Syrian Conflict: Biases on International Involvement in the UK Media
17 June 2013

Barack Obama's decision to further arm the Syrian rebels, which has prompted Iran to respond by sending 4,000 troops to support Bashar Al-Assad, has been met by the BBC's Mark Mardell, currently travelling with Obama, not by high-level alarm at the potential repercussions of the internationalisation of the Syrian conflict, but...

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UK Media Helps Pave Road to War on Syria
8 May 2013

The Syrian conflict has been accompanied by a distinct media narrative. Within this narrative - which poses a binary division between the forces engaged in the conflict, identifying the players as good (the rebels, who must receive 'our' support) and bad (the government) - the role the West must play is...

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'Could Prove Useful to Israel': Media Support for Western Arms Deals
23 April 2013

An important job for the representatives of any world power is to fly around the world selling arms to client states. Despite David Cameron's constant rhetoric that countries to have a right to defend themselves (preferably using British-made hardware), it is certainly undeniable that continuous arms sales in no way make...

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Reporting on Syria: How the Media Designates a Role for the UK
20 March 2013

'We believe that a people is in danger today [...] we have to give the Syrian opposition the means finally to gain the upper hand, that is the departure of Bashar al-Assad', announced French president Francois Hollande recently, while David Cameron explained that 'what we want to do is work with...

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The BBC's 'Bogeyman' Narrative on Hugo Chavez
7 March 2013

The BBC maintained a strong a record of misleading reporting throughout the presidency of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who died on Tuesday, following a two year battle with cancer. Yet today's article by Jon Kelly, 'Hugo Chavez and the era of anti-American bogeymen', takes a particularly spiteful slant on the issue...

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Acquiescence and Sycophancy as David Cameron Tours North Africa
4 February 2013

Many of the major UK news reports are routinely shaped by Prime Ministerial speeches and press releases, often including a sense of balance in presenting oppositional views emerging from parliamentary debate and opposition. However on issues such as foreign policy, upon which the main political parties are more or less in...

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Legitimising Violence in Reporting on International Conflict
4 February 2013

The media's portrayal of international conflict often implicitly expresses judgement on the justness or otherwise of the use of force. This is evident in the differing approaches taken towards the reporting of acts of war, in which the issue of violence is portrayed by turn as legitimate or criminal, depending on...

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Fact-checking Rory Carroll on Venezuela
28 January 2013

In the New Statesman on 25 January 2013, a special feature entitled 'After Chavez' included contributions from two of The Guardian's former Latin America correspondents, Richard Gott and Rory Carroll, presenting opposing viewpoints on the current situation in Venezuela, and the political legacy of the Chavez government. The New Statesman leader comments...

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Logical Fallacies: The Financial Times on Syria and Uranium Stockpiles
10 January 2013

On 8 January the Financial Times published an article by James Blitz, entitled 'Fears raised over Syria uranium stockpile', premised primarily on the 'fears' and otherwise subjective ruminations of unnamed 'official' and 'expert' sources, one the two named sources being former weapons inspector David Albright (discussed further below). The claims of Blitz's...

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UK Reporting on Venezuela Continues to be Clouded by Partiality
17 December 2012

As Hugo Chavez receives further cancer treatment in Cuba, this time seemingly with much higher stakes than before, the UK media has again shown where its interests lie when it comes to reporting on left-wing Latin American governments. The attack has come in many forms, from portraying once again the country...

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Whitewashing an Assault: BBC Coverage of the Israel-Gaza Ceasefire
22 November 2012

Last night a ceasefire came into effect after a week of attacks on Gaza which left over 150 Palestinians dead (at least 40 of them children) and rocket fire into Israel which left 5 Israelis dead. Before the news of the ceasefire became the front-page headline on the BBC News website,...

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Siding with the Powerful: UK Media Coverage of the Assault on Gaza
16 November 2012

The BBC News, and particularly the reports from Diplomatic Correspondent Jonathan Marcus, on the ongoing Israeli military attacks on the Gaza Strip has presented the violence as little more than a defensive policy manoeuvre by Israel, whose government, in Marcus's view, 'clearly wants' another ceasefire. On Wednesday Marcus wrote that the Israeli...

