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UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

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Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#61

Post by buran77 »

defrost wrote: post #38
buran77 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Quack doctors spruiking amazing new treatments (that they hold shares in). Doctors commonly have kickback arrangements to prescribe specific medication. Sometimes it's the correct course of action they just always go for the particular brand, other times it's the wrong course of action but they prescribe it anyway for the kickback (the OxyContin scandal comes to mind).

Pharma reps "bribing" doctors prescribing habits is a thing, for sure, and varies in degree by country. This is a separate issue for media reporting on (say) new tanning treatments that are endorsed on screen during traditional "news hours" in undeclared infomercial segments that feature "independant" medical experts gushing over benefits of perineum UV treatments. Frequently both the company that paid for the faux n…

Oh, I just meant it's not just "quack doctors" doing it. it's a fairly common practice.

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#62

Post by foldr »

roenxi wrote: post #45
foldr wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My post wasn’t defending the Iraq war. It was just pointing out that the war was not a land grab. Iraq is not now a part of the UK or US (in contrast to the situation with Russia and Crimea, for example).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_military... For anyone else interested, negotiations that could lead to the US leaving Iraq and fully returning control to the Iraqi people are also going swimmingly, according to reports.

The US military presence in Iraq is already far smaller than its presence in Germany and many other countries. Certainly, the US is a global superpower (albeit a declining one) that exerts influence via its military strength. But Iraq is not occupied by the US any more than Germany is.

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#63

Post by graemep »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #26
flumpcakes wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK doesn't have some imperialist policy of land grabs like Russia, or diplomacy through violence. In the current Iranian war the UK is only allowing it's bases to launch defensive missions, i.e. strike offensive capability or incoming missiles. So no, it is in fact the defense sector. What countries have a defense sector, if the UK doesn't?

Iraq and Afghanistan might disagree with your first point. Last time I looked Iran and the UK are quite some distance from each other, and Iran has inexplicably neither been launching missiles at the UK, nor threatening to, and is apparently not even capable of it. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crm120x4lzxo So the justification for these "defensive" bombing runs on Iranian mountain sites from Fairford remains mys…

Iran attacked the British base in Cyprus with drones so has directly attacked British territory. Iran has also been sponsoring terrorism in the UK. Iran has also attacked an American base on British territory.

> one of the most corrupt countries in the world

A ridiculous exaggeration given what a lot of other countries are like.

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#64

Post by foldr »

specproc wrote: post #54
foldr wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, but you can say the same for the US. It also has vastly more troops in Germany than Iraq, and it also does not control the Iraqi government. And the less said about Afghanistan the better. So where is the land grab?

One does not need to dictate every item of policy to control a country, one just needs to ensure that there's alignment on strategic issues. I think this was America's key point of learning when it took over the reins of the European empires after WW2. In Germany, historically the strategic issue was anti-communism, but now it serves as a military logistics hub; in Iraq, it's about trade in oil in dollars and access…

Or, to put it more succinctly, Iraq is occupied by the US in about the same sense that Germany is. And while the US no doubt exerts influence over Germany in part via its military power, I think the position that the US military presence in Germany is part of a “land grab” would be a rather fringe one.

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#65

Post by tardedmeme »

flumpcakes wrote: post #9
einpoklum wrote: post #3

1. Calling it the "defense sector" is already quite biased. Almost all of that sector's activity involves offensive activity. Or just call it the "arms industry" etc. If we were less charitable, we could well call it the "war industry". 2. Reading the article we note there's quite some overlap between arms industry links and links to Israel's fundraising and lobbying circles. I wonder whether UK media discloses those…

The UK doesn't have some imperialist policy of land grabs like Russia, or diplomacy through violence. In the current Iranian war the UK is only allowing it's bases to launch defensive missions, i.e. strike offensive capability or incoming missiles. So no, it is in fact the defense sector. What countries have a defense sector, if the UK doesn't?

> In the current Iranian war the UK is only allowing it's bases to launch defensive missions, i.e. strike offensive capability

If Iran struck all of the UK's missile factories and military bases, would it be considered a defensive or offensive action?

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#66

Post by roenxi »

foldr wrote: post #62
roenxi wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_military... For anyone else interested, negotiations that could lead to the US leaving Iraq and fully returning control to the Iraqi people are also going swimmingly, according to reports.

The US military presence in Iraq is already far smaller than its presence in Germany and many other countries. Certainly, the US is a global superpower (albeit a declining one) that exerts influence via its military strength. But Iraq is not occupied by the US any more than Germany is.

If Germany wants the US to leave, do they have to negotiate to get that to happen?

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#67

Post by defrost »

buran77 wrote: post #61
defrost wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pharma reps "bribing" doctors prescribing habits is a thing, for sure, and varies in degree by country. This is a separate issue for media reporting on (say) new tanning treatments that are endorsed on screen during traditional "news hours" in undeclared infomercial segments that feature "independant" medical experts gushing over benefits of perineum UV treatments. Frequently both the company that paid for the faux n…

Oh, I just meant it's not just "quack doctors" doing it. it's a fairly common practice.

In a doctors suite:

Doctors prescribing drugs recommended to them by pharma reps should disclose that connection.

On a media "news" program:

Producers of media programs should disclose any connection "experts" they interview on a subject have to the financial returns or funding of that subject.

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#68

Post by pcf »

matsemann wrote: post #35
defrost wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Media in general is poor on declaring any and all bias of their various interviewed "experts". Quack doctors spruiking amazing new treatments (that they hold shares in). Automotive experts promoting car brands (that they receive advertising and influencer dollars for). etc.

One thing I've seen a bit in Norway, and which is relevant this month, is opinion pieces by "concerned parents" that get their writing into national news, but a quick search show that they're often head of some bigoted organization. Of course they should be entitled to their opinion and be able to express it as any other, but the news papers not disclosing this is unethical imo.

Many parts of Norway are much less functioning than many Norwegians understand. The media sector is one of them.

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#69

Post by philipallstar »

defrost wrote: post #14
philipallstar wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Almost all of that sector's activity involves offensive activity. What do you mean? As in invading other countries?

Just on the facts, * assisting US offensive actions, * weapons sales for offensive usage (eg: The UK government admits that Saudi Arabia has used UK weapons, made by companies around the UK, in its attacks on Yemen.)

How is that "almost all"?

Re: UK media fails to disclose defence sector links in nearly 60% of cases

#70

Post by helsinkiandrew »

JdeBP wrote: post #41
helsinkiandrew wrote: post #28

> These individuals had also been quoted, featured, or otherwise used as commentators in UK media coverage of defence, conflict, or national security issues. If they are promoting defence spending or plugging their employers products that's bad, but using their experience to comment on the Iran war or Ukraine, or Russian/Chinese Spy networks doesn't seem that bad?

In 17 of the 19 detailed instances, it is stated that they are promoting increases in budgets and spending. The two others are reported as speaking with different conflicts of interest.

Does it say that in the full report somewhere else? I can't find that in the text.

I think most people would be surprised if ex senior military Personnel didn't think military spending should be increased.

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