Ottawa MD makes case for amateur journalism, political activism, and cultural understanding
gregfelton.com (October 18, 2007)
Anyone interested in finding out the facts about Palestine, the crumbling U.S. economy, the destruction of the U.S. military or the treasonous activity of the Israel Lobby knows better than to rely on daily newspapers or TV newscasts. As our "mainstream" journalism degenerates further and further into disinformation, censorship, fearmongering and infotainment, amateurs and Internet writers have become increasingly vital sources of uncensored news and commentary ...read more
Rebellion, apathy or self-delusion—how do you respond to oppression?
Canadian Arab News (October 11, 2007)
I spent much of the winter and spring of 1979 at the Pushkin Institute of Russian Language in Moscow. For the previous 3.5 years I had studied Russian language, literature, history and politics from the comfort—some might say, isolation—of Canadian universities. Now, I found myself in a country where the state determined what people believed; an omnipresent security apparatus enforced intellectual and behavioural conformity; and the very act of speaking to a foreigner was cause for police interrogation. ...read more
Even those we admire can succumb to bias and cognitive dissonance
Canadian Arab News (September 6, 2007)
When Robert Fisk speaks, people listen. They should. This long-time Beirut-based reporter for The Independent has distinguished himself as a rare voice of integrity when mass-media Middle East reporting has become ever more reflexively pro-Israel, pro-war, anti-Arab and downright irrational… Consequently, whether he likes it or not, Fisk has attained celebrity status and people put great store by what he says. For that reason he should take greater care when he expresses an opinion on a subject outside of his field of expertise. ...read more
Academic freedom doesn’t extend to those who speak out against Israel
Canadian Arab News (August 9, 2007)
The equation of Western democracy with individual freedom, equality and the rule of law is the great conceit that informs our perception of good and evil states. Naturally, we live in a “good” state, whereas states that do not respect these three fundamental tenets, like Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany, are “evil.” I chose this religious terminology deliberately because it depicts a fallacious moral dichotomy. We are taught to associate the abovementioned states (among others) with concentration camps, genocide, enforced conformity, propaganda, hatred and intellectual censorship. In so doing we also reinforce the convenient illusion that these repressive practices are inapplicable to “good” states like ours. ...read more
As major events unfold, the media keeps us ignorant and distracted
Canadian Arab News (July 5, 2007)
To illustrate the willful ignorance that plagues mainstream news reporting—as if further proof were necessary—I’d like to describe the bizarre behaviour of a local radio station after I called to inquire about its international coverage. During the noon newscast, I heard yet another negative story about Iran, this time concerning the country’s high execution rate of minors. What bothered me was not the story itself, but why CKNW decided to inflict this particular one on its listeners. True, every news story is worth telling if it’s accurate and can be justified to the station’s audience, but there are dozens of stories out of the Middle East far more important and relevant than this one. ...read more
Maginot Line of censorship and disinformation outflanked in the belly of the zionist beast
Canadian Arab News (May 24, 2007)
If you’ve ever looked through the wrong end of a pair of binoculars you know that objects appear smaller and more distant than they really are. For a government involved in an illegal war, especially a genocidal war against a civilian population, this is the perspective on the violence it expects the media to present for domestic consumption. Whereas the media gets exorcised if a single Jew gets his hair mussed, the suffering of Arabs is portrayed as distant, indiscernible, yet morally justifiable and the war againste them eternally “winnable.” ...read more
Censorship and libel await those who apply DNA tests to prove Israel’s fascist paternity
Canadian Arab News (April 26, 2007)
The divide between pointed commentary and bigoted effluvium is, like everything else in the media, defined by political interests. The intrinsic merit, or demerit, of a comment is virtually irrelevant compared with the political clout of the party on the receiving end of the comment. Radio shlock-jock Don Imus got punted from his morning show on NBC because he grossly insulted the black members of Rutgers’ women’s basketball team. What Imus said was gratuitous, ignorant and does not bear repeating, but the fact that he lost his radio show over it, despite abject public contrition, says less about Imus’s unfitness to host a radio show than the political power that blacks and women have won over the last 40 years. . ...read more
Ontario Press Council refused to acknowledge proof of plagiarism in Globe and Mail editorial
Canadian Arab News (March 22, 2007)
The Globe and Mail was guilty. The evidence said it was guilty. So what happened to the men and women of the Ontario Press Council impaneled to evaluate the charge of plagiarism? Well, they decided to ignore the evidence and allow Globe representative Patrick Martin to pollute the hearing with irrelevant arguments and casuistic digressions. The judgment handed down on March 14 reflected these digressions, and so was marginally less inane than editor-in-chief Eddie Greenspon’s non-cognitive retort to me when I brought up this same evidence in March 2006. ...read more
