Archive for the ‘news’ Category
UNSEEN GAZA
A report in The Independent argues that There have been two versions of the assault on Gaza played out over the past three weeks. One is the moderated account aired in the West; the other is the unexpurgated account of civilian deaths filmed in vivid close-up inside Gaza.
The Channel 4 documentary Unseen Gaza explored the the war on Gaza from the media perspective as foreign news organisations were refused access into the Gaza Strip. John Snow offers an insight into the frustation expressed by UK journalists as the IDF created a closed military zone along the borders of Israel and moved reporters on to a specially designated hill overlooking the territory, but away from the fighting.
An article on which I read on Media Channel indicates that the ban on journalists is a form of censorship and questions the motives behind the Israeli decision. The ban did not however did not apply to journalists already living and working in Gaza although it seems that they were targeted during the conflict.
What gives Israel the right to ban foreign media? Surely that only happens in countries such as Zimbawe and China whose leaders run oppressive regimes and inflict fear or terror on its citizens without intereference from the outside world.
How the press has been reporting Gaza – Guardian Article
Newspapers are supposed to be better than TV at putting over context. But they rarely are. This has always been a problem in the Israeli-Arab conflict where, as Jonathan Freedland observed in the Guardian, there is a ‘Newtonian chain of claimed action and reaction that can stretch back to infinity’. Lack of context normally works against Palestinians who are portrayed as ‘terrorists’ and wild ‘bomb-throwing militants’ bent on undermining a well-ordered, western-style state. By banning foreign journalists from entering Gaza, Israel helped turn the context problem against itself. Nearly all the stories and pictures came from local Palestinian reporters and photographers.
read more on how the press has been reporting Gaza | Media | The Guardian
Unprecedented Media Spin – Who sets the agenda for the mainstream news?
September 11, 2001- The Day the World Changed?
An eitorial review for the book September 11th, 2001 by Max Frankel:
On Tuesday September 11, our world changed forever. The United States
was attacked by an unknown terrorist organization. Word of this attack spread
instantaneously around the world. Billions of people woke up on September 12 to find
that the front page of their local newspaper was devoted to the tragedy of the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon.
People across the world watched the footage “live from the scene” Most will remember the pictures of the planes hitting the building or the Twin Towers falling to the ground. Less people will remember that 2974 people tragically lost their lives. The headlines dominated the front pages of the newspapers for weeks
Boxing Day Tsunami – 2004
Again, pictures were flashed around the world of an “unprecedented” disaster in South east Asia. The Indian Ocean tsunami, the deadliest on record, smashed into a dozen Asian and African countries on Dec. 26, 2004, swallowing up lives and homes and changing the coastline for ever.
230,000 dead or missing
2.1 million people displaced
Headlines dominated by destruction that the wave caused and the amount of foreigners that were presumed missing or dead.
Hurricane Katrina – 29th august 2005
“Reports of murder, rape and violence among the thousands trapped in New Orleans’ shelters in the wake of Hurricane Katrina shocked the world.” – BBC News
Hurricane Katrina strikes New Orleans at 8:00 AM with winds at 120 MPH and a storm surge of 18 feet.In the days immediately after Hurricane Katrina, most of us, most likely saw the same footage. Images of hurricane victims breaking into closed stores, taking food and other items, and escaping through chest-high waters with their loot.
Police chief Eddie Compass, spoke on the Oprah Winfrey show of babies being raped he also claimed tourists were being raped and beaten in the street. He later admitted that his statements were based on second-hand reports – and had turned out to be untrue.
An sightful report on the BBC News Website tells a shocking tale
New Orleans police confirm they have had no official reports of rapes or murders in the days after the city was catastrophically flooded.
Death toll – 1,836,
The media coverage on these three disasters varies greatly. From a global sympathy to victims of the New York attacks, a mass grieving for the foreign tourists of the Tsunami to a gross misjustice to the mainly black victims of Hurricane Katrina. It surely begs the question –
Who sets the agenda for the mainstream news?
Unprecedented Media Spin – Who sets the agenda for the mainstream news?
September 11, 2001- The Day the World Changed?
