[R-G] [BillTottenWeblog] A Likely Story

[Bill Totten]

Note: At first glance, this "Likely Story" by George Monbiot may appear
relevant only to those British people who experienced or were "informed"
about the particular events. But I think it illustrates the kind of
misinformation peddled by most of the world's mass media, which
propagandize to the masses on behalf of the giant corporations that fill
their coffers with massive advertising revenues. -- Bill Totten


As the evidence accumulates, the Evening Standard's allegations of
terrorist planning have fallen apart.

by George Monbiot

Published in the Guardian (March 04 2008)

Something unusual is going to happen tomorrow. The Press Complaints
Commission, Britain's only arbiter of fairness and accuracy in our
newspapers, is due to make a ruling. What's so odd about that? Well, as
Nick Davies shows in his book Flat Earth News (2008), out of 28,000
complaints to the PCC submitted over ten years, it managed to make a
formal adjudication on just 448, or 1.6% {1}. Most of the time it finds
a reason to look the other way. This isn't too surprising: six of its
sixteen commissioners are newspaper or magazine editors {2}.

But tomorrow's case is so serious, and the evidence that has accumulated
over the past seven months so strong, that even the PCC can't brush it
under the carpet. It concerns the Evening Standard's reporting of the
climate camp established close to Heathrow last August. Soon after it
opened, the paper accused the campers of putting the lives of millions
at risk by planning to invade the airport and plant hoax bombs. The
story was repeated by the Sun, the Mail, the Express, the Telegraph and
the BBC. I have now seen the correspondence about this case. It makes
astonishing reading.

The front page article, written by the paper's chief reporter and
headlined "Militants will hit Heathrow", claimed that "climate change
activists plan to use illegal tactics such as hoax suspicious packages
to cause maximum disruption at one of the busiest times of the year.
They have also discussed simultaneous assaults on the airport's security
fence to stretch police resources to the limit." {3} Inside the paper a
journalist called Rashid Razaq, who spent a night undercover in the
camp, reported that one man was "urging us to 'get them panicked with
different things at the same time like bags left around the airport and
people climbing the fence'. Late that night, I saw two protesters
checking out the security fences." {4} As the organisers of the camp
began to probe, the story started to fall apart. They also discovered
that this is not the only occasion on which Rashid Razaq has been
accused of taking liberties with the truth.

How did Mr Razaq see protesters "checking out the security fences"? The
camp was over a kilometre from the airport fence: he could not have seen
anyone from there. When challenged by the campers, the Evening Standard
claimed that "Mr Razaq had left the camp to go to a nearby petrol
station to buy food when he was returning to the camp with a colleague,
Sebastian Meyer. Their route back took them close to the perimeter fence
of the airport, where he saw two men whom he recognised from the camp.
One was trying to climb the fence while another kept watch." {5} The
Standard contends that "It was a sufficiently light night to recognise
faces".{6}


There are several problems with this story. As photos and maps produced
by the campers show, neither the petrol station nor any part of the
route to the camp is close enough to the fence to recognise faces {7,
8}. Sebastian Meyer is a professional photographer. If, somehow, they
had seen people at the fence, and managed to recognise them as
protesters, why did they not take photographs? I put this question to
the Evening Standard's managing editor, Doug Wills. "He didn't take any
photos of it because it was pitch black". {9} But the Standard had
already claimed that "it was a sufficiently light night to recognise
faces". I asked Mr Wills for a map reference for the section of fence.
He has not been able to provide one. And why, if one of the protesters
was trying to climb the fence - a more serious matter than merely
"checking it out" - did Mr Razaq not report this?

What about the claim that the protesters were planning to plant hoax
bombs? The Standard explains that the man who raised the plan was "white
and in his late 20s". "He used words to the effect: 'we need to make
people sit up and take notice. Leave some packages around Heathrow.
That'll make them take notice.'" {10} This is a completely different
statement to the one quoted in Razaq's article. In the published version
someone else - "a woman in her thirties" - says "we have to make people
sit up and take notice" {11}. None of the alleged statements amounts to
a "plan" by the camp.

