As the SKWAWKBOX reported not long ago, the BBC News website published outright fake news on Friday evening when it reported that the OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) ‘fact-finding mission’ to the Syrian town of Douma had concluded that a chlorine gas attack had been perpetrated on civilians in the city.
The OPCW had said nothing of the sort – but just now the BBC News channel joined in the Trumpian misrepresentation of what the report stated:
The OPCW report states – very clearly – that no conclusions have yet been reached.
The family of chemicals it reported finding – compounds, not pure chlorine – are common in fire extinguishers, insect sprays and other common products, as well as in fridges, machinery and cleaning products.
The OPCW reported finding ‘explosive residue’ too – but in a city that has suffered many months of heavy military bombardment, it would be astonishing if the OPCW inspectors had not found residues.
The BBC’s status as the Establishment’s propaganda mouthpiece was exposed – and the reason it is so eager to convince about Douma was also included in the report shown above: the UK, along with the US and France, launched military action on Syria.
That action must be justified – even though it’s clear from on-site footage of the wreckage shown by the BBC at the time that the ‘chemical weapons facilities’ hit were nothing of the sort.
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BBC & Channel 4 are publicly owned & publicly funded public service broadcasters who are bound by their charters to report news impartially; objectively & in the public interest. Instead, they have their own political agendae which begs questions as to whose interests they serve. If you wish to understand issues of representation, may I suggest that s/he who pays the piper calls the tune. In a healthy democracy diversity of opinion, rather than manufacturing consent for dominant gov’t/establishment ideologies is paramount.
Channel 4 is mainly funded by advertising and sponsorship, not by public funding
I just saw the news outlet Al Jazeera repeat the same thing.