Countrys news media and their discourse of denial. The Global Warming use the area in australia the murdoch empire is taking some heat for its coverage of the wildfires there and the practical joke on a Foreign Correspondent fell for for a worthy cause weve been told that this is quite a dangerous thing thats been known to attack people who go to drop me or consider what it must be like to be in charge of communications for the iranian government right now or what its like to be iranian trying to sort fact from political fiction 2 weeks ago an american drone strike killed the countrys most important military figure general custom soleimani that provided tehran with an opening a chance to rewrite the political narrative to steer iranians away from protesting over an oppressive government and the state of their economy to rally them to back their islamic leaders against the americans and for a few days that seemed to be working then that passenger plane. It was shot down over tehran and irans leaders had a decision to make for 3 days they chose to lie to the public before finally coming clean admitting that they took that plane down by mistake iranians have since taken to the streets not to mourn the loss of a fallen soldier but because they are outraged over years of official lies ineptitude and impunity that messaging opportunity is long gone the iranian government now has a p. R. Nightmare on its hands our starting point this week is tehran. The truth has many and in iran. Right wrong to hide the truth has a lot of foot soldiers not know what they dont want to know when a state misleads the public the state media reflects the same thing about us and i get more happy that i was not being subtle not thanking me. For you know. Its another nail in the coffin of public trust and the state t. V. Every once in a while a story comes along that exposes the facade and then destroys it 1st the iranian government denied its forces had shot down the airliner the domestic media swallowed that narrative failed to question it and pointed the finger elsewhere mannheim into a get out number of combat as i demand on him. Like now by bush pilots and other experts who were on message were paraded in front of the camera i got a. Little help what was the mission and when they finally admitted they had accidentally taken 176 lives the government was apologetic but seemingly unashamed of the deceptions it had to peddle our military forces the brave enough to claim responsibility is that it was hard to me that the host. The daytime program at the state on i r i b was ashamed of her part in the misinformation process after more than a decade in the job she was. Then things go on the highest security level in iran they tell journalists what you can say and what you cant say but i or i b this they broadcast there is a different level because if you want to actually get to the level of being a news reader of the state t. V. Youve really passed enough ideological tests that you dont need come wincing i have a long history but my parents grew up working for the i. R. B. I have a lot of affection for this institution but its been really rotten beyond recognition i think all of this is capsulated very well by a statement very strong statement by the tear on based Journalism Association he said that today were mourning the loss the funeral of public trust where the fun was at a hotel people like the. The athletes who are leaving irans National Teams with the artists who boycotted festivals all of them with signalling a social withdrawal that weve never seen before. If the daughter of a war veteran now there are people attacking and insulting her and shes asking how do i get perth and before i resigned and suddenly im a bad person this in my view is what the regime supporters have no answer for me to an ambush postle with. Irans media landscape is Restricted Television is the governments domain it either owns the channels or controls them through other means critical journalism sprinkled with dissent is limited to print and online facebook and twitter were keep organizing and dissemination platforms during the protests in 2009 facebook has since been banned these days instagram is where its at but one of the by products of so much media control that. Is that when the time comes to face the cameras and deliver a message people like the Supreme Leader or hossein sala me the head of the revolutionary guards are very good at. I mean i walk emotion. I know so. That this was a. Business there is no culture of accountability necessarily is the head of one of the most powerful institutions in iraq how many interviews has he given before the guards run about 3040 percent of the iranian economy they run Massive Media and yet they have never been responsible to the people or to the constitution by the way or to anything in the cover up was probably more an acceptable to do run in people than the unintentional down of the plane and i think the media also struggled very hard how to frame this we were between a rock and a hard place if they wanted to really investigate the issue they were worried that they might endanger National Security and if they were just parroting what the government was saying they risk losing credibility in the wrong hands are well versed at scouring the web and social media for independent journalism the kind that can land reporters in prison 12 have been arrested over the past 2 months for coverage of antigovernment economic protests and instagram which for some reason the government has not blocked has become the platform of choice. I actually dont know why its not blocked i cant answer that but i can tell you about why instagram is so popular it allows the iranian to sort of show their normal lives in the way that other social media platforms dont do and since you know so much of day to day life is of a censor that he didnt know its use for everything people dont even bother posting it anywhere else not after this. Political people are starting to use this platform which is my. Designed for photos and videos for writing and sharing political statements as well as a lot of political videos the polarized and fragmented social space in iran is also reflected on instagram from religious videos to knead photography the whole spectrum is represented the segmented reality of society is mirrored visually and verbal that was here. On this story twitter is the place to go for conspiracy theories which thrive in countries where information is lacking or where misinformation rules some have posted that the plane was actually blown up from the inside by a passenger as part of a swedish zionist plot the passenger they named turned out to be 9 years old others have posted links to progovernment newspapers saying that the American Government and boeing had conspired to bring the 737 down the other thing this story has produced has been occasional signs of life in the iranian Mainstream Media news outlets that usually do what theyre told being far more critical of their political masters than they would normally dare to. There was a crazy guy backlash