The Guardian hit a new low in Amelia Hill’s report on Julian Assange’s appearance at the Oxford Union. Hill moved beyond propaganda to downright lies.
This is easy to show. Read through Hill’s “report”. Then zip to 20 minutes and 55 seconds of the recording of Assange speaking at the event Hill misreports, and simply listen to the applause from the Oxford Union after Assange stops speaking.
Just that hearty applause is sufficient to show that the entire thrust and argument of Amelia Hill’s article moves beyong distortion or misreprentation – in themselves dreadful sins in a journalist – and into the field of outright lies. Her entire piece is intended to give the impression that the event was a failure and the audience were hostile to Assange. That is completely untrue.
Much of what Hill wrote is not journalism at all. What does this actually mean?
“His critics were reasoned, those who queued for over an hour in the snow to hear him speak were thoughtful. It was Julian Assange – the man at the centre of controversy – who refused to be gracious.”
Hill manages to quote five full sentences of the organiser of the anti-Assange demonstration (which I counted at 37 people) while giving us not one single sentence of Assange’s twenty minute address. Nor a single sentence of Tom Fingar, the senior US security official who was receiving the Sam Adams award. Even more remarkably, all three students Hill could find to interview were hostile to Assange. In a hall of 450 students who applauded Assange enthusiastically and many of whom crowded round to shake my hand after the event, Hill was apparently unable to find a single person who did not share the Rusbridger line on Julian Assange.
Hill is not a journalist – she is a pathetic grovelling lickspittle who should be deeply, deeply ashamed.
Here is the answer to the question about cyber-terrorism of which Amelia Hill writes:
“A question about cyber-terrorism was greeted with verbose warmth”
As you can see, Assange’s answer is serious, detailed, thoughtful and not patronising to the student. Hill’s characterisation – again without giving a word of Assange’s actual answer – is not one that could genuinely be maintained. Can anybody – and I mean this as a real question – can anybody look at that answer and believe that “Verbose warmth” is a fair and reasonable way to communicate what had been said to an audience who had not seen it? Or is it just an appalling piece of hostile propaganda by Hill?
The night before Assange’s contribution at the union, John Bolton had been there as guest speaker. John Bolton is a war criminal whose actions deliberately and directly contributed to the launching of an illegal war which killed hundreds of thousands of people. Yet there had not been one single Oxford student picketing the hosting of John Bolton, and Amelia Hill did not turn up to vilify him. My main contribution to the Sam Adams event was to point to this as an example of the way people are manipulated by the mainstream media into adopting seriously warped moral values.
Amelia Hill is one of the warpers, the distorters of reality. The Guardian calls her a “Special Investigative Correspondent.” She is actually a degraded purveyor of lies on behalf of the establishment. Sickening.
@Clark: Possibly more info here: http://marthamitchelleffect.org/cases-of-the-old-media/
and a link therein:
http://klamberg.blogspot.se/2012/08/extradition-of-assange-to-us-via-sweden.html
Thanks, Me In US @1:54 for the transcripts, for me too, much preferred than video.
Much appreciated.
Aw, Cryptonym! Hugs 🙂
Top work, Me in Us @ 1.54! Shall without hesitation recommend you for the Order of Lennon.
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To paraphrase, meanwhile,Tom Paine:
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In regard to l’affaire Assange/Wikileaks in its global/historical context the Guardian chooses in effect to pity the plumage & forget the dying bird:
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http://is.gd/5dPz32
Jonangus Mackay – here’s mp3 versions of the above Assange YouTube sessions. I listened to both of them before uploading them.
https://www.box.com/s/vc6ypg5rugk6k8q7hoyy
Talking about lies:
http://www.childrenofconflict.org.uk/?p=113
@Arbed:
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Israel Shamir, international man of mystery & many names, to whom you link above (9.31pm) is at best a confusionist—from much the same mould as Gilad Atzmon. Anything he says or writes is to be treated with utmost caution.
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http://is.gd/rW7kSC
The Guardian is picking up from where The News of the World left off…
@scnnr: Excellent. Many thanks again. You’re a gent, Sir, so you are.
