Pilger on why the media should forget political tittle tattle

A couple of articles about the media on both sides of the Atlantic.

Writing in the New Statesman,John Pilger as always controversial writes that

The media turns the other way, or perverts the truth, while an increasingly imperialist United States, with Britain in tow, pursues its expansionist interests

and argues that the media whilst happy to indulge in political tittle tattle is unwilling to look at our politicians records when it comes to foreign affairs.

Journalists from all areas are implied but it is Larry Elliot of the Guardian who comes for the beating for he

has written that the Prime Minister "resembles a tragic hero in a Hardy novel: an essentially good man brought down by one error of judgement". What is this one error of judgement? The bank-rolling of two murderous colonial adventures? No. The unprecedented growth of the British arms industry and the sale of weapons to the poorest countries? No. The replacement of manufacturing and public service by an arcane cult serving the ultra-rich? No. The Prime Minister's "folly" is "postponing the election last year".

Whilst the media on both sides of the pond have firmly placed the blame on Russia for the troubles in the Caucasus and holds up the country as a pariah of war and aggression

Meanwhile over at the Columbia Journalism review, Ryan Chittum looks at the press's reaction to the current financial meltdown and wondering why the media are not asking more probing questions

The press should ask why companies whose collapse would threaten economic apocalypse aren’t being slimmed down and split up until they’re not so scary. Instead, we have Bank of America, the nation’s biggest commercial bank, swallowing Merrill Lynch, the second biggest investment bank with nary a peep from the press about whether this is a good idea. B of A was already too big to fail. Now it’s something worse

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