16 June 2024

A message about Noam Chomsky: an update

No doubt like many other people around the world, we have been surprised and increasingly concerned that Noam Chomsky has not commented publicly on current events for around one year; in particular, on the Israeli genocide of Palestinians.

20 January 2024

John Pilger - 'A Majority Of One'

In exact opposition to the way Israeli journalists are now burying the truth of their governments genocide in Gaza, Pilger wrote in 2006: In reclaiming the honour of our craft, not to mention the truth, we journalists at least need to understand the historic task to which we are assigned that is, to report the rest of humanity in terms of its usefulness, or otherwise, to us, and to soften up the public for rapacious attacks on countries that are no threat to us.

24 November 2023

Is that Orwellian or Kafkaesque enough for you? The Guardian removes Bin Ladens Letter To America

The Guardian has long promoted itself as a valiant publisher of news and analysis that holds the powerful to account. It is a thing of wonder that the Guardian appends the following comment beneath news pieces: Our quality, investigative journalism is a scrutinising force at a time when the rich and powerful are getting away with more and more. For over twenty years, Media Lens has shown how false is this claim.

21 October 2023

Gaza genocide exposes fundamental bias in the state-corporate news media

On BBC Newsnight, host Kirsty Wark listened to Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK, describe how six of his family members had been killed by Israeli air strikes. Wark reacted oddly: Im sorry for your own personal loss. I mean, can I just be clear, though, you cannot condone the killing of civilians in Israel, can you? This captures an essential element of western media coverage in the region.

23 September 2023

The mass-media memory hole: Ukraine, Libya and war crimes

A key function of state-corporate media is to keep the public pacified, ignorant and ill-equipped to disrupt establishment power.

18 September 2023

Climate collapse - The grim silence of our leaders

None of us has previously witnessed a barrage of extreme weather events of the kind that has been devastating lives across the globe this summer.

16 June 2023

Killing the story Bakhmut, Nick Cohen, Kakhovka, Nord Stream and Piers Morgan

The late writer, broadcaster and wit Clive James formulated what he called the Barry Manilow Law:

17 May 2023

Climate breakdown, extinction and The Most Stupid Boast

In a recent Guardian advert pleading for readers to hand over money to the paper, leading columnist Marina Hyde declared: My absolute favourite thing about the Guardian is not being told what to write.

13 May 2023

Souls for sale The Times interviews Noam Chomsky

In a society built on lies, the search for truth is a game.