Letters, Letters, Letters

July 18th, 2005 - by: danny

LETTERS PROTEST EXECUTIVE BONUSES AT THE BBC

Http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,3604,1530547,00.html

ON THE AIR IN THE UK

Paul O’Hanlon comments on some British media coverage of the events in London on Indymedia:

“I listened to the ‘ANY ANSWERS’ program on Radio 4 on Saturday 16th July 2005.

“One of the panelists, Colleen Graffy, an American right wing Republican lawyer, used the term ‘brainwashing’ when referring to the way British Muslims were made to support the September 11th attacks. She quoted a survey saying that 13% of British Muslims supported the attacks through ‘Brainwashing’ but remember 87% of British Muslims opposed the attacks. Compare this with the brainwashing of the British and American people by the government and media in the run up to war. We were incessantly told of Iraq’s Weapons of Mass destruction, which didn’t exist.

“All the newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations used the phrase ‘weapons of mass destruction’ over and over and over again — is this not ‘brainwashing’? Even supposedly impartial BBC news bulletins would say things like ‘Hans Blix and his UNMOVIC team are searching for Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.’ They should really have qualified the phrase WMD with ‘supposed’ or ‘suspected’ — the way it was put implied that yes, the weapons actually exist — it’s just that they haven’t been found yet. With all the coverage of Iraq there was virtually no mention of the terrible effects of the sanctions, which according to UNICEF killed over a million people and also no coverage of the issue of Depleted Uranium.

“I was in the USA in 2002 during the run up to the war. The American media coverage was little more than a joke — it was brainwashing if ever there was. The TV news programs on NBC and Fox had a small stars and stripes in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. The CNN channel had a bar about three quarters of the way down the screen with a couple of stars and a stripe flickering — they were trying, subliminally, to appeal to people’s patriotism.”

Margot Sun writes:

“I read today in Frank Rich’s column ‘Follow the Uranium’ that Karl Rove will probably have to resign. My question is, will it make any difference? Sure, it will lower the Trust Bush Meter another notch and stir up some pretty good soft shoe action from Scott McClellan but won’t it still be the same old Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy act? Just a little more offstage or with less visible strings, whispers from Karl sotto voce. Hasn’t Rover been running things all along? Now if Bush had to resign because it becomes so blatantly obvious that he depends on rumor mongers and downright liars for his actions, well, that would almost be worth the price of admission to a war. Almost.”

THANK YOU

Paul Harrington writes:

“Several months ago i sent you 20 bucks and later got a dvd of your film. I wasn’t looking for the dvd, but thank you anyway, I just wanted to you get a few bucks to keep you on the net. If you could just get $10-20 a year from all the folks that read this that should keep you a float.

“I don’t agree with 99% of the stuff that’s on your site but being a good right-wing nut I have to know what others are saying. A person is blind if he is only looking one way.”

THANK YOU!

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TO BE QUOTED

Last week, I reported on a progressive news shout out of Maine called Liberty News. So did the Portland Phoenix, and they called me for a comment:

http://www.portlandphoenix.com/features/top/ts_multi/documents/04825492.asp

AND TO QUOTE

Carl Bernstein writes:

“The greatest felony in the news business today is to be behind, or to miss a big story. So speed and quantity substitute for thoroughness and quality, for accuracy and context. The pressure to compete, the fear somebody else will make the splash first, creates a frenzied environment in which a blizzard of information is presented and serious questions may not be raised.”

A new week is upon us. Our technology seems to be back in order. Keep your comments coming. I know some of you were upset to find the mutterings of Ann Coulter on the site but it does get the blood boiling, doesn’t it? We want to encourage a post-partisan discourse.

Let the debates begin.

Happy Birthday to Nelson Mandela. He is 87 today.

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