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Luring an Attack: Julian Borger Claims Insight Into Iran's Motives
16 November 2012

Last week news reports emerged that Iranian warplanes had fired on a US Predator surveillance drone over the Gulf waters on the 1st November, 5 days before the US presidential elections. News of the incident was suppressed by the US until after the elections, we were told. As is standard practice in...

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The Treasures of War: The Today Programme on 'Britain's Great Adventure in Basra'
26 October 2012

Radio 4's Today programme of 16 October provided rare, frank insight into the priorities behind the British occupation of Iraq, and the inherent entanglement between the military effort and 'British business'. Presenter John Humphrys discussed the closure of the British consulate in Basra with financier Andrew Alderson and executive chairman of...

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Venezuelan Election Day: Channel 4 Selects Pro-Opposition Viewpoints
7 October 2012

British news is today (07/10/2012) much concerned with the elections underway in Venezuela. The election will be the 'closest since Hugo Chavez took power' (The Guardian), or the 'the country's most tightly contested presidential election in a decade' (BBC). To begin with, it should be noted that the above assertions are themselves...

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Alarm and Hypocrisy: When Retaliation is Unacceptable to the Media
3 October 2012

The Independent's 'legendary pedant', Guy Keleny, recently highlighted the hypocrisy of press reporting on nuclear weapons: 'It is an iron law of journalese usage that every nuclear power in the world has a nuclear weapon - except one. Britain alone occupies a higher moral plane, and deploys not a weapon but...

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Olympic Security and the Limits of Debate
27 July 2012

'Our instructions from government are absolutely clear', explained Home Office security and counter-terrorism head Charles Farr to the BBC's Gordon Corera. '[O]f course the priority must be to save and protect life, but our priority should also be to keep the Games running. The Games go on'. The need to secure the...

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Choosing Sides: The BBC's Coverage of the Venezuelan Election Race
19 July 2012

In the upcoming Venezuelan presidential elections, to be held in October of this year, the electorate will choose between current President Hugo Chavez and opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski, former governor of Miranda state. BBC coverage of the run-up to the presidential elections to date has depicted a situation in which one...

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Nuclear State: Media not Concerned about UK Weapons Development
18 June 2012

Over the last 7 months, UK journalists have consistently voiced their objection to nuclear weapons proliferation. This opposition appears as the western media holds a magnifying glass to Iran and speculation abounds over Iran's nuclear capabilities; speculation that appears to be more in line with western governments' policy rather than with...

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Justifying Targeted Assassinations: the BBC on the Effectiveness of Drone Strikes
7 June 2012

In support of the ongoing policy of US drone strikes in Pakistan, US defence secretary Leon Panetta stated that "This [policy] is about our sovereignty as well". His comment came in response to claims by Pakistan that their sovereignty is at risk as a result of the drone attacks. Despite the...

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Iran: Speculation on Parchin Site Propagates through Guardian Reporting
5 June 2012

On the issue of the ongoing 'Iran Crisis' (in BBC speak), the evidence presented to us about the potential development of nuclear weapons by Iran remains heavily based on speculation, and has in recent months focussed on the hypothetical musings of a Washington think-tank, based on satellite images of an Iranian...

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The Unworthy Victims of US Drones Attacks
8 May 2012

Many victims of acts of terrorism or state aggression receive the sympathy they deserve from the international media. In the case of certain aggressors however, the victims are 'unworthy'. On behalf of these victims, our media has little interest in consulting with experts on terrorism or international relations. Nor do they...

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Downplaying the Arms Trade: BBC Complicity
13 April 2012

David Cameron recently 'packed a plane full of business people' (in his own words) on a trip to Indonesia. Reporting on his 'trade tour of East and South East Asia', the news celebrated the securing of a '£326m Airbus Deal'. In a BBC report, it was pointed out that 'representatives from...

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An Attack on Iran Would Be Illegal. What Does the Media Say?
23 March 2012

The 'option' of a military attack on Iran by Israel, the UK and the US has been increasingly discussed in the UK media since 2011. Government threats of military action have come in various forms, with Israel warning of potential air strikes against Iran in the next few months, and Obama and...

