There was no media conspiracy running up tp the Iraq invasion... umm, bullshit

my2hands

Blair and Murdoch Spoke Days Before Iraq War
Press Association
The Guardian UK

Thursday 19 July 2007

Tony Blair spoke to the media mogul Rupert Murdoch three times in the 10 days before the outbreak of the Iraq war - once on the eve of the US-led invasion - it was disclosed yesterday.

The telephone conversations were among six calls between the two men detailed by the cabinet office in response to a freedom of information request by the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Avebury.

The information was released the day after Mr Blair handed over power to Gordon Brown last month, following a three and a half year battle by the Lib Dem peer. Lord Avebury waited until yesterday to publicise the information.

No details were given of what subjects Mr Blair and the News Corporation chairman discussed in the calls on March 11, 13 and 19 2003, ahead of the launch of US-led military action in Iraq on March 20.

Lord Avebury said: "Rupert Murdoch has exerted his influence behind the scenes on a range of policies on which he is known to have strong views, including the regulation of broadcasting and the Iraq war. The public can now scrutinise the timing of his contacts with the former prime minister, to see whether they can be linked to events in the outside world."

Further conversations between Mr Blair and Mr Murdoch took place on January 29, April 25 and October 3 2004. The cabinet office response also listed meetings between Mr Blair and the Express Newspapers publisher, Richard Desmond, on January 29 and September 3 2003 and February 23 2004.

The release covered the prime minister's phone calls and meetings with the two men between September 2002 and April 2005.

Lord Avebury initially asked for the dates of Mr Blair's phone calls and meetings with Mr Murdoch and Mr Desmond in October 2003. When this request was rebuffed by the then leader of the Lords, Baroness Amos, he made a complaint under freedom of information legislation.

In 2005, Downing Street said the information was exempt from disclosure because of the need for the prime minister to be able to undertake free and frank discussions.

The cabinet office said that releasing the timing of the PM's contacts with individuals could be prejudicial to the effective conduct of public affairs because it might lead to the content of the discussions being disclosed.

The argument for secrecy was backed in a July 2006 ruling by the information commissioner, Richard Thomas, who said that the timing of any calls need only be disclosed if they were official contacts, with civil servants taking minutes.

The peer lodged an appeal last August with the information tribunal. On June 28 this year, a day before evidence was due to be served on the parties to the case, the cabinet office announced that it would release the information.

Lord Avebury said: "One hopes that the timing of the government's decision to capitulate indicates that under Gordon Brown's leadership, freedom of information will be made a reality."


http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,2129807,00.html


the most influential news media owner (think fox news) speaks with Tony Blair several times leading up to the war, and people dont think there was a conspiracy involving the media to trick the masses into supporting this disgusting mass murder :rolleyes:

thats proof enough for me

my2hands

what do you guys think about this?

here is what Murdoch personally controls through News Corporation...


[edit] Books
HarperCollins book publishing company
ReganBooks now part of HarperCollins
Zondervan Christian book publisher

