TayoBlog

After hearing about the new round of sanctions announced by the US (October 2007) against Iran, I decided to probe the issue beyond the one liner soundbyte of lead articles in newspapers. The latest sanctions are closely linked to the as yet unproved nuclear weapons that Iran is reportedly developing, or has developed.

The fact is there is no smoking gun as Elbaradei has repeatedly said, but reading the liberal press, you would not come to this conclusion.

In the process of trying to read beyond the headlines, I came across a very interesting interview that the BBC conducted with IAEA chief, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, in May 2007 and which has not been converted into regualr news. BBC's own report on the interview seems to sidestep the most important points made by Dr. ElBaradei. You have to be willing to listen to the interview on Radio, or pick it from the website dedicted to prevent sanctions and military intervention against Iran (http://www.campaigniran.org).

As one probes a bit deeper into the standoff between the US (and to some extent the EU) and Iran, one clearly gets the impression that the balance of the press is a misnomer. When it comes to national interests, and particularly the Middle East, the major Western Press is no different from the state-owned press that one finds in the authoritarian states in the region. Whenever a reference is made to the latter, the state's role is always mentioned without fail. But how does one mention the bias of the free press that suppresses crucial information from the public debate? I suppose one can be happy with the confinction that alternative presses will ensure that we get the information needed. But I do think that the western press has undermined its credibility on this issue. And like their approach to the Iraq war, they no longer deserve the credibility that they think they still enjoy.

In fact, one can go one step further. By slanting the news to the benefit of the soundbytes cycled by US and EU politicians, the press is clearly helping to create a mood where an air-strike against iran seems justified. And here you surely have a he burden of responsibility?