Internet supplements provide nutrients lacking in our low-info mainstream diet
Canadian Arab News (March 8, 2007)
Journalists, as a rule, are no longer meant to inform the public. Where once one could argue that most of them served the public interest and abided by H.L. Mencken’s maxim “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,” those who report and interpret the news now come under great pressure to distort the truth, censor themselves (or be censored), and serve certain interest groups, lest they take offence at being afflicted. ...read more
To bring about political climate change we must face many inconvenient truths
Canadian Arab News (February 8, 2007)
An Inconvenient Truth, the documentary on climate change by former vice-president Al Gore—the real winner of the 2000 election—proves conclusively that global warming is a man-made problem. The best example comes about a quarter of the way into the movie when Gore presents a double graph showing how temperatures rise as concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide go up. Although this conclusion is hardly newsworthy in itself, the time scale involved makes it highly significant. It is based on an analysis of Antarctic ice cores, which have preserved climatic records going back 650,000 years! Over that time, the concentration of CO2 never exceeded 300 parts per million—until now. ...read more
Israel rewrites history with impunity, but Iran is vilified for discussing it
Canadian Arab News (January 18, 2007)
After the end of the 1967 War, UN Security Council Resolution 242 mandated that Israel withdraw its military forces behind the 1949 Green Line that demarcated Occupied Palestine (Israel) from Palestinian Territory. It was not a formal border, but rather an armistice line. Despite the unequivocal voice of the international commuunity in this matter, Israel has maintained its illegal occupation. To make matters worse, all subsequent attempts to negotiate a peace with Palestine, once Israel was forced to recognize the refugees in its midst, has been predicated on using the Green Line as a basis for a permanent settlement. ...read more
Israel’s thugs sink deeper into the cesspit of defamation, denigration and denial
Canadian Arab News (December 21, 2006)
An empire in its death throes is not a pretty sight. The more desperately its rulers cling to power in the face of impending defeat, the more they hasten its demise. The more its rulers fight to preserve their rule, the more the empire is sacrificed to serve selfish, repressive wants. By the time Odoacer entered Rome and became the first Germanic king of Italy in 476, the Roman Empire had long since self-destructed. It had become exhausted and consumed by repression, bigotry, murder, and class warfare. When “barbarians” invaded the people had neither the strength nor the inclination to defend Rome. ...read more
Canada needs a healthy expression of honest anger
Canadian Arab News (September 21, 2006)
Those of us of a certain age remember…Network, the great 1976 satire about the lurid, ratings-driven world of network news. The movie is memorable for many reasons, not the least of which is Peter Finch’s portrayal of deranged newsman Howard Beale, whose iconoclastic fulminations changed him from a suicidal ratings failure into a champion of the masses and a ratings gold mine for the station—for a while, at least. The movie is told from the normal point of view of the smarmy network executives. I say “normal’ because their speech, behaviour and attire are consistent with our standards of modern Western society. Beale, on the other hand, screams, gesticulates wildly and is dishevelled, yet he represent truth. Herein lies the film’s genius. ...read more
Freedom of thought has no meaning for those who prefer the prison of their own prejudices
Canadian Arab News (September 7, 2006)
There are, of course, synaptically alert people like Barry Zwicker who have steadfastly refused to swallow the conspiratorial nonsense about two aircraft being able to bring down steel framed buildings, or a passenger aircraft with a 125-ft. wingspan making a 16-ft. hole in the Pentagon. But these people are still the exception rather than the rule. Most of us—those of us who aren’t sick to death of it—will willingly embrace the official narrative put forth by the official priesthood. We will put our critical faculties on hold as we sincerely and compassionately listen to the earnest testimonials and reflections of people who helped with the rescue or just happened to be in New York that day. ...read more
Honourable Jews must be neither seen nor heard
Canadian Arab News (August 24, 2006)
…The equation of Zionism with Judaism is a well-known lie, and zionist Jews who use it to justify Israel’s atrocities are finding themselves going up against increasing numbers of honourable Jews who are appalled at what is being done in the name of their religion. ...read more
Israel, The Lobby and their acolytes perform a hatchet job on Sid Ryan and CUPE Ontario
Canadian Arab News (June 8, 2006)
Zionists must wage a constant battle against critical thought and historical accuracy, lest the fallacy of Israel’s “democracy” and reality of Palestinian destitution under Occupation become as culturally entrenched as that other holocaust—you know, the one led by Adolf, Hermann and Heinrich.…The latest victim of this gangsterism is the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Union of Public Employees for its support of the global boycott of Israel led by the Jerusalem-based Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center. ...read more
‘Smoking gun’ fax proves The Lobby directed defamation of Jewish professor at York U.
