See:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6936755.stm



The report is titled:

US raid kills 30 Iraq 'militants' (Note inverted commas)

Then we have a picture of an obviously distraught man.

The caption reads:

"The US military denied any women or children were killed in the raid"

Now I don't know who got killed, why they got killed, whether they were combatants or civilians or whether any woman or children were killed.

Without independent confirmation I would accept neither the US denials nor the claims of those who assert woman and children were killed.

But, by a clever juxtaposition of images and text the BBC manages to leave cursory readers – which is most readers - with the impression that the US military had committed an atrocity without ever making an overt accusation.

When it comes to spin the BBC are the masters. Murdock is an amateur.

NB: I am NOT making comments on whether the US should, or should not, be in Iraq. For what it's worth I think they should leave today.

I'm merely giving an example of how the media can manipulate emotions.

And how good the BBC are at propaganda.

or maybe they are using visual means to leave the question open. this is rather too much restraint in view of the track record of american armies. perhaps the bbc is controlled by neocons..

the american army does not hesitate to kill civilians for any purpose, whether global realpolitik, or the intention of the grunt on the ground to rape a young girl as soon as dad is safely dead. the grunt will occasionally be punished, the grandees who create policies like 'free-fire zones' and 'preventive war' are not.

STEVEN... that's something the HERALD SUN does on a daily basis....

It's also something the ABC in Australia did to Pauline Hanson. They covered her immigration policy in the afternoon, but in the evening 'prime time' news they just edited the story to say "1-Nations immigration spokesperson in conflict with Ruddock"

Spin,..is what we live with under a 'free' press. It raises the question though, about a 'free' press being a conduit for bias and political manipulation..... We all know the NEWSCORP press is 'right' and FAIRFAX is 'left'

THANKFULLY WE ARE CREATING OUR OWN NEWS NOW... here, on youtube, and various other places like blogs.

The thing which fascinates me, is the lengths that leftoids will goto, to re-shape reality in terms of political bias... the beginning assumption or dogma is "USA =BAD" and then, the whole of reality is re-structured around this premise.

What they fail to state is that ALLLLLLL nations and people.. are 'bad'.. or have had their bad moments, or are reacting to some other person or nations 'badness'.....

They deliberately failt to state this because they have a POLITICAL AGENDA of "World Socialism" which never worked, is not working and will never work. (Just like 'world capitalism' hasn't, isn't and won't)

Give me the kingdom of God ...anyday... I'd rather be working and fellowshipping with people under Christ and sharing the life changing Gospel of grace than spinning current affairs for doomed ideologies.

Do I 'spin' ? hmmm I guess I must, but I try to do so in a way which most benefits the values of God's kingdom, and that might mean a coalition one time, labor another, Family First (more likely) but it would never mean Greens or demobrats at this time. Unfortunately a Christian will see value in a Kim Beasely but not in the Labor 'Party'...and the same applies to the other side of politics.

DEMOS,

You are entitled to your opinion on the US military. That, as I explained, is NOT the issue.

I'm simply trying to point out that EVERYBODY SPINS.

The ideal of "objective reporting" is, I suggest, unattainable.

Here, for example, is how the BBC handled the truck bomb that detonated in Tel Afar 5 days ago:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6932666.stm

The image that accompanies the story is far less emotive than the one that accompanied the more recent story of American and Iraqi troops killing what the BBC calls 'militants.'

The last paragraph of the Tel Afar story reads:

"Some 70 Sunni men were shot dead shortly afterwards in apparent reprisals by Shia gunmen."

This could have been accompanied by images of wailing wives, parents and children. Instead we simply have this bald statement.

It is obvious that the BBC regards POSSIBLE deaths at the hand of the US military as being of greater moment than ACTUAL deaths at the hands of the various Iraqi militias.

THEY ARE ENTITLED TO THEIR OPINION.

You may well agree with them.

But it is fascinating to see how cunning the BBC is in the use of spin.

Compared to the BBC, Murdock really is an amateur

For everyone complaining about spin,

Accept that it happens, whether its the BBC, ABC, Daily Terror or SMH.

Get your news from multiple sources, decide for yourself which version you prefer. Don't let any one person tell you what to think.

Critical thinking is a wonderful thing, I wish more people would use it.

James Purser,

I am not "complaining" about spin, merely trying to point out that it is all-pervasive.

For the rest I agree with your post. Get your news from multiple sources and remember that they're ALL spinning.

BTW often the most effective form of spin is simply to give one story more prominence than another or to omit some context.

A hearty amen to that Steven and James.

multiple sources...