What is it about morally/ethically corrupt American and British foreign policy that manages to also corrupt our Big Media?
I believe that the New York Times, as a notable example, helped create the Iraq War — a ‘war’ that was much more like a turkey shoot, considering the massive military might attacking the relatively weak country — through then-VP Dick Cheney’s anonymous and knowingly-false claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
After the severe damage was done, the Times claimed honest-ignorance innocence on the grounds that it was its blogger’s overzealousness that was really at fault. The same Times that otherwise insists upon securing the non-publishable yet accurate identity of its writers’ anonymous information sources.
Quite memorable was popular Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman’s appearance on Charlie Rose’s show (May 29, 2003), where he ranted about the war’s justification and supposed success:
“… And what we needed to do was to go over to that part of the world and burst that bubble. We needed to go over there basically, uhm, and, uh, uhm, take out a very big stick, right in the heart of that world and burst that bubble. And there was only one way to do it because part of that bubble said ‘we’ve got you’ this bubble is actually going to level the balance of power between us and you because we don’t care about life, we’re ready to sacrifice and all you care about is your stock options and your hummers.
"… And what they needed to see was American boys and girls going house to house from Basra to Baghdad, uhm, and basically saying which part of this sentence don’t you understand. You don’t think we care about our open society, you think this bubble fantasy we’re going to just let it go, well suck on this. Ok. That, Charlie, was what this war was about. We could have hit Saudi Arabia. It was part of that bubble. We could have hit Pakistan. We hit Iraq, because we could. And that’s the real truth.”
Potential translation: 'Just to be on the safe side, let’s error in favor of militarily assaulting, invading and devastating Iraq [and maybe looting their untapped fossil fuel resources].'
What astonishes me is how such pro-War news-media professionals can afterwards sleep at night or look their little children/grandchildren in the face everyday. But, from another perspective, the Times may have jumped on the atrocity-prone Iraq-invasion bandwagon due to their close proximity to the massive 9/11 blow the city took only a few years prior. And there was plenty of that particularly bitter bandwagon going around in Western circles back then.
Some people may feel that a self-compromised or corrupt mainstream news-media is better than no mainstream news-media; I do not. And there are reporters/journalists and editors who still speciously reply to accusations of subjective journalism with ‘I’m just the messenger’, or that they are but a reflection of the community in which they circulate. They are not.
Great journalistic "thought experiment"! But you could have mentioned the human shields above and around the underground israeli military HQ in central tel aviv.
Hopefully to be followed by the deaths of Smotrich and Ben Gvir during a drone strike on Netanyahu's funeral procession - that would be poetic justice
May the apocryphal become an actuality !
Oh, if only this was a real news report…
A much needed satire on double speaking. So much real blood and lives lost in this vile political war game
https://amillionmarchtogaza.substack.com/p/international-day-of-non-compliance
The time has come for the people of the West to stand against the abject evil of our governments and "political elites".
7th October 2024, from midday - non-compliance, non-participation in any economic activity.... DOWN TOOLS!
Brilliant!
Word perfect…BBC Bowen reporting. Even the late Robert Fisk would have enjoyed this , outstanding.
This article was the first one about Palestine which have managed to make me smile in nearly one year.
Thank you.
If only!!
Spot on. And very plausible.
That's quite brilliant. I'm sharing this. Thanks Jonathan 🙏🇵🇸✊️
What is it about morally/ethically corrupt American and British foreign policy that manages to also corrupt our Big Media?
I believe that the New York Times, as a notable example, helped create the Iraq War — a ‘war’ that was much more like a turkey shoot, considering the massive military might attacking the relatively weak country — through then-VP Dick Cheney’s anonymous and knowingly-false claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
After the severe damage was done, the Times claimed honest-ignorance innocence on the grounds that it was its blogger’s overzealousness that was really at fault. The same Times that otherwise insists upon securing the non-publishable yet accurate identity of its writers’ anonymous information sources.
Quite memorable was popular Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman’s appearance on Charlie Rose’s show (May 29, 2003), where he ranted about the war’s justification and supposed success:
“… And what we needed to do was to go over to that part of the world and burst that bubble. We needed to go over there basically, uhm, and, uh, uhm, take out a very big stick, right in the heart of that world and burst that bubble. And there was only one way to do it because part of that bubble said ‘we’ve got you’ this bubble is actually going to level the balance of power between us and you because we don’t care about life, we’re ready to sacrifice and all you care about is your stock options and your hummers.
"… And what they needed to see was American boys and girls going house to house from Basra to Baghdad, uhm, and basically saying which part of this sentence don’t you understand. You don’t think we care about our open society, you think this bubble fantasy we’re going to just let it go, well suck on this. Ok. That, Charlie, was what this war was about. We could have hit Saudi Arabia. It was part of that bubble. We could have hit Pakistan. We hit Iraq, because we could. And that’s the real truth.”
Potential translation: 'Just to be on the safe side, let’s error in favor of militarily assaulting, invading and devastating Iraq [and maybe looting their untapped fossil fuel resources].'
What astonishes me is how such pro-War news-media professionals can afterwards sleep at night or look their little children/grandchildren in the face everyday. But, from another perspective, the Times may have jumped on the atrocity-prone Iraq-invasion bandwagon due to their close proximity to the massive 9/11 blow the city took only a few years prior. And there was plenty of that particularly bitter bandwagon going around in Western circles back then.
Some people may feel that a self-compromised or corrupt mainstream news-media is better than no mainstream news-media; I do not. And there are reporters/journalists and editors who still speciously reply to accusations of subjective journalism with ‘I’m just the messenger’, or that they are but a reflection of the community in which they circulate. They are not.
Great journalistic "thought experiment"! But you could have mentioned the human shields above and around the underground israeli military HQ in central tel aviv.