Martin Brunt: Life o' Crime

Martin Brunt: Fail

Lord Leveson the New Hutton?

My own observation is that the fact that Lord Justice Leveson HIMSELF is known for attending Soirées and parties at the home of Mathew Freud, husband to Elizabeth Murdoch who is the daughter to erm......RUPERT Murdoch...... kind of compromises any claim to his total impartiality in the ongoing matters. more Spudgun's Spoutings

Money Money Money Madeleine McCann Inc

Oh please please let the truth come out, that Clarence Mitchell gave the screws the go ahead to publish Dr Dim's diary.

Please let this be the long awaited back door that is the gateway to bring this farce to an end.

For more detailed coverage of this and similar, please go to themurdochempireanditsnestofvipers

News of the World made hush payment of £125K to McCanns

Confidential deal towards search fund for Madeleine was part of apology for tabloid's publication of mother Kate's diary extracts
Daniel Boffey
17 December 2011

The News of the World paid £125,000 to the fund supporting the search for Madeleine McCann as part of an apology for publishing Kate McCann's diaries – on condition that the terms of the deal remained secret.

The payment was made after the missing girl's parents expressed their outrage at the story, which Kate McCann said made her feel "mentally raped". All the parties involved in the negotiations over the payment, which was agreed in September 2008, were asked to sign a confidentiality agreement hiding the scale of the newspaper's culpability.

The payment was made despite claims by the defunct newspaper's editor at the Leveson inquiry last week that he believed he had had the full support of the McCanns to publish. Colin Myler, who edited the NoW from 2007 until it closed this year, told the inquiry he had received repeated assurances from his head of news, Ian Edmondson, that the McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, supported publication – a claim which has been strenuously denied.

Myler told the inquiry that he subsequently ran an apology and paid a "substantial sum" because "he felt very bad that she didn't know". However, the Observer has learned that the NoW initially tried to minimise the compensation. A source at News International, the owner of the newspaper, said there were hours of negotiations between the newspaper's lawyers and Carter-Ruck, the solicitors hired by the McCanns, in the days following publication of the story on 14 September 2008.

A deal was finally struck in which a £125,000 payment was agreed, but all parties were obliged to sign agreements that they would not talk about the size of the compensation. Last night Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman declined to comment on the revelation.

The Leveson inquiry into the media will hear this week from former NoW sports journalist Matt Driscoll, who was awarded almost £800,000 for unfair dismissal in April 2007 while on long-term sick leave for stress-related depression following a campaign of bullying provoked by the newspaper's then editor, Andy Coulson.

It will also hear via video link from Piers Morgan, former editor of the Daily Mirror and the NoW, who now works for CNN in New York. At 28, Morgan was appointed editor of the NoW, making him the youngest tabloid newspaper editor in history. He was editor of the Daily Mirror for more than 10 years, but was sacked in 2004 after the newspaper conceded that photos it published apparently showing British soldiers abusing an Iraqi were fake.

Morgan claimed in a GQ magazine interview in 2007 that phone hacking was "widespread" and that "loads of newspaper journalists were doing it" when Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire were jailed in January of that year.

Asked in the interview whether he knew about voicemail interception while he was editor of NoW, Morgan said: "Well, I was there in 1994-95, before mobiles were used very much, and that particular trick wasn't known about. I can't get too excited about it, I must say. It was pretty well known that if you didn't change your pin code when you were a celebrity who bought a new phone, then reporters could ring your mobile, tap in a standard factory setting number and hear your messages. That is not, to me, as serious as planting a bug in someone's house, which is what some people seem to think was going on."

In 2006 Morgan wrote an article for the Daily Mail claiming that he was played a tape of a message Paul McCartney left on the mobile phone of Heather Mills. "The couple had clearly had a tiff, Heather had fled to India, and Paul was pleading with her to come back," he wrote. "He sounded lonely, miserable and desperate, and even sang We Can Work It Out into the answerphone." gruniad

The McCanns Aren't Prostitutes They're Pimps

The McCanns Whine To The Leveson Enquiry
Media Bastards
Sophia Botha
23/11/2011

This afternoon Gerry and Kate McCann whined to the Leveson Enquiry into media practices.


Gerry and Kate McCann were supposedly giving evidence to the Leveson Enquiry due to their supposed negative treatment from the press following the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine.

I remember well the wall to wall media coverage in the summer of 2007 about the disappearance of 3 year old Madeleine whilst the McCann family were on holiday in Portugal, I remember well the media overkill their was about the disappearance of Madeleine; I remember in particular how Gerry and Kate McCann have attempted to manipulate the press (and us all via the press) into believing their story in regards to the disappearance. I remember that Gerry and Kate started to whine about their treatment from the press when the press started to ask hard questions of them because they started to suss that maybe the press were being sold a crock of shit.

Anytime probing questions of Gerry and Kate McCann’s story about the disappearance of their daughter, they start whining about how nasty the press are towards them etc. the news media are guilty of much but one thing they should be doing is asking questions of those who might just trying to bullshit us all. There definitely is a public interest argument in defence of the press treatment of Gerry and Kate McCann, because where maybe the Portuguese police failed to investigate or where they were unable to investigate the media might succeed in discovering whether Gerry and Kate could be guilty in the disappearance of their daughter.


