View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
November 22, 2001updated 17 May 2007 11:30am

Pilger’s war cry to press: ‘Stop the double standards’

By Press Gazette

Veteran foreign correspondent John Pilger called on journalists to question how they are being manipulated by the Government over the war.

Pilger, speaking at the Stop the War rally in London’s Trafalgar Square at the weekend, said that it was time for journalists to "take a pride in their craft and stop the propagation of double standards".

The former Mirror foreign correspondent said that it had been one of the greatest accolades of his career to be called "a traitor by Murdoch’s Sun".

Sunday Express journalist Yvonne Ridley, who was taken prisoner by the Taliban, testified to having "met wonderful people in Afghanistan who had now been demonised by the west".

"I visited a village that has since been bombed for three days. That village does not exist anymore, yet there were no Taliban there. Why did they bomb that village?" asked Ridley.

Other journalists addressing the rally included Guardian columnist George Monbiot and writer and broadcaster Tariq Ali.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

Police estimated the number of people at the demo as 15,000 while organisers put the figure at 100,000.

The discrepancy prompted supporters of the Stop the War Coalition to write to editors this week complaining that the BBC and the Press Association had not made independent assessments of the size of the crowd.

Instead, the coalition claims, both quoted police figures and misquoted the organisers’ estimates.

 

By Paul Donovan

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network