africa: If I was an ailing Nelson Mandela, and, at all conscious of the storms surrounding me, I might not be in such a hurry to open my eyes.
6 July 2013 — FAIR Blog
Bob Schieffer
On FAIR TV this week: CBS covers the Edward Snowden and the NSA scandal by asking Bush-era NSA chief Michael Hayden for help. And NPR wonders if media coverage of marriage equality is too tilted in favor of… equality? Plus network TV doesn’t cover Obama’s climate speech–but the fake newscast at Comedy Central does.
21 June 2013 — WSWS
The Guardian reported June 17 that UK Defence officials issued a confidential D-Notice (Defence Advisory Notice) June 7 to the BBC and other media organisations.
D-Notices are official requests to news editors not to publish or broadcast items on specified subjects on the grounds of “national security”. They are issued by the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee, which operates between government departments dealing with intelligence and national security, and the media.
25 May 2013 — FAIR Blog
This week: PBS won’t be showing us the documentary Citizen Koch–for some very dubious reasons. Also: The New York Times points out that the U.S. role in supporting genocide in Guatemala was hardly discussed at the trial; the same goes for U.S. media coverage of that trial. And Donald Rumsfeld goes on Meet the Press to talk about accountability. No, it’s not what you think.
20 May 2013 — www.boilingfrogspost.com
Mother of All Rules Governing US Media: Censor & Cover-Up US Government Criminality
In January 2008 The Sunday Times published the second report of its four-part investigative series concerning the U.S. government’s direct role in international terrorism networks and organized crime involving nuclear espionage: For sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets.
25 January 2013 — FAIR Blog
Jon Lee Anderson is a reporter I’ve long admired–since reading Inside the League: The Shocking Expose of How Terrorists, Nazis and Latin American Death Squads Have Infiltrated the World Anti-Communist League, which he co-wrote in 1986. But his latest piece for the New Yorker, “Slumlord: What Has Hugo Chavez Wrought in Venezuela?” (1/28/13–subscription required), reads almost like a parody of corporate media coverage of an official enemy state.
17 January 2013 — CEPR
Earlier this month my colleague Dan Beeton noted that the major media, after incorrectly predicting a close race in Venezuela’s presidential elections, had quickly reverted to the familiar “gloom and doom” predictions for Venezuela’s economic future. Additionally, many recent opinion and news pieces have echoed the Venezuelan opposition’s view that the decision to postpone Chávez’s inauguration was legally questionable. On January 8th, a Chicago Tribune editorialneatly summarized the prevailing wisdom: “Venezuela after Chavez will likely be plagued by political turmoil and economic struggle.”
7 March 2012 — Global Times
Putin’s win chance to assess ties with Russia
Both Russia and China are facing growing external strategic pressure. Collaboration between the two will touch many interests of other countries.
22 December 2011 — Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
Left-wing activist and author Noam Chomsky is in the New York Times today:
The American linguist Noam Chomsky, a prominent source of intellectual inspiration for President Hugo Chávez, made a new appeal on Wednesday for the release of María Lourdes Afiuni, a judge arrested two years ago by the secret intelligence police.
If you find it a little surprising that Chomsky’s views on international affairs would be reported in the Paper of Record, and if you’d be inclined to believe the Times finds his views newsworthy only because Chomsky is criticizing Chavez (which they’ve done before)… well, you might not be the only one. Here’s what Chomsky said about it to the Guardian:
Despite his appeal for Afiuni’s release, Chomsky has been critical of the media’s coverage of the case. On Wednesday he suggested the case had received so much media attention only ‘because Venezuela is an official enemy’ [of the United States]. ‘I am involved in these appeals all the time but I get no calls unless it is an enemy of the US,’ Chomsky said. ‘This is more a comment on the media than on the case.’
13 September 2011 — Global Research – murraydobbin.ca
The sorry spectacle of media coverage
When the U.S. invaded Iraq riding a pack of lies and monstrous manipulation, the entire U.S. elite, including major news services, academics, and politicians from both ‘sides’ of the spectrum, lined up to cheerlead and off they went to war. It was one of the most shameful chapters in the long history of shameful acts of U.S. imperial foreign policy.
