All too often, the phrase "corporate free press" is something of an oxymoron. Whether to maximise sales, to attract advertisers, or simply to promote the interests of their wealthy owners, the mass media open strange, self-serving and grossly distorted windows onto the world.
This website is another window. Here you'll find documentaries, lectures and interviews following a different editorial line.
Disgusted with the coverage of the war in American journalism, Dahr Jamail saved up and took his camera and his laptop to occupied Iraq. His unembedded dispatches are now recognised as crucial sources of information from the warzone – and are almost unique in their independence from occupying forces.
In their latest documentary (45 mins), CBC’s The Fifth Estate examines the propaganda drive that led to the invasion of Iraq.
While it’s comforting to think that most of us have learned a certain healthy skepticism since 2003, it’s worth re-examining the path to war in Iraq to prevent us from making the same mistakes again.
Fox Attacks… Iran
Robert Greenwald follows up on his Outfoxed film with this short (4 mins). It’s a shame to single out for criticism the worst of a bad bunch, as it lets the others get away with so much, but this still a chilling look at history repeating.
What better way to inaugurate this new blog than with John Pilger’s address (44 mins) to the recent Chicago Socialism Conference? Drawing upon his own vast experience, Pilger pulls no punches in this comprehensive account of how the media helps promote the agenda of Empire, covering up and normalising some of the 20th century’s worst crimes.
In the light of recent media coverage, it’s high time I post this brilliant documentary (74 mins), which I found via a characteristically thorough and well-written article by Heathlander exposing the mendacious anti-Chavez smear campaign.
You’re a journalist in Iraq. You have two choices: court near-certain death on the streets, or stay in custody of the all-powerful occupying forces. In this hardhitting documentary (49 mins), Jon Snow shows how this dilemma, combined with the natural squeamishness of television news, keeps us from ever appreciating the horrors of occupied Iraq.
