The name Arnold Ridley will be familiar to many viewers of ‘Dad’s Army’, one of Britain’s best-loved TV comedies, which ran a long time ago (1968-1977) but is still shown on prime time BBC TV.



Ridley played Private Godfrey, the loveable, most doddery member…

The name Arnold Ridley will be familiar to many viewers of ‘Dad’s Army’, one of Britain’s best-loved TV comedies, which ran a long time ago (1968-1977) but is still shown on prime time BBC TV.



Ridley played Private Godfrey, the loveable, most doddery member…

As we saw in Part 1, in 1914 and again in 1939, millions of men and women welcomed war. Arnold Ridley and his pals did make this choice, but in reality the choice had been made for them by decades and centuries of the relentless ‘patriotic’ propaganda described…

The Insiders



In a 2002 interview with the Observer, the BBC’s John Cody Fidler-Simpson CBE of Kabul, to give him his full name and title, was asked to define the ‘essential qualities’ of a journalist. Simpson responded with typical left-field quirkiness:…

When we started Media Lens in 2001, we had no particular expectations. We imagined – naively, as it turned out – that if we wrote clearly and politely, using...

On the face of it, Peter Oborne is impossible.



It’s not possible to be educated at Sherborne independent school, at Cambridge University, to work as political editor of the Spectator, as chief political commentator of The Daily Telegraph, as a journalist…

On the face of it, Peter Oborne is impossible.It’s not possible to be educated at Sherborne independent school, at Cambridge University, to work as political...

We live in a war-like society; one that supports, and is in league with, the world’s number one terrorist threat: the United States of America. Corporate media propaganda plays a key role in keeping things that way.



Ten years ago this month, the US, UK…

We live in a war-like society; one that supports, and is in league with, the world’s number one terrorist threat: the United States of America. Corporate med...

Long before ‘the propaganda model’ flew off Edward Herman’s keyboard and into ‘Manufacturing Consent’, the book he co-authored with Noam Chomsky, Leo Tolstoy had captured the essence of non-conspiratorial conformity:



‘One man does not assert the truth…

A video introduction to our media alert of 19 April 2021:Shocking Omissions: ‘Capitalism’s Conscience – 200 Years Of The Guardian’ – John Pilger and Jonathan...

9 July will mark 20 years since we sent our first media alert – a 500-word piece on the West’s crimes against humanity.



Since then, our media alert and cogitation archives have swollen to well over 5,000 pages and 2 million words. On our now-defunct message…

A video introduction to our appeal of 11 May, 2021'Feeling The Truth – 20 Years Of Media Lens: An Appeal For Support'https://www.medialens.org/2021/feeling-t...

Recent media coverage of Israel and Palestine, not least by BBC News, has been full of the usual deceptive propaganda tropes: Israel is ‘responding’ or ‘reacting’ to Palestinian ‘provocation’ and ‘escalation’; Palestinian rockets ‘killed’ Israelis, but Palestinians…

EDITORIAL PICK: Debunking Israel’s ‘Human Shield’ Defense in Gaza Massacre

‘The Savage Punishment Of Gaza’: Israel’s Latest Assault On Palestine’s Open Prison

Recent media coverage of Israel and Palestine, not least by BBC News, has been full of the usual deceptive propaganda tropes: Israel is ‘responding’ or ‘reacting’ to Palestinian…

In contrast to Media Lens modestly marking a mere two decades in July, the Guardian has been deluging itself with praise on reaching two centuries this year. Not that we would expect otherwise. As editor Katherine Viner proclaimed in a long, celebratory essay:…

In contrast to Media Lens modestly marking a mere two decades in July, the Guardian has been deluging itself with praise on reaching two centuries this year. Not that we would expect otherwise. As editor Katherine Viner proclaimed in a long, celebratory essay:…

Broadcast on BBC News at Ten on 8 June 2021 under the title, 'Iraq Tensions'.

Summary:
----------------
BBC Newspeak:

Iran = 'foreign interference'

US armed forces = 'protection'

'They came to help fight the Islamic State group.'

No mention of exploiting…

After 20 years of Media Lens, it seems only natural that we should look back in gratitude at the support we’ve received. In response to one of our early pieces, a kindly columnist at the Observer commented:



‘Dear David,‘Thank you very much for sending…

11. The BBC On The Saintly Motives For Waging War On Iraq And Libya



In focusing on the grim future in April, US vice president, Kamala Harris, surely revealed far more than she intended about the grim past:



‘For years and generations, wars have been…