the guardian
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Media Lens: CHILDREN IN THE CROSSHAIRS
3 November, 2008 Media Silent On Evidence Of Israeli Targeting Of Youngsters <strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media On the afternoon of Thursday 28 February, 2008, a group of <strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>Palestinian boys were playing football on some open ground near their homes in the <strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>Gaza Strip. At around Continue reading
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Media Lens: Propping Up Propaganda IRAQ, CLIMATE AND THE CORPORATE MEDIA’S FEAR OF THE PUBLIC
October 22, 2008 Since starting Media Lens in 2001, we have learned that corporate journalists are very often ill-equipped, or disinclined, to debate vital issues with members of the public. In 2004, the esteemed Lancet medical journal published a study showing that 98,000 Iraqis had most likely died following the US-led invasion. John Rentoul, chief Continue reading
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Media Lens: INTELLECTUAL CLEANSING: PART 3 — Comment Is Closed
MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media October 15, 2008 In Part 1 of this alert, we noted how journalists who threaten their employers’ interests – and the interests of their key political and corporate allies – tend to be unceremoniously dumped. We also described how the force of the law Continue reading
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Media Lens Alert: “Not Very Interesting” – Haiti, New Orleans And Media Hypocrisy
MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media September 16, 2008 On September 1, the press began warning that “the storm of the century” was about to hit New Orleans as Hurricane Gustav “bore down nearly three years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city”. (‘It’s the storm of the Continue reading
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MEDIA LENS ALERT: NEWS INTERNATIONAL THREATENS MEDIA LENS WITH LEGAL AND POLICE ACTION
MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media July 10, 2008 On June 28 and July 3, Media Lens received repeated threats of both legal and police action from Alastair Brett, legal manager of News International’s Times Newspapers. Noam Chomsky described the threat, pithily, as “pretty sick.” (Email, June 28, 2008) David Continue reading
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MEDIA LENS ALERT: SELLING THE FIREBALL – GEORGE BUSH AND IRAN June 25, 2008
MEDIA ALERT: SELLING THE FIREBALL – GEORGE BUSH AND IRAN June 25, 2008 MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media When George Bush arrived in Britain last week as part of his “farewell tour”, the real reasons for the visit were buried well out of sight. The tour was not, as Continue reading
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MEDIA LENS ALERT: Israel’s Illegal Assault On The Gaza ‘Prison’
MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media March 3, 2008 Attacking The Prisoners Israel has drawn international criticism for its latest series of onslaughts against the ‘prison’ of Gaza, the crowded home to 1.4 million Palestinians. Since last Wednesday (February 27), 112 Palestinians have died under Israeli air attacks and ‘incursions’ Continue reading
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Media Lens: INVASION – A COMPARISON OF SOVIET AND WESTERN MEDIA PERFORMANCE – PART 1 By Nikolai Lanine and Media Lens
MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media November 20, 2007 Introduction The writer Simon Louvish once told the story of a group of Soviets touring the United States before the age of glasnost. After reading the newspapers and watching TV, they were amazed to find that, on the big issues, all Continue reading
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Media Lens: A Superb Demolition – Part 1
22 June 2006 — Media Lens The Observer’s Foreign Affairs Editor Peter Beaumont Reviews Noam Chomsky’s Failed States A Gauntlet Is Thrown On June 16, the Observer’s editor Roger Alton made a bold announcement on his newspaper‘s website: “And to all my many enemies on the Left, and in various organisations like the pernicious MediaLens, Continue reading
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Oh my, how things haven’t changed By William Bowles
For those readers old enough (or well up on history) what strikes one about the current situation is just how nothing has actually changed when it comes to how the media covers events of importance, especially when it’s ‘us’ versus ‘them’, the ‘us’ being white, European/American ‘civilisation’ and the ‘them’—well pretty much the rest of… Continue reading
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Media Misinformation Roundup: How the BBC and the Guardian transform torture into bad PR and “history” for the occupiers By William Bowles
19 February 2006 The Western propaganda onslaught is relentless and most goes unnoticed largely because it appears to be ‘objective’ reporting. What is important to note with this alleged news is the insidious nature of the way events are presented to us, cloaked in seemingly innocuous language, yet an entire mindset is embedded in the Continue reading
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Media Lens: Smearing Chomsky – The Guardian Backs Down
On November 4, we published a Media Alert, ‘Smearing Chomsky’, detailing the Guardian’s October 31 interview with Noam Chomsky by Emma Brockes. The alert produced the biggest ever response from Media Lens readers – many hundreds of emails were sent to the newspaper. Continue reading
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Media Lens: Smearing Chomsky – the Guardian in the Gutter
This is one of the most shocking and appalling media smears we have seen of Chomsky – and we have been shocked and appalled many times in the past. We spend our time well when we reflect that the source is not some rabid, right-wing, Murdoch organ but this country’s “leading liberal newspaper” – the… Continue reading
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Media Lens: Immediate Withdrawal from Iraq – The Guardian Blanks Public Opinion
We do not know whether Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger wrote yesterday’s leader on “Britain’s post-invasion commitment to Iraq”, but we assume that he approved it. (’Signposting the Exit,’ The Guardian, September 21, 2005) “No one is arguing for an immediate pull-out”, the editorial claims. Presumably those calling for an immediate withdrawal, including many in the… Continue reading
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Media Lens: Kicking the People Who Write the Cheques
It is commonly thought that media businesses like the Guardian tailor their “brand” to target particular readers. This is true, of course, but more importantly they target readers who appeal to big business advertisers. The Guardian‘s primary business, in fact, is selling wealthy audiences to these advertisers. Continue reading
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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
The New Dark Age 