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NB: Good news. Anyone who’s been failing to get sound on the first of the above Assange Oxford Union YouTube clips—many, it seems, have been complaining to the Union, so far to no avail—can now access the missing sound track via scnnr’s link a couple of comments back.
PS: the missing track is the second of scnnr’s MP3s.
@Jonangus Mackay — No higher honor in my book than the Order of Lennon — I loved John, I loved the Beatles (thank you England!). Just last week I decided to finally name my car and I chose Star of Nutopia. Because, here in San Diego our pride and joy is the Star of India (thank you Isle of Man!), 150 years old next year, and she has sailed around the world 21 times. By my figuring, the Star of Nutopia has 7 more times to go in our own humble way. Wave the white flag of Nutopia when you see us 🙂
Star of India: http://www.sdmaritime.org/star-of-india
Nutopia: http://imaginepeace.com/archives/10573
“Hill is one of two Guardian journalists who first revealed Milly Dowler’s phone was hacked by the News of The World” So why this about turn?
Brilliant expose Craig. Thank you. Stephen
I thought very much the same as Craig when I read Hill’s article in The Guardian and then watched Assange’s address to the Oxford Union.
It is very sad indeed to see The Guardian in this state. We are not simply talking about a pro-establishment bias, but about deliberate misrepresentation with an attempt to uphold and propagate falsehoods.
“Consumers have been eating burgers with roughly 1/3rd. of horse meat, which could, or could not have been horse meat treated with phenylbutazone, a known drug to cause cancer in humans.”
No it isn’t, there is no evidence bute causes cancer in humans, in large doses it can cause liver failure but it takes more than the horse would have been getting.
The Real Invasion of Africa is Not News, and a Licence to Lie is Hollywood’s Gift
By John Pilger
Global Research, January 30, 2013
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-real-invasion-of-africa-is-not-news-and-a-licence-to-lie-is-hollywoods-gift/5321150
The article concludes –
‘Since then, the news that intelligent, educated people both dispense and ingest has become a kind of Disney journalism, fortified, as ever, by Hollywood’s licence to lie, and lie. There is the coming Dreamworks movie on WikiLeaks, a fabrication inspired by a book of perfidious title-tattle by two enriched Guardian journalists; and there is Zero Dark Thirty, which promotes torture and murder, directed by the Oscar-winning Kathryn Bigelow, the Leni Riefenstahl of our time, promoting her master’s voice as did the Fuhrer’s pet film-maker. Such is the one-way mirror through which we barely glimpse what power does in our name.’
PS John Pilger says that Africom has a presence in 35 African countries. Does that include Ghana?
‘“Hill is one of two Guardian journalists who first revealed Milly Dowler’s phone was hacked by the News of The World” So why this about turn?’
Both seem like things a feminazi would do. No contradiction.
A working definition of stupidity is: to expect different outcomes from the same events. The only exception would be random outcomes, like dice throwing or cards.
Since feminism isn’t random, then only the stupid would expect a feminist to tell the truth. It is the soul function of feminism, to subvert our culture.
John Goss – special link for you on the Why I’m Convinced Anna Ardin is a Liar page:
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2012/09/why-i-am-convinced-that-anna-ardin-is-a-liar/comment-page-6/#comment-391411
Speaking of calling out the liars, Annie Machon too has some harsh words for Amelia Hill (though considerably more polite than Craig’s ;)):
“Lies, damned lies, and newspaper reporting…”
http://anniemachon.ch/annie_machon/2013/01/lies-damned-lies-and-newspaper-reporting.html
“But really, Ms Hill — if you are indeed the same reporter who was threatened with prosecution in 2011 under the OSA — examine your conscience” … “Have you no shame?”
Presuming, of course, Ms Hill knows where to find her conscience…
Thanks again Arbed. Annie Machon writes well and very powerfully.
‘“But really, Ms Hill — if you are indeed the same reporter who was threatened with prosecution in 2011 under the OSA — examine your conscience” … “Have you no shame?”’
