| THE HANDSTAND | APRIL2011 |
JOURNALISMThe fact is that one has gradually become more and more convinced that the media is a junk bag and filtering a glimmer of the truth or even of facts is becoming more and more difficult. Often one's thoughts replace confirmation after reading which is ofcourse what the propaganda media is intended to provoke. Let us all run round with erroneous "notions" - even calling them "concepts" - and debating foreign affairs with our friends - haha.....
As Information Clearing House quotes this weekend (16.04.2011) :"If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves". -- Howard Zinn, historian and author
"The propaganda system allows the U.S. Leadership to commit crimes without limit and with no suggestion of misbehavior or criminality; in fact, major war criminals like Henry Kissinger appear regularly on TV to comment on the crimes of the derivative butchers." Edward S. Herman, political economist and author
"When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic." Dresden James.
just because it says ‘associated press’ on it, that doesn’t mean it isn’t an outright fabrication
April 15, 2011
Belarus Slams US News Media Over Libya Mercenaries Lie
RIA Novosti, Apr 15 2011The Belarusian Foreign Ministry accused AP news agency on Friday of intentionally misquoting a UN official in a report on the presence of Belarusian mercenaries in Libya. AP reported earlier in April that hundreds of foreign mercenaries, including from Belarus, were likely fighting on the side of both Muammar Gaddafi’s forces and rebels in Libya. The agency quoted the head of UN Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries Jose Luis Gomez del Prado. Belarus immediately denied the allegations and demanded an official investigation by UN officials. Andrei Savinykh, a spokesman for the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, said:
It has been established that the UN official told the US journalist that he had no information and therefore could not confirm the presence of any Belarusian mercenaries in Libya. The fact can be deemed proof that AP is a hired propaganda outlet and tool.
The Belarusian diplomat criticized Western journalists for their propensity to “effortlessly step over the conventional democratic standards when it is convenient to them and in line with the interests of their sponsors.” In late February, UN officials claimed that Belarus had delivered three attack helicopters to the Ivory Coast in violation of a UN arms embargo. The UN later retracted the claim and apologized to Minsk for the embarrassing incident.
from http://niqnaq.wordpress.com/
UNACCEPTABLE JOURNALISM -
“the jews control the media” … nay, ’tis but an antisemitic canard
AP’s Matti Friedman: Israeli citizen and former Israeli soldier
Alison Weir, AP Deconstructed, Apr 13 2011In the previous post, “‘Israeli army strikes Gaza after school bus hit’ – Deconstructed,” I examined the Israeli-centric wording and pattern of omissions in AP’s report on the recent violence in Gaza. At the end of the piece I noted:
The story was written and edited in Israel by Matti Friedman, a journalist who may have family ties to the Israeli military.
Tonight I was examining AP’s recent reports on Israel-Palestine and noted additional articles by Matti Friedman. Since they all seem to contain such distinctly pro-Israel bias I decided to look into Friedman more to see what I could learn about his/her background. It turns out that Friedman is male, grew up in Canada, and at the age of 16 won a “Bronfman Youth Fellowship” for an all-expense-paid five-week summer trip to Israel for Jewish high school students from North America to “encounter the land and people of Israel [and] study Judaism and major issues in contemporary Jewish life.” The next year he moved to Israel, where he settled and has lived since 1995. And yes, he served in the Israeli military. In fact, he edited an article for the Bronfman alumni magazine entitled “Military Service as a Formative Experience; Reflections from Bronfmanim,” in which he writes:
Military service, with its trials, frustrations, and hard-won personal victories, is nearly always a formative experience for those who undergo it. The experience remains seared into the memory of the Amitim and Bronfman Fellows who have spent time in uniform, long after they return to civilian life.
Now Friedman works as a correspondent for AP’s control bureau for Israel-Palestine, where he writes news articles that are consistently Israeli-centric in their wording and focus and, especially, in which information they include and which facts they leave out. Perhaps it’s not surprising that he consistently mentions Israeli injuries and deaths while rarely mentioning Palestinian ones, even though the latter occur far more often. It may not be surprising human behavior, but it is unacceptable journalism.
