TwentyFirst C Christianity

Western media do not care about balance or freedoms

Many in the MSM seem not to care about presenting stories fairly and without biases, despite making big claims for their profession's importance and status in a free society. Many have lost credibility in recent years when they have been caught out in this way, but it continues. See below.

Perhaps the most typical bias is in unfair reporting of the Middle East, especially of Israel and their many enemies. Syrian occupation dominated and subverted Lebanese politics for two decades, but the MSM reported very little on that intrusion, preferring to condemn Israel for its partial occupation of this area in order to protect its borders from direct attacks. Little is reported from the PA areas on the insidious failure of a free press there, or in Arab countries generally. Al Jazeera is presented as somehow 'liberal', yet it is banned in Iraq for its obvious anti-American bias.
The two PA Intifadas were widely represented as 'spontaneous' and 'understandable' protests, instead of condemning the cause, a virulent antisemitic press that dominates these people, and now produces martyr bombers backed by an elected terrorist government.
In fact, M-E Western journalists show every sign of warping their reports to ensure they do not offend the anti-Israel groups they report on there.

The same tailoring of reports is found in China journalism increasingly, where the commonality is also a complete absence of a free press.
A gross example is the local Adelaide [SA] paper reporting on the female 'reporter' who gate-crashed the address of the visiting Chinese leader in the presence of George Bush. She was protesting the lack of freedom of religion in China and said, before being 'dragged away' :
'Pres. Bush, stop him from killing', and, addressing President Hu: 'Your time is over. Evil people will die early.' Later reports said she faces jail for this harmless act.

This symbolic act was in a context of peaceful 'anti-Chinese demonstrations in almost every large American city', yet the report, from Britain's Daily Mail, said nothing about the importance of freedom in the West this illustrates.

Instead, as 'comment', it reported a former Defence 'Asia adviser' as saying 'Security's failure to control the situation [it did in fact] would only increase China's suspicion of the US.' So this only has relevance for defence relations with China, and public control???
What a travesty of support for basic Western freedoms, especially as this is about a Falun Gong protestor against horrific religious suppression -'banned and brutally crushed' in the report's own words.
Needless to add, the Chinese filming of this event was immediately blacked out, and no reference in China was made to the incident 'as if it had never happened'.
Recently the MSM was recalling the similar failure of the Soviet press to report properly to the people on Chernobyl. Yet China gets an armchair ride here and now.

The final journalistic absurdity is in the headline above this piece:
Lone Chinese Protestor Humiliates Bush.

posted by Barrie @ 4/22/2006 04:12:00 PM