Tonights BBC feed on the bombings, Galloway & Scheuer interviewed

[Monkie]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsa/n5ctrl/tvseq/newsnight/newsnight.ram

it gets really interesting at around 20:40 into the video where Galloway first wrestles with the interviewer who then turns to Scheuer for assistance and Scheuer delivers the deathblow instead of helping him and you can see him visibly deflate.

the site is very busy so it might take a while to load but its informative

[Monkie]

1. this is a video of the UK's most respected news program

its over a hour long, its the current UK take on what happened so it must be relevant enough for a shameless selfkick :P

[eleny]

2. "You've been parroting government orthodoxy...

... Which you've been doing for some years. I've been watching you." Great treatment of the interviewer by Galloway!

[Monkie]

3. this normally never happens on the BBC

and there was nobody to throw him a lifeline which i think will have sunk in with the british people that watched this.Scheuer was also quite scathing of the wests handling of everything.And having the ex-head of the cia's bin laden unit say that on television AFTER Galloway who they try so hard to paint as a lunatic in the British media was priceless.
well,the price was too heavy but its been paid and cant be reversed..

[mrfrapp]

6. Propaganda Central

The BBC is the propaganda channel in the UK. Occasionally the truth slips out but the core team of newsreaders are shills. Believe me, I've been watching them too.

Not that any of the other channels are any better (as per the Chomsky theory) but it seems coordinated on the BBC.

[mrfrapp]

7. Totalitarianism

Okay, I've just watched the Galloway, Scheuer interviews and I hope it's clear to everyone that Britain is a short step away from totalitarianism. Notice how Esner (the "journalist") tries to shame Galloway into shutting up. This is a suppression of free speech. Please read John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty" on the nature of free speech if anyone's confused about this point.

In general, the entire interview with Galloway was typical. The same thing happened after the election when Jeremy Paxman "interviewed" him. In fact, the BBC's treatment of Galloway is the clearest sign I can think of that the BBC is the propaganda arm of the Government.

Also notice how everything Scheuer said was roundly ignored and Lord Powell was given as much time as he liked to repeat the official government line. I hope the viewers had the good sense to decide that a former CIA agent, a member of the Bin Laden task force no less, is sure to be a more reliable source of advice than a member of the aristrocracy.

Finally, I have to rubbish this idea that this terrorist attack can't possibly be anything to do with Iraq because, to paraphrase from the interview, the "Bali bombings" and 9/11 happened before the Iraq invasion. This is palpable nonsense as I hope anyone can see. It may well be that the Londom bombings have nothing to do with Iraq but the line of reasoning the government is employing (John Reid made the same point in a Channel 4 news interview) to prove this is wholly bogus. In fact, the government seems intent on using the events of the last few days to justify the invasion, occupation of Iraq and the killing of hundreds of thousands of people and nothing will prevent them from persuing that message; certainly not George Galloway or former CIA agents. That's the real message I got from that interview.

Okay, that was a rant but I'm pretty disgusted about this and I must get it off my chest.

[Monkie]

8. i think its only because the tone of the bbc is so reasonable

and it is less sensational than other news agencies that people equate that with free and unbiased news.
Its always been the case that the status-quo goes unchallenged by the bbc.so yeah i understand the rant and it was partly why i posted the link, not just to see Galloway in action but so that people see how the bbc can attempt to frame issues.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Esner was very wrong; but I wouldn't extend that to the whole BBC

Paxman's post-election interview was more a case of his ego deciding to try to get a few cheap jabs in at Galloway; it was in the middle of the night, when things wouldn't be very planned. But Gavin Esner did seem to approach the whole interview with the purpose of shaming Galloway, and wasn't listening to what he said. My impression of Galloway has improved considerably in the past couple of days - I think he's getting it right.

But Newsnight isn't just the government line - their G8 coverage has had plenty of criticism of the government, from people like Susan Watts, the science editor, and Paul Mason. I think Esner has gone with the 'no criticism in the time of a crisis' line, and he's wrong (I've never been impressed with him anyway).

[mr blur]

9. Absolute garbage!

[mrfrapp]

11. Okay

I overreacted. The BBC is far better than other media outlets but there's too much fawning over the government at the moment and I don't like it.

[Al-CIAda]

4. Damn, wished we had a Galloway. n/t

[City Lights]

5. Very nice.

Thanks! :hi: