From: Romi Elnagar <bluesapphire48@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 10:54 AM
Subject: [bangla-vision] Murdoch's friendship with Israel (Guardian, 2005)
To:
Kiley attacks Murdoch's friendship with Israel
Sam Kiley, the former Times Africa correspondent, has spoken out for the first time about why he quit the paper, blaming its allegedly pro-Israeli censorship of his reporting on the latest Middle East conflict. Mr Kiley said Times owner Rupert Murdoch's close friendship with Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, and heavy investment in Israel were the reasons behind his decision to resign. "In the war of words, no newspaper has been so happy to hand the keys of the armoury over to one side than the Times," Kiley wrote today in the Evening Standard. "The Times foreign editor and other middle managers flew into hysterical terror every time a pro-Israel lobbying group wrote in with a quibble or complaint and then usually took their side against their own correspondent," he added. "I was told I should not refer to 'assassinations' of Israel's opponents, nor to 'extra-judicial killings or executions'. "No pro-Israel lobbyist ever dreamed of having such power over a great national newspaper." Kiley said Murdoch executives were so scared of irritating the media mogul that when he interviewed the Israeli army unit responsible for killing a 12-year old Palestinian boy, he was asked to file the piece without mentioning the dead child. "After that conversation, I was left wordless, so I quit," he said. "In an 11-year stint for the Thunderer, I'd lived out a childhood ambition to be its Africa correspondent, served my time in the Balkans and the Middle East, been shot, jailed, and had my ribs cracked," said Kiley. "I'd faced (mock) execution twice and had more of a whizz-bang time than any young man could want. Then last month I threw it all in, because of the words I was asked to use, or not to use." His revelations of the intimate relationship between Murdoch and the Israeli premier and its reflection in the politics of the paper will tarnish the historical reputation of the Times as the "newspaper of record" He said both sides in the conflict seek to censor their crimes and celebrate their causes. "But in the war of words no newspaper has been more happy to hand the keys of the armoury over to one side than the Times," he said. His comments about the paper come just days after the Independent's foreign correspondent, Robert Fisk, accused broadcasters of caving in to pressure from Israel to avoid terms such as "occupied territories". http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2001/sep/05/pressandpublishingNOTE: I found this article by googling "Rupert Murdoch + Ariel Sharon." There are several articles which explore this relationship, but most of them are by people who have been accused of being anti-Semitic. I don't know if that is actually the case, and it is possible that this charge is made, as it so often is, in order to discredit the messenger. If you are interested, you should explore this and judge for yourself. I really cannot divine the truth of the matter, but since Murdoch stands accused of some very serious charges of abuse of power, it seems fair to ask if he has not also used his empire to promote his views on the Middle Eastern conflict. You can look at, "Who Is Rupert Murdoch?" to see what I am talking about. http://coto2.wordpress.com/2011/07/17/who-is-rupert-murdoch/ Also see "Ariel Sharon: An Intimate Portrait" http://books.google.com/books?id=pyV4zB5VbSMC&pg=PR11&lpg=PR11&dq=Rupert+Murdoch+%2B+Ariel+Sharon&source=bl&ots=0F83azBSTU&sig=Ng9Ykv76U9cROiumtHsMmTUEb4U&hl=en&ei=RGQmTqyBC4KdgQeAiLFc&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=Rupert%20Murdoch%20%2B%20Ariel%20Sharon&f=false |
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