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War, lies and censorship
Damon, Andre
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/04/13/pers-a13.htmlDate Written: 2018-04-13 Publisher: World Socialist Website Year Published: 2018 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX22203 Damon cautions news consumers that there is precedent for dissemination of government propaganda in the Anglo-American mainstream media when leaders are preparing to take part in military action. Abstract: - Excerpt: The United States, Britain and France are in the final stages of preparing a new bloodbath in the Middle East. A US naval strike force, headed by aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, is steaming toward the Persian Gulf, bombs are being loaded onto aircraft, and troops are on the move, as the imperialist powers prepare to launch military aggression against Syria that could quickly develop into a direct conflict with nuclear-armed Russia. But imperialist war is propelled by more than soldiers and missiles: it is powered by lies. For the past month, all the major US, British and French news outlets have been working overtime to peddle a series of lies, one after the other, to sell the public a re-hash of the "weapons of mass destruction" narrative used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The democratic conception of the free press centers on it's being a so-called "fourth estate," independent from and skeptical toward the claims of the political establishment. But in the frenzied war fever, the distinction between journalism and state propaganda has been obliterated. Subject Headings |