[edit] Newspapers
Australia
The Australian (Nationwide)
The Weekend Australian (Nationwide)
Community Media Group (16 QLD & NSW suburban/regional titles)
The Courier-Mail (Queensland)
The Sunday Mail (Queensland)
The Cairns Post (Cairns, Queensland)
The Gold Coast Bulletin (Gold Coast, Queensland)
The Townsville Bulletin (Townsville, Queensland)
The Daily Telegraph (New South Wales)
The Sunday Telegraph (New South Wales)
Herald Sun (Victoria)
Sunday Herald Sun (Victoria)
The Weekly Times (Victoria)
Leader Newspapers (30 suburban Melbourne, VIC titles)
MX (Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane CBD)
The Geelong Advertiser (Geelong, Victoria)
The Advertiser (South Australia)
The Sunday Mail (South Australia)
Messenger Newspapers (11 suburban Adelaide, SA titles)
The Sunday Times (Western Australia)
The Mercury (Tasmania)
Quest Newspapers (19 suburban Brisbane, QLD titles)
The Sunday Tasmanian (Tasmania)
Northern Territory News (Northern Territory)
The Sunday Territorian (Northern Territory)
The Tablelands Advertiser (Atherton Tablelands and the Far North, Queensland)
The Tablelander (Atherton Tablelands and the Far North, Queensland)
Fiji
Fiji Times (National)
Nai Lalakai
Shanti Dut
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea Post-Courier (National)(62.5%)
UK newspapers, published by subsidiaries of News International Ltd.
News Group Newspapers Ltd.
the tabloid The Sun
the tabloid News of the World
Times Newspapers Ltd.
the broadsheet The Sunday Times
the 'ex-broadsheet' (Now in compact form) The Times
The Times Literary Supplement
US newspapers and magazines
The New York Post
The Timesledger Newspapers in Queens, New York: Bayside Times, Whitestone Times, Flushing Times, Fresh Meadows Times, Little Neck Ledger, Jackson Heights Times, Richmond Hill Times, Jamaica Times, Laurelton Times, Queens Village Times, Astoria Times, Forest Hills Ledger, Ridgewood Ledger, Howard Beach Times
The Courier-Life Newspapers in Brooklyn
Caribbean Life

[edit] Magazines
SmartSource
TV Guide, via partial ownership of Gemstar-TV Guide
The Weekly Standard (Washington, D.C.)
Australia
Alpha Magazine
Australian Country Style
Australian Golf Digest
Australian Good Taste
Big League
BCME
Delicious
Donna Hay
Fast Fours
GQ
Gardening Australia
InsideOut (Aust)
Lifestyle Pools
Live to Ride
Notebook:
Overlander 4WD
Modern Boating
Modern Fishing
Parents
Pure Health
Super Food Ideas
Truck Australia
Truckin' Life
twowheels
twowheels scooter
Vogue (Australia)
Vogue Entertaining & Travel
Vogue Living
Love it! (UK based Magazine)
InsideOut (UK Based Magazine)
The Travel Magazine (UK Based Magazine)

[edit] Music / Radio
MySpace Records
India
Radio City (India radio station)(20%)held through STAR TV- commercial FM network with stations in 20 cities.
Russia
Nashe (50%)
Best FM (50%)

[edit] Sport
50% of the National Rugby League (Australia and New Zealand)
Majority ownership of the Brisbane Broncos (68.9%) and, full ownership of Melbourne Storm and North Queensland Cowboys rugby league teams.
Colorado Rockies (15%)

[edit] Studios
Fox Filmed Entertainment: 20th Century Fox's parent company
20th Century Fox: a film production company
20th Century Fox Television
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Fox 2000 Pictures
Fox Television Studios
Natural History New Zealand - natural world documentaries, non-fiction programming.
Fox Atomic - produces theatrical films, comics, and digital content targeting the 17-24 year olds. Aiming to produce/acquire eight films per year over a range of genres, specifically action and horror
Fox Faith - Promotion and distribution of Christian and related "family friendly" movies on DVD and some theatrical release.
Fox Studios Australia, Sydney, New South Wales
Fox Studios Baja, Rosarito, Baja California
Blue Sky Studios
Fox Entertainment Group
New Regency Productions (20%)
Regency Television (50%)
Regency Enterprises (20%) - parent company of New Regency Productions (50%), and Regency Television (50%).

