Last night I appeared on ABCTV News24’s The Drum (video here) talking about the current media feeding frenzy over broadcaster Alan Jones and his offensive remarks towards Prime Minister Julia Gillard. The amount of time and energy spent on this issue, I argued, was utterly disproportionate to the comment itself. It was crude and wrong…
Showing all posts tagged mainstream media
“After Zionism” reviewed in Arab News
The following review by Neil Berry appears in the Arab News: The mainstream Western media is losing its luster as rising numbers turn to alternative sources of news and opinion. Especially this applies to those concerned with the Palestine-Israel conflict. Students of the conflict increasingly straddle parallel universes, the world of conventional media and an…
Another day and more shilling for Israeli electric car company Better Place
Here’s a classic example of how not to write business journalism stories. Pick a company, in this case Israeli firm Better Place, ignore any human rights questions that hang over the organisation (allegations of war crimes and complicity in the West Bank occupation, read here), and provide a glowing profile of the organisation’s head. Easy…
Here’s the Australian Parliament’s leading Zionist advocate
Melbourne Labor MP Michael Danby said the following in parliament this week: Mr DANBY (Melbourne Ports) (13:49):… On Monday and Tuesday I had leave for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. I thank the whips and the parliament. For 120,000 Australians of similar background, even the most secular families, this is like Christmas, a time…
Here’s why the New York Times (and much of the Western press) doesn’t get Haiti
One of the great gaps in Western media coverage of Haiti is the constant ignoring of American and corporate complicity in keeping the place on its knees. It’s something I saw during my visit there last week. A story in yesterday’s New York Times was a perfect example of this curse. There is barely any…
Desmond Tutu rightly calls for Bush and Blair to be brought before The Hague over Iraq war
Legendary South African figure Desmond Tutu pulled out of speaking alongside Tony Blair recently due to the former British Prime Minister’s criminal record in Iraq. Now, writing in the UK Observer, Tutu expands the argument. Everybody in the mainstream media, who still fawn before Tony Blair, take note: If leaders may lie, then who should…
Problem alert; New York Times “journalist” shared pre-publication article with CIA
Unless there is some stunningly effective explanation, which is highly unlikely, this story (via Politico) is almost the perfect example of the ever-deepening collusion and over-sharing between mainstream reporters and the intelligence services. This isn’t journalism: Newly available CIA records obtained by Judicial Watch, the conservative watchdog group, reveal that New York Times reporter Mark…
Breivik both sane and deeply connected to now mainstream Islamophobic discourse
Last year I wrote a chapter on the far right and Israel in an ebook, On Utoya, on the massacre in Norway committed by Andres Breivik. With the verdict now in, one of the book’s co-editors, Tad Tietze, has written a piece in the Guardian that provides the necessary political context: There are many reasons…
Feigning care for human rights while condemning Wikileaks and Ecuador
The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald nails it: Readers of the American and British press over the past month have been inundated with righteous condemnations of Ecuador‘s poor record on press freedoms. Is this because western media outlets have suddenly developed a new-found devotion to defending civil liberties in Latin America? Please. To pose the question is…
Understanding a New York Times Israel-based journalist
A fascinating exchange between Jodi Rudoren of the New York Times and Jewish academic Jerome Slater. It’s very revealing of the mindset required to work for the leading American paper. “Balance” is key (because Israel and the Palestinians are clearly equals in terms of power on the ground.) Perhaps the most interesting part is this…