Tony Benn on the importance of Channel 4 & the fog of war
The Government plans to privatise Channel 4, set up by Mrs Thatcher, as a Government owned but commercial TV channel that funds itself. No doubt there are numerous Tory benefactors thinking about buying it.
Content may be uneven as with all broadcast media but it does have a reputation for covering some of the awkward issues that others don’t.
Tony Benn wrote in his diary (3rd January 1996) on a particular example:
This evening there was a marvellous programme on Channel 4 called How to Tell Lies and Win Wars. Maggie O’Kane revealed the lies told about Iraqi brutalities in Kuwait, lies organised by a PR Company and how Bush took them up. Depleted uranium has caused quite serious radiation problems and there were very evasive answers from Tom King. The programme dealt with the burying alive of Iraqi soldiers by American bulldozers, the oil slick caused by the West bombing oil tankers in the Gulf… it also dealt with the media and how it had been taken in.
A reminder that truth is invariably the first casualty of war and that while some journalists are well aware of this and report carefully, having independent media like Channel 4 is key to that.
Plus ça change. It never ceases to amaze me how people swallow whatever guff the msm feeds us.