Media – Page 112 – Public Intelligence Blog

American Poverty, What the Brits Don’t Understand

Panorama Special on American Poverty A Delusional Tale

Last week, the BBC news show, Panorama, supposedly told the story of America’s poor.

Moments of the story were right, they certainly picked one or two of those responsible for America’s economic collapse out, although not a single cogent idea was expressed on the show.

Panorama simply doesn’t get it.

They aren’t slow witted, they are simply more of the same, controlled news, taking the focus from the magician and putting it on the pigeon.

Read full article with various media clips and links.

2012/02/17

Patrick Buchanan: Blacklisted, Censored, Silenced, Shunned

Civil Society, Commerce, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Media, Non-Governmental

The New Blacklist

Patrick J. Buchanan

EXTRACT:

Documented in the 488 pages and 1,500 footnotes of Suicide of a Superpower is my thesis that America is Balkanizing, breaking down along the lines of religion, race, ethnicity, culture and ideology, and that Western peoples are facing demographic death by century's end.

. . . . . .

Let error be tolerated, said Thomas Jefferson, “so long as reason is left free to combat it.” What Foxman and ADL are about in demanding that my voice be silenced is, in the Jeffersonian sense, intrinsically un-American.

Phi Beta Iota: Below the line is the complete essay by Buchanan with points that we find compelling. He is articulate, and however much some may dislike delivery, he represents a point of view — and a demographic — whose silence spells death to the Republic as we know it. What is really at issue here is the legitimacy of the two-party bi-opoly and the various levels of government — they have substituted ideology for intelligence, corruption for integrity. Under such a system, the Constitution has been trashed and the Republic dismembered.

– – – – – – –

My days as a political analyst at MSNBC have come to an end.

After 10 enjoyable years, I am departing, after an incessant clamor from the left that to permit me continued access to the microphones of MSNBC would be an outrage against decency, and dangerous.

The calls for my firing began almost immediately with the Oct. 18 publication of Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?

Continue reading “Patrick Buchanan: Blacklisted, Censored, Silenced, Shunned”

2012/02/162012/02/16

Sharmine Narwani: Is CNN Pushing False Information to Public?

Corruption, IO Impotency, Media

High-Tech Trickery in Homs?

by Sharmine Narwani

VeteransToday, 16 February 2012

What was surely meant to be a clever display of media-friendly visuals to illustrate Syrian regime violence in Homs, has instead raised more questions than answers.

US State Department satellite images of the embattled city were posted on Facebook last Friday by US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, who complains: “A terrible and tragic development in Syria is the use of heavy weaponry by the Assad regime against residential neighborhoods.”

The “satellite photos,” says Ford, “have captured both the carnage and those causing it — the artillery is clearly there, it is clearly bombing entire neighborhoods…We are intent on exposing the regime’s brutal tactics for the world to see.”

But within 24 hours, the blog Moon of Alabama had taken a hammer to the ambassador’s claims. A detailed examination of satellite imagery by the bloggers revealed numerous discrepancies in Washington’s allegations. Mainly, their investigations point to the fact that Ford’s satellite images were “of guns training within military barracks or well known training areas and not in active deployment.”

Moon of Alabama posts its own satellite images, graphics and diagrams to bolster its argument – and these are well worth a look.

The US envoy’s questionable claims don’t stop at satellite images, however. In his Facebook post, Ford insists: “There is no evidence that the opposition — even those opposition members who have defected from the military — has access to or has employed such heavy weapons. “ By this, he means the “artillery” used “to pound civilian apartment buildings and homes from a distance.”

Then why is there satellite photo evidence of destruction in pro-regime Alawi areas?

Fast-forward to CNN’s very own Jonathan King, who broadcast satellite images of Homs on February 9, the day before the State Department loaded their photos on the web. King’s images of Homs are dated February 5, two days after violence erupted in the city, focusing heavily in the Baba Amr neighborhood where opposition gunmen are allegedly present:

See compared images and read full story.

2012/02/122012/02/12

Penguin: “Or Your Lying Eyes…” Truth and Fiction in the News Business – Conspiracy of Lies While US Networks Prepare & Rehearse for Israeli Attack on Iran

Corruption, Government, IO Deeds of War, Media, Military

“Or Your Lying Eyes…” Truth and Fiction in the News Business

Alex Cockburn

Counterpunch, Weekend Edition February 10-12, 2012

If you want a sense of what could well lie in store for Syria, go no further than Anthony Shadid’s report from Libya in the New York Times for February 9. Shadid, a good reporter, describes a dismembered country, rent by banditry.

EXTRACT:

As Byrne reported,

“Of the three main sources for all data on numbers of protesters killed and numbers of people attending demonstrations – the pillars of the narrative – all are part of the ‘regime change’ alliance. The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, in particular, is reportedly funded through a Dubai-based fund with pooled (and therefore deniable) Western-Gulf money (Saudi Arabia alone has, according to Elliot Abrams allocated US$130 billion to ‘palliate the masses’ of the Arab Spring).

What appears to be a nondescript British-based organization, the Observatory has been pivotal in sustaining the narrative of the mass killing of thousands of peaceful protesters using inflated figures, ‘facts’, and often exaggerated claims of ‘massacres’ and even recently ‘genocide’.”

