Barry Malone – Middle East Eye Jan 26, 2026
Western news organisations, which often style themselves as “the international media”, wear masks.
They wear masks when they say they “speak truth to power”. They wear masks when they say they “give a voice to the voiceless”. And they wear masks in the manner in which they cover western allies versus adversaries.
Those masks, despite their best efforts, have slipped regularly during Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people – the story that has perhaps most nakedly exposed the inherent weakness of foreign correspondents since British and American journalists first began sending dispatches to London and New York by telegraph in the 1800s.
That weakness, among others, is an inability to separate the tenor of their coverage from the policies of their own governments.
They would fiercely deny it, but the world’s biggest news organisations – the BBC, the New York Times and CNN, to name just a few – approach friends and foes of the West very differently.
Russia and Egypt are not judged by the same rules. Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman is treated as a complex reformer, while North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is lampooned as a bumbling dictator.
And in recent weeks, we’ve seen a masterclass in double standards in coverage of the massive anti-government protests in Iran, and US President Donald Trump’s boorish threats to attack the country.
Well-worn pattern
To be clear, I’m not making a value judgment. I’m not saying that Iranian protesters do not deserve to be humanised and to have their stories told. I’m not saying that reports of demonstrators being killed and imprisoned in huge numbers are not horrifying and important. And I’m not saying that Iranian authorities should not be held to account.
That is not the point here. The point is that the scrutiny is not applied evenly.
The most obvious contrast is with how the Israeli government, its relentless assault on Gaza, and its leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are handled in the news.
Take Newsnight, the BBC’s flagship current affairs talk show. On 9 October 2023, one of the most extraordinary exchanges I’ve ever seen on television took place when Husam Zomlot, then head of the Palestinian mission to Britain, appeared on the show.
By that point, more than 800 people had been killed by Israel in Gaza, and Zomlot had just learned that seven members of his extended family, including children, were among them. After he described the circumstances of their killings, presenter Kirsty Wark expressed the briefest of sympathies, before immediately confronting him.
“I’m sorry for your own personal loss,” she said. “Can I just be clear though? You cannot condone the killing of civilians in Israel, can you? Nor the kidnap of families?”
It was to become a well-worn pattern. Palestinians were not permitted to be on western television without facing the “Do you condemn Hamas?” refrain.
They were not allowed to talk about their own suffering, to ring the alarm over the ethnic cleansing of Gaza that they rightly told us all along was a genocide, without first satisfying the presenter that they were the “good” sort of Palestinian.
No pushback
The other ritual interruption, often used in response to statements of verifiable fact from Palestinian guests, representatives of aid agencies, and just about anyone critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza was: “But Israel would say.”
I have not witnessed any news presenter counter a guest with “Iran would say” since the protests began. Not once. It would be unthinkable and, if it did happen, there would be howls of rage from the political and media establishments.
The point, again, is not that the media should interject on a point of confirmed fact that Iranian authorities may refute. It’s that they shouldn’t do it with Israel either.
Now compare Zomlot’s experience of Newsnight with that of a panel assembled to discuss Iran as the drumbeat of war drew closer.
Omid Djalili, a British-born comedian of Iranian descent, was the star guest in a line-up that also included former MI6 chief Alex Younger, Baroness Helena Kennedy, and right-wing columnist Matthew Syed.
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Trump’s pretext, that he wanted to “help” the protesters, was treated earnestly. During a 15-minute discussion, the “regime” (a word only ever applied to western foes) was lambasted for its brutality, with no qualifying statements from presenter Victoria Derbyshire. And in a pitch-perfect illustration of the media’s double standard, Syed, after a thinly veiled attack on Islam, described Iranian authorities as “genocidal”.
Again, nothing from Derbyshire.
Though Djalili stopped short of advocating for the US to bomb Tehran, he did want Trump to get involved, and claimed he was speaking on behalf of the Iranian people.
“The people of Iran are saying … if there’s some kind of outside help, we’ll take it,” he said. “If Trump wants to do something that will help us, we’re not going to say no.”
Reza Pahlavi. Click to enlarge
The comedian, who hasn’t been to Iran since he was six years old in 1971, said that Iranians were rallying around Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah of Iran. “He represents national unity,” Djalili said to absolutely no pushback, clarifying questions, or context from the presenter.
It is, however, by no means clear that most of the Iranians bravely protesting in the streets either a) wanted Trump to intervene in any way, or b) supported Pahlavi.
Little diversity
Why is this important? Because this segment, and many others, were happening as the US and Israel were attempting to manufacture consent for an attack on Iran. And as recent history has taught us, major media organisations – some out of complicity, others out of ignorance and gullibility – are key to that effort.
Though circumstances are slowly changing, one of the key drivers of this is a lack of diversity in newsrooms, and the inability of many western journalists to step back from and transcend the propaganda they consumed growing up in the West.
I happened to be in a television newsroom in 2017 when it was announced that Martin McGuinness – a Sinn Fein leader, former deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, and past Irish Republican Army (IRA) commander – had died.
That day, the senior journalists on shift, as well as the presenter, happened to be almost uniformly British. It was quickly decided that the death of McGuinness would be the lead story, but I watched as those experienced journalists wracked their brains and fretted about how to describe him.
“Terrorist” was suggested. Then “militant”. “Paramilitary?”
How about “self-confessed terrorist”?
There was no need for any of that. We had a clear policy.
Whether al-Shabab, Boko Haram or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, we called these organisations “armed groups”. Senior members were “leaders” and the troops were “fighters”. But the British journalists could not shake their conditioning when it came to the IRA.
This won’t change anytime soon – because the current crop of newsroom leaders don’t see the problem. The only hope may be a changing of the guard in the future.
