Many Americans seem to think the BBC is so much better

[JohnyCanuck]

than their own homegrown media whores.

However, history says maybe not so much.

Prime Minister Mossadeq was a liberal aristocrat and avowed secular constitutionalist. He believed in civil liberties, separation of powers, pluralism and electoral democracy, and separation of church and state. He was supported by Iran's modern, professional middle classes, progressive elements of the clergy (including the impressively liberal cleric, Ayatollah Mahmud Taleqani), the very popular and energetic Tudeh (communist) Party, the socialists, reformist liberals of all stripes, and the university and national intelligentsia (rushanfekhran). In other words, Mossadeq represented the combined social forces of modern, democratic Iran.

To the democracy-addicted (at least in words) West -- ever eager to promote popular freedom on the planet as tyrannically oppressed people all over the world can attest -- he was a dream come true. Imagine: democracy was breaking out in the Middle East. And it looked exactly the way it looked in the West. Who would dare to say, looking at Iran in 1953 that the "Muslims" were not capable of engineering democracy?

But there was one catch: Mossadeq also represented the liberal bourgeoisie's desire to own their own natural resources and to use them for national development. In short, Mossadeq intended to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian (later British Petroleum) oil industry.

SNIP

Ah, yes. The BBC. Well, the BBC, like our media today, was a willing and assiduous participant in the British assault on Iranian democracy. It broadcast disinformation through BBC-Iran. It demonized Mossadeq. And it carried the code word to the Shah that signified the coup was on. On midnight between 18 and 19 August 1953, the BBC announced the hour with a variation no one noticed -- except the Shah. The BBC announcer said: "It is EXACTLY midnight" The code word was "exactly." The Shah moved.

The rest is history and history in the making, as the bloody legacy of that nefarious Anglo-American 1953 coup against Iranian democracy continues to affect the lives of Iranians, even if Blitzer refuses to believe it. When "we" bomb Iran, let us perhaps remember that "we" bomb what "we" have created -- along with living, breathing people whose freedom "we" had first crushed.

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1235.shtml

[Gloria]

1. Several years of shortwave listening tells me this: it is great for

on the ground reports from places in Africa, for example, that you would never hear about on the US media....

However, the show "Talking Point" (which may have been revamped under a different title with more call ins) rankled me. The "experts" being interviewed seemed to be heavily skewed to the RW crowd, like from the Heritage Foundation, with no explanation of what it is.

I listen skeptically to the BBC just as I do everything else.

[Cleita]

2. If you have two TV sets and put one on BBC news

and the other on any US news channel, you will see the difference. Actually, I always used to watch your news on CBC when I could get it in preference to our news, but I can't get it anymore.

[Taxloss]

3. The Persian programming would be under the BBC World Service, which

is - interestingly - funded in a different way to the rest of the Corporation. Specifically, it receives funding from the Foreign Office, which appreciates its immense value as part of British soft power. The World Service is a hugely valuable asset for Britain, and also a great force for good.