A general sense of shock and disbelief that this could actually take place in the country. But we heard from president hassan rouhani. He issued a written statement earlier on saturday in which he blamed israel, and also said that the countrys nuclear in defense of programs will move forward despite this assassination. He said that this will only increase the will and the determination of it. When scientists down the line and that factories that they will be replaced and his replacements will work even harder to try and make up for the fact that he has been assassinated. Hundreds of police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed to control protesters and around indias capital. Are rallying against the new laws, they say could take away their livelihoods. Elizabeth piron them has more from the protests at the single crossing. The pharmacist saying that the 1st round of talks didnt lead anywhere. They dont trust the government, they want the government to ensure that a guaranteed minimum price for their projects. And thats what is at the heart of the standoff between the government and the farmers. They want the government to guarantee a minimum price. The government will not write that internet is nation. And so the pharma say that they will continue with their protests, whether they are allowed or not. And out until the government repealed those of the rules. There is Justice Department to shed children a number of federal executions as joe biden moves closer to taking office and the circuit. The way for the use of poison gas and firing squads for French Police officers have been detained after a video, showing them beating a black music producer presenter manual macro has called the incident unacceptable state. Not with all the headlines on the back with more news here on aljazeera. Thats after the listing biased American People have finally, folk in america as i see it when america is off balance or will be code more dangerous. The world is looking in the next year of sanusi with the election behind us will the Republican Party dump truck the fuel we can take on us politics and society . Thats the bottom line. Promise to come in iraq, call our school and have almost a western democracy restaurant for all the hot under the protection of the house of representatives from Prime MinisterMalcolm Turnbull. Hello, im richard burton. Youre at the listening post. Here are the media stories that were focusing on this week. In australia, 2, former Prime Ministers joined forces to take on the power of Rupert Murdochs media empire. The debate in france over secularism and free speech president macro doesnt like some of the coverage due to the pradesh. The biggest state in india is a dangerous place from which to report and give us this day. Our daily Coronavirus Briefing announcing a vaccine and forgive governments their trespass. No country is more familiar with Rupert Murdoch and life under one dominant media player in the land of his birth, a stroke, politicians there have come and gone, but murdochs influence over how the country has been governed, has been a constant for nearly 6 decades. The year 2020 has brought this issue to a head about 65 percent of australias print outlets belong to Murdochs News Corp astray and the coverage the company has brought to the pandemic. Those huge bushfires, as well as the Climate Change issue, has outraged its critics. More than half a 1000000 australians have now signed a petition, demanding that their government investigate the murdoch media empire and the influence it has on their lives. Theyve been led by 2 former Prime Ministers who have turned on the current pm. Scott morrison has it so no one expects him to approve the formal inquiry that his predecessors want. Still this petition may just be the beginning of a reckoning. And the way that News Corp Australia has responded, suggests that the Company Knows it has a problem on its hands. Our starting point this week is the land down on Rupert Murdoch and the journalists who work for you have never faced this kind of scrutiny before. Not in a straight to former Prime Ministers from rival political parties. Just joining forces calling murdochs brand of journalism propaganda, cancer honest, really is democracy. A petition signed by more than half a 1000000 citizens demanding their government, investigate the effect that corporate concentration in the media has had on the way the country is governed. Rupert murdoch has been in the News Business in australia for more than half a century. Hes proven resilient, but the year 2020 has produced some momentous new stories that are taking their toll on news corp, as trail. Yeah. And its reputation. 2. Things have led to this great need that was staying at the moment of the middle comedian empire in history of one is donald trump and the other is the coded. Pandemic strains have been much more aware of the impact that fox news and made us advocacy for trump has had in the United States how its led to american democracy, looking in absolute disarray. And the other major effect has been the way in which the middle crists and major outlets in australia have reported the pandemic in victoria. There was a huge 2nd way in the labor premier ben interiors imposed a strong law. And its been very successful. The Murdoch Press gave him a very hard time every day they were front page headlines against him. And this actually put many members of the public off. But its been his long term growing dissatisfaction, especially with his coverage of i mean change. And that was huge in australia last summer where we had terrible statement. And there were articles in the australian which is like, shit, news. I played australia strongly suggesting that the Climate Change, which was pretty outrageous and in the press is pato the environment which is and i will still not really have a comprehensive energy. What has changed now from the uk and chris . Well do this in the past. Is that before there was a kind of a finance and that has gone, its become much more the reliance and there is 2 former politicians who i would do as teacher like the kind of fed outness that many other people instead of the society and not just any politicians, former