The other day I was watching a documentary about the Joyce McKinney scandal, which was either about a woman saving her boyfriend from a religious cult or it was about a woman kidnapping a man she once had a fling with to have very kinky sex with. Joyce McKinney attempted to manipulate the press into believing her side of the story & that she was all wholesome and family values, but McKinney’s manipulation that she was all pure & holy kind of came unstuck when the Daily Mirror published on its front page a full blown picture of Joyce McKinney posing naked from when she worked as an adult model and prostitute. More The Bastard

John Pilger: The War You Don't See (And The Truth You Never Heard)

Pilger takes a look at the role played by the media in the selling, and the maintaining of, the Bush/Blair war of aggression in Iraq. (and others)

The first clip is out of sinc, but sinc, as does content and revelations, improves greatly after that.

















H/T Joana Morais.

John Pilger: Protect Assange, Don’t Abuse Him

Update. Amy Goodman talks to John Pilger. I think the details that Goodman gives out about the US attempts to try and stop everyone and their mother reading the leaks actually betters what Pilger has to say. Well it is if you have a penchant for high farce.






Protect Assange, Don’t Abuse Him
By John Pilger

Forty years ago, a book entitled The Greening of America caused a sensation. On the cover were these words: "There is a revolution coming. It will not be like revolutions of the past. It will originate with the individual." I was a correspondent in the United States at the time and recall the overnight elevation to guru status of the author, a young Yale academic, Charles Reich. His message was that political action had failed and only "culture" and introspection could change the world. This merged with an insidious corporate public relations campaign aimed at reclaiming western capitalism from the sense of freedom inspired by the civil rights and anti-war movements. The new propaganda's euphemisms were postmodernism, consumerism and "me-ism".

The self was now the zeitgeist. Driven by the forces of profit and the media, the search for individual consciousness all but overwhelmed the spirit of social justice and internationalism. A new deity was proclaimed; the personal was the political.

In 1995, Reich published Opposing the System, in which he recanted almost everything in The Greening of America. "There will be no relief from either economic insecurity or human breakdown," he now wrote, "until we recognize that uncontrolled economic forces create conflict, not well-being . . ." There were no queues in the bookstores this time. In the age of economic neoliberalism, Reich was out of step with the rampant individualism of the west's new political and cultural elite.

False Tribunes

The revival of militarism in the west and the search for a new "threat" following the end of the cold war depended on the political disorientation of those who, 20 years earlier, would have formed a vehement opposition. On 11 September 2001, they were silenced finally, and many were co-opted into the "war on terror". The invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 was supported by leading feminists, especially in the US, where Hillary Clinton and other false tribunes of feminism made the Taliban's treatment of Afghan women the rationale for attacking a stricken country and causing the deaths of at least 20,000 people while giving the Taliban new life. That the warlords backed by America were as medievalist as the Taliban was not allowed to interrupt such a right-on cause. The zeitgeist, the years of "personal" depoliticizing and distracting true radicalism, had worked. Nine years later, the disaster that is Afghanistan is the consequence.

It seems the lesson must be learned all over again as a group of media feminists joins the assault on Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, or the "Wikiblokesphere", as Libby Brooks abuses it in the Guardian. From the Times to the New Statesman, apparent feminist credence is given to the chaotic, incompetent and contradictory accusations against Assange in Sweden.

On 9 December, the Guardian published a long, supine interview by Amelia Gentleman with Claes Borgström, the "highly respected Swedish lawyer". In fact, Borgström is foremost a politician, a powerful member of the Social Democratic Party. He intervened in the Assange case only when the senior prosecutor in Stockholm dismissed the "rape" allegation as based on "no evidence". In Gentleman's Guardian article, an anonymous source whispers to us that Assange's "behaviour towards women . . . was going to get him into trouble". This smear was taken up by Brooks in the paper that same day. Ken Loach and I and others on "the left" are "shoulder to shoulder" with the misogynists and "conspiracy theorists". To hell with journalistic inquiry. Ignorance and prejudice rule.

The Australian barrister James Catlin, who acted for Assange in October, says that both women in the case told prosecutors that they consented to have sex with Assange. Following the "crime", one of the women threw a party in honour of Assange. When Borgström was asked why he was representing the women, as both denied rape, he said: "Yes, but they are not lawyers." Catlin describes the Swedish justice system as "a laughing stock". For three months, Assange and his lawyers have pleaded with the Swedish authorities to let them see the prosecution case. This was denied until 18 November, when the first official document arrived - in the Swedish language, contrary to European law.

Unveiled Threat

Assange still has not been charged with anything. He has never been a "fugitive". He sought and got permission to leave Sweden, and the British police have known his whereabouts since his arrival in this country. This did not stop a London magistrate on 7 December ignoring seven sureties and sending him to solitary confinement in Wandsworth Prison.

At every turn, Assange's basic human rights have been breached. The cowardly Australian government, which is legally obliged to support its citizen, has made a veiled threat to take away his passport. In her public remarks, the prime minister, Julia Gillard, has shamefully torn up the presumption of innocence that underpins Australian law. The Australian minister for foreign affairs ought to have called in both the Swedish and the US ambassadors to warn them against any abuse of human rights against Assange, such as the crime of incitement to murder.

In contrast, vast numbers of decent people all over the world have rallied to Assange's support: people who are neither misogynists nor "internet attack dogs", to quote Libby Brooks, and who support a very different set of values from those espoused by Charles Reich. They include many distinguished feminists, such as Naomi Klein, who wrote: "Rape is being used in the Assange prosecution in the same way that women's freedom was used to invade Afghanistan. Wake up!" source Truthout

Justifications, Like Details, You Can Have Too Many

Update. Joe Wilson/Plame on Dubya's memoir.