if you can call it that the editor in chief of state owned media tasnim actually took to twitter to say that iranian authorities should have been transparent with the information that they provided the family name of hafnium another knew the agencys found themselves in a very difficult situation for 3 days they were the claim the ukrainian flight was shot down by iranian missiles with the enemy that psychological warfare when the truth was revealed they were shocked but they decided to project the shock on to the government so they felt theyd been tricked into this or theyre one of the players that felt left out of the game 1000000 go boys you dont know the history of them on the. For a government addicted to controlling the media now paying the price for its clumsy propaganda these are desperate times. Then that all year he hit big. Family live is. That connote in that it will be. This past friday the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini chose to deliver a sermon in public for the 1st time in 8 years. But consider what iran is up against on the propaganda from 12 days after the pentagon killed general Qassam Soleimani the u. S. State Department Released this video and unsubtle message to iranians. On the stove view of regimes gone by the days of the shah a regime that so many iranians feared and hated an era reimagine according to american interests. In tehran desperate times call for desperate message but this time on the story of flight 752 and how to tell it the iranian authorities got it wrong. Were discussing other media stories that are on our radar this week with one of our producers joanna hosts joe whats this about trouble in the murdoch household at a time when news outlets in australia which are part of the murdoch empire are being criticized for their coverage of the wildfires there. Well on tuesday Richard Rupert murdochs son james issued a joint statement with this wife including some pot shots at his familys Media Outlets for questioning the cause and downplaying the impact of Climate Change here is one example of that from sky News Australia what do you do to tell the facts that show that were not actually seeing this climate catastrophe the media keeps talking about now critics have long accused murdochs Global Company news corp and some of the families Television Networks including fox news and sky astray of dismissing widely accepted Climate Science clearly some within the murdoch clan feel that way as well a spokesperson for the couple said and im paraphrasing now their views on climate and their frustration with some of the news corp and fox coverage on this topic is well known and that they are particularly disappointed with the ongoing denial among the news outlets in australia and this is coming from the murdoch who was ruperts heir apparent right as recently as 18 months ago james was at least nominally responsible for fox news output as the head of its Parent Company 21st century fox and he still serves on the board of news corp but he lost the 21st century fox in 2018 when the company was sold to disney and he didnt take up a new position so perhaps theres a little more to this story and the climate issue james did walk away with a lot of money money he is now investing in businesses that champion green causes and democratic reform companies with a far more liberal standpoint than the murdoch empire he seems to have left behind or that left him behind lets move on to kashmir now were now more than 5 months into an internet blackout in that indian administered region the Indian Supreme Court has declared that blackout illegal and some services are now being restored yes but there is a catch Broadband Internet will be gradually reintroduced but only at institutions such as hospitals banks government offices and travel company. Yes and the regents administrators have said that there will be clear parameters and they have told Service Providers to install fire walls to limit access to websites they call white listed access to all social media sites remain blocks in kashmir mobile internet is not available Home Broadband doesnt work the internet blackout is now the longest ever in a democratic country it was imposed beckoned. When indias government revoked the semi autonomous status of jimmy and kushner and the cost has been enormous on peoples lives their ability to contact loved ones jobs and the economy ok thanks joe. A few months ago 3 women of african descent beatrice gomez. And show us in qatar to moderate i made history becoming the 1st black women elected to parliament in portugal they come from different parties but they shared a commitment to combat ing racism in Portuguese Society it was as though that society then wanted to prove their point the women have faced all kinds of racist abuse on social media in the Mainstream Media the hostility was more subtle but no less direct portuguese commentators and news columnists have contested the idea that racism even exists there they argue that somehow the portuguese unlike other europeans are immune to racism that they are uniquely colorblind this is a story that while sex in the modern day is rooted in a rose tinted view of the countrys history its colonial past the listening posts daniel today now on a state of denial the reporting of race in the portuguese media. Stars. This is you know a scene. You dont know but she and 2 other women became critical 1st female lu makers of african descent. What it is candidacy had a magnetic effect on the portuguese media. Not just for the color of her skin but also the fact that she speaks with the stuff. In our. Campaign had several things we talked about the Environment Health education economic. Science and so on but the media never looked at me as a candidate with a program for portugal they looked at me as a black woman and speaks with a stutter. Quarter for us. And yet every time i talked about racism the media use that against me to. Discuss such function. So it was. No more it was critique of racism on portugal streets ambulance institutions drew a common reaction from opinion makers want to cross the media spectrum one of the nile only did one of those nonsmall the director of song news paper responded to the parties who are making that critique by saying that portugal isnt a racist country and that therefore policies to combat racism dont make sense. Of whats in the all mind right green paper of their front door there were numerous columnists who denied the existence of racism. And. I ask how do they as a white man manage to affirm with so much conviction that non white people dont suffer a racist like this. Passes. Simple racism has always been obvious for the people who suffer from it his an example in portugal there is a lot of distrust among ethnic minorities about the Police Currently there are 18 policemen on trial for racially abusing and torturing 6 young black men who were in their custody and to that the reports that there are many far right individuals inside the police force and only increases the mistrust among communities of color because you know that. For many in portugals black community the medias reporting of Police Violence is an ongoing source of frustration. In january of last year this video went viral. Police officers beating a 63 year old black man and his family in a biter those are mica district of lisbon. That drew hundreds of protesters onto the streets and when a few threw stones at the police bill the response came in rubber bullets. 