MEDIA: Distortion of Truth

Christopher Jone says: "For WAIS cloak and dagger lovers, I am including access to an article which mentions the possibility that William Ewart Gladstone was in fact Jack the Ripper. Although I do not think for a moment that the famous moralist was the famous killer, the article does perfectly illustrate what I mentioned in The Cradle Will Rock -- the out of control power of the press and in particular the press as an entertainment industry controlled by big, big bosses.

While more staid sources like the Encyclopedia Britannica do not mention Gladstone's obsession to save women from prostitution, others like Wikipedia dwell on it, admittedly in a badly written article. When we talk of democracy, we have to address this critical issue: the distortion of the truth by an all powerful press whose power is so intense, that it can erect taboos which can go unquestioned for decades or demolish personal reputations.

Germany's latest craze is the discovery in the so-called "Rosenholz" archives (that were turned over to the Germans by the CIA) that star investigative reporter GŸnther Walraff was working for the East German Stasi (Staatssicherheit). He has denied the charges that he was an active IM, (known as IM Wagner) Walraff who made his name with the use of disguises (such as assuming the identity of a Turkish guest worker named Ali) vehemently denies the charges.

Footnote: I was talking yesterday with a senior editor at the historical/cultural section of one of the mightiest state TV's in the EU (who will go unnamed toprotect the innocent) who told me that "they (the upper echelons) have no interest in a Lorca or anybody else -- just Hitler. And its always the same old Hitler stuff, over and over and over again". RH:
The media magnates stuff is very serious. Berlusconi is doing immense harm to Italy and to Europe. The trouble is that most people are quite uncritical. The ordinary "news" program in the US consists of sound and light effects, advertisements, and snippets of "news" delivered by hucksters. Then they take polls on matters of great importance, asking those who get their news this way what they "think".