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http://www.aimislam.com/news/news/british-mps-condemn-anti-iranian-media-bias
A new report
published today suggests that the portrayal of Iran in
the British print media is overly negative and
frequently misleading. Among the key findings of the
report are that, in one week from 29th October to 5th
November 2007, there were 112 articles that mentioned
Iran in the national press and of those 89% were deemed
to be "overly negative". The report also found that 45%
of articles "contained unsubstantiated, misleading or
inaccurate statements about Iran". The report concludes
that the culminative effect of repetitive negative or
misleading statements is to create "an accepted wisdom
on Iran that is not grounded in reality".
The survey, undertaken by the Westminster Committee on
Iran, looked at 19 national newspapers in the UK for a
week long period. It found that whilst most articles
were unbiased and factually-based, 74% contained a
sentence or two that rendered the article "overly
negative" or "misleading". The most common of these
misleading sentences were:
- stating that Iran had threatened "to wipe Israel off
the face of the map". In fact the Farsi phrase used by
President Amadinejad was "Imam ghoft een rezhim-e
ishghalgar-e qods bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad."
This translates directly as "The Imam said this regime
occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time.
This statement is very wise". Whatever the
interpretation of this translation, "a regime vanishing
from the page of time" is very different from a threat
to wipe a nation off the map.
- stating that Iran is responsible for supplying weapons
and intelligence to terrorists in Iraq. Despite many
accusations, no evidence has been produced to link the
Iranian government to Iraqi insurgents. General Peter
Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, admitted at
a Pentagon news this year that he had no evidence of the
Iranian government sending any military equipment or
personnel into Iraq.
The report, Iran in the British Print Media, finds that
a general impression has been created in the UK media
that Iran is acting against the will of the
"international community" in continuing to develop a
covert nuclear weapons programme. This impression is
deemed to be misleading to the extent that there is
absolutely no proof that Iran has a nuclear weapons
programme. Inspections over the past three years have
found no evidence of a nuclear weaponization programme.
The idea that Iran is defying the will of the world
community ignores the fact that 118 nations of the
Non-Aligned have recognise Iran's right for a civilian
nuclear technology and 56 nations signed the Baku
Declaration which stated "the only way to resolve Iran's
nuclear issue is to resume negotiations without any
preconditions and to enhance cooperation with the
involvement of all relevant parties".
The report follows the recent publication of a major
study into the portrayal of Muslims and Islam in the UK
print and broadcast media. The report was produced
Insted Consultancy was researched by 9 leading
academics, professionals from the media industry and
experts on Islam, and shows that during the period of
investigation the national media overwhelming portrayed
Muslims and Islam in a negative way.
The Westminster Committee on Iran aims to increase
dialogue and understanding between Tehran and British
parliamentarians and avoid military intervention against
Iran.
Visit -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:The_Westminster_Committee_on_Iran
If you are a British citizen and would like to be
involved in this exercise we would invite you to contact
you constituency MP and ask them their position with
regard to UK support for military action against Iran in
the absence of United Nations authorisation. Please send
your findings to
westcomiran@hotmail.co.uk
Source:
Westminster Committee on Iran
News Report:
http://www.aimislam.com/news/news/british-mps-condemn-anti-iranian-media-bias
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