This Week on GR
by C.L. Cook - GRadio.Substack.com
Long before Donald Trump's invocation of media as "fake news" the Press was recognized as being bought, biased, and interested less in objective truths than the objectives of whomever was footing the bills. It was to counter this correct public skepticism publisher Joseph Pulitzer founded and funded a School of Journalism at Columbia University, inaugurating the now-famous Pulitzer Prize.
But simply burnishing the Yellow Press hasn't removed the tarnish of partisan propaganda masquerading as honest reporting. And, just as Pulitzer's and his contemporary, Randolph Hearst's headlines are credited with stoking - if not starting - the Spanish-American War more than a century ago, today's media lies and half-truths allow wars based on false premises commence, and perpetual ones smoulder on.
John Zada is an author and journalist who worked many years at CBC Television News. He's worked in over two dozen countries as a journalist - including in the Middle East - filing for the Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, Al Arabiya, Al Jazeera English, and BBC online, among others. John's book titles are: 'In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of the Sasquatch', which he describes as a "travelogue investigating Sasquatch reports in small coastal communities in British Columbia", and 'Veils of Distortion: How the News Media Warps our Minds'.
John Zada in the first half.
And; European Union Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen announced Sunday the preliminary agreement of a trade deal between the EU and the United States that would see the Europeans serve their essentials to the Americans while saying "danka" for the privilege.
Continental stocks sunk along with the Euro on the news of what Trump called "the biggest deal ever made", and left member-nations a-scramble to frame national responses. It's the second financial shock visited against NATO-aligned European countries in the past month, following the US-run "defence" organization's demand members raise contributions to 5% of respective GDPs - or roughly 20% of domestic budgets - for military spending.
John Helmer's a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. He’s the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears and has - as well as serving as advisor to governments at the highest level - too been a professor of political science, sociology, and journalism. Among Helmer's many book titles are: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17', ‘Skripal in Prison,’ and the recently released Skripal sequel, 'LONG LIVE NOVICHOK! The British Poison that Fooled the World'.
John's recent article at Dances with Bears, ‘WHEN NEGOTIATION FAILS, TRY BRIBERY; WHEN THAT FAILS TRY EXTORTION; WHEN THAT FAILS, FORCE’ chronicles Donald Trump's bully European weekend in Aberdeen.
John Helmer and Europe rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's in the second half.
But first, John Zada minding the media warp.
Music: David Rovics
Song: ‘Jeremy Corbyn’
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/ and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024