An eitorial review for the book September 11th, 2001 by Max Frankel:
On Tuesday September 11, our world changed forever. The United States
was attacked by an unknown terrorist organization. Word of this attack spread
instantaneously around the world. Billions of people woke up on September 12 to find
that the front page of their local newspaper was devoted to the tragedy of the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon.
People across the world watched the footage “live from the scene” Most will remember the pictures of the planes hitting the building or the Twin Towers falling to the ground. Less people will remember that 2974 people tragically lost their lives. The headlines dominated the front pages of the newspapers for weeks
Boxing Day Tsunami – 2004
Again, pictures were flashed around the world of an “unprecedented” disaster in South east Asia. The Indian Ocean tsunami, the deadliest on record, smashed into a dozen Asian and African countries on Dec. 26, 2004, swallowing up lives and homes and changing the coastline for ever.
230,000 dead or missing
2.1 million people displaced
Headlines dominated by destruction that the wave caused and the amount of foreigners that were presumed missing or dead.
Hurricane Katrina – 29th august 2005
“Reports of murder, rape and violence among the thousands trapped in New Orleans’ shelters in the wake of Hurricane Katrina shocked the world.” – BBC News
Hurricane Katrina strikes New Orleans at 8:00 AM with winds at 120 MPH and a storm surge of 18 feet.In the days immediately after Hurricane Katrina, most of us, most likely saw the same footage. Images of hurricane victims breaking into closed stores, taking food and other items, and escaping through chest-high waters with their loot.
Police chief Eddie Compass, spoke on the Oprah Winfrey show of babies being raped he also claimed tourists were being raped and beaten in the street. He later admitted that his statements were based on second-hand reports – and had turned out to be untrue.
An sightful report on the BBC News Website tells a shocking tale
New Orleans police confirm they have had no official reports of rapes or murders in the days after the city was catastrophically flooded.
Death toll – 1,836,
The media coverage on these three disasters varies greatly. From a global sympathy to victims of the New York attacks, a mass grieving for the foreign tourists of the Tsunami to a gross misjustice to the mainly black victims of Hurricane Katrina. It surely begs the question –
Who sets the agenda for the mainstream news?
Russell Brand ….Shame on you!
Russell Brand | Shagger Of The Year | Beds Virgin air hostess | The Sun |HomePage|Showbiz|Bizarre
Russell Brand had been turned away from America and beds an airhostess who looked after him on the plane home. Yawn… this a man who seriously needs a good women to make an honest man of him and make his mother proud. He is getting on a bit now and losing the charm and boyish good looks of the past, its chlamidya and a lonely future for him if he does not change his ways. Shame on Russell Brand!!
Olympic Torch fiasco
Olympic Torch Relay
The Chinese media are reporting that the Olympic torch relay in San Francisco was “successful” under enthusiastic reception of the American public, including the Chinese Americans and overseas Chinese.
Olympic torch relay concludes in San Francisco without major incidents_English_Xinhua
Another report ran with the story that thousands of people began gathering along the route of the Olympic torch relay early Wednesday morning to show their support for the torch run
One torch bearer was reported as hearing a lot of cheers along the route.
Is this the same torch relay which I watched on Western news channels. The one, in which the Olympic torch disappeard for half an hour and then, was paraded through the empty streets guarded by what appeared to be the whole of the San Fransisco policeforce. A game of hunt the Olympic torch was played out in front of the worlds media when the torch was then taken on board a bus and driven away from the site of the closing ceremony where both protestors and supporters had gathered to wait for his arrival. The closing ceremony allegedly took place first on a motorway overpass then the airport. Times Onlinereports The Olympic flame’s procession through San Francisco drew world-wide ridicule and the authorities seemed to panic and abruptly changed the route, cutting it by half and scrapping the closing ceremony. The International Olympic Comittee and the Beijing authorities were determined to avoid the protestors that had gathered to lend their their voice to the Free Tibet camapign, but that raises questions again about censorship and rights to free speech. In a democratic country such as The USA people reserve the right to demonstrate and protest however it seems that the government also reserve the right to drown out the voice of the people. Shame on you!!
Olympic Torch fiasco
Olympic Torch Relay
The Chinese media are reporting that the Olympic torch relay in San Francisco was “successful” under enthusiastic reception of the American public, including the Chinese Americans and overseas Chinese.