gregfelton.com (May 30, 2006)
When last we met Professor David Noble on Dec. 9, 2004, he had just begun a $10 million libel action against his employer York University and the Canadian Jewish Congress, which also might as well be called his employer. That’s what all the fuss is about.…On Saturday, Jan. 28, 2006, the university administration finally released a copy of the fax informing it of Noble's flyer. The date of the fax (below) and the signatories prove that off-campus activists for The Lobby engineered the defamation of Noble and that York’s administration was complicit.• address charges of plagiarism and unethical conduct directed at the Globe’s editorialist; and
...read more
Globe resorts to disreputable ‘Dershowitz Defence’
Canadian Arab News (April 19, 2006)
On March 29, The Coalition of Arab Canadian Professionals and Community Associations (CAPCA) served the Globe and Mail editorial board and publisher with a petition signed by itself and numerous individuals and associations. The undersigned demanded that the Globe:
• issue a correction and an apology regarding its Feb. 15 editorial.
• address charges of plagiarism and unethical conduct directed at the Globe’s editorialist; and
• develop relationships, both formal and informal, with Canadian groups that can help provide full Arab, and Palestinian, perspectives regarding the Globe’s Middle East content and be able to show that such relationships have been sought and established. ...read more
Our craven, incurious media treats the show trial of Zacarias Moussaoui as news instead of farce
Canadian Arab News (April 19, 2006)
Did Zacarias Moussaoui have anything to do with the attack on the World Trade Center, and should he face the death penalty in connection with the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans? These questions go the very reason Moussaoui is on trial in a Virginia courtroom, yet they are largely irrelevant to the trial itself. The real defendant is not Moussaoui, but the “war on terrorism” and the official fictions that support it. The trail serves to show that the official version of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, is accurate; to show that the government is waging and winning the “war on terrorism”; and to show the American public that justice is being done in their name. ...read more
Editor-in-Chief excuses defamation, plagiarism
Canadian Arab News (March 16, 2006)
Edward Greenspon’s reaction to Marcus Gee’s plagiarism has been lamentably predictable, and indicative of the declining calibre of the Globe and Mail—deny and duck for cover. Clearly, the paper’s integrity counts for nothing when Israel’s main mouthpiece is under fire. ...read more
Globe and Mail’s anti-Hamas editorial reveals plagiarism, prejudice and Israeli servitude
Canadian Arab News (March 2, 2006)
Anyone who has ever had the dubious pleasure of reading Marcus Gee’s opinion columns on the Middle East and the U.S. knows how impossible they are to digest. To write, for example, that George Bush aids democracy; that Israel’s Wall is defensible; or that Palestinian refugees have no inherent right of return shows contempt for honest argument, accurate research and respect for the Globe and Mail’s readers.…So long as Gee penned his poisoned prattle under his own name he risked only his own reputation. Now, in his capacity as editorial page editor, Gee’s zionist hubris has tainted the reputation of the entire paper. “People still need context, they still need background, they still need insight and relevant commentary,” he told the CBC. Sounds great, doesn’t it? But consider the source. ...read more
Holocaust histrionics and defamation give new meaning to the term Middle East ‘coverage’
gregfelton.com (February 26, 2006)
Since late 1947, Zionist Jews have been waging genocide against Palestinian Arabs. By all that is logical, this atrocity should have dominated our news and those responsible should already have been tried and convicted of war crimes. The fact that this hasn’t happened is entirely due to the Perverse Paradox of Great Crime. ...read more
Nobody has the right to spread slander, libel or bigotry in the name of freedom of speech
Canadian Arab News (February 16, 2006)
“Why should we insult and upset an important part of our audience for absolutely no public value?” —Tony Burman, editor-in-chief of CBC News
Pay attention to the end of the above quote—“absolutely no public value.” The point is not that the cartoons of Muhammad insulted or upset Muslims—offensive speech is defensible—but they gratuitously and maliciously enraged Muslims by falsely equating Islam with legitimate armed resistance to Israel’s illegal Occupation of Palestine. ...read more
Ken Whyte blackens the reputation of Maclean’s
Canadian Arab News (February 2, 2006)