Particularly when you're trying to absolve yourself from starting a war of aggression and being tagged as a war criminal and mass murderer.

And it has to be said, there's no justification like self justification; and not for one minute do I have to remind you of that little castle in the sky.

I read on two subjects yesterday, the first being George Dubya's latest passel of lies in his forthcoming memoir, Decision Points, crayons optional. And t'other, the scribblings of Keir Simmons.

But of all that I read, one thing jumped off the page more than any other. Let me deal with that first then I can move on. See if you can pick out in these few lines just what that something might be?

In clips from a wide-ranging interview in advance of the publication this week of Mr Bush's memoir Decision Points, the former president also discussed his widely-reported decision to give up drinking at his 40th birthday.

"I didn't like the person I was," he said, noting his preference for beer, martini and bourbon. "I was a drinker. Now, I wasn't a knee-walking drunk."

Mr Bush agreed with interviewer Matt Lauer's suggestion that he was a "habitual drinker" rather than an alcoholic. source

Yes that's the bit, kind of sets the tone for what kind of interview one might expect.

(pics below are from the early days, so they might be a tad amateurish in places.)

A few talking points then regarding Bush Forty Three, aka Dubya.

Three people were waterboarded, now call me a tad cynical, but I do have a little trouble with that figure.

The next few lines are not without interest, shedding a little light on Tony Blair's, what I can only describe as a runaway attitude and supportive of Dubya's little folly whole heartedly, no matter what the cost. In short, George and Tony's private war.

I will say though, that the arrogant little fuck has lost none of his arrogance, special relationship did I hear you mention?

With arrogance only matched by his shamelessness, the Forty Third President of the United States of America, treats us to another of his innumerable little gems regarding the present day lot of the Iraqis, post invasion. I won't even give the man the comfort of tagging him deluded on that little issue.

But nothing comes close, as you can well imagine, nothing comes close to Bush's shear audacity as when he treats us to lies, so abject, so utterly contemptible, as when he talks of his disappointment in there being no WMD in Iraq. Mind you I don't want to be so terribly unfair to Dubya, we do need to spare a thought for Tony, 45 minutes, Blair, when all said and done.

Mr Bush's memoir, Decision Points, is being serialised in the Times.

In an interview with the paper the former president said: "Three people were waterboarded and I believe that decision saved lives.".........

.........In Mr Bush's interview with The Times, the 64-year-old former president described his close relationship with Tony Blair, but was dismissive of public opinion in Britain about the war in Iraq.

"It doesn't matter how people perceive me in England. It just doesn't matter any more. And frankly, at times, it didn't matter then," he said.

Mr Bush said when Mr Blair faced a possible vote of no confidence in Parliament on the eve of war, he offered him the chance to opt out of sending British troops into Iraq.

However, Mr Blair told him: "I'm in. If it costs the government, fine."




Mr Bush said he still had "a sickening feeling" about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

But he defended his decision to invade Iraq, saying Iraqi citizens were better off without the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the US was better off without Saddam pursuing biological or chemical weapons.

Mr Bush admits that he was shocked when no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq after the 2003 invasion. source



We all know the bottom line concerning this shabby pair, of course we do. But as Bill Maher says,"You can't lie anymore." (with the internet) Sorry video pulled. Never mind, try this pertaining to 1999.

War on my mind

By Russ Baker

Houston: Two years before the September 11 attacks, presidential candidate George W. Bush was already talking privately about the political benefits of attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer, who held many conversations with then-Texas Governor Bush in preparation for a planned autobiography.

“He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999,” said author and journalist Mickey Herskowitz. “It was on his mind. He said to me: ‘One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.’ And he said, ‘My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.’ He said, ‘If I have a chance to invade….if I had that much capital, I’m not going to waste it. I’m going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I’m going to have a successful presidency.” more

So much for WMD.

Before we leave our erstwhile President, just a note on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. If you were following the story at the time you would know just what the man held his hand up for, about the only thing he didn't cop to was the Kennedy assassination, but then I'm not so sure about that. So much for the quality of intel resulting from torture.

Right, the other fellow then, and yes I'll also hold my hand up to cherry picking, but at the end of the day I'm doing no more than playing by the oppositions' rules.

Why I was prepared to stand up for journalism and stand up to Lily Allen.
Keir Simmons 22 July, 2010

Which is why it worried me so much that last night Lily Allen accused Channel 4 News of only targeting Zac Goldsmith because he is rich. In other words she questioned the motives of Channel 4 News and their integrity…………

And that would never do would it, I mean who are we to question Channel 4? But wasn't it Channel 4 that brought us.......
I think that statement more than anything epitomises the attitude of Simmons, as described by John Blacksmith in the post below this.

…………It seems to be fashionable to attack journalists and journalism these days. And we should be able to take the criticism and be forced to defend our decisions like anyone else. But it’s worth remembering how crucial to democracy journalism is and that in general journalists’ guiding principles are to tell people what’s happening and to question those in power.
Indeed for their investigation Channel 4 News worked with the ‘Bureau of Investigative Journalism’, a not for profit organisation that aims to promote the kind of difficult journalism that is under threat in these difficult times.
Difficult times in which it’s worth remembering the old adage ‘don’t shoot the messenger’ and perhaps adding another, ‘you’ll miss us when we’re gone’. source

But it’s worth remembering how crucial to democracy journalism is. Stop for fucks sake. And.

and perhaps adding another, ‘you’ll miss us when we’re gone’. Just like I'd miss Leprosy, what a puffed up delusional fuckwit if ever there was.