[edit] TV

[edit] Broadcast
Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX), a US broadcast television network
My Network TV, a US broadcast television network
Fox Television Stations Group, a group of owned and operated FOX television stations
ITV plc (17.5%), a British broadcast television network and the UK's largest advertising revenue based broadcaster via BSkyB
News Corp Europe
bTV, a broadcast television network in Bulgaria
b1TV, a broadcast television network in Romania, in partnership with S.C. NEWS ROMANIA S.A.
Fox Televizija, a broadcast television network in Serbia
Fox Turkey, a Turkish terrestrial channel (56,5%) (formerly TGRT)
Imedi Media Holding, a Georgian radio and TV broadcaster part-owned by News Corporation (30%)
Imedi Television
Radio Imedi
TV Puls (35%), a terrestrial channel in Poland.
Israel 10 (9%), a terrestrial channel in Israel.
LNT (100%), a terrestrial channel in Latvia
TV5 (70%), a terrestrial channel in Latvia
ANTV (20%), a private television station in Indonesia, under the administration and label of STAR TV
Prime Television New Zealand - commercial TV station, interest held through stake in SKY Network Television

[edit] Satellite television
BSkyB, United Kingdom (39.1% holding).
Foxtel(25%),Australia's largest satellite and cable pay TV provider, a joint venture with Telstra and Publishing and Broadcasting Limited
SKY Network Television , New Zealand (44%)
Sky Italia, Italian satellite TV service
STAR TV, an Asian satellite TV service
Phoenix Satellite TV (17.6%), satellite TV network with landing rights in Hong Kong, and select provinces on Mainland China
Tata Sky(20%), an Indian DTH TV service (in partnership with Tata Group)

[edit] Cable
CHANNELS

Fox Business Network, an upcoming business-news channel to be launched in October 2007.
Fox Classics, a channel airing solely classic movies
Fox Movie Channel, an all-movie channel that airs commercial-free movies from 20th Century Fox film library
Fox News Channel, a 24-hour news channel
Fox Reality, a 'Reality TV'-themed channel
Fox Sports Net, a chain of US regional cable television networks broadcasting local sporting events linked together by national sports news programming. Local channels include "Fox Sports Southwest", "Fox Sports Bay Area", etc. (some affiliates are owned by Cablevision).
Fox College Sports, College Sports Network that consists of 3 regionally aligned channels
SportSouth,a regional sports network in the United States, with its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. SportSouth, formerly Turner South
Fox Sports International
Fox Soccer Channel, a United States digital cable network specializing mainly in soccer.
Fox Sports Middle East - English language sports network airing in Middle East countries including Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Labanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE & Yemen.
Fox Pan American Sports (37.9%) - joint venture with Hicks, Muse, and Tate & Furst.
Fox Sports en Español (50%), a Spanish-language North American cable sports network; its sports lineup is tailored to appeal to a Latin American audience.
Fox Sports en Latinoamérica, a Mexico-based Latin American satellite and cable sports network.
FX Networks, a cable network broadcasting reruns of programming previously shown on other channels, but recently creating its own programming, including the Emmy Award-winning program The Shield.
SPEED Channel
FUEL TV
The 101, DirecTV in-house channel on its satellite service, available throughout the United States
Big Ten Network, college football & basketball cable channel being launched Aug 2007 (49%)
National Geographic Channel (joint venture with National Geographic Magazine) 67%
National Geographic Channel International 75%
Fox International Channels, domestic cable channels offering different formats of Fox programming including FX, Fox Life, and Fox Crime amongst others. Countries of operation include Brazil, Bulgaria,Croatia, France, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Portugal, Singapore Serbia, Spain & Turkey.
Latin America
Fox Latin American Channels - channels available in over 17 countries in Latin America
Canal FOX
Canal FX
Canal Fox Life
Canal Fox Reality
Canal Fox Sports
Canal Speed
Canal National Geographic Channel
Fox One-Stop Media - advertising sales for company owned and third party channels in Latin America
LAPTV (22.5%)(Latin American Pay Television) operates 5 cable movie channels throughout South America excluding Brazil.
Movie City
Cine Canal
Cine Canal 2
Cine Canal Classics
The Film Zone
Telecine (12.5%) operates 5 cable movie channels in Brazil.
Telecine Premium
Telecine Action
Telecine Light
Telecine Pipoca
Telecine Cult
Australia
Premier Media Group (50%)
Fox Sports One
Fox Sports Two
Fox Sports Three
FUEL TV
How To Channel
Premium Movie Partnership (20%) - movie channels, a joint venture between 20th Century Fox, Sony, Universal, Paramount and Liberty Media
Showtime 1 & 2
Showtime Greats
PLATFORMS