Though the protests have ebbed for now, they were always a pretext for Trump, and there is still a very real possibility that he will launch an attack on Iran.
If he does, expect the western media to cheerlead it all the way.
sonia poulton vid tears the racist BBC to bits
see it here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcReoK9S2GI
When in a position of power suppression of truth for personal gain is nothing less than evil cowardice.
Western mainstream media is full of it and maligned journalists will need to face the reality of that dreaded moment when their own soul records offload the overwhelming burdens they carry.
Times of India says Saudi Arabia will join Iran if attacked by the US and Israel, and while I doubt they’d become actively involved they may become passively involved by not allowing attacking jets into their airspace. I think the problem for the US is its currency is now worth far less than it was (and Arabs don’t have much use for toilet paper), so loyalty to the US is a losing prospect. Chinese currency partially backed by gold looks better and China is a rising market not a dying one. And Iran could have forewarned them we’ll take out your oil infrastructure if you back the other side.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzeozPMbiqw (8m 26)
Like the man says:
‘They’re all in on it brah’
where nico?
Meanstream Media should have been obliterated long ago.
In my dreams, these God damn bastards on TV would be blasted to smithereens instead of the Palestinians in Gaza.
Why?
Because these assholes are vile, sickening, disgusting, grotesque, shameless, conceited, arrogant, lying, demented, guilty, paranoid, hypocritical, criminal, disingenuous, pathetic, fake, phony, retarded, pretentious, condescending, incompetent, ignorant, mischievous, ridiculous, absurd, incoherent, inconsistent, infantile, nauseating, appalling, disturbing, neurotic, robotic, repetitive, to name but a few…
There would be dancing in the streets!
Go ahead and ask me what I think and feel about these despicable mass murderers in Shitstream Media.
Here’s my answer:
https://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=190003&unapproved=933908&moderation-hash=8b6b8936c9341249ad131f149225e053#comment-933908
The conceited shitheads in Ass Media are vile beyond my ability to describe them.
Velcome to Vile TV
https://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=188788
Letby is innocent, says Beverley Allitt detective
Story by Gwyn Wright •
Lucy Letby is likely to have fallen victim to “the greatest miscarriage of justice this century”, the detective who caught killer nurse Beverley Allitt has said.
Retired Det Supt Stuart Clifton has been carrying out a review into the evidence against the 36-year-old, who is serving 15 life sentences for the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of seven others.
experts have raised concerns about the safety of her convictions in the years since she was sent to jail.
Dr Shoo Lee, whose academic work was cited by the prosecution during her trial, said in 2024 that he was “pretty certain” she had not murdered or attempted to murder any babies.
Last week it emerged that the Countess of Chester Hospital, where the nurse worked, was infected with the same waterborne bug linked to deaths at a scandal-hit hospital in Glasgow.Last week it emerged that the Countess of Chester Hospital, where the nurse worked, was infected with the same waterborne bug linked to deaths at a scandal-hit hospital in Glasgow.Last week it emerged that the Countess of Chester Hospital, where the nurse worked, was infected with the same waterborne bug linked to deaths at a scandal-hit hospital in Glasgow.
A review by Mr Clifton, seen by The Sun, has found no evidence any of the babies were deliberately harmed or that Letby caused deliberate harm to them.
The detective also said so-called confession notes she had written, in which she was told to write “I am evil, I did this”, offer no concrete proof of her guilt.
“I am totally satisfied that Lucy Letby is innocent of all charges and that the evidence in relation to the causes of deaths and collapses put forward at trial is incorrect,” he told The Sun.
“The net result is that this is likely the greatest miscarriage of justice this century – and that we have seen in a very long time.”
Mr Clifton continued: “The inquiry in the Letby case seems to have started from the presumption that there were unlawful acts being committed at the neonatal unit at Chester Hospital, the filthy tap water there several times had contained toxic chemicals
“That’s a dangerous presumption to start from. I think what one should do from the start is what we did in the Allitt case. That was, look at the evidence that is available which would support the supposition that these children died as the result of criminal hands.
“In my view, there is no evidence at all that children were murdered. And I support that by saying that from June 2015 to July 2016, there were numerous reviews by senior paediatricians at the hospital. None concluded there was a criminal in the midst, killing children and babies.”
Det Supt Stuart Clifton, who led the Beverley Allitt case, said the Letby inquiry started from a ‘dangerous’ place of assuming unlawful acts had been committed –
Allitt, dubbed the Angel of Death, was convicted of the murders of three infants and an 11-year-old boy, and the attempted murders of three others in 1993.
During the trial, prosecutors said Letby had murdered babies in a number of ways, including by injecting air into their bloodstreams and poisoning them with insulin.
They also pointed to the notes, shift patterns which showed she was working during every suspicious collapse, and other examples of odd behaviour.
Mr Clifton’s review found no medical evidence that any of the babies had suffered intentional harm and pointed to internal and external reviews – before police were called over Letby – which failed to find any suggestion of criminality.
Police leaned on a ‘confession note’ written under extreme pressure by Letby that said: ‘I did this’ and ‘I killed them’ – Cheshire Constabulary/Reuters
High insulin readings for babies who collapsed amounted to the only forensic suggestion that they may have been harmed deliberately.
However, he said Letby was not working on one occasion when this happened and branded prosecution claims she had spiked a feeding bag as “Alice in Wonderland”.
He found insulin rates can cluster in premature babies because of “autoimmune antibodies”.
The detective accused police of cherry-picking evidence on staffing rotas and said the letters have “no value whatsoever in an evidential sense”.
Cheshire Police and the Countess of Chester Hospital declined to comment to The Sun.