Last Feb. 14, Canada’s venerable newsmagazine got a new boss. Kenneth Whyte took over from editor-in-chief Anthony Wilson-Smith, who resigned for personnel reasons, and also took on the role of publisher. Upon being appointed, Whyte pledged to build upon his predecessor’s editorial reforms and make Maclean’s “more relevant and more talked about.” “People still need context, they still need background, they still need insight and relevant commentary,” he told the CBC. Sounds great, doesn’t it? But consider the source. ...read more
Hariri assassination coverage gives readers the hole story
Canadian Arab News (October 27, 2005)
At last, the truth about Judith Miller is out. This anti-Arab White House stenographer can no longer pass herself off as a reporter, with all the ethical criteria that that word implies.…One would hope that the [New York] Times’ disgrace would serve as a lesson to other newspapers to report facts not fabrications about the Middle East, and ensure that all points of view are properly represented, even to the extent of agreeing with unpopular régimes. Lamentably, this rather obvious lesson is lost on the Globe and Mail and its new foreign editor Stephen Northfield. ...read more
Gazans finally win but their tormentors get all the attention
Canadian Arab News (August 18, 2005)
Throughout North America, the pro-Israel media have trained us to identify Palestinians as “terrorists.” Reactions against military or “settler” violence have been depicted as aggressions, whereas “settler” murders of Palestinians, airstrikes against cities, refugee camp invasions, and mass demolitions of homes and orchards have been portrayed as legitimate, defensive measures. It should come as no great surprise, then, that the reporting of Israel’s pullout of the Gaza Strip and eviction of Jewish colonists has been grossly distorted for the benefit of Israel. ...read more.
Spector of hypocrisy wages petty war against CBC’s honest reporting
Canadian Arab News (August 4, 2005)
Nothing is more dangerous for a media propagandist than the unbiased use of language. Words are the tools of independent thought, and since independent thought is the enemy of the dissembler, words cannot be allowed to have objective meaning. They must be reduced to buzzwords—moral brickbats to be used to bludgeon “the enemy” and warp the public mind. Thus, it comes to pass that Norman Spector is again riding one of his favourite hobby horses—the CBC’s refusal to use “terrorism” to describe Muslim resistance fighters. ...read more
As the Globe spins: Editors and hacks have no need of facts
Canadian Arab News (July 21, 2005)
Another bombing—another anti-Muslim feeding frenzy at Canada’s national newspaper, or what passes for one. This time, the bigotry was openly displayed in a sanctimonious and odious July 14 editorial. ...read more
As the Globe spins: Sound news judgment? Not on the front page
Canadian Arab News (July 7, 2005)
I recently had an all-too-brief e-mail exchange with Globe and Mail managing editor Colin MacKenzie. I was curious to know why Canada’s national newspaper was virtually deaf, dumb and blind to the incendiary “Downing Street memo.” The memo, which was leaked to Sunday Times of London reporter Michael Smith, and published this May 1, details the degree to which the Bush government premeditated its assault on Iraq; knew that such an assault was illegal; and schemed to manufacture propaganda to mask the illegality. ...read more
As the Globe spins: Middle East correspondent worse than none
Canadian Arab News (June 9, 2005)
Foreign correspondents add considerable credibility and flavour to a newspaper. First-hand accounts of people and politicians provide the context and analysis that the homogeneous mass of wire service copy does not usually provide. In the case of the Globe and Mail’s Mark MacKinnon, we have an example of a correspondent who does precisely the opposite. ...read more
Newsweek—your source for yellow-bellied journalism
Canadian Arab News (May 26, 2005)
During the last four years rumour, innuendo and character assassination have defined North American journalism regarding the Middle East. Any official White House or Pentagon pronouncement—no matter how ludicrous, specious or unsubstantiated—is reported as if it had a basis in fact. The state of journalism is so debased that, in the White House press briefing room, respected veteran reporter Helen Thomas was banished to the back row for asking an intelligent question, and a phony reporter (“Jeff Gannon”) who pandered to Bush’s official mouthpiece was treated with respect, until he was exposed. ...read more
As the Globe Spins: Selective reporting obscures Natan Sharansky’s hypocrisy and bigotry
Canadian Arab News (May 12, 2005)
Reputations, like résumés, need updating from time to time lest they grow stale and misleading. This fact is especially true regarding Jews who are perceived to be “human rights” activists....Now, one of [Irwin] Cotler’s causes célèbres is in the news, and the pro-Israel media, including the Globe and Mail, prefer to churn out boilerplate than do a proper job of reporting....read more
As the Globe spins: Why bother with intelligent analysis
when there’s brass to polish?
