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book review: Tell Me Lies: Propaganda and Media Distortion in the Attack on Iraq, ed David Miller (Pluto Press £12.99)
138/Mick Gosling
There is no flim-flam or pseudo-academic media analysis bullshit in Tell Me Lies. This book is a forensic and passionate dissection of the propaganda and media distortion used to justify the war on Iraq.David Miller from the Stirling Media Research Institute has quickly brought together short essays from over 30 media watchers and workers. These systematically demonstrate how the mainstream media regurgitated government propaganda, ignored the existing humanitarian crisis in Iraq, never seriously considered the consequences of war and - with a few honourable exceptions such as Robert Fisk who is interviewed in the book - failed to address the over-riding issue in the Middle East, namely Palestine (aside from the oil).
One of the most telling contributions is from Tim Llewellyn, the BBC’s Middle East correspondent for three decades. He strips apart the way the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is reported by the BBC. For Tim, the real parallel is apartheid but the way the BBC frames the issue is of two state powers fighting each other on a level playing field. BBC executives are terrified of accusations of anti-semitism from the well-organised Israeli lobby.
This is followed by an excellent research-based study by the Glasgow Media Research Group exploring the media’s role in shaping public understanding not just of the present but also of the past. This is of fundamental importance: if we don’t own and control our own history we can’t determine today’s (his)story or change its future direction.
A further powerful contribution is from Faisal Bodi, a senior editor at Aljazeera.net and a Guardian columnist on Muslim affairs. Readers will appreciate the irony - in structuring its reporting - Al Jazeera practices what the BBC preaches.
‘Tell me lies’ is a breath of fresh air in media analysis. It’s about changing things. It’s for activists not anoraks. Miller pulls no punches: ‘media activism must also be seen as part of a bigger struggle, which, in the end, involves civil disobedience. It requires millions of us to speak and act “knowing and fearing” as John Pilger puts it, “that we cannot be silenced”.’
Last modified: Monday, February 2, 2004
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Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
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DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
Miscellany
BOOK REVIEW: Journalism Principles and Practice, by Tony Harcup (Sage, £18.99)
BBC: Wrong or Wronged?
Press Regulation in Eire
GCHQ whistleblower charged
MEDIA MONITOR - Amusing Ourselves to Death
MEDIA MONITOR - Stifling Dissent
MEDIA MONITOR -Goodman’s Memoirs
Without Comment
Powell’s Rules
USA Conference Challenges Corporate Media
PLATFORM - A Safe Pair of Hands?
REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Tell Me Lies: Propaganda and Media distortion in the Attack on Iraq, ed. by David Miller ,Pluto £12.99
Labour’s TV Policies: Book Launch
NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON’T
BENIGN DICTATORSHIP
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH AND BEEBWATCH
THE DOTTY & BARMY WATCHDOG
The Murdoch Dossier
BCT PIPELINE PROTEST
LAKENHEATH TRESPASS DAY
NO NEW OIL DAYSCHOOL
Oil, war and climate change: dismantling the oil economy.
FREE CAMPAIGN POSTCARDS
Weapons of Mass Deception - the uses of propaganda in Bush's war on Iraq
Free Press 135
Editorial: The Assault on the BBC
COMPETITIVE PRESSURES
PLATFORM: COMMERCIAL PRESSURES ON ITN
Television impartiality or Biased News?
