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Noam Chomsky And The BBC: A Brief Comparison
Media Lense
http://medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2017/857-noam-chomsky-and-the-bbc-a-brief-comparison.htmlhttp://dissidentvoice.org/2017/10/noam-chomsky-and-the-bbc-a-brief-comparison/ Date Written: 2017-11-10 Publisher: Media Lens Year Published: 2017 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX21530 A recent interview with 88-year-old Noam Chomsky once again demonstrates just how insightful he is in providing rational analysis of Western power and the suffering it generates. By contrast, anyone relying on BBC News receives a power-friendly view of the world, systematically distorted in a way that allows the state and private interests to pursue business as usual. Abstract: - Excerpts: First, consider North Korea which has carried out missile tests that have 'demonstrated its growing power and expertise, stoking tensions with the US', as the BBC puts it. A helpful graphic shows much of the northern hemisphere within range of these missiles. In particular, the west coast of the United States is portrayed as under real threat from the 'hermit' state's nuclear missiles: a scaremongering scenario that BBC News has promoted in line with the propaganda requirements of the White House, the Pentagon and the arms industry. Video clips on the BBC News website have titles such as 'N Korea announces nuclear test', 'S Korea drill response to N Korea missile', 'We're used to hearing about being bombed' and 'I don't know when I might be killed'. ... In a forthcoming book of interviews with journalist David Barsamian, 'Global Discontents: Conversations on the Rising Threats to Democracy', Chomsky acknowledges that North Korea has a 'growing arsenal of nuclear weapons and missiles' which does indeed 'pose a threat to the region and, in the longer term, to countries beyond.' But then he provides vital context for this arsenal of weapons: 'its function is to be a deterrent, one that the North Korean regime is unlikely to abandon as long as it remains under threat of destruction.' Yes, threat of destruction; something that is very real in the historical memory of the people: 'North Koreans remember well that their country was literally flattened by U.S. bombing, and many may recall how U.S. forces bombed major dams when there were no other targets left. There were gleeful reports in American military publications about the exciting spectacle of a huge flood of water wiping out the rice crops on which "the Asian" depends for survival.' Subject Headings |