Keir Simmons 6 July, 2010

At ITV News our fundamental purpose is to discover the truth and share it with our viewers.Yet there are rare occasions when we agree to put that aim on hold. Yesterday was one such occasion………..

..........We hate it when we can’t tell people everything we know. It goes against everything we stand for. But we also know that ITV viewers expect us to act responsibly. Over the last 24 hours that is what we have done. (a Raoul Moat story)

I think I'm starting to loose the will to live. Last dollop.

Keir Simmons 11 June, 2010

What is the job of journalism? It is to spread word, to ask questions, to hold to account – all of them noble principles. Which is fine in principle, the trouble is doing the job can be not very noble at all.

Because beyond the principles of journalism are real people, suffering real heartache. Their story may need to be shared with the nation, it may raise crucial questions that must be answered, but it is also their life.

A reporter should never forget that our stories aren’t just stories.
At ITV News we are daily faced with the challenge of reconciling our duty to report the story with our duty to care about the people we report on. The two do not always fit neatly together – far from it at times…………………..

……..And as ever – I will welcome your feedback as to whether we strike the right balance between the fair and the firm, the inquisitive and the intrusive. After all ITV News is, ultimately, about the people who watch us. source

Noble! bleedin' noble! principles of journalism! For fuck's sake! one of us needs locking up, but in the meantime, I've got me razor blades, got me box of matches, and all I need now is a busy intersection where I can play.

And let me leave you with this pearl, it is a permanent fixture in the side bar at Only in America.

I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude, and I believe most Iraqis express that. I mean, the people understand that we've endured great sacrifice to help them. That's the problem here in America. They wonder whether or not there is a gratitude level that's significant enough in Iraq.view 60 Minutes 1/14/07

Keir Simmons Hack

Unedited

I wasn't going to bother giving attention to yet another tedious, inaccurate serving of sycophantic drivel in defence of the McCanns. Until that was, John Blacksmith decided to pen a reply to this embodiment of English journalism, Keir Simmons. Thus, by virtue of Blacksmith's reply, allowing me to post Simmons' tripe without the tedium of picking the thing apart.

I would however like to pick on one or two points that John Blacksmith, I won't say omits, but rather doesn't cover, if for no other reason than my two'pennorth doesn't fall within the structure of his reply.

From the very outset, the header gives us a hint of just what we might expect in the way objectivity from Mister Simmons, and be assured he doesn't disappoint.

No Mister Simmons far from disappoints when he treats us to pearls such: I can say today with confidence that the police hunt for Madeleine was utterly inadequate. Thus spaketh the hack, with confidence no less. From what I have read of the process, I can say with confidence and more, the investigation was far from inadequate, but then I have read the files.

Next up: Good journalists Perhaps you might furnish us with a name or two Mister Simmons, I would be more than interested who might fall into this category. In fact I would more likely be astounded by those on which you would bestow such a title.

But there is something you write that I agree wholeheartedly with, in fact I endorse it unequivocally from the bottom of my heart. we lost our balance You don't say? but you do! and still suffering such vertigo that no doubt your knuckles be so terribly sore. Some journalists lost the plot. Let me ignore that little gem, for haven't you already given us so much in so few lines.

Good journalists under pressure from London took far too many risks with the truth. Collectively in my honest view, we lost our balance. Some journalists lost the plot.

As equally as I shall ignore the poor parents and The suffering they are enduring, unimaginable as it may be. Because there is one little pearl, one little gem that outshines all others, and that little gem be.

At the centre of it all this were two parents who had no idea how to handle such pressure.

How long must Kate and Gerry McCann suffer?
Posted by Keir Simmons. 8 November, 2010

More than three years ago Madeleine McCann vanished from an apartment in a Portugese (sic) seaside town. Madeleine was three years old and 11 months. She has now been missing for almost as long.
She disappeared on the evening of Thursday May 3rd. I arrived in Praia Da Luz the next day. I felt sure she would be found and that I would be back in the UK before the weekend was over. I now know how wrong I was.
So much is easy with hindsight. I can say today with confidence that the police hunt for Madeleine was utterly inadequate. One of the detectives admitted as much in a newspaper article this weekend. I didn’t once see officers searching apartments in the area.
I look back at the media’s coverage of the events that would unfold with deep disappointment. Good journalists under pressure from London took far too many risks with the truth. Collectively in my honest view, we lost our balance. Some journalists lost the plot.
At the centre of it all this were two parents who had no idea how to handle such pressure. The last time I saw Kate and Gerry McCann was at a news conference around a year ago. They looked as shell shocked as when I first saw them – perhaps more so. The suffering they are enduring is unimaginable.
And yet, there continues to be a group of individuals who use the internet to attack these two poor parents. I hear from them all the time via Twitter. They demand that I investigate this or that “if you don’t you’re not a reporter” one informed me recently. After a report I produced for NBC News over the weekend I was subjected to a torrent of abusive messages – one suspects they are co-ordinating their attacks for best effect.... more blah blah

Dear Keir Simmons
by John Blacksmith

“But why should two parents who have suffered so much continue to have this groundless campaign against them?”

So glad that you wanted some feedback and I hope that someone will forward this to you or twitter you the link. First, by way of a taster, can I quote what the mayor of London wrote this morning about the BBC journalists’ strike, which you will note brought the country to its knees?

“I consume vast quantities of news – but almost entirely without the assistance of the BBC. I get up early and read a fair quantity of newsprint, notably this paper and the FT. But if I then switch on my computer and go to Google news, I can see what everyone is reading across the planet.