Olympic torch relay concludes in San Francisco without major incidents_English_Xinhua
Another report ran with the story that thousands of people began gathering along the route of the Olympic torch relay early Wednesday morning to show their support for the torch run
One torch bearer was reported as hearing a lot of cheers along the route.
Is this the same torch relay which I watched on Western news channels. The one, in which the Olympic torch disappeard for half an hour and then, was paraded through the empty streets guarded by what appeared to be the whole of the San Fransisco policeforce. A game of hunt the Olympic torch was played out in front of the worlds media when the torch was then taken on board a bus and driven away from the site of the closing ceremony where both protestors and supporters had gathered to wait for his arrival. The closing ceremony allegedly took place first on a motorway overpass then the airport. Times Onlinereports The Olympic flame’s procession through San Francisco drew world-wide ridicule and the authorities seemed to panic and abruptly changed the route, cutting it by half and scrapping the closing ceremony. The International Olympic Comittee and the Beijing authorities were determined to avoid the protestors that had gathered to lend their their voice to the Free Tibet camapign, but that raises questions again about censorship and rights to free speech. In a democratic country such as The USA people reserve the right to demonstrate and protest however it seems that the government also reserve the right to drown out the voice of the people. Shame on you!!
Olympic Torch fiasco
Olympic Torch Relay
The Chinese media are reporting that the Olympic torch relay in San Francisco was “successful” under enthusiastic reception of the American public, including the Chinese Americans and overseas Chinese.
Olympic torch relay concludes in San Francisco without major incidents_English_Xinhua
Another report ran with the story that thousands of people began gathering along the route of the Olympic torch relay early Wednesday morning to show their support for the torch run
One torch bearer was reported as hearing a lot of cheers along the route.
Is this the same torch relay which I watched on Western news channels. The one, in which the Olympic torch disappeard for half an hour and then, was paraded through the empty streets guarded by what appeared to be the whole of the San Fransisco policeforce. A game of hunt the Olympic torch was played out in front of the worlds media when the torch was then taken on board a bus and driven away from the site of the closing ceremony where both protestors and supporters had gathered to wait for his arrival. The closing ceremony allegedly took place first on a motorway overpass then the airport. Times Onlinereports The Olympic flame’s procession through San Francisco drew world-wide ridicule and the authorities seemed to panic and abruptly changed the route, cutting it by half and scrapping the closing ceremony. The International Olympic Comittee and the Beijing authorities were determined to avoid the protestors that had gathered to lend their their voice to the Free Tibet camapign, but that raises questions again about censorship and rights to free speech. In a democratic country such as The USA people reserve the right to demonstrate and protest however it seems that the government also reserve the right to drown out the voice of the people. Shame on you!!
McCanns to return to UK later today
BREAKING….The parents of missing 4 year old Madeleine McCann are expected to leave Portugal later this morning. The Press Association have reported that Kate and Gerry McCann are planning to catch the 9.30 am flight back to East Midlands to return to their Leceister home. It is believed that their flight will land in the UK at 12.20pm. Portuguese authorities have given permission for the couple to leave but they must be prepared to return to Portugal at any time to face further questions. Yesterday in a bizarre twist both parents were named as formal suspects in the investigation into her disappearance. It is understood that the Portuguese judge will start consideration of the evidence against the McCanns on Monday and this should take about 10 days. Kate and Gerry McCann continue to deny any involvement in Madeleine’s disapearance and have vowed to clear their names.
McCanns to return to UK later today
BREAKING….The parents of missing 4 year old Madeleine McCann are expected to leave Portugal later this morning. The Press Association have reported that Kate and Gerry McCann are planning to catch the 9.30 am flight back to East Midlands to return to their Leceister home. It is believed that their flight will land in the UK at 12.20pm. Portuguese authorities have given permission for the couple to leave but they must be prepared to return to Portugal at any time to face further questions. Yesterday in a bizarre twist both parents were named as formal suspects in the investigation into her disappearance. It is understood that the Portuguese judge will start consideration of the evidence against the McCanns on Monday and this should take about 10 days. Kate and Gerry McCann continue to deny any involvement in Madeleine’s disapearance and have vowed to clear their names.
