UK Other Press Newswire Archive
The Iraq War ‘Inquiry’: ‘Revelations’? What revelations?
27-11-2009 22:17
Venezuela: anti-police impunity activist assassinated
27-11-2009 21:11
In just the latest attack on social movements in the country. unidentified gunmen shoot dead a 24-year-old cameraman involved with the Comité de Víctimas en Contra de la Impunidad (CVCI) in Barquisimeto, Lara, Venezuela. Below is the translation of an official communiqué from Caracas-based anarchist newspaper El Libertario.Dancing on a Mass Grave - Oliver Kamm of The Times Smears Media Lens
25-11-2009 22:19
One of our most relentless critics is Oliver Kamm, leader writer and blogger at The Times. Kamm joined the paper in 2008 having been an investment banker and co-founder of a hedge fund. In a 2006 blog, Kamm described us as “a shrill group of malcontents”, an “aggressively simple-minded lobby” guilty of "unprofessional and often comically inept exegesis" whose approach “demeans public life”. An impressive claim to make about one writer living off donations, one writer working in his spare time after finishing full-time work, and a virtually unpaid webmaster. David Cromwell, Kamm added, is “an ignoramus”.(
http://oliverkamm.typepad.com/blog/2006/12/media_lens_vs_h.html)
Invitation to protest against junta’s planned sham 2010 election
25-11-2009 19:06
“If this country is to achieve genuine democracy, the result of the elections of 1990 must be recognized. This is something we cannot abandon. It will be to the detriment of our country if after an election has been held the results are not honoured and we do not resist attempts to trivialise it.” Aung San Suu Kyi.Citizens in Defence of Rights and Freedoms – Project Justice Gonçalo Amaral
24-11-2009 06:48
War and Remembrance: About Patria, Pageants and Poppies
21-11-2009 22:46
All the ‘war on terror’ has done is terrorize everybody and drag us deeper and deeper into the quagmire of the ‘new world order’.
From the former Yugoslavia to Somalia the Anglo-Saxon Empire is busy turning the planet into a graveyard.
A Comparative Review of Flat Earth News and Newspeak
20-11-2009 12:33
Jonathan Cook has been covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from Nazareth, Israel, as a freelance reporter for the past eight years. Before that he was a staff journalist at the Guardian and Observer newspapers. His latest books on the conflict are ‘Israel and the Clash of Civilisations’ (Pluto, 2008) and ‘Disappearing Palestine’ (Zed, 2008). His website is www.jkcook.netIn the two-part Guest Media Alert that follows, Cook attempts the truly Herculean task of dissecting and comparing the key arguments in Nick Davies’s book ‘Flat Earth News’ and our own recently published ‘Newspeak in the 21st Century.’ The results are enthralling but demanding - even hardened media analysts will require a plentiful supply of tea and biscuits throughout.
Please do not underestimate the unique nature of the analysis Cook is offering. While Davies’s book was discussed, reviewed, and applauded, far and wide in both print and broadcast media, our own book (published in September) has so far limped to just two, largely dismissive, reviews in mainstream outlets, in the Guardian and Times Higher Education (THE), totalling exactly 1,000 words. Our previous book, Guardians of Power (2006), has never been mentioned, let alone reviewed, in any mainstream national UK newspaper.
The truth is that dissident media analyses are consistently ignored in this way - it is not just us. And so Cook’s comparison of Davies’s mainstream view of the media with an analysis based on Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s “propaganda model of media control” is a vanishingly rare event. As ever, Cook’s experience as a professional journalist adds a fascinating additional dimension to his analysis.
Cook produced this mega-review - nearly 10,000 words of it - completely free of charge. It is an extraordinary act of generosity from a fine and thoughtful journalist. We would like to express our sincere thanks to him. If you would like to thank him or otherwise comment, you can write to him here:
mail@jkcook.net
Abundance takes on People's Kitchen this Saturday 14th Nov!
12-11-2009 20:41
Saturday 14th November, 6.30pm
Fort Hood: A media orgy of rumors, speculation and falsehoods
11-11-2009 20:49
Perhaps most irresponsible of all is the unverified claim that Hasan had written on the Internet in defense of suicide attacks by Muslims, even though the origins of those writings are entirely unverified. Similarly, certain news organizations -- like NPR -- used anonymous sources to disseminate inflammatory claims about Hasan's prior troubles allegedly grounded in activism on behalf of Islam.
