I heard a quote today from my stepdad, which originally came from the philosopher Noam Chomsky which I can't remember exactly but it was something like "propoganda is to a democracy what a bludgeon is to a dictatorship" and i knew exactly what he meant when i watched the 6'oclock news tonight;
The story was a brief report which queried whether immigrants being given council houses is causing problems for "local people" on council lists. It featured an english couple who are living with a baby in a little counclil flat which was in bad condition - I think it had problems with damp etc.
The reasonj it annoyed me was because it focused completely on the angle that immigration was causing problems for these families and didn't consider that
1) the government continues to do what thatcher started - selling off council houses without replacing them.
2) "regeneration" of poor areas - something i can can see happening on my doorstep in hulme. baisically loads of grotty high rises were knocked down and replaced by lovely new flats. some are still council but many are now private and very expensive. many people were relocated from their community to new areas.
3) it is unfair for people to have to live in bad conditions, so maybe the council should improve the conditions??? Council houses were made for a minimum amount of money which is why they get problems such a sdamp (which i remember well from when i was a kid lol) which I think is unfair, so it should be the councils priority to make sure conditions are subtable.
Baisically the BBC took an and focused whole and soley on one aspect, and put the blame on one gruop of people - immigrants. It was complete propaganda to encourage people to think in one political way by completely ignoring other aspects to a story. The problem is that most people don't try to read into news storys on another level, and the media make this harder to do by showcasing a limited political opinion.
And the worst thing is we are constantly told that we live in a counrty where we have freedom of speech - but its funny that anyone who has something too "different" to say doesn't get any coverage.
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6 comments:
Anyone who thinks Noam Chomsky has anything intelligent to say on anything other than linguisitics is wrong.
Did it not occur to you that the reason why the news report focussed on immigration was down to the fact that Margaret Hodge - a Labour minister - raised this as an issue? On a news report, with limited running time, you cannot expect them to cover off every element of the story. They will focus on the news element to the story - which is Hodge's comments on race.
Oh, and Jackart is right. Whatever talents Chomsky may or may not have, they certainly do not lie in the area of political commentary and political thought.
What a horrid little blog this is!
The BBC doesn't usually tilt it's politics from the right. When it looks as if it is, it's often because it's the most convenient stick to hit the Labour party with.
That said, the Tories generally have more cause for complaint on this front...
c4, play nicely.
the nameless one - actually yes, whatever running time a news hsow has i do expect it to cover a story from at least 2 opposing angles. otherwise it is not unbisaed as it should be. And if the news report was there primarily because of hodges comments then why were these barely mentioned in the report? the tag line for it was simply are immigrants taking houses away from locals. There is so juch going on in the world right now it is ridiculous that this "issue" should be second on the 6'oclock news.
c4 - are you incapable of even attempting to say something intelligent???
Chomsky? a Philosopher? I thought he was a Marxist and Marxism is not a philosophy despite what the guardian reading poly lecturers might say.
The only Karl that matters sweetie is Karl Popper!
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