Canadian Arab News (April 28, 2005)
As expected, the Globe and Mail endorsed George W. Bush’s choice to head the World Bank. Despite vigorous international critics and pleas from Bank staff, ultrazionist warmonger Paul Wolfowitz was appointed unanimously. One can only imagine the arm-twisting, and bribery that Bush had to employ to overcome Wolfowitz’s severe political handicaps. I mean “imagine” in the literal sense because the Globe’s chief editorial on the subject told its readers next to nothing useful about the man or his qualifications for the position....read more
As the Globe spins: Editorial looks tough, but lacks credibility
Canadian Arab News (April 14, 2005)
The propagandist’s greatest asset is the perception of reasonableness, because his power comes directly from the public’s willingness to believe what it’s told. A useful tactic in this regard is a self-criticism to mitigate the fallout from highly damaging news. Take the Globe and Mail’s seemingly aggressive March 11 editorial that condemned Israel’s construction of 105 illegal settlements in the West Bank. ...read more
As the Globe spins: Associated Press more a news filter
than a news source
Canadian Arab News March 31, 2005)
Like a lot of major newspapers, the Globe and Mail relies on wire services for much of its foreign reporting. Wires provide mountains of stories at a fraction of the cost of maintaining a foreign bureau, but quantity does not equal quality, as we see in the dispatches from the Associated Press and its reporter Matthew Kalman. Kalman figures prominently in major stories in Occupied Palestine, but his reporting is transparently pro-zionist and anti-Arab. It is not news so much as it is covert propaganda designed to cast Israel in the most favourable light. ...read more
As the Globe spins: Coverage of Lebanon’s demonstrations
doesn’t tell whole story
Canadian Arab News (March 17, 2005)
The Globe and Mail’s March 15 cover story on Lebanon’s anti-Syria demonstration is typical of how bias can colour a story that is essentially accurate in its specific details. The points to note here are assumptions and suggestive juxtapositions that are allowed to colour the tone of the reporting, thus giving it a generally pro-U.S./pro-Israel slant. ...read more
Unsettling behaviour challenges zionists’ moral comfort zone
Canadian Arab News (March 17, 2005)
A true believer is a master of self-delusion. Without it, the highly selective moral universe that sustains him cannot survive. Real-world counterarguments and honest criticism must be denigrated and rationalized away because they explode the perversity of the dogmatic verities that give the true believer his sense of moral superiority and peace of mind. For Israel’s media Jews, defending the zionist faith while remaining deaf, dumb and blind to Israel’s holocaust against Palestinians leads them to commit contortions of logic and cognitive dissonance. ...read more
Marcus Gee the very model of a modern media prostitute
Canadian Arab News (March 3, 2005)
These are tough times for fans of fascism, especially those in the media who make their reputations (such as they are) shilling for Israel and the U.S. The more we learn about U.S. corruption in Iraq or zionist repression in Palestine, the harder and more desperately these scribblers have to work to convince us that black is white, tyranny is democracy and slavery is freedom. I can only surmise that it was this sort of desperation that led Marcus Gee to write two such monumentally dishonest columns on Feb. 23 and March 2. ...read more
Radio station rolls over and crushes host
Canadian Arab News February 17, 2005)
The most powerful instrument of censorship is not a church, media monopolist, lobby group, or secret military agency. It is the fear they engender in us—fear of losing a job, fear of ostracism, fear of losing money, fear of being sued, or in extreme cases fear of being arrested. This reaction, this internal censor, effectively inhibits people from expressing informed, contrary opinions, even though such a right is guaranteed under the Constitution. ...read more.