70 public figures of african descent. Published in the newspapers. Condemning the medias coverage. Was one of them not a moment. When there are protests in the markets parts of lisbon the coverage tends to be more objective conveying the motivation the demands of the protest. So. In the case of the january 29th team protests. Began by criminal i think the protests this week we see this you already have a. Polish. B. S. P. 20 percent stop. Talk to the same narrative of the police who are looking for excuses to disguise their violence and brutality. In the testimonies given by the young protesters many of them said they were shot with rubber bullets while they were protesting completely peacefully so that tells us that journalists dont manage to look beyond stereotypes and so when they come to write the news theres sometimes a lack you know objectivity. But its in there only when asked. The tendency is to follow those stereotypes stereotypes which they also help to spread. I think what. The Media Debates around the plight of those are mike a story contained a familiar theme denial in this case about racism in the police. To my way or. The other. But i was a columnist for espresso magazine put it bluntly in portugal he wrote institutional racism does not and cannot exist. The idea that portugal is a kind of noble exception to the. Realities of european racism is one that youll find pretty much across the media here but the online newspaper about dog has been especially prolific in spreading that view im on my way to speak to the editor in chief of the paper well for now on this to try and understand why. Observer though has published quite a few articles dismissing concerns about racism in. One of your column is called a myth what do you say to critics from the black community in particular who say that they actually experience that racism all the time. I think were all racist racism is something thats part of human nature its part of our defense mechanism this means there is racism everywhere thats a battle that never ends however when it comes to institutional racism in the sense that there are mechanisms that in one way or another hurt someone because of their race i dont think that exists in portugal if anything i would argue that only the opposite exists. On the streets of lisbon importer you can see a population that is racially diverse but take a walk through a Portuguese Museum and the opposite is true that might help explain how race gets covered and how racism gets tonight. However portugal is not the only country with a diversity problem in its newsrooms for many this discourse of denial is rooted in Something Else portugals colonial history portugal was the worlds 1st global empire and a sense of pride in that imperial past runs deep into the present here in the capital lisbon tributes on of the colonial era and its architect from the monument to the discoveries which celebrates portugals conquests across africa asia and south america in the 15th and 16th centuries to the Portuguese Parliament where this mural marks the 1st encounter between the colonizers colonized. Portuguese news outlets are not above dealing in colonial nostalgia either but with colonialism and its legacy under examination like never before the media have become the battleground for a tussle over portugals past and Race Relations in the here and now. Most famous when the news medias going to present us who we have in a media what id call a dispute over historical memory theres a certain rightwing elite who are trying to glorify the colonial past for instance they often say that the portuguese wants is racist of other colonizers because they mix with the local population theyre well aware that people of color are getting more of a voice in the media and this is part of their strategy to undermine the rise of anti racists politics our sister political. Its obvious how the media try to romanticize colonialism in the socalled discoveries but having this discourse about the past is then transferred to the present with people looking through the same rose tinted spectacles in both directions past and past as a result the media are incapable of noticing that its already exists in Portuguese Society. Finally australians have this prank that they like to play on tourists they convince them that not all koalas are cute and cuddly that the koala like drop bear is in fact quite vicious its not true but with the wildfires destroying so much of their Wildlife Habitat the people at the Kangaroo Island wildlife park came up with an idea enlisting the help of a camera man sean mole k they pulled the prank on a Foreign Correspondent who works for a British Network i. T. V. They convinced her that if she wanted to handle that particular kind of koala shed need to put on some riot gear 1st actual body armor they got the whole thing on camera and then they threw it on a lie a practical joke on the news media which is part of a serious fundraising effort on behalf of Australian Animals in desperate need well see you next time here at the listening post weve been told that this is quite a dangerous spear thats been known to attack people called a draw here because they draw. People to be handed out and had to put on all of this protection gear because of what it might do to me. Im not quite sure what is demon im. Looking at well ok all right well youre right i was mostly to like an insurance money out of the joint you know im really no. Thats not. You know the next ok ok ill take it off the table the time you tell me to get a feel for. What. The. Right. What went wrong in society that opened up the space for the immigrant ratio is the European Parliament its not accountable and its impossible for the people to bear there is for link up our people on trying to take. Their lead and if profundity Strong Demand our song moment youre getting the growth of protectionism of this world because the model doesnt work for europes forbidden colony episode 2 on aljazeera. Talk to aljazeera we were told to get to that between russia hasnt this been addressed by turkey we listen what is the proposal of spain for. We meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter now does iran. U. S. President donald trump pick some familiar faces to defend him the impending impeachment trial. But joe harper going to come out santa maria this is the world news from aljazeera rival protests in libya for and against the wall 25. 00 after the head of an International Conference to try to end the fighting also airports in the u. S. Start screening some passengers from china as fears grow about the spread of a new virus were exposing the truth about west africas fake drugs trade and cameras