Posted by John Hilley
on November 7, 2009, 11:08 am
Great work again, Eds.
A request to Newsnight Editor, Peter Rippon.
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Dear Peter
The Editors at Media Lens have just published a most revealing set of comments from Jeremy Paxman suggesting that he was “hoodwinked” over Colin Powell's “so-called evidence” during his UN presentation in support of waging war against Iraq.
http://medialens.org/alerts/index.php
Paxman's statements are not only an admission of serious journalistic negligence, but an illustration of how the words of the powerful are more routinely accepted without investigation or qualification. What impression does it suggest for BBC viewers accustomed to the claim that BBC journalists are scrupulous in their enquiries?
Media Lens have shown that the evidence contradicting Powell was all there in the public domain. Millions of non-journalist citizens were also able to see through Powell's claims. So, why do you think a senior presenter like Paxman was so trusting in this “intelligent, thoughtful man, and a sceptical man”? And how does his admission reflect on Newsnight's own credibility?
In this spirit of apparent 'openness', will Newsnight, which served to amplify Powell's false evidence, now respond in similar kind by featuring Paxman's admissions and using them to discuss the state of BBC journalism?
Paxman also said:
“Next time I see a presentation from the American State Department, or the CIA, about, I don’t know, Iran’s nuclear weapons programme, I shall look on it differently to the way that I looked upon their presentation of the so-called presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.”
Can we, likewise, look forward to Newsnight running a feature on the current media scaremongering over Iran's alleged WMD, perhaps prefaced by Paxman's own words?
I look forward to your thoughts.
Best wishes
John Hilley
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