Monday, February 17, 2014

bias towards power IS corporate media objectivity


medialens | The key to what is precisely wrong with corporate journalism is explained in this nutshell by the US commentator Michael Parenti:

'Bias in favor of the orthodox is frequently mistaken for "objectivity". Departures from this ideological orthodoxy are themselves dismissed as ideological.'

Examples of bias towards the orthodoxy of Western power are legion every day of the week. On January 30 this year, David Loyn reported for BBC News at Ten from Bagram airbase in Afghanistan as US troops prepared to withdraw from a blood-strewn occupation. Standing beside a large US military plane, he intoned:

'For all of the lives lost and money spent, it could have been so much better.'

The pro-Nato perspective of that remark masquerading as impartial journalism is stark. By contrast, Patrick Cockburn summed up the reality:

'After 12 years, £390bn, and countless dead, we leave poverty, fraud – and the Taliban in Afghanistan...60 per cent of children are malnourished and only 27 per cent of Afghans have access to safe drinking water...Elections are now so fraudulent as to rob the winners of legitimacy.'

The damning conclusion?

'Faced with these multiple disasters western leaders simply ignore Afghan reality and take refuge in spin that is not far from deliberate lying.'

BBC News has been a major component of this gross deception of the public.

The BBC's 'objective' bias in support of power also imbues the 'impartial' stance of alpha-male interviewer Jeremy Paxman, who recently disparaged 'extreme' WWI conscientious objectors as 'cranks'.

BBC political editor Nick Robinson is another safe pair of hands. He once described his 'objective' role in the run-up to the illegal invasion of Iraq (when he was ITN's political editor):

'It was my job to report what those in power were doing or thinking . . . That is all someone in my sort of job can do.' (Nick Robinson, ' "Remember the last time you shouted like that?" I asked the spin-doctor', The Times, July 16, 2004)

We tweeted a reminder of this remarkable admission by Robinson of his stenographic role as a channeller of state propaganda:

'The skewed way in which @bbcnickrobinson sees his role as BBC political editor can only lead to bias towards power.'

US journalist Glenn Greenwald responded pithily:

'That'd make an excellent epitaph on the tombstone of modern establishment journalism'

After we had repeatedly challenged Robinson about his bias towards power (see this recent media alert), he finally responded via email (January 27, 2014):

'We could have this debate forever I suspect.'

But in reality 'this debate' never gets an airing on the BBC. It is simply taboo.

11 comments:

makheru bradley said...

“It was my job to report what those in power were doing or thinking.” -- Nick Robinson

“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.” -- Paul Joseph Goebbels

There is no better example of crypto-fascism in America, than the merger of the corporate media with the state.

“The truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” -- Paul Joseph Goebbels

makheru bradley said...

The story of these women who refused to become subprime lending whores tells us a much as we need to know about the subprime lending crisis.

http://buswk.co/1f68MGr

Nevertheless, mortgage defaults by by only 10 percent of borrowers could not have caused the damage done by 9/15 without the bundling of subprime mortgages into CDO’s and other derivatives by the Victor Frankensteins of Wall Street. They created monsters--financial weapons of mass destruction per Warren Buffett--they could not control, only to be bailed out by the FED. The next bubble may be too big for the FED to control. Martial Law is on the horizon.

John Kurman said...

You are assuming that such a thing as rationality exists. And yet, as Richard Hamming (actually, Gottllob Frege in his own way, as well) pointed out in The Art of Probability, even the most rock solid mathematical proofs are based upon hundreds of irrational unspoken human assumptions.

Vic78 said...

I take it your answer's no.

Vic78 said...

It sucks that all we can get is just a little help. We have to work through the nonsense with shitty definitions. Knowledge is justified true belief. That's our starting point from language acquisition. That makes the road pretty rough.

CNu said...

Big Don's recent "religious"-themed entreaty went as follows:A little Bible Study....



Remember what Jesus said:
'Goats on the left, sheep on the right' (Matthew 25:33).



Jesus told Peter that if he wanted to catch fish, do it from the right side of the boat. They did and filled the boat.


John
21:6 (NIV) He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and
you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in
because of the large number of fish.



Origin of Left and Right:
I have often wondered why it is that Conservatives are called the "right" and Liberals are called the "left".


By chance I stumbled upon this verse in the Bible:

Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV) "The heart of the wise inclines to the
right, but the heart of the fool to the left." Thus sayeth the Lord.
Amen to that. Can't get any simpler than that.



Spelling lesson:
The last 4 letters in American......I Can
The last 4 letters in Republican.......I Can
The last 4 letters in Democrats.......Rats


End of lesson. Test to follow on November 6, 2014.



Remember: November 2014 is to be set aside as 'Rodent Removal Month'.Is it any wonder you get so little political traction given your three day late and three dollar short rejection of BD-ism? Not only that, you only gave the devil his due when he directly challenged you to gainsay him?

priceless.....,

Vic78 said...

Straight out of the Glenn Beck play book. Well, you know there are 3 letters in big and 3 in Don. 3+3=6. On the 6th day they get rid of the party that stands for democracy. His hero Murray has 6 letters. That gives you 666. Big Don's in league with Satan, the accuser of the brethren. It all makes sense now. I should've seen this a long time ago.

CNu said...

lol, ohhhh - schnapp!!!! straight cyphered his whole and entire illuminati steez...,

BigDonOne said...

@CNu "negrophobe"... Now *there's* a word for you.
Today, WND is featuring Kansas City...!!! http://www.wnd.com/2014/02/kansas-city-dilemma-violent-black-mobs/
It's not bigotry or racism if the facts back you up, it's rational common sense exercised, for example, by every white flighter who ever flighted.....

John Kurman said...

Short answer? I don't think so.

Dale Asberry said...

Absolutely. Let Gurdjieff point the way... I'm not exactly Gurdjieff but I've researched cognitive biases, logical fallacies, evolutionary psychology and behavioral economics coupled with listening to the noise in my head and I've done a moderately reasonable job of becoming more rational. It's that listening step that most people fail.

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