Antony Loewenstein

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) reminds us that writers of the US corporate media like people to know the uniqueness of the US:

In a News Analysis piece (7/11/09), New York Times reporter Adam Nossiter attempts to illustrate the difference between some African countries and more enlightened nations, writing:

The gulf separating the West and many African leaders on fundamental issues like human rights was on display just last week. The African Union announced that it would refuse to cooperate with the International Criminal Court in its attempt to prosecute the Sudanese president, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity, over the mass killings in Darfur.

Whatever you think of the ICC’s pursuit of Al-Bashir (some human rights observers thought it an unwise move), is enthusiasm for the International Criminal Court really a good test for whether a country is really similar to “the West”? If so, then the United States of America, with our history of determined opposition to the court,  would not seem to meet the test for membership in “the West” either.

Sadly, Newsweek’s attitude towards democracy and human rights (this time in Honduras) is little better.

Controversy strikes the heart at one of Australia’s leading film festivals:

Director Ken Loach has pulled out of the Melbourne International Film festival in protest against Israeli funding.

British-based Loach pulled his film Looking For Eric after organisers refused to bow to his demands they reject Israeli government sponsorship.

The festival’s executive director Richard Moore said that Mr Loach’s emailed demands were part of an orchestrated campaign to target events that receive financial support from Israel.

He said Mr Loach, who objects to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the recent Gaza intrusion, showed another of his films It’s a Free World at last year’s festival – which was also Israeli-funded.

When irony dies, this is what happens:

In George Orwell’s “1984,” government censors erase all traces of news articles embarrassing to Big Brother by sending them down an incineration chute called the “memory hole.”

On Friday, it was “1984” and another Orwell book, “Animal Farm,” that were dropped down the memory hole — by Amazon.com.

In a move that angered customers and generated waves of online pique, Amazon remotely deleted some digital editions of the books from the Kindle devices of readers who had bought them.

Greek journalist Iason Athanasiadis was recently imprisoned and released from Iranian prison.

He provides some advice:

Jail cells — alongside yoga studios — are the last bastions of true inner peace. When I became the first foreign journalist in decades to be thrown into Iran’s notorious Evin Prison I was exposed to a mixture of intense interrogations amid long stretches of nothingness. Stripped of my laptop, cell phone and all human contact, I was forced to confront my ego and get used to spending time with me, myself and I.

The only printed matter in my jail cell was a copy of the Holy Quran. It was a previous inmate’s well thumbed edition that had come loose from its hardback spine. A neat hand had written several religious aphorisms in Arabic on its pages. Imagining I was resting against the thick pillar of one of the beautifully-carpeted Ottoman mosques of Istanbul, my adopted city, I spent hours reading the handwritten calligraphy.

British artist Banksy, whose work I’ve long admired, is back:

Why the hell is the Republican Party promoting books on its website called, “The Jews and their Lies?“

With the murder of yet another Russian human rights worker, Natalya Estemirova, Human Rights Watch has re-released its 2007 video of this remarkable woman after she won a major award.

Get ready for the pay as you go revolution:

The Financial Times editor, Lionel Barber, has predicted that “almost all” news organisations will be charging for online content within a year…

And “real” journalists are what matter in this new, media landscape:

Barber made a distinction between “crafted” journalism and blogs “largely based on opinion rather than established fact [and] becoming increasingly influential in setting the news agenda”. “Bloggers have broken important stories and will continue to do so,” he said.

But he said they “do not operate according to the same standards as those who aspire to and practise crafted journalism. They are often happy to report rumour as fact, arguing that readers or fellow networkers can step in to correct those “facts” if they turn out to be wrong. They are rarely engaged in the pursuit of original news: their bread and butter is opinion and comment.”

The Islamic Republic blocks the whistle-blowing website, Wikileaks.

The ugly face of a repressive and paranoid regime.

Jeremy Scahill reminds us that illegality crosses both sides of the US political divide:

Members of Congress have expressed outrage over the “secret” CIA assassination program that former vice president Dick Cheney allegedly ordered concealed from Congress. But this program — and the media descriptions of it — sounds a lot like the assassination policy implemented by President Bill Clinton, particularly during his second term in office.

Partisan politics often require selective amnesia. Over the past decade, we have seen this amnesia take hold when it comes to many of President Bush’s most vile policies. And we are now seeing a pretty severe case overtake several leading Democrats. It makes for good speechifying to act as though all criminality began with Bush and — particularly these days — Cheney, but that is extreme intellectual dishonesty. The fact is that many of Bush’s worst policies (now being highlighted by leading Democrats) were based in some form or another in a Clinton-initiated policy or were supported by the Democrats in Congress with their votes. To name a few: the USA PATRIOT Act, the invasion of Iraq, the attack against Afghanistan, the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program, the widespread use of mercenaries and other private contractors in US war zones and warrant-less wire-tapping.

The issue of homosexuality in the Arab world is a touchy one, often ignored, shunned or ridiculed. There is progress, but it’s slow and painful:

The first gay book to have been ever translated into Arabic after being originally printed in English has run into problems straight off the press. The book, Gay Travels in the Muslim World, a compilation of stories penned by a collection of both Muslim and non-Muslim writers and edited by journalist Michael Luongo, has been translated into Arabic.

The publisher, however, chose to translate the word gay as شاذ, (shaath), a word with the literal meaning of ‘deviant’, or ‘pervert’;- much to the dismay of both the authors and the gay community in the Arabic speaking world.

Headline of the day:

Republicans Suspicious of Sotomayor’s Comments on Relevance of International Law to U.S.

Newsflash: international law applies everywhere in the world, including the US.