TV News LIES

Friday, Jul 18th

Last update07:03:06 AM GMT

You are here News Journalism & Media Journalism and 'the words of power'

Journalism and 'the words of power'

E-mail Print PDF
Robert Fisk: Journalism and 'the words of power' Power and the media are not just about cosy relationships between journalists and political leaders, between editors and presidents. They are not just about the parasitic-osmotic relationship between supposedly honourable reporters and the nexus of power that runs between White House and state department and Pentagon, between Downing Street and the foreign office and the ministry of defence. In the western context, power and the media is about words - and the use of words.

It is about semantics.It is about the employment of phrases and clauses and their origins. And it is about the misuse of history; and about our ignorance of history. More and more today, we journalists have become prisoners of the language of power.

Is this because we no longer care about linguistics? Is this because lap-tops 'correct'  our spelling, 'trim' our grammar so that our sentences so often turn out to be identical to those of our rulers? Is this why newspaper editorials today often sound like political speeches?

Let me show you what I mean.

For two decades now, the US and British - and Israeli and Palestinian - leaderships have used the words 'peace process' to define the hopeless, inadequate, dishonourable agreement that allowed the US and Israel to dominate whatever slivers of land would be given to an occupied people.

I first queried this expression, and its provenance, at the time of Oslo - although how easily we forget that the secret surrenders at Oslo were themselves a conspiracy without any legal basis. Poor old Oslo, I always think! What did Oslo ever do to deserve this? It was the White House agreement that sealed this preposterous and dubious treaty - in which refugees, borders, Israeli colonies - even timetables - were to be delayed until they could no longer be negotiated.

More...

Most Recent Related Stories...


Trump’s long-stalled suit against Bob Woodward dismissed

Woodward case dismissedA federal judge on Friday dismissed President Trump’s lawsuit against famed Watergate journalist Bob Woodward for...

The BBC has alienated everyone with its Gaza coverage. After this latest failure, who will be left to defend it?

Gaza coverage by BBCFor a genocide to occur, everything that people think is wrong has to first be turned...

Trump sues after Wall Street Journal’s Epstein story

Wall Street JournalPresident Trump sued The Wall Street Journal for defamation on Friday after the newspaper published a...

Elon Musk’s AI firm apologizes after chatbot Grok praises Hitler

AI GrokElon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has issued an apology after its chatbot Grok made a...
 
America's # 1 Enemy
Tee Shirt
& Help Support TvNewsLIES.org!
TVNL Tee Shirt
 
TVNL TOTE BAG
Conserve our Planet
& Help Support TvNewsLIES.org!
 
Get your 9/11 & Media
Deception Dollars
& Help Support TvNewsLIES.org!
 
The Loaded Deck
The First & the Best!
The Media & Bush Admin Exposed!