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Cameron and Blair: The Media Continues to Dutifully Convey Intelligence 'Warnings'
7 March 2012

For the invasion of Iraq in 2003, 'top secret' intelligence was used to create a media storm concerning weapons of mass destruction which could be deployed in 45 minutes. Now, the media reports on a 'top-secret' briefing by MI6 to UK ministers on the 'Iranian Nuclear Threat'. The routine appears familiar:...

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Sympathy for the Markets: How our Media Forgot the People of Greece
22 February 2012

Last night the BBC reported on its front page that Greece 'averts nightmare outcome'. Naturally, this meant that another bailout package had been agreed upon. The 'Who loses out?' link which appeared below the front page title directed to a page that does not mention Greek people or society. Rather, the article...

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Perspective Lacking as Allegations against Iran are Paraded through the Media
6 February 2012

Last week the Guardian's diplomatic editor, Julian Borger, reported on the 'increasing likelihood that Iran could carry out attacks in America or against US and allied targets around the world.' The claim was not his own of course; he was merely repeating without scrutiny that which was presented by James Clapper, the...

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Financial Sector Pushes for 'Improved Relationship' with Parliament in The Times
4 February 2012

'We can't do business in the UK, say top bankers', claims the front page of Saturday's Times. After a week in which chief executive of RBS, Stephen Hester, backed away from a £1m bonus, while his predecessor, Fred Goodwin, was stripped of his knighthood, the lead article by Patrick Hosking and...

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How the UK Media Legitimise the Idea of a War on Iran
26 January 2012

The UK media has over the last three months obediently towed the line of western leaders in their increasingly hostile posturing towards Iran. Despite their reporting of (to give a few examples) a covert war on Iran, the entry of a US spy drone into Iranian airspace, and the recent assassination of...

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Venezuela in the UK Media, Part 2: Business Interests and the Refining of the Media Campaign
12 January 2012

Business Interests The presidency of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, and those of other Latin American leaders whose policies are at odds with those dominant in Europe and the US, are often labelled as 'controversial' in BBC coverage, regardless of how overwhelming their election victories might be. Defining the news, business leaders or opposition...

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Venezuela in the UK Media, Part 1: The Opposition and US Interference
9 January 2012

'One of the most visible, vocal and controversial leaders in Latin America' (according to the BBC), Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez receives much attention from the British media. Frequent news reports, alluding to government 'attacks' on democracy and press freedom, and discussing the nationalisation of assets, create an impression of a 'regime' which...

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End of an Occupation: Whitewashing the Legacy of Iraq
16 December 2011

Iraq is now free, if you believe the news coverage of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's diplomatic visit to the US. In what seems to be hailed as a step forward, the BBC report that Maliki has 'called on US business leaders to invest in his country'. Maliki is reported as saying that...

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Dan Hodges: 'Keeping the Peace' by Calling for War
8 December 2011

In a low-point for the Telegraph blogosphere earlier this week, Dan Hodges wrote that Britain needs a 'Start the War Coalition' to function as a response to the existing Stop the War Coalition (StW) which has been working to prevent and stop British wars since 2001. Running with the Orwellian logic...

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Language Creep: Iran and the Nuclear 'Threat'
27 November 2011

The IAEA report on the state of Iran's nuclear programme released on 9 November didn't quite present western governments with the doomsday scenario they had hoped for. The run-up to the report's publication became a platform for voices to be raised in the media calling for yet another war, as though...

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Media Focuses on Drama Rather than Ideas at Occupy London
20 November 2011

On 13th November a peace vigil was held at the Occupy London camp at St. Paul's Cathedral, remembering the victims on both sides of the ongoing occupation of Afghanistan. The evening consisted of speeches, song, poetry, and a reading of the names of the dead, remembering British soldiers and Afghan civilians. Matthew...

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Interview with Former Soldier Joe Glenton
26 July 2011

Former soldier, Joe Glenton, who joined the Royal Logistic Corps in 2004, spent four months in prison for refusing to return to Afghanistan, following his first tour there in 2006. We discussed by email his experience as a subject of media focus. Q: While on duty in Afghanistan, you saw differences between...

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