You don't have to wait and fume for a quarter of an hour while some egotistical journalist tries to skewer some temporising politician. You don't have to worry about the bias of programme editors, because the sheer multiplicity of sources enables you to shake out the bias and work out what is really going on. You can find it all out in your own time, and it usually takes about five minutes.”

That’s the world you now work in, Mr Simmons. more The Bureau

Anna Andress has a word or two to say about Keir Simmons, but in not quite the forgiving way as myself.

How Times Do Change

Looking forward to it with the same zeal that one would have for cleaning out the garage, I finally forced myself to trawl through Only in America and collect up previous graphics to complete me archive But it was rediscovering a couple of early blog posts, that if nothing else, gave way to a wry smile.

My reluctance to blog on the McCann story becomes apparent from the date of my first report, it being twelve days after the event. Given the circus and the incessant press coverage that had surrounded the Natalee Holloway/Aruba disappearance, I think that reluctance was justified.

But given where I stand today, it is the second short post on the subject that now becomes a bit of a hoot.

~ ~ ~

Madeleine McCann Abduction
Tuesday, May 15, 2007

There is some breaking news on this case.

I'm not a criminal profiler but actions like this fit a criminal profile.
Those that voluntary get deeply involved in a case are viewed as highly suspicious and quite often guilty. I'm not jumping to conclusions, let's wait and see.

The search of the property known as Casa Liliana began at 0700 local time on Monday after Sunday Mirror journalist Lori Campbell had spoken to the British Embassy and the police about Mr Murat.

He had become well known to journalists during the search for Madeleine.

Mr Murat, formerly of Hockering, Norfolk, describes himself as half-Portuguese and told reporters he had been helping police with translation work during the investigation.

Circus?
Wednesday June 6

Is it becoming one if it hasn't already? Again I choose not to publish the name, I don't want the blog inundated with the type of reader this story attracts.

Reading the above, logic dictates that there must have been an inbetween post somewhere, now below.

Is This Turning Into a Circus?
Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Whereas I have every sympathy for the parents and share the public's concern for the safety of Madeleine McCann, I cannot help but wonder about certain aspects and motives in this ongoing tragedy.
And now the parents are flying off for an audience with the Pope.

The couple are expected to head for Italy on Tuesday on a private plane provided by a well-wisher before their meeting with Pope Benedict XVI .

Do you recognise the author, he seems a tad familiar, but......

Machiavellian Manipulations and Manifold Machinations of the Mendacious Media

~

Updated and expaded list of shame. Which I can only describe as scandalous.

~

The other alternative was to entitle the piece: You Cannot Be Fucking Serious?

By way of an answer to this question.

Is there a single unbiased, articulate journalist left in the UK? Is there even ONE with the integrity to provide an unbiased, non-emotive rendition of the FACTS about this case?

What I can be serious about however, is my respect and admiration for a person that researches, catalogues, and then goes on to publish a list of such proportions, that I can only describe as mighty.



This isn't the first list by any means that has been presented to us by Winnowing The News. I shouldn't perhaps describe them as lists, that description being too low, too demeaning, too unappreciative of the time and effort that must have gone in to projects thus.

Perhaps catalogues then, or better still encyclopaedias, because they are truly that, encyclopaedic. As too is the other material to be found on the site, be the subject, Goncalo Amaral, Raymond Hewlett or the IRA even. I would even go so far as to say that it wouldn't be a stretch that one day, the archives of the site became an educational tool in the lessons of Media Manipulation.

You have my unmitigated respect Madam.

And perhaps while on the subject, might I ask you to spare a thought, and perhaps an unsolicited thank you now and then, for a woman who's tireless efforts are an inspiration to us all, Joana Morais. Knowing that to produce even the simplest of blog posts can take anything from a couple of hours to kiss the day goodbye, I shudder to think how great the burden of work that the Lady subjects herself to. My many and sincerest thanks Joana.




Right so! what have we got?

The Mail and the BBC, always topical at GQW, let's have a look at just these two beacons of light. I can't lay before you their reporting on the lifting of the injunction on Goncalo Amarals book, A Verdade Da Mentira, The Truth About The Lie, because just like evidence of abduction, there ain't none.

There is only this.

Shameful censorship regarding the ruling of the Lisbon Appeals Court in the Amaral case

BBC

McCanns to sue Portuguese officer 17 May 2009 "...[McCanns] are to sue [Gonçalo Amaral] for defamation..."

Madeleine McCann policeman 'book action' postponed 11 December 2009, BBC News, "...An attempt to overturn the banning of a controversial book claiming Madeleine McCann is dead has been postponed...A Portuguese judge granted an injunction banning the book, ["The Truth of the Lie"] by...Gonçalo Amaral, in September..."

McCanns' Christmas 'heartbreak' . Last updated: 19 Dec 2009 "...Gonçalo Amaral is trying to overturn the banning of his book, The Truth Of The Lie, in which he questions the McCanns' account that Madeleine was taken while they were eating with friends..."

McCanns confident over court case 14 January 2010 BBC, "...Kate McCann says she is confident that a book ["The Truth of the Lie"] written by [Gonçalo Amaral] who led the investigation into her daughter's disappearance will not be published..."

Officer loses McCann book appeal 18 February 2010 "...Gonçalo Amaral has vowed to continue his fight in the European court [Gonçalo Amaral] has failed to overturn a ban on his book ["The Truth of the Lie"] about missing Madeleine McCann..."

Madeleine McCann book appeal lost by detective 18 February 2010, BBC News "... [Gonçalo Amaral] has failed to overturn a ban on his book about missing Madeleine McCann..."