But the real problems arise when you see Mr Razaq's notes, which were
obtained by the PCC after several requests from the campers. At first Mr
Razaq claimed that "I made an accurate note of what was said as soon as
the meetings finished". {12} But when the notes were released, they
turned out to be dated "13/8", the day after the events Mr Razaq
describes {13}. They contain none of the damning quotes or descriptions
the Evening Standard published. The only quoted speech was an intention
to make "a big impact and make people around the world sit-up and take
notice, to know we mean business", this time attributed not to a man in
his 20s or a woman in her 30s, but to a "group of three campaigners".
Why did Mr Razaq record this and not the far more serious instigation to
plant hoax packages, supposedly made by the same man, in the same
breath, at the same meeting?

Mr Razaq has also been accused of misreporting by the Freud Museum in
London. In January 2007 he claimed it was showing a film containing
footage from Al Qaeda recruitment videos, "outlawed in most Western
countries" {14}. It wasn't. The curator told me "He made up details. He
put in facts that were completely wrong. I think he is one of those
journalists who is prepared to just go and make up a story." {15} Doug
Wills, the Standard's managing editor, told me that the curator himself
had informed Razaq that the Qaeda film was in the exhibition. Mr Wills
forwarded an email from him, which mentions the film but not its
inclusion in the show {16}. Ironically, the title of the exhibition was
"Paranoia".

In January 2008, Razaq wrote that he had gone undercover as a cleaner in
Barnet Hospital, and found that staff were flouting basic safety rules
{17}. The hospital tells me that he was in fact employed as a porter,
and that he misunderstood or misreported the rules {18}. The Standard
insists Razaq was a cleaner. When I spoke to Mr Razaq, he referred me to
statements by the managing editor.

Is the Evening Standard worried about his reporting? Not a bit of it. Of
the Heathrow coverage it says "we are 100 percent satisfied that our
published reports were fair and accurate on a matter of public interest"
{19}. They were not just Razaq's work, but the product of "an extensive
operation organised by an extremely experienced team of executives and
senior reporters" {20}. When the Freud Museum sent a letter of
complaint, the paper neither published the letter nor replied to it
{21}. The problem seems to be a systemic one.

I don't know how the Press Complaints Commission will rule. But the
evidence I have seen suggests that if the Evening Standard is not
required to publish a correction we need a bolder arbiter.

www.monbiot.com

References:

1. Nick Davies, 2008. Flat Earth News, page 364. Chatto and Windus.

2. http://www.pcc.org.uk/about/whoswho/members.html

3. Robert Mendick, 13th August 2007. Militants Will Hit Heathrow.
Evening Standard - West End Final.

4. Rashid Razaq, 13th August 2007. In the shambolic climate camp,
protesters plot campaign on panic. Standard - West End Final.

5. Susan Ryan, acting managing editor, the Evening Standard, 8th October
2007. Letter to Hannah Beveridge, Press Complaints Commission.

6. ibid.

7. Alex Harvey, the Camp for Climate Action. 26th September 2007. Map
included in letter to Hannah Beveridge, Press Complaints Commission.

8. Alex Harvey, the Camp for Climate Action. 18th January 2007. Pictures
included in letter to Hannah Beveridge, Press Complaints Commission.

9. Doug Wills, by phone, 3rd March 2008.

10. Susan Ryan, acting managing editor, the Evening Standard, 8th
October 2007. Letter to Hannah Beveridge, Press Complaints Commission.

11. Rashid Razaq, 13th August 2007. In the shambolic climate camp,
protesters plot campaign on panic. Standard - West End Final.

12. Quoted by Doug Wills, 17th September 2007. Letter to Hannah
Beveridge, Press Complaints Commission.

13. A photocopy of the notes was included with a letter from Doug Wills,
22nd November 2007 to Hannah Beveridge, Press Complaints Commission.

14. Rashid Razaq, 10th January 2007. Film of 9/11 terrorists celebrating
is displayed at art show. Evening Standard.

15. Predrag Pajdic, by phone, 29th February 2008.

16. Email from Predrag Pajdic to Khaled Ramadan, 9th January 2007.

17. Rashid Razaq, 7th January 2008. Standard reveals hospital workers
flouting basic rules on hygiene. Evening Standard.

18. Press Office, Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS trust, by phone,
29th February 2008.

19. Doug Wills, 11th December 2007. Letter to Hannah Beveridge, Press
Complaints Commission.

20. Doug Wills, 12th February 2008. Letter to Hannah Beveridge, Press
Complaints Commission.

21. Predrag Pajdic, by phone, 29th February 2008.

Copyright (c) 2006 Monbiot.com

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2008/03/04/a-likely-story/

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