Time Wounds all Heels

This morning I fired up the laptop hoping for a) good news from Iraq and b) lots of humour from cynical bloggers.

All these headlines are from blogs listed at Mudville Gazette:

Iraqis vote - tsk, tsk

Iraqis hand the terrorists and their friends in the media another major defeat

And so it goes...just as planned

Another great blog, Proteinwisdom, has put up tons of headlines from newspapers around the world, and comparing them is mega interesting. When you're biased your brain distorts things to fit with your view and the editors at the New York Times have, yet again, spun the Iraq election blackly. Was it ever thus?

Thinking along those lines, I surfed over to the Observer/Guardian this morning and was rewarded with this great headline: Iraqis in their millions defy terror to vote on constitution, read the whole thing here.

That headline's really not bad! Could the Guardian oops Observer really be reporting the news in an honourable, fairly weighted way?

"Drawn up in large part by the Shia majority-led government and its Kurdish partners, it has left the Sunnis complaining that it will make them second-class citizens."

This sentence relates to the constitution, which was being voted on yesterday and just happens to leave out the part about the Sunnis not wanting to be a part of the democratic process back in January. They boycotted the vote then, which is their democratic right but it would have provided them with a role to play in the constitution writing process. It IS their democratic right to complain, it's just, ah, illogical.

So yesterday the Sunnis decided to vote.

I wonder what happened in the towns where leaflets were passed out, saying they would be killed if they voted? Every one of those people who DID vote took their life in their hands and that is awe inspiring.

Nope, the Guardian/Observer hasn't mentioned the people in those towns. Too busy interviewing this "representative" member of the voting population:

Hamid Naif, a "former officer" (sorry, I'm not even a little bit impressed by anyone who got an officer title from a fascist like Sodham) is quoted, at length in the Ob/Gyn today:

"Why should you be surprised when we fight to end our occupation?" (There's more I just can't face typing it.)

For some odd reason, the Observer reporter doesn't question this guy - who was an officer in the military of a fascist dictator - on the incredible choice of insurgency tactics which include blowing up groups of children and mosques. Yeah, I really care what he thinks.

Guardian Media Group/GMG

Poor old Observer/Guardian, thank goodness the Guardian Media Group owns a profit making company like the Trader Media Group (main publication - Autotrader).

I'm fascinated by this article from the first week of August, 2005, which obfuscates the fact that the Guardian newspaper group is a loss making unit, while Trader Media Group delivered operating profits of £116.6 million.

The Guardian group borrowed £479.8 million in October 2003 to buy that company, and have committed £80m to format changes and all-colour presses for "it's national newspapers" (ie. Guardian and Observer) and £24 million for "new all-colour presses for GMG's northern local titles.

None of those have anything to do with Trader Media Group. They're putting "a further £9 million capital project" through Trader Media Group.

Group Turnover was £751.9 million.

Pre-tax profits fell 47% from £43.6 million to £22.9 million.

So 3% profits this year for the whole group.

Trader Media Group delivered operating profits of £116.6 million. No figure given for turnover.

Nothing about what the Guardian/Observer brought to the bottom line. Nothing about the 5% drop in circulation for the Guardian.

You have to read between the lines:

"Operating losses for the national newspapers were £18.6 m.....though turnover was up by 3 percent and the division was working towards clear targets to enable it to achieve profitability in the longer term."


Read the whole thing here.

A final note:

Thank you Natalie for introducing me this morning to the crack cocaine of chocolate biscuits. Something else delightful from Australia besides your lovely fiance.

Monday note: They're called Tim Tams. I'd only ever heard about them. They explode in your mouth, what a sensation. They're on sale somewhere in Covent Garden...