Antony Lowenstein butchers the corporate media, for those still making the mistake of taking it seriously: The most interesting aspect of this article is that it is published by the Sydney Morning Herald (in Margo Kingston's Webdiary, but presumably not in the print edition).

"The role of The Australian newspaper in pushing the war agenda was essential. Like every other Murdoch newspaper around the world, dutifully pushing their master's wishes, the mogul said in early 2003: "We can't back down now, where you hand over the whole of the Middle East to Saddam.... I think Bush is acting very morally, very correctly, and I think he is going to go on with it." Putting to one side the factual inaccuracy of his statement (Saddam has held little strategic influence over the Middle East for at least a decade), Murdoch's pro-war and pro-business agenda was mirrored in The Australian's coverage. Apart from bullying and foreboding editorials regarding Iraq's supposed WMD, Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan deserves special mention for hyping up Iraq's supposed threat. No other Australian journalist produced more fawning attention to the claims churned out by Bush, Blair and Howard, though stable-mate Paul Kelly was also competitive. Virtually all of his claims have subsequently been proven false and yet no apology has been forthcoming. Likewise from the paper's editorial staff. This kind of short-term memory loss journalism is undermining the public's trust in the media's ability to report accurately and transparently. This behaviour should not be considered responsible reporting - it is nothing more than lies and arrogance dressed up in sanctimonious chest beating."

"Nobody wanted a war against Iraq more than Ahmad Chalabi, and the biggest paper in the US (The New York Times) gave it to him almost as willingly as the White House did.... "This brings us to the now popular scapegoat for the fictions about WMDs, touted by Times editors, by other reporters and by US intelligence agencies. It was all the fault of the smooth-tongued Ahmed Chalabi, now fallen from grace and stigmatized as a cat's-paw of Iranian intelligence. But was there ever a moment when Chalabi's motives and the defectors he efficiently mass-produced should not have been questioned by experienced reporters, editors and intelligence analysts?""

"Noam Chomsky calls it Manufacturing Consent. He writes that the mass media "serves to mobilize support for the special interests that dominate the state and private activity and that their choices, emphases, and omissions can often be understood best, and sometimes with striking clarity and insight, by analyzing them in such terms. Perhaps this is an obvious point, but the democratic postulate is that the media are independent and committed to discovering and reporting the truth, and that they do not merely reflect the world as powerful groups wish to perceive it." The New York Times is exactly the kind of newspaper Chomsky argues is incapable of seeing its inherent biases and slavish love of power. The newspaper's virtually unqualified reporting of Bush administration lies over Iraq is ample evidence of this thesis."

"By November 4, the Herald expressed its concerns about the lack of WMD, but along with the majority of Western media, still held Bush administration claims for Iraq as believable and achievable: "The US has not wavered from its commitment to see Iraq rebuilt and power transferred to a stable democratic government", it offered. The facts overwhelm that the US has never wanted a real democracy in the Middle East, despite the vast rhetoric, but rather a manageable dictator or strongman to control the country's oil reserves and the continual presence of US forces. It appears inconceivable to the Herald that the US government's aims for Iraq should be questioned. After the lies of Iraq's non-existent WMD and links to al-Qaeda, why do Leader writers continue accepting Western governments' comments as essentially decent and good?"

"Once again, on March 19, the Herald continued the idea that Iraq may become a democracy in the heart of the Middle East - exactly echoing the propaganda of Bush, Blair and Howard. As the three leaders' spin shifted from WMD and al-Qaeda to Iraqi 'democracy', so did the mainstream press. "One year on, the justification for the war is not the justification for starting it. Instead it is the hope that by toppling Saddam, Iraq might become a template for a new, stable Middle East." The evidence against this is profound, from polls conducted in the region to US Army Generals to average Iraqis themselves. And yet newspapers still prefer to live in a reality created for them by their government "masters"."

Antony Lowenstein butchers the corporate media, for those still making the mistake of taking it seriously: The most interesting aspect of this article is that it is published by the Sydney Morning Herald (in Margo Kingston's Webdiary, but presumably not in the print edition).

"The role of The Australian newspaper in pushing the war agenda was essential. Like every other Murdoch newspaper around the world, dutifully pushing their master's wishes, the mogul said in early 2003: "We can't back down now, where you hand over the whole of the Middle East to Saddam.... I think Bush is acting very morally, very correctly, and I think he is going to go on with it." Putting to one side the factual inaccuracy of his statement (Saddam has held little strategic influence over the Middle East for at least a decade), Murdoch's pro-war and pro-business agenda was mirrored in The Australian's coverage. Apart from bullying and foreboding editorials regarding Iraq's supposed WMD, Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan deserves special mention for hyping up Iraq's supposed threat. No other Australian journalist produced more fawning attention to the claims churned out by Bush, Blair and Howard, though stable-mate Paul Kelly was also competitive. Virtually all of his claims have subsequently been proven false and yet no apology has been forthcoming. Likewise from the paper's editorial staff. This kind of short-term memory loss journalism is undermining the public's trust in the media's ability to report accurately and transparently. This behaviour should not be considered responsible reporting - it is nothing more than lies and arrogance dressed up in sanctimonious chest beating."

"Nobody wanted a war against Iraq more than Ahmad Chalabi, and the biggest paper in the US (The New York Times) gave it to him almost as willingly as the White House did.... "This brings us to the now popular scapegoat for the fictions about WMDs, touted by Times editors, by other reporters and by US intelligence agencies. It was all the fault of the smooth-tongued Ahmed Chalabi, now fallen from grace and stigmatized as a cat's-paw of Iranian intelligence. But was there ever a moment when Chalabi's motives and the defectors he efficiently mass-produced should not have been questioned by experienced reporters, editors and intelligence analysts?""

"Noam Chomsky calls it Manufacturing Consent. He writes that the mass media "serves to mobilize support for the special interests that dominate the state and private activity and that their choices, emphases, and omissions can often be understood best, and sometimes with striking clarity and insight, by analyzing them in such terms. Perhaps this is an obvious point, but the democratic postulate is that the media are independent and committed to discovering and reporting the truth, and that they do not merely reflect the world as powerful groups wish to perceive it." The New York Times is exactly the kind of newspaper Chomsky argues is incapable of seeing its inherent biases and slavish love of power. The newspaper's virtually unqualified reporting of Bush administration lies over Iraq is ample evidence of this thesis."

"By November 4, the Herald expressed its concerns about the lack of WMD, but along with the majority of Western media, still held Bush administration claims for Iraq as believable and achievable: "The US has not wavered from its commitment to see Iraq rebuilt and power transferred to a stable democratic government", it offered. The facts overwhelm that the US has never wanted a real democracy in the Middle East, despite the vast rhetoric, but rather a manageable dictator or strongman to control the country's oil reserves and the continual presence of US forces. It appears inconceivable to the Herald that the US government's aims for Iraq should be questioned. After the lies of Iraq's non-existent WMD and links to al-Qaeda, why do Leader writers continue accepting Western governments' comments as essentially decent and good?"

"Once again, on March 19, the Herald continued the idea that Iraq may become a democracy in the heart of the Middle East - exactly echoing the propaganda of Bush, Blair and Howard. As the three leaders' spin shifted from WMD and al-Qaeda to Iraqi 'democracy', so did the mainstream press. "One year on, the justification for the war is not the justification for starting it. Instead it is the hope that by toppling Saddam, Iraq might become a template for a new, stable Middle East." The evidence against this is profound, from polls conducted in the region to US Army Generals to average Iraqis themselves. And yet newspapers still prefer to live in a reality created for them by their government "masters"."