Prime Ministers, both kevin rudd and Malcolm Turnbull spent about 3 years in that job. And have since blamed Rupert Murdoch and news corp astray, for their subsequent falls from power. The company certainly has the clout, roughly 2 out of 3 newspapers sold in the country, including the australian, the only National Paper or murdoch own, as is the 24 hour news channel, sky news astray. The petition for a full scale Royal Commission investigation into the murdoch factor in australian politics was kevin rudds idea. Right, however, has some history. He needs to get past as the company put it to us. Its also important to remember member, mr. Rudds disproportionate and unseemly efforts to ingratiate himself with news corp. This trail you when he was labor party leader, both in opposition and government. Just because youre a hypocrite, doesnt make you wrong. He had no choice. The label of power, especially by the story really meant that he could either try and get an unfavorable treatment will get a 5. He tried to get a favorable one and how to be pushed back to the right age. Theyve been seeing for the fact that he was still was ultimately down in power. If not, i mean up at least with systems and you say that the current 2 major party leaders. Im not talking much about the station. All that us ability of the Royal Commission, theyre avoiding that conversation because its too provocative in a strange politics to take on the middle comedian and thats absolutely the best system and it has been for quite a long time. No one really expects the Royal Commission inquiry to happen, but thats the governments call and the current pm Scott Morrison wont risk alienating murdoch. But morrison does not control the upper house of part of the senate, which will conduct its own inquiry into media diversity. In australia, news corp a stroke, it will be a key Media Company in focus, but not the only one. And the inquiry will lack the mandate to subpoena witnesses. The way a Royal Commission can news corps initial coverage of the petition story was to ignore it, let it blow over. As the signatures piled up, it changed tatic, targeting kevin rudd, with some questionable stories that some of the petition names were fake, produced by bots in bangladesh, attempts to tie right to the disgraced american finances. Jeffrey epstein, the pedophile, who rudd says hes never met the Company Also Named one of its newspaper editors, paul kelly, available for a televised encounter with former pm Malcolm Turnbull. It turned into a confrontation. How offensive, how biased, how destructive . Does it have to be paul, before you will say, one of our greatest broad isnt journalists . Its an awful. Im out of an. I mean, how long would you want . It wasnt there, im not here. But when i asked, tell me, i decide how do we should do in terms of margaret iraq, who clearly is one of the needing political journalists in australia and has been since im not into these essential work youre doing is youre transferring your own political fired, yours and you wish him to Blind Company for them and hes become a sort of intelligence for the Murdoch Press, which is a shame, really because he had a very distinguished humans to the rear, but it was quite breathtaking television. And it was largely its are trying to be a propagandist for one saw it. But if one is a critic or skeptic about somebody has issues, thats not our current. And the thing i found surprising was that kelly argued it was presenting at the versity view. And that other media workers, it is a propaganda organ change, and therefore there was no problem with also presenting a view and turnbull said the company you work for and its friends in politics like trump and others have turned in this issue of physics into an issue of values or identity that was a powerful exchange. There, obviously feeling much more able to talk about these things and they were obviously when theyre in power. News corp and murdoch have done an enormous damage to western democracy and in particular to the United States in this trial. And theyre now determined sames to point the manners very publicly, which is new and must be very confronting for the made up media because part of its power has been you know, speaking against controlling 65 percent of the print media market in australia actually represents a step back for Rupert Murdoch and his company that figure used to be high between selling some papers off and the digital diversification of journalism. Every news corp, australia is not as influential as it wasnt. The Upcoming Senate inquiry will examine that and could well shed some light on the dark side of media. Politics in australia. What will really be fascinating in history is this would be an occasion in which people can appear before parliament and give evidence about the made up media. Empires influence on them said politicians for macabre to talk about what is happening behind the saints. And thats very important is too much fear of speaking out against the so nice ation. Its have powerful, its been over many decades. So i think would be a very important moment for a strain its being given excepted that you could not win in australia and less murdoch was onside. The roar that pulling paris has largely gone. And this is partly a story about the decline of one street, maybe or not only there is still a game to sit and pal and so its still got power, but its not that wars that have certainly been and you know, the level of possibility and then sometimes Mysterious Properties in the mystery or trade shows that they are really worried about this in terms of maybe some of going to want to its been 6 weeks now since a schoolteacher was beheaded in france after he showed his students cartoons mocking the prophet muhammad, during a class on free speech, the political response, including from president and then, you know, not cross continues to make headlines. I just touched off a major debate in the country tarik. Nasa has been following that story for us. Tarek mcconnell says that International Journalists have got france all wrong way. As you mentioned, richard, this debate is taking place and the aftermath of the killing of samuel patsy. He was a schoolteacher who used cancer