India
Hathway Cable & Datacom (26%), India's 2nd largest cable network through 7 cities including Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai & Pune
Taiwan
Total TV (20%), Pay TV platform with JV partner KOO's Group majority owner (80%). News Corp also has a 20% interest in the KOO's Group directly

[edit] Internet
Fox Interactive Media
MySpace - Social networking website, general interest website acquired through purchase from Intermix Media
MySpace TV, a video site which will host amateur videos, contents from net and studios that competes with Google YouTube [7]
Photobucket - Photo sharing website. Photobucket.
Flektor - provides Web-based tools for photo and video editing and mashups.
Grab.com - Entertainment/Games. (Acquired through purchase of Intermix Media)
IGN Entertainment - Internet entertainment portal (Includes the sites IGN, GameSpy, Rotten Tomatoes, TeamXbox, and Askmen.com)
Strategic Data Corp - interactive advertising company which develops technology to deliver targeted internet advertising.
Scout.com
Movielink (20%) - Online movie downloads joint Venture between - Fox, Viacom, Sony, MGM & Disney
Indya.com - 'India's no. 1 Entertainment Portal'
What if Sports.com
Sibeliusmusic.com and other Sibelius Software related forms of media.
Jumptheshark.com owned through stake in GemstarTVGuide
ROO Group Inc (5% increasing to 10% with performance targets)
News Digital Media
News.com.au - Australian-oriented news website
CareerOne.com.au
CarsGuide.com.au
in2mobi.com.au
TrueLocal.com.au
Moshtix.com.au
Netus (75%) - investment co. in online properties.
Travel.com.au (19.59%)
Realestate.com.au (69%)
Casa.it (59.4%), Sky Italia also holds a 30.6% share
atHome group, operator of leading realestate websites in Luxembourg, France, Belgium and Germany.
Altowin (51%),provider of office management tools for realestate agents in Belgium.
Propertyfinder.com (50%), News Corp holds the remaining 50% directly
PropertyLook, property websites in Australia and New Zealand.
HomeSite.com.au, home renovation and improvement website.
New Zealand
DVD Unlimited - leading online DVD subscription service (ownership through stake in Sky Network Television).

[edit] Other assets
(NDS) - Conditional access technology and personal digital video recorders (PVRs) (74%)
Jungo
ITE, publisher of Playstation and Mobile games, and interactive television
Broadsystem Ltd (UK) - Telephony provider for media companies, bought in 1991
Broadsystem Australia (Australia)
Broadsystem Ventures (UK) - provider of cheap-rate telephone calls, particularly for customers of Sky Television. Bought outright in 1999.
Jamba! - Mobile Entertainment/Mobile Handsets Personalization/Games. 51% majority stake acquired through deal with VeriSign in September 2006.
News Outdoor Group - Largest outdoor advertising company in Eastern Europe with over 70,000 ads including billboards and bus shelters, operating in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Israel, Poland, Romania, Russia (96 cities), Turkey & Ukraine.
Maximedia Israel (67%)
Mosgorreklama (50%) - Russia sign and marketing material manufacturer
Kamera Acikhava Reklamclik (?) - leading outdoor advertising company in Turkey
Australian Associated Press (25%)
Fox Sports Grill (50%) - Upscale sports bar and restaurant with 8 locations - Arizona, California, Seattle, New York, Dallas, Texas, Houston, Texas, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Georgia.
Fox Sports Skybox (70%) - Sports fan's Bar & Grill at Staples Center and 6 airport restaurants.
Sibelius Software and related forms of media.
News America Marketing (US) - (100%) - nation’s leading marketing services company, products include a portfolio of in-store, home-delivered and online media under the SmartSource brand.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

To be expected. Doesn't even raise an eyebrow for me.

Par for the course with everything else I'm seeing.