New Madeleine McCann leads filed away, says father 19 February 2010 BBC News, "...[McCanns] spoke to reporters after [Gonçalo Amaral] failed to overturn a ban on his book ["The Truth of the Lie"] about their daughter..."






DAILY MAIL / SUNDAY MAIL

We'll sue cop Sunday Mail, 17 May 2009, Bruce Walker "...Their decision to sue the former police chief is a bid to prevent further publication of [Gonçalo Amaral]'s "deeply offensive" book The Truth of the Lie..."

Maddie detective's book is banned Daily Mail, 10 September 2009, 147 words "...A book that claims Madeleine McCann is dead can no longer be sold, a judge in Lisbon ruled yesterday. [McCanns] were said to see the ruling as a triumph and were 'absolutely delighted' that further publication of ["The Truth of the Lie"] ..."

Show-offs! Ex police chief blasts McCanns; Vanessa Allen Daily Mail, 12 December 2009, 387 words "...[McCanns] have accused [Gonçalo Amaral] of making 'obscene' amounts of money from the high-profile case and have previously won a court injunction to ban the book ["The Truth of the Lie"] from being sold worldwide..."

Kate: I can find a little solace at Maddie resort The Mail on Sunday, 13 December 2009, 447 words, Matt Sandy "...libel case against [Gonçalo Amaral]...The website statement from Kate added: 'As the injunction [against Amaral's book] remains in place, we have no reason to be disappointed..."

Maddie cash to run out in three months Sunday Mail, 13 December 2009, 421 words "...[McCanns]...flew to Portugal last week for a new libel action against [Gonçalo Amaral] , who wrote a book ["The Truth of the Lie"] claiming Madeleine died in an accident, but on Friday the trial was adjourned until next month. It could see them net £1 million - cash that would be immediately diverted to the fund to find Madeleine, who was just about to turn four when she disappeared from their Algarve holiday home in May 2007..."

Detective sued over Maddie is to visit UK The Mail on Sunday, 10 January 2010, 178 words, "...[Gonçalo Amaral] is due to appear in a Lisbon court to fight a £1million libel action brought by the McCanns over his book on the case..."

Jan Moir Column Daily Mail, 15 January 2010, 1994 words, "...The McCanns are back in Portugal...as they continue their libel case against [Gonçalo Amaral]. He is trying to overturn the banning of his book The Truth Of The Lie in which he questions the McCanns' account that Madeleine was taken while they were eating with friends. Indeed, he goes further and accuses them of covering up their daughter's death..."

McCanns shouldn't have left the children alone, say police Daily Mail, 14 January 2010, 651 words, Vanessa Allen "...But he was giving evidence on behalf of Gonçalo Amaral, the detective accused of libelling the McCanns in his bestselling book, Maddie: The Truth of the Lie. [McCanns] took legal action against Mr Amaral over accusations they faked their daughter's abduction to cover up her death while on a family holiday. They won a court injunction banning the sale of the book worldwide and preventing him from repeating the allegations..."

A silly own goal for the airbrushed poster-boy; Daily Mail, 16 January 2010, 1350 words, Platell's People "...[McCanns] say they have no regrets in taking [Gonçalo Amaral] to court for libel, thus subjecting themselves to weeks of lurid accusations in court. They claim Gonçalo Amaral's accusations in his book Maddie -- The Truth Of The Lie have hindered the search for their daughter. For his part, Amaral warns that he will drag the McCanns though the European courts for years..."

So why have they put themselves on trial? ; She's terrifyingly thin. he's boiling with rage. and they're having to sit in silence as a disgraced ex-cop accuses them of covering up Maddie's death... Daily Mail, 16 January 2010, 2281 words, David Jones "...Melodramatically titled Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie, the book had become a best-seller in Portugal by September, when the McCanns won an injunction ordering it to be removed from the shelves..."

Was this Maddie? Revealed, The photo files Portuguese police kept secret... to the fury of the distraught... Daily Mail, 3 March 2010, 832 words, Arthur Martin "...Their existence came to light in a legal action brought by the McCanns against [Gonçalo Amaral] .... They had wanted to stop him airing the slur that they had been involved in their daughter's disappearance..." much more here.

Updated cor bleedin' blimey list here.

"Our Maddie" Not Served By UK Media

This is the fourth article in a series by John Blacksmith. If you haven't visited The Bureau of late, I sincerely recommend that you do so for what is always a worthy read.

First article: He Made It

Why Not?
by John Blacksmith

The McCann strategy that has been in place since October 2007 – to silence the expression of all doubts within the UK about their conduct, using all the resources at their disposal, has failed.

The McCanns have had undeniable tactical successes in the last three years: using criminal lawyers to build a powerful defence to the Portuguese claims made against them, suing or wooing the media, returning to the TV screens on both sides of the Atlantic to put their story across. The British public show no overt animosity towards them, and the Portuguese, perhaps surprisingly, have shown little antagonism on their increasingly frequent visits to that country.

The checklist

The Portuguese police: roundly defeated.

The Tapas 7: silent or actively co-operative.

The UK media: brought completely onside or silenced.

The UK police and courts: supportive.

The UK government & parliament: supportive.

The UK public: willing to live and let live.

The Truth of the Lie: unavailable in the UK.

And the price

There is one particularly notable omission from this list of triumphs: Madeleine McCann. The “successes” of the parents completely exclude her. She has received none of the millions of pounds collected and expended by them;the money is almost gone so she will never see any of it;nothing on that win-win checklist has helped her in the slightest. All the victories relate only to the parents, not to her. Knowledge of her fate has not advanced one iota since 10 PM on May 3.

