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UK Government and BBC at loggerheads.

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posted on Jun, 27 2003 @ 06:41 PM
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I doubt anyone has seen an open battle between Government and Independent media quite like this.

This story is currently dominating the British media.

Though the BBC is an establishment organisation,since WW2 it has striven to remain politically independent.

Even as long ago as during the Suez crisis it refused,under great pressure,to issue government propaganda.

Now it has been caught up in the war of words surrounding WMD's and more specifically the allegation that news was manipulated to make British participation in the war against Iraq exceptable.

I'll add more background to how this situation has developed topmorrow morning.In the meantime this link will give you some idea about just how intense this argument has become.

www.channel4.com...

That heads will roll is in no doubt.But whose heads is.

I'll edit to add a link to the BBC who despite being in the cetre of this row are still remaining remarkably impartial.

news.bbc.co.uk...



[Edited on 27-6-2003 by John bull 1]



posted on Jun, 27 2003 @ 06:45 PM
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Best news I've heard all day.

Now why don't the editors-in-chief of American media have the same testicularity?

Why are there so many faceless, gutless goons in the mainstream media supporting the crud being peddled by the Bush administration? Does the mainstream media expect that ALL their readers/viewers can be easily taken for fools?



posted on Jun, 27 2003 @ 06:48 PM
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I am a self confessed news junkie and I can safely say I've never seen anything like this.

God help us all if the Government successfully stop the BBC from acting independently.



posted on Jun, 27 2003 @ 07:09 PM
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I really wish that we could have a TRULY independent network here in the U.S.!
As it stands now I rely on the BBC for my world news and resort to CNN and MSNBC when I have to. And mostly I just read the fluff since it's mostly BS.
ABC and FOX have shown me all too well where they want public opinion so I refuse to even glance at them.

Hmm, I seem to get my most balance news fix from ATS now that I think of it


The REALLY, TRULY, WE'RE NOT KIDDING BALANCED NEWS SITE>>>
www.abovetopsecret.com...



posted on Jun, 28 2003 @ 05:05 AM
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www.bilderberg.org...

an interesting page about the BBC.

You have to hand it to Alastair Campbell though, he has handled this scandel better than even he could have predicted, although i still think he may be forced to resign. He is trying to take the focus away from himself and if he could get this apology from the BBC, the public would be much less hostile about the legitimacy of the case for war. Mr Campbell is playing a very clever, but risky game, i hope it backfires in his face.



posted on Jun, 28 2003 @ 06:14 AM
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news.bbc.co.uk...

That is a very interesting development, I can't wait to know who's right or wrong.



posted on Jun, 28 2003 @ 07:30 AM
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My guess is that Campbell is trying to take the heat off of Blair.
We are all distracted by this extraordinary argument that we all forget that it is Blair who is accused of misleading Parliament not Campbell.

Campbell knows he is going to have to go he's trying to do it in the most distracting way possible.

The Sunday papers will be interesting but the first big milestone is on Monday when the Cross Party Foreign Affairs Select Commitee give their verdict after talking to Cook,Short,Straw,Campbell,and others.

The worse case scenario is that they call for an open Public Enquiry into the whole matter.Both the Conservatives and Liberals have been calling for this.

These things take time.It took a long time for Nixon to go after Watergate.

But Campbell will be the first to go.Straw is already distancing himself from him.He is being left out to dry.



posted on Jun, 28 2003 @ 01:41 PM
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Not so fast.

This could merely be a smokescreen.
The UN used the same tactic.



posted on Jun, 29 2003 @ 10:50 PM
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I tend to the "storm in a teacup" view, here. To be sure this is unprecedented -although posters of Estragon's vintage will recall Mrs Thatcher came close to turning the Harriers on Bush House over the reporting of the Falkland's war.
I'm not even sure that the Beeb actually "can" sue the government -i.e. is it legally feasible.
A close look at the literature will reveal that this isn't an attack on Blair as such.
So, as I say, this may just be smoke, or sound and fury signifying nothing.



posted on Jul, 3 2003 @ 05:44 AM
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ALASTAIR Campbell recommended 11 separate changes to the intelligence dossier on Iraq, a leaked letter to the Commons committee investigating the controversy has revealed.

The letter, from Mr Campbell to the foreign affairs select committee, will be seized on as evidence that the Prime Minister�s press chief played a key role in finalising the wording of the document published last September. It reveals that Mr Campbell raised a series of substantial questions about the dossier, which led to some of the claims about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein being re-worded.

www.thescotsman.co.uk...



posted on Jul, 3 2003 @ 10:09 AM
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I heard it being referred to as Baghdad Broadcasting Corporation.







 
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