POLITICIANS LIE. THE JOURNALISTS’ JOB IS TO UNMASK THEM - an email with BBC's Newsnight

Dear Paul Mason,

I have posted an email (*) I had sent yesterday to NN’s editor Barron as a comment to your blog ‘Should Medialens be allowed NOT to come on Newsnight?’ but I can’t see it.

Have you got it? Is there any problem? If you didn’t accept it, please, could you explain why?

Thank you for your time.

Best,
Gabriele Zamparini

(*) Dear Peter Barron, Editor, Newsnight

I have just read your email on Media Lens message board.

You end your email with this line: “I hope you will post this on your website in order to correct the distorted vision your readers may have been given.”

As a Media Lens’ reader, I guarantee you that “the distorted vision” doesn’t come from Media Lens.

You may also be interested in my direct experience with your “show”:

My interview with the BBC
By Gabriele Zamparini

To use your words, “I hope you will post this on your website in order to correct the distorted vision your readers may have been given.”

Kind regards,
Gabriele Zamparini

PS When in your email you write “we flew Les over to take part”, just wanted to be sure I understand the meaning of that “we”: you obviously refer to “we, the taxpayers” who paid for Les Roberts flight as well as for the BBC in general, including BBC’s journalists’ salary.

***

Dear Gabriele,
I'm certainly happy for it to appear. I'm sorry I haven't got back to you yet on the points you made, but will do in due course.

Best
Peter

***

Thanks Peter and Paul. I look forward to seeing that e-mail on your blogs.

I get this opportunity to write a few words on the NN’s format, if I may. I lived many years in the US and one of the only TV shows I used to watch there was ‘NOW with Bill Moyers’ on PBS. That show was quite interesting because there was only one guest at the time usually and the tone was quite polite and people at home as myself could follow the questions and understand the answers and agree or disagree with a better understanding. The guests in studio had the time to fully elaborate their arguments without being abruptly interrupted, as too often it happens on TV. Since there are many different opinions out there on what’s going on, maybe NN could consider to “slow down” its pace and offer its audience a more intelligent and enjoyable format. I am sure people would appreciate and the quality of BBC’s information would improve. Too often Newsight (of course, not only Newsnight) looks more like a Newsnightmare and I am sure your goal is instead to offer quality information and give people at home the opportunity to make up their own mind.

Also I wonder why I don’t see often on TV, especially on BBC, people like Pilger, Fisk, Ken Loach or Harold Pinter. I am from Italy and lived many years in the US and these people are well known, admired and respected all over the world, so I thought it would be natural for the BBC to open its studios to them.

Thanks for your time.

Best wishes,
Gabriele Zamparini

***

Thanks Gabriele,
We are certainly keen to hear a range of opinions, and of course we like lively debate, but I take your point about giving people the chance to develop their argument. From time to time we do invite guest contributors to make authored pieces for us, but obviously these need to be balanced over time by people with opposing views, particularly on polarised issues like the Iraq war.

We regularly ask Pilger and Fisk to appear on Newsnight, though they are rarely keen, we aim to have Loach and Pinter on the programme again soon (we're working on a big project with Pinter).

We would hope to get you on at some point too. Regarding your experience with Newsnight I'm sorry you felt mistreated that day. We approached medialens who on that occasion gave us a list of possible names including yours. Our researcher spoke to you and others and judged that in terms of the live discussion David Miller would be best. I'm not 100% clear what happened after that but I think she passed your name to a further researcher for possible inclusion in the film to precede the debate.

I'm sorry you were frustrated by endless conversations and an apparent lack of knowledge by a researcher, but is it not better that Newsnight aims to reflect these issues and engage with bloggers - albeit perhaps imperfectly - than not?

Best wishes
Peter

***

Thanks Peter.

Just a few words underneath. (sorry for using CAPITAL LETTERS)


PETER BARRON: We are certainly keen to hear a range of opinions, and of course we like lively debate, but I take your point about giving people the chance to develop their argument. From time to time we do invite guest contributors to make authored pieces for us, but obviously these need to be balanced over time by people with opposing views, particularly on polarised issues like the Iraq war.

GABRIELE ZAMPARINI: I AGREE 100% ON THE “need to be balanced over time by people with opposing views, particularly on polarised issues like the Iraq war.” BUT I DON’T SEE THIS HAPPENING ON THE BBC UNFORTUNATELY. THERE ARE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO SEE THE WAR ON IRAQ NOT AS A MISTAKE BUT AS THE SUPREME INTERNATIONAL CRIME, THAT WAR OF AGGRESSION JUDGED IN NUREMBERG IN 1946. AMONG THESE PEOPLE, THE UN SECRETARY GENERAL ANNAN. YET, WHAT HAPPENS ON BBC? "There's still bitter disagreement over invading Iraq. Was it justified or a disastrous miscalculation?" (Bridget Kendall, BBC Six O'Clock News, Monday, March 20, 2006)


PETER BARRON: We regularly ask Pilger and Fisk to appear on Newsnight, though they are rarely keen, we aim to have Loach and Pinter on the programme again soon (we're working on a big project with Pinter).

GABRIELE ZAMPARINI: PILGER AND FISK ARE SERIOUS AND IMPORTANT JOURNALISTS, AND NOT ONLY IN THIS COUNTRY. WHY DO YOU THINK “they are rarely keen”? I WOULD LOVE TO SEE LOACH AND PINTER ON NEWSNIGHT. I AM STILL SHOCKED FOR THE REFUSAL BY THE BBC TO BROADCAST PINTER’S NOBEL PRIZE ACCEPTANCE’S SPEECH.