And from the Arab League Report:

Continue reading “Penguin: “Or Your Lying Eyes…” Truth and Fiction in the News Business – Conspiracy of Lies While US Networks Prepare & Rehearse for Israeli Attack on Iran”

2012/02/09

Gordon Duff: Independent Report Contradicts Western Portrait of Syria

Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Deeds of War, Media, Military, Peace Intelligence

Independent Report Contradicts Western Portrait of Syria

Arab League Report Shows that Syria Has Been Mischaracterized

While the Western media act like the Syrian government is wantonly and indiscriminately killing its own people without provocation, an independent investigation has found a different reality on the ground.

Specifically, over 160 monitors from the Arab League – comprised of both allies and mortal enemies of Syria – toured Syria and published a report on January 27th showing that the situation has been mischaracterized.

Initially, the report noted general cooperation by the Syrian government:

The Mission [i.e. the Arab League investigative team] noted that the Government strived to help it succeed in its task and remove any barriers that might stand in its way. The Government also facilitated meetings with all parties. No restrictions were placed on the movement of the Mission and its ability to interview Syrian citizens, both those who opposed the Government and those loyal to it.

The report noted that the media has greatly exaggerated the amount of violence in Syria:

The Mission noted that many parties falsely reported that explosions or violence had occurred in several locations. When the observers went to those locations, they found that those reports were unfounded.

The Mission also noted that, according to its teams in the field, the media exaggerated the nature of the incidents and the number of persons killed in incidents and protests in certain towns.

***

Since it began its work, the Mission has been the target of a vicious media campaign. Some media outlets have published unfounded statements, which they attributed to the Head of the Mission. They have also grossly exaggerated events, thereby distorting the truth.

Continue reading “Gordon Duff: Independent Report Contradicts Western Portrait of Syria”

2012/02/07

NIGHTWATCH: Syria, Russia, US, Iran, Israel, Lies, & Truth + RECAP

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 05 Iran, 06 Russia, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, Blog Wisdom, Corruption, Government, IO Impotency, Media, Misinformation & Propaganda, Peace Intelligence, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests

Syria: Special comment. Readers are rightly perplexed about conditions in Syria. Syrian press restrictions inhibit any neutral or balanced coverage. Everything reported from opposition sources and activists is biased and some reports of massacres include manufactured images, according to eyewitnesses.

International news descriptions of a worsening crisis receive no offsetting coverage of testimony from non-Sunni and non-opposition sources that little is occurring. The massacres are not taking place, occurring to sources that receive messages from Orthodox Christians living in Homs, for example. Life goes on in all of the towns and ports.

Skirmishes at checkpoints are the most common form of clash. That means four or five people fire a few rounds at four or five soldiers or policemen. Defectors are Sunni conscripts. The Syrian Army is about 60% conscript. Desertion is common in conscript armies. Defectors from the professional, full-time, non-conscript core of the force, most of whom are Alawites, have not been reported.

The point is that western media present one side of the struggle — that of the exiled Sunni politicians and activists with cell phones. Clips from social networking media are heavily one-sided and some are not authentic.

Limited communications from people caught in the middle, non-Muslims, suggest there is a lot less fighting and fewer deaths. Reports of carnage and massacres of hundreds do not seem to be accurate, except in opposition propaganda media.

Continue reading “NIGHTWATCH: Syria, Russia, US, Iran, Israel, Lies, & Truth + RECAP”

2012/02/06

John Steiner: Super Rich Plan to Own Global Media

Commerce, Corruption, Media

Check out the video the mining industry never expected you to see:

http://www.getup.org.au/minersmediaplan

You simply have to see this video to believe it.

This week mining billionaire Gina Rinehart became the largest shareholder in Fairfax, having already bought a stake in Channel Ten. But this new video reveals this move is bigger than one woman’s ambition – it’s part of a coordinated and very deliberate strategy, with climate skeptic ‘Lord’ Monkton seen here advising a room full of mining executives on how the industry must gain control of Australia’s media.

Can you help share this video so all Australians understand what's really going on in the mining industry?

http://www.getup.org.au/minersmediaplan

We've seen what happened in the USA when coordinated, super-wealthy corporate interests set about deliberately reshaping the media landscape to suit their agendas. It's bad news for democracy and it's bad news for the issues we care about. And while this most recent purchase was a brazen move, it's hardly the first time a mining industry executive has used their vast wealth to push an agenda.

Last year, Rinehart helped set up a new lobby group calling for a special ‘Northern Economic Zone’ demanding lower tax, government concessions and cheap migrant labor from Asia. She helped bankroll the campaign against Government efforts to ask the mining industry to pay their fair share of tax through the Mining Super Profits tax and she's been actively sponsoring prominent climate skeptics like Monckton, Ian Plimer and Andrew Bolt, who got his own TV show weeks after she invested in Channel Ten.

Phi Beta Iota: The Internet, the schools, and how the general public is informed are the battleground for 21st century peace and prosperity. All are rotten to the core right now, but all signs point to a global public rebellion that is insistent on getting back to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

See Also:

Note: this book will NOT be available free online. Pre-orders are offered by Amazon at a $5 discount.

THE OPEN SOURCE EVERYTHING MANIFESTO: Transparency, Truth, & Trust

Category: Media

Gordon Duff: Poverty in America – BBC versus Reality