24 August 2011 — Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Today’s New York Times has a story by David Kirkpatrick and Rod Norland running down the exaggerations and misinformation that have been spread throughout the Libya War. There’s been ‘spin from all sides,’ they report. Gadhafi’s exaggerations are well-known, but this passage is rather striking: Continue reading
27 July 2011 — http://paltagefreiburg2011.blogspot.com/
September 10-11, 2011 Freiburg, Germany
Freedom of speech and expression are recognised by many as primary human rights. However, when it comes to discussion on topics concerning Palestine, Israel and Germany we often face rigid and concrete boundaries that clearly suppress free and creative discourse. We somehow grasp what we are allowed to say but are also conscious of a variety of thoughts we better keep unsaid.
10 June 2011 — RT
The Bilderberg Group, an invitation-only meeting of the world’s most powerful people, is taking place in Switzerland. Just what the political insiders, media moguls and industry magnates will actually discuss, remains top secret.
This year the Bilderberg Group has occupied the grand Suvretta House Hotel among the magnificent hills and lakes of St. Moritz resort, Switzerland. The world’s most powerful group of some 150 will be meeting there behind closed doors to discuss whatever they need to in the next few days and, perhaps, carry out decisions that will determine the future of the whole world.
7 March 2011 — RT
Inflamed violence continues to tear through Libya, more than three weeks after protests erupted. However, some believe that mainstream media outlets are way too one-sided in portraying the events in the country.
There are unconfirmed reports that opposition leaders in Libya have rejected a proposal by Colonel Gaddafi, who is offering to resign if an interim council is formed, and he and his family are allowed to safely leave the country.
Muammar Gaddafi’s supporters are currently moving eastwards in order to reclaim towns which they lost during the popular uprising, Al Jazeera television has reported on Tuesday. According to the channel, pro-Gaddafi forces have retaken the town of Bin Jawad in central Libya and moved on to the oil port of Ras Lanuf.
16 December, 2010 — Media Lens
In our reply to Piers Robinson, below, we try to show how ‘objective scholarship’, like ‘objective journalism‘, all too often filters out what really matters. Moreover, as in journalism, the scholar’s obsession with objectivity tends to promote the interests of power. Why? Because mainstream academics and journalists are deeply and unconsciously biased. They notice subjective opinion that hurts power because power is on hand to make them aware, in no uncertain terms, with high-level complaints, legal threats, political flak and other attacks. When subjective opinion promotes power no-one notices because peace reigns supreme.
A superb example was provided in John Pilger’s new film, The War You Don’t See. The BBC’s Head of Newsgathering, Fran Unsworth, told Pilger: “it’s the BBC’s duty to scrutinise what it is that people [leaders] say; we’re not there to accuse them of lying, though, because that’s a judgement…”
23 July, 2010 — Huffington Post
Port-au-Prince, Haiti – Actor Sean Penn, who is helping manage a camp of displaced earthquake victims in Haiti, is making pointed criticisms of journalists for dropping the ball on coverage of Haiti. He’s wrong. I’ve been on the ground in Port-au-Prince working as an independent journalist for the past ten months. I’m an earthquake survivor who’s seen the big-time reporters come and go. They’re doing such a stellar job and I want to help out, so I’ve written this handy guide for when they come back on the one-year anniversary of the January quake!
For starters, always use the phrase ‘the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.’ Your audience must be reminded again of Haiti’s exceptional poverty. It’s doubtful that other articles have mentioned this fact.
You are struck by the ‘resilience’ of the Haitian people. They will survive no matter how poor they are. They are stoic, they rarely complain, and so they are admirable. The best poor person is one who suffers quietly. A two-sentence quote about their misery fitting neatly into your story is all that’s needed.
On your last visit you became enchanted with Haiti. You are in love with its colorful culture and feel compelled to return. You care so much about these hard-working people. You are here to help them. You are their voice. They cannot speak for themselves.
Source: Global Research
A Review of Danny Schechter’s book ‘Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity and the Subprime Scandal’ by Stephen Lendman
Global Research, September 18, 2008
Danny Schechter is a media activist, critic, independent filmmaker, TV producer as well as an author of 10 books and lecturer on media issues. Some call him ‘The News Dissector,’ and that’s the name of his popular blog on media issues. He’s also co-founder of Media Channel.org. It covers the ‘political, cultural and social impacts of the media,’ and provides information unavailable in the mainstream.
Schechter’s books include Media Wars; Embedded – weapons of Mass Deception; The Death of Media; The More You Watch The Less You Know; and his newest and subject of this review, Plunder. Subtitled: Investigating Our Economic Calamity and the Subprime Scandal, Schechter examines the fallout from the current economic and financial crisis. What the mainstream media (MSM) suppresses:
The New Dark Age 