to make a point that were at the center of another attack back in 2015 on the magazine charlie hebdo, after parties, my president , my con, called for the need of and then lights and islam and condemned muslim separatism in france. And the government is in chain here with voices on the far right who are calling for a more assertive defense of life city, which is a form of french secularism. Intended to separate church and state, but which many say disproportionately impacts french muslims, more concerts, foreign reporters who criticized his policy towards french muslims. Just dont understand like that. He singled out political and Financial Times to newspapers in particular that he should print retractions, didnt stop there. Did he then does an interview with the New York Times and in particular, with their media columnist dan smith. And in the interview, he said that english language media biased and said some of them were, quote, legitimizing this violence. He says he doesnt care about color or religion. In his words, a person is 1st and foremost, a citizen. Now, many french journalists and voices on the left would beg to differ. They say front, this current troubles are at least in part to do with inequality faced by fringe muslims. Those voices have been dubbed traitor by others on the far right and for more on the limits of french freedom of expression. So you can listen to this from the interior minister, speaking on your one at the french channel. The power given in your project was that it did our senior legal you get your letter today and that is used to take some of the she was a tory, did go under the assiduity. Notion that ok, thanks to our you wont find a media landscape bigger or more complex in india. There are 22 official languages there spoken across 28 states and hundreds of news channels along with thousands of newspapers and websites. Assessing the state of the media, there is no easy task. You have to zoom right in. So were focusing on indias largest state, hooter pradesh, or u. P. With a population equal to that of brazils 200000000. 00 plus u. P. A. Has been the tory yes for its dirty politics. And the brazen intimidation of journalists over the past few years. Conditions for the media have grown much worse under a chief minister who wears the garb of a hindu monk and is from indias far right aligned ruling party, the b j. P. The listening posts in actually ravi now on journalism, under dangerous trying to missions in uttar pradesh. It was mid september. And in india, in the state of it there pretty in a village called hotness. A woman was gangly she was found in a black. The victim was a doll in part of a community of people deemed to occupy the newest, drunk in the hindu caste system. That pervades india and defined social politics in a typical night when they would need to put discovering the story of the new going in that that was the context. The hotness incident is a very straightforward one of the gang rape in the little marginalised woman by allegedly upperclassman up press gang rape, which was given no dignity in death. She was appointed ready to when she was the light. That somehow this case because of the element of cost domination, politics by the state, government has become this bizarre turn. The police would try to deny that theres gang rape even now theyre awful. This and there was no reap the police all saw what to stall, the dead body kidnapped the dead body from the hospital and took it straight from a hospital in delhi to heart. You can see that one body has just the police, lots of the family in the house and burns the body, the bullets without even letting any Family Member know they have point the body. Now, what was the guy and how did the dying . How did it was that the Police Wanted to prevent the morning which will give the cremation . They want to prevent the family protesting with the dead body. They were trying to prevent the bad guy would have won at any point in the morning or whatever. Not only did they not avoid bad press, heavy handed efforts by authorities in the case just created more headlines and your list, you must ask questions of the sort of articles of we dont know about the British Government body catered, that we lived with for the opposition parties and for the team members who are not good enough to cut a good decision. So clearly the authorities were very scared and hell bent that the media both locally and from outside does not report this yesterday. Ever since this government has come into power, it has seen every attempt at critical Investigative Journalism as an enormous attack. The government has a very clear agenda, many of the many of the, many of the mana, to suppress the media, suppress the media, suppress the media. The way the media has been gagged here in u. P. Is tantamount to an undeclared emergency. And yet that i think horses are different is hugely significant in indian politics. Its the most populous of Indian States with more than 200000000 people. Thats more than most nations in the world. Its excessive, state governments have intimidated and sought to control the media, and journalists have seen that pressure get significantly worse than they see. The shift came in 2017 when seen years after the right wing, the kind of digital mighty b. G. P. , one national elections. And linda modi became Prime Minister. The b. G. P. Swept to victory in state elections and took power in the be among the new challenges for reporters. B g ps, appointment of a chief minister who goes by the title of you, i think, you know, which is for starters, tired of the world to solve this politician who makes no bones about the fact that any reporting out of the official will be treated as hostile will be treated as per the lack, particularly reports that highlight costa cost because an important part of the p. D. P. Is political narrative, is that they speak on behalf of him. And how do you speak on behalf of india . If the system oppressors people of socalled lower castes, the so much government of session managing them out there and calling them out preventing any incident from coming technique, phone, call, the sense of the sense of fear and paranoia among european journalists. Despite