The Portuguese police defeat was a defeat for the child. However understandable Kate McCann’s refusal to answer their questions, however fearful they might have been of the Portuguese system, in defeating the police they took out of the game the body with the greatest knowledge and the greatest resources.

Their domination of the media has served the parents well but not the interests of their daughter: since October 2007 none of the journalists have made their own independent enquiries – which might, just might, have turned up something. The Tapas 7’s blind identification of their own interests with that of the parents has achieved nothing for the child. The steadfast, if passive, support of the UK police and courts has, again, been of great value to the parents: what Lady Hogg et al accomplished for the child is less obvious. And so it goes on, right through the list: every “victory” has been a defeat for the parents’ own flesh and blood.

Right at the bottom of the list we have the Truth of the Lie, whose author, the supposed failure, the “disgraced cop” and persecutor of the parents, is the only person actually working for the re-opening of the case in order to discover what happened to the child.

The parents are manifestly not doing so, since despite their absurd calls for a supranational enquiry into the case, they have failed to take the one action that could get it re-opened tomorrow morning: a statement that they and the Tapas 7 wished to return to Portugal to assist the investigation unreservedly, without lengthy legal argument and negotiation, in clarifying the discrepancies in their original statements: that would produce, one way or another, the “significant new evidence” required for a formal re-opening. The efforts of the McCanns’ own so-called “investigators”, that rabble of crooks and failures on whom the McCanns have lavished something like half a million pounds of Madeleine’s money, are not even worthy of discussion.

But that is not the full extent of their failure. The strategy of ensuring their own freedom and either silence or compliance with their opinions in the UK obviously implied that one day they and their other children would be left alone to get on with their lives: all doubts about them “expunged”, as the BBC was happy to allow nice Mr Smethurst to say on their airwaves.

It is now over two years since the report came out that might have offered them closure, about their own fate and reputation if not that of their child. With the developments in the Portuguese courts the likelihood is that the libel case against Amaral cannot be fully resolved before 2012 at the earliest. Whatever happens the Truth of the Lie will always be available over the internet. And there is nothing to suggest that a live Madeleine McCann will turn up. more

Paul Dacre Daily Mail Your Silence Speaks Volumes

What gives mister Dacre, I would have thought this story would have been right up your street, just your cup of Darjeeling so to speak?

I do think you are missing the boat with this one Paul, I really do. Good heavens man, there's enough McCann Agony in this one story alone to keep you going for months, and proper agony it will be at that, this you can believe. But we don't hear a word from you, not a one.

I seem to be quoting this bloke a lot of late, I hate being repetitive but it just fits the bill perfectly as it were. In fact given the circumstances of last week it's almost as if Mister Orwell wrote it with you and all your chums in mind. I mean come on, even you would have to admit the bonnet ain't a bad fit at all, not at all it ain't.

‘Do remember that dishonesty and cowardice always have to be paid for. Don’t imagine that for years on end you can make yourself the boot-licking propagandist of the McCanns*, or any other régime, and then suddenly return to mental decency. Once a whore, always a whore.’ As I Please (*Soviet Regime)

But I'm not so sure now, about it being perfect that is, not after reading this bit anyway: then suddenly return to mental decency. You know where I'm going with this don't you Mister Dacre, returning to 'mental decency,' although I'm sure that should read 'moral decency,' no matter, either word is academic as you can well imagine. Returning to mental, or to moral decency is not an option open to you is it? Your colours are so firmly nailed to the McCann mast that I'm sure even a creature such as yourself wouldn't for shame scurry rat-like from the the leaking SS McCann.

In a nutshell, if you'll pardon the mixed metaphors, you are up a gum tree Mister Dacre' up a gum tree without a paddle. And to add to your woes, the sharks are circling, they can smell blood and they are hungry, circling for three years now, constantly suffering a deficient and enduring diet of pap and drivel. Courtesy, I hardly need to add, of your dear self and your dear chums. The sharks circle, and they wait; and ask not for whom they wait, they wait for you.

~

Now talking of 'McCann Agony' you might expect any link I offer would be to some of the monumental amount of 'McCann Agony' that Paul Dacre has previously printed in his little rag. It is to the Mail I'm going to send you though, but to another story of a 'Mother's Agony' the who's agony you will have to see for yourself, for I don't think you would believe me if I told you.

This particular article has no equal, it is peerless, and it is so for a number of reasons that will become all too apparent, and it is with that, that might I ask of you with the know how, can you please save the page for posterity. I am assuming this can be done?

Oh deary me, I've just found a gem at the bottom of the page.

David Rose has been investigating miscarriages of justice for 25 years and has written several books on the subject.

Just like Paul Dacre has been an editor for .......whatever.




English translation of the full text of the Appellate Court decision that recently overturned the ban on Dr. Gonçalo Amaral's book, “Maddie - A Verdade da Mentira”, which has been commonly known to English-speaking people as “Maddie - The Truth of The Lie”. Translated, produced and published by journalist blogger Joana Morais, sans spots, can be read here.






For this below see comments.




Found it, two in fact.

Edit. Three sketches on the one clip.

Dear Mr Marr, "It IS going to replace journalism."

Update here.

It (blogging) has done so already, and for proof unequivocal I need direct you no further than my previous post.

Not much reporting going on from that hallowed institution is there Mister Marr?



