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July 7, 2003
Big Brother Winning the Propaganda War
Today the Commons' Foreign Affairs Committee came back with their report on "The Decision to go to War in Iraq". This report was sparked at least in part by a Radio 4 story about how the Goverment asked a WMD dossier to be "sexed up". I put a couple of links to some of the ensuing war of words in The Beeb v the Government. So far, this has all been a bit interesting, but not really very scary.
But then I saw this report in the Guardian which took an objective look at the government's accusation that the BBC had an anti-war agenda during and in the months leading up to the Iraq conflict. This study suggests that the BBC's coverage was the least anti-war of the four main UK Broadcasters. That, in fact, it was the most likely to support the government's views.
This I do find a bit spooky. And the reason is that it made me realise that the government's accusation of bias against the BBC had actually affected me somewhat. Before the accusation, I didn't think about what stance the Beeb had on the war at all. When the accusation was made, I regarded it as a pretty spurious attack but, at the same time, some secret part of my brain went, well, yes, perhaps they were a bit anti-war. It wasn't something I necessarily believed but it was something I could believe.
And now, this report reveals it to be an extremely misinformed and spurious attack.
I should be relieved, I suppose, to find the BBC is as impartial and fair as I believed it to be. On the other hand, I have to admit that the Government's attack did succeed in affecting my opinion of that impartiality, which really pisses me off. it is the one aspect of this saga which has caused me to lose the most faith in the Government. They (in particular Alastair Campbell) have absolutely lost my trust with this attack. And I sincerely worry what other nefarious influence they may have had on myself and the British public which I haven't had the chance to notice.
Posted by YandaMan at July 7, 2003 5:18 PM
Category:
Serious Stuff