this, ive been reporting for the past 35 years and substories attract a lot of negative attention. In march, a colleague, i went to a village called good repute. In the absence of any other nutrition children there were being fed a type of wild grass. As soon as we posted the story online, all hell broke loose as if i had committed a heinous crime. The Regional Administration said the story was fault. Ratman though buddy at the district magistrate in violation of law, pulled the villagers out of their homes and tried to pressure them into changing their story. The magistrate even ordered some of them to collect the wild grass. And the next morning, he and his son before the graft, eating the grass. He issued a statement saying that peace was actually a kind of lentil crop. And that we had since it is the story i was served in order to attract by peace. Instead of dealing with the issue of starvation, the authorities were solely focused on killing the story. On a path out i am here at home is such what about the environment as such on the ground that no matter what you do, you are going to face some kind of consequence for being one of boarding. The most basic board there have been cases of john as a were caught by the police because they were reporting about the back conditions of very rich. And that john is this beaten up, was taken to the Police Station to do ours. I mean that john is also says that the body is youre an intern, as he got in touch with the u. P. A. Governments department of information, which in the wake of all the bad press following the hottest gang rape has had new officials appointed to it. Our interview request was declined, as was our follow up request for written responses to questions. In april this year, the committee to protect journalists published a report on the media climate in uttar pradesh, the documented cases of brutal beatings, of journalists, and even the killing one. Just months after youll be added to not to power in 2017. That report came out as the u. P. A. Government kicked things up a notch by taking on National Journalists in june, subpoena shiela, editor in chief of a news website called the school dot reported on extreme hunger in a village in a district at the viruses which happens to be Prime Minister made in the movies constituency. Youd be police began an investigation into her for defamation and the spread of misinformation just a few months before that same type of writer that arjun editor in chief of a news outlet called the wire, was issued a police. Someones put a report he did without a story just from the back of it was taking all about how much the 1st of a corporation actually attend a religious event. On the 1st day of the lockdown in defiance of the promise. So case was filed against us for that report and for another treat in rich, a court had been misattributed to the chief and so on in the middle of a pandemic. You had a posse of police work over the summer to answer questions. And then we were able to get at this bitter bitter protections of the law, but i got, but other journalists are not so fortunate. Its been nearly 2 months since the gang rape and murder here in new to predation, became national news. Amidst all of the negative coverage, the demands government has gone on the offensive hiding in mumbai based p. R. Firm to send out press releases saying the victim had never been raped in the 1st place. Dozens of Police Investigations have been opened into journalists, activists, and opposition politicians. And the government has said, there is an International Conspiracy to defame the british and stood up communal tensions. You know, what worries me about u. B. Today, you could always be bad, but law and order and crime and cost one and did not suddenly appear with the big but what is the about you . The sense of i think it means politically is a model that we will see more and more interested in. And that really what it is and finally must watch t. V. That many people just cant bring themselves to watch the daily coronavirus. Like many governments, the u. K. Is, provides regular updates on the numbers, the social distancing rules and takes questions. Theres a theatrical aspect to this and what you may not know about politicians reading off teleprompters the way i am is that sometimes it isnt just a script up there. There can also be suggestions about the way a line should be delivered, which words should be emphasized, the placement of the parts. Thats what a couple of british comedians, larry and paul from the city of leeds, have focused on in this next video, the staged manner of the delivery. Not that we dismissive, tone, whatever do that was the next time here at the us. Just the motion is creasing announcing a vaccine, selfsatisfied grin, claiming all the credit, bizarre pursed metaphor, we are injecting hope into the arms of millions. Pols, proud of that. Confident look, stating the vaccine will be 90 percent effective. In the one percent of people we successfully get to taking question from members of the public who social class i have never encountered in real life. Clearly about must tested follow up question about government could option and nepotism around p. P. D. Contacts blindsided by intelligent question from pled, stalling for time. Understanding that there are question marks over Companies Getting millions in public money announcing a full and thorough independent public inquiry, which will be led by my wife. Coded 19 is a Public Health crisis that has been compounded by capitalism. Navigates the Big Questions raised by the global pandemic. How is a system based on private ownership and profit . The world in a ton of us capitalism is the pandemic of the exploited to protect the people for the profit episode. One of the full hail the lock down to 0. In new little present rouhani accuse israel of killing a prominent scientist at the heart of Irans Nuclear program. Hello, there are a karl. This is al jazeera live from doha, also coming up. Thousands of farmers protest in and around indias capital for a new laws will leave them at the mercy of big companies. Because Justice Department revises how death sentences can be carried out as it tries to rush through more executions