PETER BARRON: We would hope to get you on at some point too.

GABRIELE ZAMPARINI: THANKS, BUT I AM SURE THERE ARE MORE INTERESTING PEOPLE OUT THERE.

PETER BARRON: Regarding your experience with Newsnight I'm sorry you felt mistreated that day. We approached medialens who on that occasion gave us a list of possible names including yours. Our researcher spoke to you and others and judged that in terms of the live discussion David Miller would be best. I'm not 100% clear what happened after that but I think she passed your name to a further researcher for possible inclusion in the film to precede the debate.

GABRIELE ZAMPARINI: ACTUALLY, THAT EXPERIENCE WAS QUITE INSTRUCTIVE AND I AM GRATEFUL FOR THAT. I HAVE LEARNED A LOT.

PETER BARRON: I'm sorry you were frustrated by endless conversations and an apparent lack of knowledge by a researcher, but is it not better that Newsnight aims to reflect these issues and engage with bloggers - albeit perhaps imperfectly - than not?

GABRIELE ZAMPARINI: I WAS NOT “frustrated”. NOT AT ALL. I WAS QUITE RELAXED AND INTERESTED IN TELLING THE NEWSNIGHT’S PEOPLE MY POINT OF VIEW. THE PROBLEM WAS (AND STILL IT IS) NOT ABOUT BLOGGERS AND INTERNET NEW TECHNOLOGIES. IT’S A PROBLEM OF CONTENT, FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND DEMOCRACY. JUST CONSIDER ONE THING: MOST OF US WHO WORK IN THE SO CALLED ALTERNATIVE MEDIA AND MEDIA ACTIVISM, WORK FOR FREE OR FOR VERY LITTLE MONEY. WE DO BELIEVE IN WHAT WE DO, HAVE PASSION AND CONVICTIONS. WE DON’T HAVE THOSE BIG CHEQUES AS MOTIVATION OR PERSONAL PRESTIGE BUT OUR BELIEVES AND HOPES TO BUILD A BETTER WORLD, REACHING OUT OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS AND TO OPPOSE THIS MADNESS. AND THE ONLY WAY WE HAVE IS TELLING THE TRUTH, ASKING QUESTIONS, TRY TO DECONSTRUCT THE LIES AND THE PROPAGANDA OF THOSE WITH MEANS, MONEY AND POWER.

DEAR PETER, SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG OUT THERE. YOU (AS A TV MAINSTREAM JOURNALIST) HAVE A VERY BIG POWER. AND WITH POWER COMES RESPONSIBILITY. YOUR WORDS, YOUR DECISIONS AND YOUR ACTIONS HAVE HUGE CONSEQUENCES. CONSEQUENCES THAT FOR MANY PEOPLE COULD MEAN LIFE OR DEATH. LITERALLY.

THE NEXT TIME YOU HAVE SOMEONE FROM THE BLAIR’S GOVERNMENT IN STUDIO, PLEASE, KEEP THIS IN MIND. AND ASK SOME REAL HARD QUESTIONS. EVEN MORE IMPORTANT, KEEP ASKING THE SECOND AND THE THIRD QUESTION AFTER THE LIES THAT INEVITABLY YOU’LL GET FROM THAT PERSON. POLITICIANS AND PEOPLE IN POWER AND WITH POWER LIE. THAT’S THEIR JOB. THE JOURNALISTS’ JOB IS TO UNMASK THEM.

BEST WISHES AND GOOD LUCK,
GABRIELE

***

Thanks Gabriele,
I agree with a lot of that. I'm hope you'll agree that on Newsnight at least we try to air these issues. In my view it would be a pity if suspicion of the media meant that important voices and views aren't heard.

best wishes

Peter

***

Thanks Peter.

I don’t see any “suspicion” but a lot of rational, logical and documented facts.

Yes, views are important. Facts even more.

Just having in mind the war of aggression against Iraq. There might be as many as 300,000 civilians deaths. Most of them women and children. Most of them killed by the US and UK through aerial bombing. "The researchers found that the majority of deaths were attributed to violence, which were primarily the result of military actions by Coalition forces. Most of those killed by Coalition forces were women and children... Eighty-four percent of the deaths were reported to be caused by the actions of Coalition forces and 95 percent of those deaths were due to air strikes and artillery." ('Iraqi Civilian Deaths Increase Dramatically After Invasion', October 28, 2004)

Before that, more than a decade of sanctions killed more than one million of innocent Iraqis. Denis Halliday, former UN Assistant Secretary General and Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (1997-98) who resigned after thirty-four years with the United Nations, in protest over the effects of the embargo on the civilian population, said: “I had been instructed to implement a policy that satisfies the definition of genocide: a deliberate policy that had effectively killed well over a million individuals, children and adults.” (The New Rulers of the World, by John Pilger, Verso, 2002)

On the other side, lies, lies and more lies. I would like a BBC’s journalist to remind the public about these facts and to ask explanation about this to Blair, his pals and his apologists every time they start singing about freedom, democracy and “our values”.

In these hours Iran may become the next target. When in your show you will discuss about Iran, please Peter, remember and remind that the people who live in Iran are called Iranians and they are normal people like you and I and the people who are watching the BBC at home. Don’t let these people out of the picture.

The same for the so-called “war on terror”, Venezuela, Palestine, etc.

I know that the truth is always subversive. But what’s the alternative?

Thank you for your time.

Best wishes,
Gabriele

***

Thanks Gabriele,

Peter