Prejudice and distortion constitute honest reporting’ when a Muslim speaks plainly
Canadian Arab News (November 11, 2004
Canadians who never heard of Mohamed Elmasry before last month, likely do now. The president of the Canadian Islamic Congress made a comment on Michael Coren’s television show that threw the zionist lobby and their media minions into a collective tantrum. At issue was Elmasry’s definition of the acceptable use military force by Palestinians: ...read more
National Post gives stupidity a bad name
Alberta Arab News (September 30, 2004)
After a case of clear-cut misconduct has been discovered, the perpetrator will react in one of five ways: honestly (apologize and take his medicine); invisibly (keep his head down and hope the problem blows over); dishonestly (point the finger at someone else); cowardly (run away); or stupidly (justify it, thereby compounding his disgrace). For some reason, Kelly McParland chose stupidity. Before we get to him and who he is, here’s the misconduct in question. ...read more
Coverage of Sept. 11 anniversary fosters cult of martyrdom and manipulation
Alberta Arab News (September 16, 2004)
Well, another Sept. 11 anniversary has come and gone. I thought this year’s seemed more subdued, less fraught with anxiety. Perhaps after three years the attack no longer has the same immediacy; perhaps the U.S.’s record of murder, stupidity and greed in Iraq have started to make us uneasy about condemning Arabs as terrorists. ...read more
The New York Times: All the misinformation fit to print
Alberta Arab News (September 2, 2004)
Respectable journalism has lost a lot of respectability over the last few years. Reporters Jayson Blair (New York Times), Janet Cooke (Washington Post) Stephen Glass, (New Republic), Patricia Smith (Boston Globe) and Jay Forman (Slate) were all caught embellishing stories or lying outright. ...read more
U.S. disinformation no match for al-Jazeera’s honest reporting
Alberta Arab News (August 19, 2004)
Eventually, al-Jazeera will be as commonplace on Canadian television as BBC or CNN. For this evolution to occur, the Jewish Lobby’s libel of “offensive content” against the Qatari satellite station must be exploded. In my last column, I showed how easy this is to do. Nevertheless, the Lobby and the spineless CRTC have for the moment chosen to deny Canadians access to honest coverage of the Middle East. ...read more
Prior restraint proves Canada’s hate laws must be repealed
Alberta Arab News (August 5, 2004)
As we all know, what’s good for democracy is bad for the Jewish Lobby, so its role in sabotaging last month’s bid by cable companies to carry al-Jazeera should surprise no one. Yes, the CRTC approved the Arabic satellite channel, but set such onerous conditions on cable companies that the legal and financial risks of recording and monitoring all of al-Jazeera’s programs outweighed any potential benefits from new subscribers. ...read more
Gee, the Globe and Mail need a lesson in honest commentary
Alberta Arab News (July 22, 2004)
Exactly one month ago, Glasgow University came out with a study that found that Britons who watched ITV and BBC television news had a grossly distorted impression of the Middle East. Many of those surveyed thought the Palestinians were the occupiers, and some even believed them to be refugees from Afghanistan, which isn’t even an Arab country! ...read more
The massacre that dare not speak its name
Alberta Arab News (April 15, 2004)
What took place in the Jenin refugee camp two years ago on April 3 didn’t happen, if the North American media are to be believed. No massacre took place. Hundreds of Palestinian civilians weren’t gunned down or buried alive in the rubble of their homes. Arab children didn’t die lingering deaths because they were denied medical attention. No, none of this happened. Why? The Sharon government said so, and its version of events gained wide acceptance because our media are too afraid or indifferent to stand up to the local zionist lobbies. ...read more
Zionism’s willing dissemblers abet Palestinian misery
Alberta Arab News (April 1, 2004)
For Palestinians, the fight for justice has been an uphill battle that predates the creation of Israel. Not only have they had to fight against illegal occupation, they’ve had to fight overwhelming Jewish sympathy and media prejudice. ...read more
B’nai Brith--preposterous purveyor of propaganda
Alberta Arab News (March 4, 2004)
As surely as night follows day, B’nai Brith can be counted on to rubbish any politician who dares criticize po’ l’il Israel. The most recent recipient of abuse is Liberal MP Pat O’Brien, who said Israel’s wall denies basic rights to the Palestinians and further reduces the West Bank and Gaza Strip to concentration camps. ...read more
