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Spike's Watchdog

Although Spike, the Rapid Media Watchdog, usually does a great job holding the local press accountable, there appear to be a couple of important points he missed in his July-August (1993, Issue 4) column.
In "KUOW Cranks Up the News," Spike is either not aware or fails to mention that BBC News is censored and therefore probably illegally being transmitted by KUOW-FM. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) financially supports, to the tune of $100,000 a year, American Public Radio (APR), the main purveyor of programs from the British Broadcasting Corporation World Service.
The BBC has a policy of news censorship and deliberate distortion of the facts in its biased coverage of Northern Ireland. Its World Service operation is entirely funded by the British Foreign Service, an agency known for its deceptive practices.
On July 20, 1993, in Washington, DC, the first 45 minutes of a meeting of CPB's Board of Governors was spent discussing the sponsorship of British-censored programs in this country. At the meeting, Victor Gold, a board member and former speech writer for President Nixon, lashed out at the board's policy. He insisted that it violated the Public Broadcasting Act.
This law requires the CPB to "prevent government interference and control" in any of its sponsored programming. The BBC operates under what is commonly referred to as the "broadcasting ban" imposed in October 1988 by Margaret Thatcher's government. The ban directly prevents the broadcast of critics of the British government's policy in Northern Ireland. NPR regularly broadcasts staged news about Northern Ireland without any balance, thus adhering to the British-imposed sanctions.
KUOW should at least warn its listeners before each BBC broadcast that the news they are about to hear is censored, foreign propaganda. Irish-American activists are mounting a letter-writing campaign to KUOW's Ross Reynolds asking for such a "health warning."
Secondly, while we all must make sure that the brilliant investigative work of Solomon and Cohen's "Media Beat" column continues to be carried by the Seattle Times, let's not forget that it replaced the "Reader Advocate" column, written at the end by Colleen Patrick. Could this have been a strategic tactic to deflect local scrutiny in favor of more generic, national criticism? It is true that Patrick rarely presented as deep and provocative analysis as Solomon and Cohen. However, the removal of her column from the Times eliminated the last bit of local accountability from the mainstream press. Luckily we still have Spike to count on.

Ed Schott
Seattle

Blasting Bill's Bombing Beneficial

It was so great to read your article on the Iraq bombing. ("Bill's Baghdad Bombing Prompted by Politics, Popularity" July-August 1993). What a mistake - unbelievable.

I started out feeling as you did about Clinton - so relieved after Bush.
I wrote Clinton about my feelings and got an answer saying, "He's sorry we can't agree. Hopefully we can work together in the future." Very unconvincing.
Your article said it all. I'm having copies made to send out.
I'm very disappointed. I thought we had someone in the White House who wouldn't want to send a missile every time they didn't like something.
Good luck on the Free Press. It's wonderful to read the truth.

Grace Michaels
Seattle

The Reason We're Publishing This Thing

Picked up your July-August 1993 issue at the Big Time Brewery.

Right on about cereal prices ("Snap - Crackle - Ripoff"). That's why I clip $1-off coupons or eat Malt-O-Meal.
Hilarious condom review. ("On Latex") Reminds me of D. Keith Mano's marital aid reviews 15 years ago in OUI magazine.

Unsigned





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Contents on this page were published in the September , 1993 edition of the Washington Free Press.
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