Media Lens Profile picture
Sep 17, 2020 6 tweets 2 min read Read on X
Compare and contrast Noam Chomsky's articulate, insightful commentary on the world with the propaganda version broadcast every day by @BBCNews and the rest of the 'mainstream' news media.

newstatesman.com/world/2020/09/…
The state of the UK. What a club to belong to:

'Chomsky described Trump as the figurehead of a new “reactionary international” consisting of Brazil, India, the UK, Egypt, Israel and Hungary.'
Chomsky:

'the UK government’s threat to “violate international law and make a total break with the European Union” would “turn a fading Britain into even more of a vassal of the United States then it’s already become”. '
Chomsky:

'What the left should do is what it always should do: it should recognise that real politics is constant activism, in one form or another.'
Chomsky:

'In my view everybody, if they stop to think about it, is an anarchist, except the people who are pathological. The core principle of anarchism, from its origins, has been that authority and domination and hegemony have a burden of proof to bear...'
Chomsky:

'#Israel has moved so far to the right that you need a telescope to see it, it’s about the only country in the world where young people are even more reactionary than adults.'

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More from @medialens

Mar 20, 2023
Thread. Compare BBC on Putin's visit to Mariupol, 2023, and Blair's visit to Iraq, 2003.

On Putin, 'occupied' is mentioned in the headline and in the text under the first picture; four times overall. 'Occupation' is mentioned once.
bbc.com/news/world-eur…
On Blair, 2003, the BBC makes no mention of the terms 'occupied' or 'occupation', even though Iraq certainly was under illegal US-UK occupation. Beneath a photo of Blair holding a child:

'Abbas Adnan greeted Mr Blair with kisses.'
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politi…
First 2 paras:

'UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has told British troops in Iraq that they took part in "a momentous and mighty act" in liberating the country from Saddam.

'Mr Blair said history would look back on the Iraq conflict as "one of the defining moments of the century".'
Read 4 tweets
Nov 1, 2022
An absolute must-listen #AlexeiSayle intervew with Richard Sanders, one of the makers of Al Jazeera's #LabourFiles.

* Takes apart how antisemitism was deployed as 'the perfect weapon' to destroy Jeremy Corbyn's chances of becoming PM.

* Keir Starmer's capitulation to the Israel lobby and shift to the right.
* Addresses the almost universal silence in response to the #LabourFiles series.

* Ends on a hopeful note because the media and politics cannot endlessly ignore the large part of the UK population who hold left-leaning views.
Read 5 tweets
Oct 12, 2022
If you harbour any illusions about George Monbiot being a friend of the Left, you need to read this vital piece by @Jonathan_K_Cook 👇

jonathancook.substack.com/p/whenever-it-…
As Media Lens can attest, George Monbiot has long been weak, if not appalling, on foreign policy issues especially.

You can search our archive of media alerts to see for yourself, including exchanges we have had with Monbiot, going back 20 years.

medialens.org/?s=monbiot
In December 2002, as the war drums were beating loudly for an attack on Iraq, Monbiot used his @guardian column to argue that:

'It is not difficult to conceive of a just war against Iraq.'

Our exchange with him at the time:

medialens.org/2002/update-ge…
Read 5 tweets
Jun 22, 2022
Corbyn:

“I have absolutely no illusions in the Guardian, none whatsoever. My mum brought me up to read the Guardian. She said, ‘It’s a good paper you can trust’. You can’t. After their treatment of me, I do not trust the Guardian.”
declassifieduk.org/exclusive-jere…
Corbyn:

"There are good people who work in the Guardian... but as a paper, it’s a tool of the British establishment. It’s a mainstream establishment paper. So, as long as everybody on the left gets it clear: when you buy the Guardian, you’re buying an establishment paper."
“The meeting with the entirety of the [Guardian] staff was fine. We then had a meeting with the editorial team. Bit different,” he adds, raising his eyebrows. “It was like I was being warned; like I was being warned by this team of actually incredibly self-important people.”
Read 4 tweets
Apr 8, 2022
Brilliant clarity from Noam Chomsky:

'Energy and attention should be focused on where we can do most good. With regard to international affairs that typically means focusing on the actions of one’s own state.'

'That’s particularly true in more or less democratic societies where citizens have some role in determining outcomes. To say that actual practice fails to conform to this elementary principle would be a vast understatement.'
'There is a comment attributed to Gandhi who was asked what he thought about western civilisation. His response was he thought it would be a good idea. Regrettably, the same response holds for international law. It would be a good idea if states had some interest in it.'
Read 4 tweets
Mar 7, 2022
The type of heart-rending picture the BBC did *not* use in reporting the equally illegal 2003 US-UK invasion of Iraq. Not even when 70% of the buildings in the third city, Fallujah, were being demolished in 2004. medialens.org/2010/beyond-hi…
On November 30, 2004, the UN’s Integrated Regional Information Network reported on Fallujah, Iraq:

‘Approximately 70 percent of the houses and shops were destroyed in the city and those still standing are riddled with bullets.’ (irinnews.org)
Fallujah, 2004:

'We’ll unleash the dogs of hell, we’ll unleash ’em… They don’t even know what’s coming – hell is coming. If there are civilians in there, they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.' (Sergeant Sam Mortimer, US marines, Channel 4 News, November 8, 2004)
Read 5 tweets

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