Media comes out the loser in political forum
Alberta Arab News (December 3, 2003)
If recent trends continue, Canadians could wake up one morning to find their democracy all but gone. Falling voter turnout, incompetent politicians and a sensationalist press have all contributed to a culture where public service is no longer a respected career. ...read more
Internet outflanks zionists ‘Maginot Line
Alberta Arab News (December 3, 2003)
Given their influence in government and media, one would think that North American zionists would feel rather contented.... Nevertheless, zionists are clearly disturbed. For all of their clout, they have lost credibility and influence, especially among younger Canadians. ...read more
Lies, damn lies, and lynching the truth
Alberta Arab News (November 14, 2003)
If you want to commit fraud, go into the movie business. There, you can misrepresent people, and fabricate facts and events with impunity. Nobody will say: “You can’t do that; that’s not the way it happened.” Nobody will drag you before a board of ethics, or demand that your “artistic licence” be revoked. Accuracy is not allowed to get in the way of making money. If it did, The Untouchables, U-571 or Exodus would never have been made. ...read more
Straight dodges bullet; Sun shoots self in foot
Mediamonitors.net (November 3, 2003)
Among the titles heaped upon recently deceased CanWest founder Israel Asper, “thug” was conspicuously absent. Of course, one isn’t meant to speak ill of the dead, especially the barely cold, but the damage Asper and his gormless spawn have wrought on Canadian journalism will doubtless be his most lasting legacy. ... read more
Arab News helps Canada inch toward a free press
Alberta Arab News (October 30, 2003)
Imagine what our understanding of the Middle East would be like if we had a free press. Newspapers, radio and television would carry stories with headlines such as:
“Barak’s ‘generous offer’ a fraud; Arafat right to reject”;
“U.S. Security Council veto abets war crimes against Palestinians”;
“30% of Palestinian children under five chronically malnourished; and
“Israel founded on terror and theft.”... read more
Zionists practise art of repression
Mediamonitors.net (October 3, 2003)
In last month’s column, I showed the cause and effect between a BBC World broadcast of a documentary on Israel’s nuclear program and Israel’s need to censor uncomfortable truths... But the war on truth is waged on more than one front, which means zionists can’t put all their mud in one sling. ...read more
Israel finds BBC too truthful for comfort
Mediamonitors.net (July 29, 2003)
To sustain a fundamental lie over the long term, a propagandist must do more than disseminate false or misleading information; he must also wage a perpetual war against truth. No lie can long survive without frequent censorship and intimidation of critics, because lies are like radioactive atoms—highly unstable. ...read more
The whole world’s watching!
Mediamonitors.net (June 4, 2003)
In his 1985 television series The Day the Universe Changed, James Burke presents 10 stories of how scientific knowledge and culture combined to change our world. Each begins with an advancement that begins to redefine our worldview—our “universe”—and then through a chain of events leads to a major innovation, like modern medicine, the production assembly line or evolutionary theory. ...read more
Jewish prism steals light from Arabs
Mediamonitors.net (May 4, 2003)
The Toronto Globe and Mail claims that it provides its readers with the most comprehensive “perspective” on the news. Such self-serving statements must be taken with mass quantities of salt, but when compared to, say, the National Post, the claim certainly seems to have a grain of truth. ...read more
Thought and propaganda in the media
Mediamonitors.net (April 5, 2003)
If you’ve ever wondered how truth became the first casualty of war, look at the way Canada’s media cover Arabs and Muslims; or rather, how they don’t. Except for a few journalists like the CBC’s Neil Macdonald and Toronto Sun columnist Eric Margolis, balanced and fair reporting in the national media is virtually non-existent. ...read more
National Post a national disgrace
mediamonitors.net (August 19, 2002)
Imagine you’re a juror at a criminal trial and the time comes to decide the fate of the defendant. During the trial, however, only the prosecution was allowed to present evidence, and defence council was not allowed to cross-examine witnesses. Moreover, the judge embellished the prosecution’s case in his charge to the jury. How do you render an informed verdict? ...read more
National Post prizes propaganda over principle
Vancouver Courier (December 26, 2000)
