Sent to the Post-Standard – Rosemary Robinson, Fred Fiske and John O’Brien

John Pilger’s article below about propaganda speaks to my experience of the Post-Standard coverage of the 17 week trial of Dr. Dhafir. Perhaps it will help you understand another point of view, and make you consider beginning to redress the balance in your coverage of this case.

After 17 weeks of presenting the government’s case to the public without any critical analysis, you devoted only one editorial to the fact that the government was being fraudulent in accusing Dr. Dhafir of links to terrorism. Your newspaper has been unwilling to address any of the troubling questions raised by the government’s duplicity in this case.

Because of your paper’s uncritical coverage of the trial proceedings, I believe you have a responsibility to address the fact that the government is bringing the charge of “aid to terrorists” to the sentencing. And, in the interest of fairness and free speech, I believe you have an obligation to publish the four letters from court watchers that have been sent to you.

Katherine Hughes
Syracuse
———————————————

We need to be told

When journalists report propaganda instead of the truth, the consequences can be catastrophic – as one largely forgotten instance demonstrates.

By John Pilger

10/13/05 “ICH” — — ”The propagandist’s purpose,” wrote Aldous Huxley, “is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.” The British, who invented modern war propaganda and inspired Joseph Goebbels, were specialists in the field. At the height of the slaughter known as the First World War, the prime minister, David Lloyd George, confided to C P Scott, editor of the Manchester Guardian: “If people really knew [the truth], the war would be stopped tomorrow. But of course they don’t know, and can’t know.”

What has changed?

Complete article at: Information Clearing House

I highly recommend John Pilger’s book: “The New Rulers of the World” Verso 2002.

Â