Not quite all of the News.

When the "News" is neither accurate or comprehensive.

At 10pm last night, we had stories covering Nouri al-Maliki, Ferguson Missouri, mount Sinjar, Robin Williams, GCE A levels, Sir Cliff Richard, David Cameron and arming the Kurds, Russia and the Ukraine, Syria, European athletics, Ebola, Eurozone, Tony Pulis (I did not know who he is either. It seems that he is/was the manager of Crystal Palace), and a number of other, in some cases even less significant stories than those listed, purporting to be "The News".
BBC Television News channel, Sky News, The News from ITN and even Aljazeera, all carrying stories and reports of events at home and from around the world. However, what was conspicuous by its absence on all news channels, certainly the ones which I saw at least, was any report on the current situation in Gaza. Not a mention or even a word.
It was as if Gaza had completely ceased to exist and had disappeared into the sea. Aljazeera did not make a passing reference to the Palestinians or even the ceasefire talks in Cairo.

Palestinians stand in rubble of the al-Qassam mosque

I am not suggesting that Gaza should dominate every news programme on every channel on the hour, every day every week, as there are many stories which demand and should rightly receive coverage, but for all major news channels to fail to even mention the truce extension, the exchange of rockets resulting in Israeli airstrikes as the extended ceasefire came into effect, is baffling to say the least and could be considered by some to be ominous.
Even leaving aside the question of ceasefires, rockets, Egyptian mediators and other important matters but not necessarily at the top of the list of issues for this discussion, it is difficult to reconcile the proposition that the manager of some football team for example, is somehow more newsworthy than the plight of 500,000 homeless who remain without shelter, children usually two to a bed in overcrowded hospitals, the lack of food water and shelter in the area and the immense task of rebuilding homes, hospitals and infrastructure.

Yesterday, (August 14th) I commented on how the story of the Yazidi people on Mount Sinjar, had overnight become almost a non story, as things were not as bad as previously thought and that only a few thousand people remained on the mountain top.
Yet this item featured prominently on the "news" channels carrying reports from correspondents in Washington, London, Irbil and Baghdad.
It is a question of balance. At the end of the day of course, the content of a news programme or a magazine or newspaper is an editorial decision for the programme management, but it would be worrying to think that content decisions were being taken by a third party based more on political bias and expediency, than on comprehensive, accurate and true coverage. I have already raised the specter of state or other interference with the content of our news.
It would be a sinister progression down the path towards complete restriction or manipulation of media content, if reports from Gaza and the living conditions and fate of the people there were to be completely eradicated from the news as is clearly the case with Bahrain.

A perverse and rather sinister media obsession to discredit, smear and undermine Jeremy Corbyn

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/venezuela-jeremy-corbyn-blasted-for-not-condemning-president-maduro-a3606156.html#commentsDiv Venezuela: Jeremy Corbyn blasted for not condemning socialist President Nicolas Maduro as violent conflict escalates There is a perverse and rather sinister obsesseion with the media and particularly television "interveiwers", in seeking to secure from Jeremy Corbyn a "condemnation" of some person or organisation or event. This time it is connected with events in Venezuela and the actions of President Nicolas Maduro and the bloody crackdown on protests against the result of last weeks poll which inaugurated a constituent assembly . The media "stories" and the interrogation by the television interviewers, are as subtle as a sledgehammer being nothing more than a variation on the "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" question, which so many repoters use in order for them to make themselves appear very ...

Enough of this hysterical nonsense

http://style.uk.msn.com/royal-baby/how-will-the-royal-baby-look-as-he-grows-up Media generated hysteria. This is too much. For the last 36 hours (thought it seems more like 36 days) there has been wall to wall news coverage, media and television comment and reporting, with Sky News taking first prize for frenzied minute by minute reporting from the Palace, the hospital, from a village somewhere in England, from the studio and anywhere else that Burley, Botting and company could stick a microphone into some obscure "celebrity's" face and ask for yet another banal quote. All this galvanising the mass hysteria of some elements of the public, (who the media would have you believe is the reaction of "the whole world",) with their flag waving, dancing, singing and cheering over what is after all, no more than a woman having a bab...

Northern Ireland and Brexit. The return of "The Troubles"

Northern Ireland: police attacked in another night of disturbances | Northern Ireland | The Guardian When the "Brexit" debate was still filling our newspapers and our television screens, readers may remember why I had changed my mind since voting to leave at the referendum vote. Apart from the economic arguments, which had become crystal clear after peeling away all the lies and misrepresentations trotted out by Bozo Boris and his "Get Brexit Done" conspirators, there was always the problem of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Would it be possible to have a border between the European Union and the United Kingdom where people, goods and services could pass freely between the two nations without customs restrictions, tariffs, duties and all the other formalities? Would it be possible to have one part of the United Kingdom treated differently from other parts of the United Kingdom, particularly when Scotland for example had voted overwhe...

Agenda 2019

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