Press News

 More than seven years in the making, the BC Rail Scandal trial of Basi, Virk, and Basi has begun.  It opens huge questions about the integrity of the Gordon Campbell government and about the integrity of the administration of justice in British Columbia.

 To make recordings of B.C. Supreme Court trial proceedings (for purposes of accuracy only) a "journalist" must receive "accreditation" approval by a committee of "journalists" appointed by Supreme Court officers.  The present committee is made up of four employees of the CanWest reactionary conglomerate.  No other press or media source is represented on the committee.  That committee just refused accreditation to Robin Mathews, vivelecanada columnist on the grounds  (?) that he is not "a working journalist.

Damage to EU-US relations, as US judges partner with US intel to take world political control of Google, blocking EU websites even from EU citizens, to help US intel commit criminal acts in Europe - Article from Belgian press, by Dan Hajidah

EU authorities study criminal motives for 'largest global media smear campaign ever' against political refugee - US intel, US judges and Bush financier, not denying they spread hoax stories via global media, to help slander and murder US political dissident in Belgium

US judges copy Stalin methods to hold fake in-absentia 'trial' against EU citizen - US government sources confirm motives of murder in order to silence journalist

Refugee author in Belgium had risked his life inside US to fight for human rights under US Constitution

"I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is mass psychology. Mass psychology is, scientifically speaking, not a very advanced study... This study is immensely useful to practical men, whether they wish to become rich or to acquire the government. It is, of course, as a science, founded upon individual psychology, but hitherto it has employed rule-of-thumb methods which were based upon a kind of intuitive common sense. Its importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda. Of these the most influential is what is called 'education'. Religion plays a part, though a diminishing one; the Press, the cinema and the radio play an increasing part." - Bertrand Russell, 1952 (p40)

 While trying to get my head around that nosedive of Eliot Spitzer, I came across the 

thought that while self destruction occurs in many walks of life, and is critically covered by 

the media, the media never seems to focus its intense critical beam on itself. Journalists, 

especially political journalists, are just not known for going at each other’s jugulars. They 

comment and criticize while remaining safe in their métier, kind of like threatened muskox, 

facing out, bum to bum, shaggy and mute whenever a critical note is struck

About a month ago FOX News was caught hiding a smiling John McCain in the animation of one of their shows (see video below). Why would they go to such an effort, and break the law, to hide an imperceptible John McCain? Below is an excerpt from a standard social cognition book which will explain a lot. [1]

"The more familiar we are with people, faces, colors, geometrical shapes, odors, foods, and many other things, the more we like them (for a review, see Bornstein 1989). Robert Zajonc termed this phenomenon the mere exposure effect to indicate that the mere repeated exposure to an object suffices to increase one's liking for it (Zajonc 1968). It now appears that mere exposure to an object is especially likely to increase liking for that object when people are unaware of this exposure (Bornstein 1989; Bornstein and D'Agostino 1992).

"Taking the techniques of persuasion and information and true propaganda that we have learnt to apply nationally in war, and deliberately bending them to the international tasks of peace, if necessary utilising them, as Lenin envisaged, to "overcome the resistance of millions" to desirable change. Using drama to reveal reality and art as the method by which, in Sir Stephen Tallent's words, "truth becomes impressive and living principle of action," and aiming to produce that concerted effort which, to quote Grierson once more, needs a background of faith and a sense of destiny. This must be a mass philosophy, a mass creed, and it can never be achieved without the use of the media of mass communication. Unesco, in the press of its detailed work, must never forget this enormous fact."

& American media always points out "state-run" media, as if that's supposed to imply bias!

The "Cons" don't want to privatize the CBC!

All-party committee unlikely to reach consensus on CBC Chris Cobb, Canwest News Service Published: Monday, February 18, 2008 OTTAWA - A political split is looming over a federal review of the CBC. The all-party House of Commons Heritage committee is in the final throes of drafting a report on the future of the taxpayer-funded broadcaster, but the chances of the report being unanimous appear unlikely. Opposition MPs on the committee outnumber government MPs, raising the prospect of a separate Conservative report that would, in effect, constitute the first detailed government policy on the CBC. The committee's in-depth review of the CBC has lasted almost a year and is expected to end within the next three weeks. The current discussions about the content of the final report, which will be presented to Parliament, are being held in secret.

Cigarette ads return to Canadian magazines Roger Collier CMAJ If Mags and Fags doesn't carry a magazine that interests you, chances are you aren't interested in anything. With somewhere between 6500 and 7000 titles, on subjects ranging from miniature doll houses to elk hunting, the store offers the widest selection in the nation's capital. The variety of magazines is matched only by the variety of ads within their pages. Every product imaginable — wrist watches, throat lozenges, spark plugs — is promoted somewhere on these shelves. For the past 10 years, however, one product has been absent from Canadian magazine ads: cigarettes. Now, much to the chagrin of anti-smoking advocates, they're back.

Local News Drives TV Value Only 12% understand that none of the proceeds of the local cable/satellite TV bill goes to local TV stations A new study of cable/satellite TV subscribers shows that while a large majority value local news programs more than any other Canadian programming and services, few know that none of the proceeds of the monthly cable/satellite TV bill directly supports local TV stations. In the survey, conducted by Nanos Research, 77% assigned a high or very high value to having access to local television news. The intensity of very high value assigned to local TV news was at least twice that of Canadian drama, specialty stations or high-definition TV.

CRTC puts new restrictions on media ownership GRANT ROBERTSON Globe and Mail Update January 15, 2008 at 12:19 PM EST Canada's broadcast regulator has put in place new rules on media ownership in Canada that will restrict how big the country's broadcasters can get, following a year of unprecedented deals in the sector. After hearings were held last fall to probe media ownership rules, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission introduced three significant rule changes Tuesday: * No person or company will be allowed to control more than two of types of media in one local market, including local TV, local radio and a local newspaper. * No company will be allowed to control more than 45 per cent of the total television audience in Canada, which could restrict the acquisition of specialty cable channels by major broadcasters.

Vote totals to determine Canada's top news story of 2007 By THE CANADIAN PRESS 2007-12-30 15:55:00 Vote totals in the annual survey of newspaper editors and broadcasters conducted by The Canadian Press to determine Canada's top news story of the year for 2007: 1. Soaring loonie, 74 votes 2. Taser controversy, 15 3. Climate change debate, 12