Propaganda in the global media

Flat Earth News

An award-winning reporter exposes falsehood, distortion and propaganda in the global media

“Finally I was forced to admit that I work in a corrupted profession.” When award-winning journalist Nick Davies decided to break Fleet Street’s unwritten rule by investigating his own colleagues, he found that the business of truth had been slowly subverted by the mass production of ignorance.

Working with a network of off-the-record sources, Davies uncovered the story of the prestigious Sunday newspaper which allowed the CIA and MI6 to plant fiction in its columns; the daily newsroom where senior reporters casually refer to ‘nig nogs’ and where executives routinely reject stories about black people; the respected quality paper which was so desperate for scoops that it hired a conman to set up a front company to entrap senior political figures. He found papers supporting law and order while paying cash bribes to bent detectives and hiring private investigators to steal information.

Davies names names and exposes the national news stories which turn out to be pseudo events manufactured by the PR industry and the global news stories which prove to be fiction generated by a new machinery of international propaganda.

He shows the impact of this on a world where media consumers believe a mass of stories which, in truth, are as false as the idea that the Earth is flat – from the millennium bug to the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, tainting government policy, perverting popular belief.

He presents a new model for understanding news. With the help of researchers from Cardiff University, who ran a ground-breaking analysis of the contents and sources for our daily news, Davies found most reporters most of the time are not allowed to dig up stories or check their facts – a profession corrupted at the core.

Read All About It. The news will never look the same again.

Kartheen on ‘Clinic’

very good blog..

liked the variety and presentation.

especially the way you have put up “why this blog”.

keep it up.

He wrote an Editorial….

 

Editorial

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And Then They Came For Me

No other profession calls on its practitioners to lay down their lives for their art save the armed forces and, in Sri Lanka, journalism. In the course of the past few years, the independent media have increasingly come under attack. Electronic and print-media institutions have been burnt, bombed, sealed and coerced. Countless journalists have been harassed, threatened and killed. It has been my honour to belong to all those categories and now especially the last.

I have been in the business of journalism a good long time. Indeed, 2009 will be The Sunday Leader’s 15th year. Many things have changed in Sri Lanka during that time, and it does not need me to tell you that the greater part of that change has been for the worse. We find ourselves in the midst of a civil war ruthlessly prosecuted by protagonists whose bloodlust knows no bounds. Terror, whether perpetrated by terrorists or the state, has become the order of the day. Indeed, murder has become the primary tool whereby the state seeks to control the organs of liberty. Today it is the journalists, tomorrow it will be the judges. For neither group have the risks ever been higher or the stakes lower.

Why then do we do it? I often wonder that. After all, I too am a husband, and the father of three wonderful children. I too have responsibilities and obligations that transcend my profession, be it the law or journalism. Is it worth the risk? Many people tell me it is not. Friends tell me to revert to the bar, and goodness knows it offers a better and safer livelihood. Others, including political leaders on both sides, have at various times sought to induce me to take to politics, going so far as to offer me ministries of my choice. Diplomats, recognising the risk journalists face in Sri Lanka, have offered me safe passage and the right of residence in their countries. Whatever else I may have been stuck for, I have not been stuck for choice.

But there is a calling that is yet above high office, fame, lucre and security. It is the call of conscience.

The Sunday Leader has been a controversial newspaper because we say it like we see it: whether it be a spade, a thief or a murderer, we call it by that name. We do not hide behind euphemism. The investigative articles we print are supported by documentary evidence thanks to the public-spiritedness of citizens who at great risk to themselves pass on this material to us. We have exposed scandal after scandal, and never once in these 15 years has anyone proved us wrong or successfully prosecuted us.

The free media serve as a mirror in which the public can see itself sans mascara and styling gel. From us you learn the state of your nation, and especially its management by the people you elected to give your children a better future. Sometimes the image you see in that mirror is not a pleasant one. But while you may grumble in the privacy of your armchair, the journalists who hold the mirror up to you do so publicly and at great risk to themselves. That is our calling, and we do not shirk it.