To be more accurate, there is no reporting going on, not a word, not a single word in print, not one. And it's not as though the subject is unknown to the BBC is it Mister Marr, not after the way the BBC fell over themselves in the rush to report the placing of an injunction banning the sale of Goncalo Amaral's book, A Verdade Da Mentira, The Truth About The Lie?


So consider this piece a scoop, a scoop from a citizen journalist, from a blogger, though sans spots; a most unfortunate description to employ Mister Marr, you see we, "inadequate, pimpled and single" bloggers are up to our ears with spots.


So then, my scoop for today and undoubtedly will come as a shock to many.

THE BBC IS A BIASSED, SHODDY, AGENDA DRIVEN,TRANSPARENTLY CORRUPT, INFORMATION BRANCH OF THE BRITISH STATE.

Astonishingly as it may seem.
Source of 'Information Branch' quote and dedicated blog, Biassed BBC here.


A reminder then of what exalted BBC presenter and political commentator, Andrew Marr, has to say about Bloggers.

Andrew Marr says bloggers are 'inadequate, pimpled and single'

The BBC's website has nearly 100 blogs and invites its readers to "have your say" on an enormous range of topics, from Westminster to the weather.

But one of the corporation's most familiar faces, Andrew Marr, has dismissed bloggers as "inadequate, pimpled and single", and citizen journalism as the "spewings and rantings of very drunk people late at night".

Marr, the BBC's former political editor who now presents BBC1's flagship Sunday morning show, said: "Most citizen journalism strikes me as nothing to do with journalism at all.

"A lot of bloggers seem to be socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed young men sitting in their mother's basements and ranting. They are very angry people," he told the Cheltenham Literary Festival. "OK – the country is full of very angry people. Many of us are angry people at times. Some of us are angry and drunk".

"But the so-called citizen journalism is the spewings and rantings of very drunk people late at night.

"It is fantastic at times but it is not going to replace journalism."

He added: "Most of the blogging is too angry and too abusive. Terrible things are said online because they are anonymous. People say things online that they wouldn't dream of saying in person."

Marr's successor as political editor, Nick Robinson, has previously criticised the tone and and quality of online debate, saying he had stopped reading most of the comments on his own BBC blog.
"It's a waste of my time," he said in March this year, adding that the blog's comments section was frequented by people who had "already made their minds up, to abuse me, to abuse each other, or abuse a politician". The Gruniad

Yes Mister Marr, the country is full of very angry people, do you wonder why?

I shall leave for another day, Marr's successor as political editor, Nick Robinson.


But all is not lost, one troglodyte at least has left the cave, thrown of his skins, made the courting club redundant and abides in times contemporary.

This from Shane Richmond, Head of Technology for Telegraph Media Group. But I beg you, please don't distracted with what is pasted here, this post is primarily about the BBC and it's embarrassingly transparent agenda.

Andrew Marr criticises bloggers. Is it 2005 again?

Just how out of touch is Andrew Marr? Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival this weekend, Marr said that most bloggers are “bald, cauliflower-nosed, young men sitting in their mother’s basements and ranting”

It’s disappointing to hear comments like that coming from someone in Andrew Marr’s position. Criticising bloggers was 2005’s pastime. Any self-respecting curmudgeon these days is complaining about Twitter.

Twitter is pointless, Marr should be saying. It’s full of people getting outraged by things, he could add. He could go further and complain that Twitter won’t change the world, overlooking the fact that almost nobody thinks it will. ( Tell that to the Iranians)

But no, Marr has turned his ire on blogging. There are High Court judges who know what blogging is, for heaven’s sake. That’s how behind the curve Marr is.

The criticism itself is a little weak. Let’s ignore the remarks about the physical appearance of bloggers – not everyone is blessed with Marr’s matinee idol good looks. There’s a little more substance in Marr’s claim that “so-called citizen journalism is the spewings and rantings of very drunk people late at night”. He’s completely wrong, of course, but there is at least some substance there.

Now, Marr isn’t completely against blogging. “It’s fantastic at times,” he admits, “but it is not going to replace journalism.”



His definition of blogging appears to be ‘angry people ranting anonymously online’. It seems clear that ‘angry people ranting’ is not going to replace journalism. Having said that, there is plenty of professional journalism which looks like angry people ranting.

If we take “citizen journalism” to mean journalism outside the traditional mainstream media, then there are plenty of examples of people making significant contributions. Technology blogs, for example, are flourishing – frequently breaking stories and setting the agenda for the mainstream media.

Furthermore, as David Carr wrote in yesterday’s New York Times, plenty of “proper” journalists are crossing the divide and going to work for blogs such as The Daily Beast and The Huffington Post. Those blogs are not replacing journalism but more and more often they are doing it themselves.

What Marr is overlooking is that most bloggers have no interest in being journalists. Like many journalists, Marr has noticed people publishing things and tried to fit that activity into the framework of traditional media. In most cases, that framework simply doesn’t apply. Telegraph

And to think it was only last month that I was lauding Mr Marr.

* Just to say I really enjoyed Marr's History of Modern Britain. You can find it here on Google vids if you haven't watched the thing as yet.

Hard to say which I enjoyed the more, Marr's history of, or The Trial of Tony Blair. (Link updated)

Things I found on the net.

I'm glad it's your licence fee and not mine.

andrew-marr-bbc-apologist-for-genocide

But perhaps a tad more interesting would be the link from that post to this article by John Pilger. Which I shall read myself as soon as I have put this post to bed.

http://www.johnpilger.com/articles/the-bbc-is-on-murdoch-s-side