Somewhere on the front page of Conrad Black’s National Post you’d think there would be a picture of St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes. Twice this fall, the paper’s editors and editorialists failed spectacularly to impose their proprietor’s political weltanschauung on the Canadian public. ...read more
Readers hoping for news get railroaded by celebrity Twain
Vancouver Courier (August 13, 2000)
On its front page The Province boasts of being “B.C.’s best-read newspaper.” This presupposes, of course, that the Province is actually a newspaper, a publication that delivers news (important information) to its readership. Of late, that supposition is hard to sustain. With the Aug. 7 issue, the “Tab,” as it’s affectionately known, plumbed such depths of journalistic shallowness that it’s worth wondering if its editors can distinguish legitimate news from prurient trivia and celebrity worship. ...read more
All news not equally fit to print
Vancouver Courier (May 2, 1999)
Have you ever come across a newspaper story that you think you’ve read before? Chances are you have. One of the shortcomings of news reporting is that much of what gets printed, or broadcast for that matter, isn’t really news....read more
U.S. shows that ethics belongs to the powerful
Vancouver Courier (December 20, 1998)
Every time I hear “human rights” I wince. Of all the catch-phrases that clutter our language, it is perhaps the most abused. It’s a pat little phrase that engenders sympathy more than understanding, and for that reason it is harmful. People can profess support for its noble precepts, yet succumb to the most egregious woolly headedness. ...read more
Human rights grandstanding breeds Malaysian malaise
Vancouver Courier (December 6, 1998)
Memo to Jean Chrétien: Don’t piss off your host if you expect his country to buy Canadian. This ain’t rocket science; it’s just good business. After all, a trade mission is supposed to drum up business, not just rack up frequent flyer miles and score a keen looking jacket. ...read more
Conrad Black’s credo: All the news that’s fit to own
Vancouver Courier (November 8, 1998)
To appreciate how sick this country is, you need look no further than the daily newspaper—in more ways than one. Every day seems to bring reports of yet another big-business merger or proposed merger. ...read more.
National Post impaled on its own hubris
Vancouver Courier (November 1, 1998)
On Tuesday, Canada became a little blacker, yet from this blackness emerged a light; nay, not so much a light, as a journalistic recrudescence. A new national newspaper was born. After many false labours, Conrad Black’s new conservative organ finally issued forth, albeit in spurts. Suffice to say, it was a difficult delivery. ...read more.
Papers learn to be Black like David
Vancouver Courier (September 27, 1998)
With friends like publisher David Black, opponents of the Nisga’a Treaty don’t need enemies. By now you’ve heard that Black, who owns 60 community papers in B.C., banned any pro-treaty commentary and demanded that his editors adhere to a strict anti-treaty editorial policy. Furthermore, to ensure his papers toe the party line, Black commissioned constitutional expert Mel Smith to write eight approved lectures that point out the treaty’s dangers. ...read more
Celebrity worship breeds bad journalism
Vancouver Courier (September 6, 1998)
How now, Sing Tao? So far, most of the comments about UBC’s new journalism school concern its name, “The Sing Tao School of Journalism.” As you read in last Sunday’s Vancouver Courier, critics charge that the name implies corporate control of education; others say pish-posh—a name’s just a name. ...read more
Readers tune out as journalism loses its rigour
Vancouver Courier (August 9, 1998)
One of the biggest newsmakers today is the news. In the last couple of months, a Boston Globe columnist was found to have fabricated information and CNN was forced to repudiate a major investigative story. The story of Operation Tailwind, about the use of sarin nerve gas by U.S. forces in Laos in 1970, was found to be entirely unsubstantiated. The fallout of this admission is especially embarrassing: If the great all-news network can’t get it right, who can? ...read more
More to rights hearing than meets the press
Vancouver Courier (January 4, 1998)
This month, as we know, is named for Janus, the Roman god of doorways and beginnings. His familiar head with two bearded faces back to back look in opposite directions, as if to the past and to the future. In that spirit, I’d like to take one last look at 1997. Here, then, is my nominee for the year’s worst reported news story—the human rights suit the Canadian Jewish Congress filed against the North Shore News and its now-retired columnist Doug Collins. ...read more
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