Monday 25 June 2012

Mainstream media’s distorted narrative on the Lockerbie airline bombing

[The following are excerpts from an article by Colin Todhunter published yesterday on the website of the London Progressive Journal:]

Noam Chomsky recalls writing his first article at around age ten. It was about the Spanish Civil War. Since then, he has gone on to change the face of modern linguistics and has been prolific in analysing and documenting the crimes and terror carried out by the US abroad. A colleague of Chomsky recently asked him if looking back on his 82 years of life whether all of his books, articles and presentations, gave him a sense of satisfaction. Without hesitation, Chomsky is said to have replied, “No.” (...)

Someone recently told me that he doesn’t have the time or inclination to go searching the internet to look at ‘alternative’ news sites or voices after a hard day’s work. For him, and many others, it’s much more convenient to sit in front of the TV and watch the mainstream news sources.

And there lies the root of the problem. The mainstream corporate media has been fooling the public for decades. It fails to shine a light on important decisions that are made behind closed doors by unaccountable corporate players, senior politicians and unelected bureaucrats. It therefore fails to expose the close links between these groups that ensure unity of interest and action. The media torch does not focus on the already done-deals that the public never had any knowledge of or insight into. This is democracy – sham democracy. 

Mainstream media news is shaped by selective filtering by or on behalf of media owners who, along with figures in officialdom, lobbyists and a range of other influences, determine the production and reporting of ‘news’. Chomsky has discussed in detail how the media serves to manufacture consent in this way. Whether it’s the one-sided reporting of the Libyan conflict or the gross misrepresentation of the Houla massacre in Syria, the outcome is the same: public discussion is kept within a narrow range of officially sanctioned discourse in order to produce support for state-corporate decisions.

We see this time and time again - the mainstream media’s distorted narrative on the Lockerbie airline bombing that conveniently pinned the blame on Libya despite strong evidence to the contrary, the wholesale swallowing by the media of government lies used to justify the invasion of Iraq and the bogus notion consistently put forward by the media that endless militarism abroad is necessary because it’s all about a war on terror.  



[Dr Morag Kerr’s overview of the Lockerbie case, published as a booklet with the title Lockerbie: Fact and Fiction, can be read online here.]

2 comments:

  1. MISSION LOCKERBIE, 2012; doc. Nr.8146
    The „Lockerbie Affair“ and the fight around the truth.

    The Scottish Parliament might be pleased that more and more unprofessional „experts“ are playing around with the „Lockerbie case“ and turning it into a turbulente game of dice.
    It would be not too much of a problem to prove „the miscarriage of justice“ and the innocence of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who sadly passed away.
    All we need are two things:
    A new forensic investigation of some evidence, such as the crucial MST-13 timer fragment.(PT-35, PT/35 (b) and DP/31 (a).

    A new forensic investigation of the allegedly associated grey textile fabric of a shirt collar (Label: „SLALOM“ Prod. (PI-995). After an enlargement of the digital proof photo No 329, it clearly showed that the textile fabric PI-995 originated from a white T-shirt. (Brand: ABANDERADO). This type of T-shirt was definetly not sold on 7 Decembre 1988 by *Tony Gauci.
    *(Witness nr. 595, Gauci: A-- Yes. Yes. When I sold this one, I didn't sell T-shirts. Perhaps somebody else was there. I never sold him a T-shirt.
    Q-- You never sold the Libyan gentleman a T-shirt ?
    A-- On that day, no. On that particular order, no, that we are talking about, no. He could have come another day).

    Furthermore – in an early stage – based on reliable documents – Mebo was able to prove that the suitcase (Tray B-8849) was not inter-line from Malta’s flight KM-180 transported via Frankfurt on PA-103/A to Heathrow. The suitcase came on-line, on PanAm flight 643 from Berlin and was accompanied by passenger No 131, W.Wagenführ. She picked up the suitcase at Heathrow. There was no explosive device (IED) in the suitcase.

    A criminal complaint against known Swiss Government employees (in connection with the transfer of MST-13 timer circuit board prototype) was filed.
    Also a crucial legal step has been made by lawyer Marcel Bosonnet on behalf of Mebo Ltd. Switzerland and Edwin Bollier on 4th June 2012. Only the requested legal assistance via Swiss government from the „Lord Advocate of Scotland“ could uncover the criminal affair within a short time.
    It is time for ACTION ! Plenty of evidence is available and there is no need for further delays and the widespread media bla-bla.
    The professionals in the circle of Professor Robert Black, Dr.Swire, Dr.Hans Koechler, John Ashton and all other persons who stand up for the truth, are excluded from my criticism.

    By Edwin and Mahnaz Bollier, MEBO Ltd. Switzerland. URL: www.lockerbie.ch

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  2. Excellent piece by Todhunter. I sometimes despair when I read investigative journalism on Lockerbie in Private Eye sitting side by side with simplistic propaganda about the so-called Arab Spring which might be straight out of the Sun newspaper. Can the Eye not join up the dots? Or is it some kind of misinformation source itself? So, if one reads between the lines in the Eye,the official narrative on Lockerbie is a big lie (given) yet the MSM stories about Libya, Syria are all truth? Go figure.

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