Every newspaper has its angle, and we do not hide the fact that we have ours. Our commitment is to see Sri Lanka as a transparent, secular, liberal democracy. Think about those words, for they each has profound meaning. Transparent because government must be openly accountable to the people and never abuse their trust. Secular because in a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society such as ours, secularism offers the only common ground by which we might all be united. Liberal because we recognise that all human beings are created different, and we need to accept others for what they are and not what we would like them to be. And democratic… well, if you need me to explain why that is important, you’d best stop buying this paper.

Change the world.

Journalists can help change the world.

As proof, Mexican reporter Lydia Cacho Ribeiro (45) whose courage impressed the members of the jury of the 2008 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. In an exclusive interview granted to our colleague Lucia Iglesias on the day the Prize was announced, the laureate explains how she has contributed to the evolution of legislation with respect to child pornography in her country and the abolition of legal detention of journalists following accusations for slander and libel.

 

 

 

How to become a good Journalist

Book on Journalism Released

Becoming a good journalist is the dream of a large number of students, who want to make a mark in this field. To cater budding journalists with a quality book, Atlantic Publishers has come out with How to Become A Good Journalist, written by Raza Elahi, a journalist having spent more than a decade in numerous newspapers including, Khaleej Times, The Economic Times and The Pioneer, etc.

Written in a simple language, it covers all the aspects of making of a newspaper/magazine whether it is news selection, news writing, reporting, editing, page-making or deadline pressure. The book is priced Rs 250 (hardbind) and Rs 75(paperback) and can be ordered online by sending e-mail to orders@atlanticbook s.com

Besides discussing art of interviewing, nuances of feature writing and importance of 5Ws and IH of a news copy, the author of this book has selected around 200 words/expressions and listed their correct usages. The author has also picked up raw copies of reporters and edited them in the chapter ABC of Editing. The chapter Headline Hunter will take the students through interesting aspects of headlines. For orders e-mail toorders@atlanticbook s.com

UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize

UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize

Region: Global

Deadline January 31, 2009

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) invites member states, regional and international
organisations, and professional and non-governmental organisations
working in the field of journalism and freedom of expression to
nominate candidates for the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize.

The US$25,000 award honours a journalist or organisation that has made
a notable contribution to the defence and promotion of press freedom
anywhere in the world, especially if this involved risk. The prize is
awarded every year on World Press Freedom Day.

Organisations can nominate a maximum of three candidates.
Self-nominations are not accepted.

The deadline for application is January 31 2009.

 

Contact

Programme for Freedom of Expression, Democracy and Peace
1, rue Miollis, 7573
Cedex 15

Paris
France
Tel: 33 1 45 68 42 12
Fax: 33 1 45 68 55 84
UNESCO Communication and Information website:
s.coudray@unesco. org

http://www.comminit .com/en/node/ 266198

From Dr I Arul Aram

International Media Studies – Master’s Programme Scholarship

Region
Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America, South Asia, South East and East Asia Deadline Date

The International Media Studies Master’s Programme is a 4-semester, full-time programme for further education. The programme combines topics like media and development, journalism, communication science, and media economics, while developing practical media skills and competencies. It is a joint project from the University of Bonn, the Bonn Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, and Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster with its headquarters in Bonn, Germany. The bilingual German and English Master’s Programme plans to award full scholarships to 15 applicants from Africa, Asia, Latin America, or Eastern Europe.

The deadline for application is May 31 2009.

Application Information

Contact
Dr. Christoph SchmidtHead, Academic Department/ Head, AdministrationDeuts che WelleDW-AKADEMIE
Bonn53110GermanyTel : 49 228 429 3503 
Fax: 49 228 429 3520 
International Media Studies Master’s Programme websiteDW-AKADEMIEwebsiteChristoph. Schmidt@dw- world.de

FROM

Dr I Arul Aram PhD, PDF (LSE)
Coordinator, Science & Technology Communication
Department of Media Sciences
Anna University
Chennai 600025
Office: 91-44- 64553733, 22351579
Home: 91-44-23614903

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