Brighton Refuse Workers Suspend Industrial Action To Allow Further Negotiations
10-11-2009 16:32
Negotiations have moved in the right direction which means negotiators were able to put the revised offer to the members who agreed to suspend action for 21 daysScotland Yard riot squad faces calls to end 'culture of impunity'
09-11-2009 21:25
Of more than 5,000 complaints against squad, less than 0.18% were upheldFree political newsletter launched in Newcastle
09-11-2009 00:17
'The Grey Matter' - a free monthly political newsletter has been launched in Newcastle'Movement' #1 - No Borders Newsletter
06-11-2009 20:45
The BBC’S Jeremy Paxman on Iraq - “We were hoodwinked”
06-11-2009 20:15
In an interview last week, Jeremy Paxman - leading interviewer on BBC 2’s flagship Newsnight programme - claimed that he had been “hoodwinked” by US government propaganda prior to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Paxman commented:"As far as I personally was concerned, there came a point with the presentation of the so-called evidence, with the moment when Colin Powell sat down at the UN General Assembly and unveiled what he said was cast-iron evidence of things like mobile, biological weapon facilities and the like...
"When I saw all of that, I thought, well, 'We know that Colin Powell is an intelligent, thoughtful man, and a sceptical man. If he believes all this to be the case, then, you know, he's seen the evidence; I haven't.’
"Now that evidence turned out to be absolutely meaningless, but we only discover that after the event. So, you know, I’m perfectly open to the accusation that we were hoodwinked. Yes, clearly we were."
(Paxman, ‘Is World Journalism in Crisis?‘, Coventry University online interview, October 28, 2009. The entire interview is available here:
http://coventryuniversity.podbean.com/2009/10/29/is-there-a-crisis-in-world-journalism-jeremy-paxman/ )
"Afghan betrayal"
05-11-2009 20:36
If your country has been under a brutal occupation for eight years, would you consider working in the service of the occupation forces?
Wouldn’t that be the ultimate betrayal against your fellow countrymen who have been subjected to genocide?
Well, the colonial mentality of the British press would have us believe this is precisely what we should expect from the people of Afghanistan...
Poppy Appeal billboard 'vandal' apologises
02-11-2009 15:48
http://www.arrse.co.uk/Forums/viewtopic/printertopic=1/t=136587/postdays=0/postorder=asc/start=20.html http://www.kentnews.co.uk/kent-news/Poppy-Appeal-billboard-vandal-apologises--newsinkent29535.aspx?news=local
The Guardian on protest. Can we trust it?
02-11-2009 13:52
"Funny that the Guardian is doing the police's work for them": Tweet
On the evening of Sunday October 25th, a number of activists were angry to discover that the Guardian had published the full DSEi 2005 spotter card on it's website. Next day it appeared on the front page of the print edition. The anger resulted from discussions that several of those featured had had with Guardian Journo Rob Evans,several weeks before, after they became aware that the Guardian had the card and was planning to run a story on it. They contacted Rob Evans and informed him that several people on the card did not want their images published. Several of those who were prepared to comment on the story made it clear that they were only prepared to do so, if the Guardian agreed to pixellate the pictures of those who did not wish to be involved.
As an article in The Register noted:
"According to sources within the activist community, many of them are hopping mad. Some of those who are still active feel that this is every bit as intrusive as the police action: others, who have not been active politically for many years, point out that displaying their pictures prominently in the national press, alongside copy that highlights the police description of such activists as "domestic extremists", could have serious implications for their jobs and livelihoods."
Death threats for journalists covering far right demos
02-11-2009 12:13
The call by NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear comes in the wake of specific email threats against photojournalist and investigative reporter Marc Vallée, and video journalist Jason N. Parkinson.
The emails follow verbal threats and intimidation aimed at photographers covering a march by the English Defence League in Leeds at the weekend and other EDL protests this year.
Professional journalists covering the events have filed reports with the NUJ detailing physical violence, including one being punched in the head, verbal threats, and attempts to seize cameras and smash equipment. The union is to file complaints to the police.
Support For The Afghan Poppy Appeal Poster Defacement
31-10-2009 16:09
As the mainstream media outrage (from the likes of the Hate Mail and Torygraph) dies down, the voices of many people in the armed forces and others who support the posters new message starts to be heard.