Category Archives: Bites

Crap Journalism and Islamophobia

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This is the last time.

Ian O’Doherty writing in today’s Irish Independent:

“I noticed five Algerians were arrested last Friday in connection with a plot to kill the Pope, further proving just what a religion of peace Islam is” [Irish
Independent, 20/09/10]

If O’Doherty is honestly unaware that:

“Six men arrested in a suspected terrorist plot against Pope Benedict XVI on his state visit to Britain were released without charge late Saturday night.” [MSNBC,
18/09/10]

“Six men who were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 on Friday, 17 September, were all released without charge late on Saturday night and early this morning.” [The
Guardian, 19/09/10]

…then he is simply crap at his job.

If he is actually aware of this development and chose not to mention it, then he is simply engaged in spreading Islamophobia, which wouldn’t be too much of a surprise.

The compulsion to consume

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Today’s Guardian Comment is Free section has an interesting piece by Micah White, contributing editor at Adbusters, discussing the environmental movements failure to find agreement on a solution to Global Warming. This shouldn’t really be a controversial topic for Guardian readers, who typically pride themselves on cycling to work and holidaying by train, they also apparently look something like this:

But even with these marketable green credentials, this piece has brought on a storm of angry comments, making up about half of the total 159.

Here’s a taster:

White’s central point was:

“The future of environmentalism is in liberating humanity from the compulsion to consume.”

An idea which is pretty much fundamental to what Adbsuters do. Yet even his mild suggestion that advertising, or commercial propaganda, should somehow be restrained (and no small amount of confusion among the readers as to which arguments were White’s and which he was taking issue with), was enough to prompt outcry from a large portion of those who feel the need to comment. That’s pretty depressing really. Perhaps White should have began with advertising directed at children, that angle at least should arouse less controversy.

Of course this article about reducing consumption was finely balanced with an ad for BMI airlines just to right.

For a history of advertising the best place to start is Adam Curtis’ The Century of Self and his blog here. There is also a ‘rare interview’ with him here.

Response to: ‘Arms deal’ or ‘security shift’?

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Response from the Guardian’s Middle East editor Ian Black to this email:

dear david

i would say that the phrase “security issue” can encompass both defence and offence. (security forces. national security etc).

if you have any other questions i suggest you contact reader@guardian.co.uk

yours sincerely,

ian

And my response:

Dear Ian,

I would only say that if I accepted the Bush Doctrine.

As regards the readers editor, I don’t see the need to hide behind a mediator.

Yours sincerely,

David

‘Arms deal’ or ‘security shift’?

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After reading a letter by David Traynier to the Guardian’s Ian Black regarding a report he’d penned on the recent US arms deal with Saudi Arabia, posted at Persistence of Vision, I found the article had been reproduced by the Irish Times the next day.

Traynier has since received a fairly uninterested response from Black (captured for posterity below), where he failed to answer any of Traynier’s reasonable questions:

“thanks for your email. i would say that the phrase “any military threat” includes the possibility that there isn’t actually one. a standfirst inevitably compresses material contained in the body of the article.

http://members.boardhost.com/DT3rd/msg/1284462118.html

I thought it was worth following up, even just to allow Black the chance to dismiss another criticism.

Dear Ian Black,

I’ve just read your report for the Guardian on the US arms deal with Saudi Arabia, which has been republished (in part) by the Irish Times, and I had a quick question I hope you can answer.

You explain at the beginning of the report that the purpose of the “biggest arms deal in US history” is to “shore up [US] Gulf Arab allies to face any military threat from Iran.” And again, towards the end of the piece you write: “Questions about democracy, freedoms and human rights in the kingdom clearly have a lower priority than security issues.”

Would it be fair to say that in describing the deal as a ‘security issue’ designed to face a ‘military threat’ you have framed the sale of weapons as a ‘defensive act’? It seems to me as though you have dismissed entirely the possibility that the sale of arms could potentially be viewed as an act of provocation.

Even if the reader accepts that Iran may well, now or at some future point, pose a military threat to the US and its allies, the arms deal could, even then, only be reasonably seen as a tit-for-tat provocation between regional powers, definitely not a simple case of ‘security’ against a ‘threat’.

I’d be interested to hear back from you on this. I’m also copying the Irish Times foreign desk.

Yours sincerely,

David

To:

reader@guardian.co.uk
ian.black@guardian.co.uk
foreign@irishtimes.com

[Update: I should have said: Israel clearly sees it a provocation, and they’re an ally!]

“Who is Merit, when she’s around?”

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A guest post at the Anti-Room on gender and politics…

Who is Merit, when she’s around? by Miriam Cotton

Audio – “Conflict in the Middle East: Irish Media Bias?”

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A rough audio recording of the discussion hosted by Leviathan Political Cabaret at the Mountains to Sea dlr Book Festival, featuring Robert Fisk, Richard Boyd Barrett, John McGuirk and Vincent Lavery. The discussion was chaired by Harry Browne.

It’s here in 5 parts:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

For some context on John McGuirk’s rather one sided version of the attack on the Mavi Marama, we’d like to direct readers here:

‘The false reality of news journalism’ – Reporting Palestine and the Mavi Marmara

and for more on the Israel Palestine conflict:

‘Officials say’, ‘officials say’, ‘according to an official’

McGuirk also claimed that Hamas refused to accept the aid brought by the flotilla when it was delivered to the border by the IDF. However, this is only a half truth:

“Hamas has said it will not permit the supplies to enter the besieged territory until all detained activists are released and Israel agrees to deliver all aid consignments, including construction materials.” [The Guardian, 3/06/10]

In McGuirk’s defense I thought it was particularly unfair for Fisk to argue that one had to have been to Palestine and Israel to have an opinion on the conflict.

“On the couch” with Zizek

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Zizek turns psychologist for the victims of the crisis of capitalism.

via MLMB

Don’t worry about the banks

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The Irish Times’ Stephen Collins on Anglo in Saturday’s edition:

“Whatever happens, though, the banks will be sorted out at some stage.”

Book burning vs Collecting body parts of the murdered

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During last nights excellent discussion hosted by Leviathan Political Cabaret the question was raised as to whether the media has been instrumental in creating the storm over the Florida pastor and the religious book burning. The New York Times had a good think about it yesterday and Juan Cole posted a list of the ‘Top Stories More Important than Quran-Burning Nut Job’ today.

But the Irish Times gives a perfect example of how media priorities shape not only our perception of the world, but the political energy devoted to the issues reported:

The caption beneath the photo reads:

“Pakistani men hit an effigy of Pastor Terry Jones in Punjab province, Pakistan.”

and just to the right of the image is a link to a story titled:

“Soldiers charged with murder

Twelve US soldiers have been charged with crimes in Afghanistan ranging from murdering civilians to keeping body parts as war trophies.”

A more detailed report on which can be found at the Guardian.

They could also be giving the front page to cancer rates in Fallujah, but they’re not.

The beginning and end of A Journey

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Working my way through the 80 or so articles published by the Irish Independent, Sunday Tribune, Irish Examiner and Irish Times on the opening day of Blair’s disastrous book signing tour and thought a ‘word cloud’ might throw up something interesting. It didn’t, but here they are anyway. A real analysis will follow.

Removing the words ‘Blair’, ‘book’, ‘Tony’ and ‘signing’.

via Wordle