Even then she falsely accused News of the World reporters of deleting messages to free up space for new ones when if she had checked with the phone operator she would have found that messages are deleted automatically after 72 hours.
“No it isn’t, there is no evidence bute causes cancer in humans, in large doses it can cause liver failure but it takes more than the horse would have been getting.”
Fred, we could go on all day about this issue, but, what are therapeutic levels when you have severe gout?
And scientists are divided on the issue to say the least. I’m in favour of the precautionary principle in this case and would rather that a doctor prescribes Allopurinol or Colchicine for gout.
It has been withdrawn for treating humans for a reason.
My point was that the FSA has failed, it was set up with food control and quality assessments in mind, not with being a Government mouthpiece for its agricultural practises or as an excuse for the lack of them.
Emmy, 11.34pm
“Amelia Hill in this article http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/9296954/Phone-Hacking-Guardian-journalist-and-Met-Police-detective-will-not-face-charges.html appears to have worked closely to Nick Davis, and I think we know were he stands on the WikiLeaks story.”
Interesting. The Martha Mitchell Effect link I posted earlier also has quite a lot of detail on Nick Davies’ involvement in the Guardian spin machine against Assange, the absolute low-point of which has to be his atrocious performance to camera in the Guardian co-produced “Secrets & Lies” documentary screened by Channel 4 just before Assange’s appeal hearing at the High Court.
No, I take that back. Nick Davies absolute low-point has to be committing perjury at the Leveson enquiry about the “they’re [Afghan] informants – they deserve to die” libel propagated by his colleague David Leigh. Davies told the enquiry he had heard Assange make this remark with his own ears, despite the fact he wasn’t even at the dinner where Leigh claims (and Der Spiegel journalist John Goetz, who was there, refutes) Assange made it:
http://wlstorage.net/file/cms/Folder%204/2.%20Transcript-of-Morning-Hearing-29-November-2011.pdf
http://wlstorage.net/file/cms/Folder%204/1.%20Signed%20statement%20by%20John%20Goetz.pdf
Yes agree on what you say on the FSA Nevermind. I remember Krebs! The FSA is a rubber stamp for the processed food manufacturers. Remember the panic when millions of products that contained the Sudan 1-contaminated Worcester Sauce supplied by Premier’s Crosse & Blackwell subsidiary had to be recalled amid a tabloid frenzy over “killer food”.
It took four clicks through their website to find out who the Board members are.
One ex MP, one ex BBC reporter who is also in RUSI!, etc In fact, all the usual place persons.
http://www.food.gov.uk/about-us/how-we-work/our-board/boardmem/
“It has been withdrawn for treating humans for a reason.”
Correct.
“The primary concerns with phenylbutazone therapy in humans include its bone marrow effects (agranulocytosis, aplastic anemia), renal and cardiovascular effects (fluid retention to acute renal failure), and GI effects (dyspepsia to perforated ulcers). Other serious concerns with phenylbutazone include, hypersensitivity reactions, neurologic, dermatologic, and hepatic toxicities.”
Excellent job Craig,forensic deconstruction.
Thanks.
Wow.
Julian Assange seems to incorporate so many details of the affairs of nations and peoples on a macro level, how true he seems is worth reading again and again.
How I would like his opinions on a micro level on affairs and our relationships with ourselves and the planet.
This it seems is the crux and achillies heel of the whole issue and as soon as we can resolve this whole personal issue of Julians the better.
They have him in mate;
Just out. Israel has been rebuked by the UN Human rights council and are asked to remove their illegal settlements forthwith.
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/news/international/U.N._human_rights_inquiry_says_Israel_must_remove_settlers.html?cid=34875276
As he says -” This always comes from somewhere …This doesn’t just pop into a journalist’s brain. It comes as a result of organisations lobbying…”
And if it’s not that, it’s down to Rusbridger’s spite for the soured Wikileaks deal. Anyhow, they printed your letter, Craig. The token (n-word) letter at the bottom of the column, admittedly.
Mary wrote: “I remember Krebs!”
Do tell.