Britain compared to Iraq under Saddam

Another gem from the journalism textbook I have to plough through. The following snippets are from an article written by Justin Lewis and Rod Brookes, on British reporting on the war against Iraq:

'A number of reports (19 per cent) referred to the decadent nature of the regime (...). While most of these reports contained evidence that was unremarkable for a dictatorial regime (indeed, since Britain has one of the wealthiest monarchies and one of the highest levels of inequality in Europe, the charges of decadence were particularly curious), we found no reports that made this point, or put them in an international context.'

But wait, it gets better. From one of the final paragraphs:

'Our research suggests that the (UK, ed.) wartime coverage was generally sympathetic to the government's case. This manifested itself in various ways, notably: (...) the focus on the brutality or decadence of the regime without putting this evidence in context.'

I've got your context right here.

Update 14.11:

Further on in the textbook, there's an article by Teun van Dijk. Who, you say? Well, his website not only gives some insight into his outlook on the world, but also proudly displays this picture:

Granted, not a Ché T-shirt in sight.

11:35

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