Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Grauniad smears Chomsky

Keith Parkins | 19.11.2005 15:41 | Analysis | Culture | Repression

The Grauniad launched a determined character assassination on Noam Chomsky.

'In reality, what is so impressive about Chomsky is that he relies on impeccable sources - recognised authorities in their fields, released government documents, establishment journals and the like - all meticulously referenced so that readers can check his accuracy for themselves. It cannot be any other way, as Chomsky has noted many times - dissidents challenging established power must achieve far higher standards of evidence and argument than mainstream writers because they are guaranteed to be targeted for fierce attack.' -- Media Lens

'This is one of the most shocking and appalling media smears we have seen - and we have been shocked and appalled many times in the past.' -- Media Lens

'It is a nuisance, and a bit of a bore, to dwell on the topic, and I always keep away from personal attacks on me, unless asked, but in this case the matter has some more general interest, so perhaps it’s worth reviewing what most readers could not know. The general interest is that the print version reveals a very impressive effort, which obviously took careful planning and work, to construct an exercise in defamation that is a model of the genre. It’s of general interest for that reason alone.' -- Noam Chomsky

The Grauniad has for a long time been a comic masquerading as a serious newspaper.

I did not see the original Chomsky newspaper interview in the Grauniad, but I was in WH Smug one day and saw a magazine I have never seen before, on the front page was Chomsky as a leading intellectual. Maybe it was Prospect magazine, cited in the Grauniad piece.

 http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/politicsphilosophyandsociety/story/0,60

Inside the magazine were were two articles, one pro-Chomsky, the other anti-Chomsky. Maybe the anti-Chomsky was reproduced in the Grauniad.

Possibly not, as the Grauniad article was an interview, whereas the magazine article, from what I can recall, was simply a diatribe against Chomsky. Possibly it was the same author as it was strikingly similar. But whether same author or not, it means we have had two recent hatchet jobs on Chomsky.

I skimmed the anti-Chomsky article and I had never read such a load of bollocks in my life.

It was attributing to Chomsky positions which I knew not to be true, both from being familiar with his work and having had the pleasure of meeting the man and discussing with him some of these issues.

It would have taken very little research on my behalf to have demolished the hatchet job.

Chomsky himself, frequently tells his readers and audiences, do not take at face value what I tell you, check out my sources, uncover for yourself the truth or otherwise of what I am saying.

It does though expose the Grauniad for the rag that it is, a rag that is pro-Blair, pro-Iraq war and pro-EU. Most of the articles are woolly clap trap, lacking in substance. Media Lens has frequently exposed the lies on Iraq in the Grauniad. When challenged to respond, the Grauniad fails to do so.

 http://www.medialens.org

To see the real Grauniad, look at some of their tacky regional rags (it takes a bit of digging to realise they are part of the Grauniad media group), look at their right wing pro-business stance, look at the wages and working conditions of their junior hacks (worse than McVomit). Next time Grauniad rails at fat cat salaries, knocks Dirty Den over at the Sexpress, take at look at their fat cat salaries.

The Grauniad is mainstream media, pitching its sales pitch at the trendy woolly left, who drive down to the supermarket in their 4x4 thinking they have down their bit for the environment.

Both Noam Chomsky and John Pilger have frequently warned of shoddy journalism. Maybe the Grauniad thought they would get their own back, and indulge in a bit of character assassination.

Media Lens did a good job of dissecting the Grauniad article, the downside was that their piece was at times virtually unintelligible. They tried to e-mail senior people at the Grauniad for an explanation, but of course got none.

 http://www.medialens.org

You may like to see if you can do any better:

- Emma Brockes (author of the scurrilous piece):  Emma.Brockes@guardian.co.uk
- Grauniad editor Alan Rusbridger:  Alan.Rusbridger@guardian.co.uk
- Grauniad readers’ editor Ian Mayes:  ian.mayes@guardian.co.uk
- Grauniad comment editor Seumas Milne:  Seumas.milne@guardian.co.uk

Please copy all e-mails to Media Lens:  editor@medialens.org

Tony Benn used to get the same hatchet jobs. He took the precaution of always taking a tape recorder which he placed between him and the interviewer. Noam Chomsky would be well advised to do the same. Although as Chomsky himself has stated, in all the many thousands of interviews he has participated in, that with the Grauniad was the first time he has felt the need to have a tape reorder.

' ... it may serve as a word of warning to anyone who is asked by the Guardian for an interview, and happens to fall slightly to the critical end of the approved range of opinion of the editors. The warning is: if you accept the invitation, be cautious, and make sure to have a tape recorder that is very visibly placed in front of you. That may inhibit the dedication to deceit, and if not, at least you will have a record. I should add that in probably thousands of interviews from every corner of the world and every part of the spectrum for decades, that thought has never occurred to me before. It does now.'

It is not though just in the Grauniad or on well known people where we see this character assassination.

We have recently witnessed this on Indymedia UK, where inmates of the Borderlands decided to abuse the platform that open publishing affords to use a discussion of the aftermath of the Anarchist Bookfair in London as an opportunity to launch a personal attack on one of the contributors with an entirely fabricated story, then when caught out in their lies, acted like a troupe of demented baboons in the hope that their noise would drown out the truth.

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/10/326337.html

What we find is that those who do not conform to the approved doctrine, are attacked. A debate is allowed, but it is only within narrow confines. Artificial opponents are manufactured, then an artificial debate constructed to give the illusion of free speech, democracy.

 http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/democracy.htm

We see then with the view of parliament (as though nothing exists outside of parliament, the entire anti-globalisation movement reduced to zilch), with so-called experts wheeled out, who are either ignorant of the subject, or are offering two sides of the same coin.

In a debate on Iraq, we get a narrow spread of views, but do we hear from Tony Benn or John Pilger or George Galloway? We do not hear from people on the ground, who actually know what is going on. You only hear from these people by actively seeking them out, by attending fringe meetings. When these people do get a look in, it is when they are being attacked. Or like Milan Rai, and it would be difficult to find a more decent guy, who has eloquently exposed many of the lies on Iraq, now finds himself in prison for daring to tell the truth.

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/11/301915.html
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/11/302033.html
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/12/302455.html
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/328090.html
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/328061.html
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/327956.html

In the Bush administration, we were offered Colin Powell as a dove, to give the illusion of a disparity of opinion, when what we were actually being offered was shades of the same. It was comics like the Grauniad that promoted this illusion.

It is not only on the big issues like Iraq. Dare to oppose a major development and you will find yourself vilified in the local press by our upstanding citizens, known as local councillors, or better known by local communities as a bunch of corrupt bastards. Or worse, threatened with an Asbo in a crude attempt to silence.

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/327726.html
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/327884.html

It is interesting to read the views of Chomsky himself on the smear. You then appreciate how determined this attack was, with the full connivance of the Grauniad aparatchiks.

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/327882.html

Having at some point been in conversation with and/or associated with the people I and Chomsky mention, must I be at some point subjected to the same disgraceful attacks, assuming of course I have not been already?

Keith Parkins

Comments

Display the following 2 comments

  1. Who's the hypocrite — Pol Pot, Chomsky's friend
  2. For more lies and slander against Chomsky, see above — Note to right wing propagandists: must do better than this
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech