<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Weapons of mass deception: time to turn to alternative&nbsp;media]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Redress | By Paul J. Balles | 5 January 2011</p>
<p><em>Paul J. Balles looks at the hazards of relying on the mainstream  media, which are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small  number of conglomerates and moguls, such as Rupert Murdoch, and suggests  some websites and commentators in alternative media.</em></p>
<blockquote><p><span style="color:#696969;">For me, as a journalist, the  web offers the most interesting and often most reliable sources because  they are shorn of the consensual bias, and a censorship by omission,  that pervades broadcasting. <em>(John Pilger)</em></span></p></blockquote>
<p>Today, increasing numbers of people have become fed up with lies,  omissions and cover-ups by both governments and the mainstream media.</p>
<p>One reason for the current interest in WikiLeaks is the fascination of confidential and embarrassing secrets exposed.</p>
<p>What constitutes the mainstream media? Twenty years ago several  journalists expressed concern that the number of major news sources in  America had diminished to 50.</p>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" width="200" align="right" bgcolor="#ff0000">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="8" width="100%" bgcolor="#ffffff">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="100%">“Today, conglomerates have bought up most of … news sources;  and the number of major news sources has been reduced to six! These six  control all the news reported in America and much of what gets reported  in the UK and Europe.”</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>Murdoch’s dominance</h3>
<p>Today, conglomerates have bought up most of those news sources; and the  number of major news sources has been reduced to six! These six control  all the news reported in America and much of what gets reported in the  UK and Europe.</p>
<p>Rupert Murdoch, one of the world&#8217;s biggest media moguls, owns outlets in Australia (the <em>Mirror</em>), England (<em>News of the World</em>, the <em>Sun</em> and <em>The Times,</em> BSkyB), Asia (Star TV) and the USA (20th Century Fox and Fox TV).</p>
<p>Murdoch&#8217;s News Corp. holdings now include a lion&#8217;s share of the  newspaper industry in Australia, plus about one-third of British  newspapers; and in the US he has film and TV interests, newspapers, book  publishers, sports teams, and much more. In Asia he owns Star  Television.</p>
<p>According to Britain’s <em>Daily Telegraph</em>, concerns about  Murdoch&#8217;s media control in the UK had ministers from Deputy Prime  Minister Nick Clegg&#8217;s party discussing ways to limit Murdoch.</p>
<p>Secretly recorded tapes revealed that ministers from Clegg&#8217;s group  criticized policy and vowed to block Rupert Murdoch&#8217;s plans to expand  his media empire.</p>
<p>Business Secretary Vince Cable, a key Clegg ally and member of the  Liberal Democrat Party, was stripped of responsibility for media  competition issues after he was recorded boasting to undercover  reporters that he had declared war on Murdoch.</p>
<p>Thousands of smaller media without the resources to get reportage  directly rely on the major conglomerates for their news. Thus, small  newspapers in Canton, Ohio or Exeter, England or Bahrain depend on the  major news outlets for what they report.</p>
<p>This means they choose which news is important, which news they don&#8217;t  want reported, what kind of slant should be taken and who – among their  owners and corporate advertisers – might be offended or pleased by what  they report.</p>
<p>The recently revealed story of <em>New York Times</em> reporter David Rohde is an apparently justifiable example of press censorship.</p>
<p>On 22 June 2009, when news came that Rohde had escaped from his Taliban  captors, few knew he had even been kidnapped, because for the seven  months he and two Afghan colleagues were in the Taliban&#8217;s hands, the <em>New York Times</em> kept that information under wraps.</p>
<p>Kelly McBride, who teaches ethics to journalists, says she was &#8220;really  astounded&#8221; by the media blackout. &#8220;It makes me wonder what else 40  international news organizations have agreed not to tell the public.&#8221;</p>
<h3>Alternative media</h3>
<p>What does the reference to &#8220;alternative&#8221; media mean? It refers to  newspapers, magazines, radio or television that cover news that doesn&#8217;t  get reported or is under-reported in the mainstream media.</p>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" width="200" align="right" bgcolor="#ff0000">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="8" width="100%" bgcolor="#ffffff">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="100%">“It’s not too late to add a useful New Year’s resolution: get  some news and views that you won’t find in the mainstream media.”</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>A number of reliable alternative sites include news and commentary  related to international issues as well as accurate and fair  perspectives on the Middle East:</p>
<ul>
<li> <em><a href="http://www.alternet.org/" target="_blank">AlterNet</a></em></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> <em><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/" target="_blank">Antiwar</a></em></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> <em><a href="http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/" target="_blank">Atlantic Free Press</a></em></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> <em><a href="http://www.axisoflogic.com/" target="_blank">Axis of Logic </a></em></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> <em><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a></em></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> <em><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/" target="_blank">Counterpunch </a></em></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> <em><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/" target="_blank">Information Clearing House </a></em></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> <em><a href="http://mycatbirdseat.com/" target="_blank">My Catbird Seat</a></em></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> <em><a href="http://www.onlinejournal.com/" target="_blank">Online Journal</a></em></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> <em><a href="http://www.redress.cc/" target="_blank">Redress Information &amp; Analysis</a></em></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> <em><a href="http://sabbah.biz/mt/" target="_blank">Sabbah Report</a></em></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> <em><a href="http://www.veteranstoday.com/" target="_blank">Veterans Today</a></em></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> <em><a href="http://mirror.wikileaks.info/" target="_blank"> WikiLeaks</a></em></li>
</ul>
<p>In addition to websites that can be visited for their alternative  views, a number of writers can be relied on to report accurately and  provide revealing commentary avoided by mainstream media. To view  articles, simply type their names into a search engine like Google,  Yahoo or Bing.</p>
<p>Some of the leading – always reliable – commentators include Robert  Fisk, John Pilger, Gwynne Dyer, Mark Steele, Uri Avnery, Arundhati Roy,  Alexander Cockburn, Ted Rall, Greg Palast, Robert Jensen, Mike Whitney,  Alan Hart, Jeff Blankfort, Gilad Atzmon, Jonathan Cook, Mazin Qumsiyeh,  Chris Hedges, Ramzy Baroud, Franklin Lamb, James Petras, Debbie Menon,  Glenn Greenwald, Paul Craig Roberts, Stephen Zunes, Amy Goodman, Eric  Margolis, Richard Falk, Jeff Gates, Stuart Littlewood and Gordon Duff.</p>
<p>It’s not too late to add a useful New Year’s resolution: get some news  and views that you won’t find in the mainstream media. Read a news  commentary by each of these writers in 2011.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.redress.cc/global/pjballes20110105">Weapons of mass deception: time to turn to alternative media &gt; Global &gt; Redress Information &amp; Analysis</a>.</p>
]]></html></oembed>