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saferworld

Listed below are comments made by saferworld between Wednesday, 1st July 2009 and Wednesday, 1st July 2009.

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No independent day for Norwich MP 7:24pm on 01 Jul 2009 I too wish to register my disappointment that Craig Murray was omitted from the Newsnight piece, and there's no mention of him on this blog, either. My view is that this omission is an expression of establishment bias, rather than the articulated political preferences of political editors. As part of the mainstream news system, editors tend to take the subconscious position that anything that would sweep too cleanly is too radical, or represents change too unsettling, for it to be printed or broadcast.

Hence, the mainstream news system tends to take a lukewarm position on environmental issues, despite the overwhelming evidence that we need to act much more urgently on it. News corporations are also pro-capitalism, given that an alternative would represent a ground-breaking change - thus revealing the lie that said corporations are 'impartial'. The same can be said for tacit mainstream support for the Iraq War, which by any serious analysis broke international law (regardless of arguments that suggest it was "morally right").

It is therefore my view that the same set of "establishment rules" apply to Mr. Murray. He's outspoken, and got himself into trouble for it several times. He's a maverick, and exposed the immorality and lies of US/UK government statements on complicity with torture. He quite rightly condemns wars we wage when they are illegal, he condemns Zionism stridently whilst it is still unfashionable to do so, and he speaks out against the BBC when its reportage is unfair. He has a colourful private life too, and has been quite candid about that in his books and on his blog.

So, all slightly anti-establishment, perhaps enough to ruffle some expensive feathers, and hence considered a bit too hot to touch. It's no wonder us plebs are considered 'disenfranchised' by the talking heads; after the filtering processes have finished their work, the news information we receive is sanitised and distorted, and hardly worth knowing.

Still, Michael Crick can take this as a challenge. First step, a blog post on Craig's candidacy. Then, an interview on Newsnight, by way of apologising for the earlier oversight. Any chance, Auntie?

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