Before watching:
What / who are they?
Wikileaks
WMD
Rupert Murdoch
NewsCorp
Cablegate
Bradley Manning
What do they have to do with...
Hacking
The Iraq War
Tabloids
Part 1. of lyrics:
Host: Greetings and welcome to our latest
transmission sent direct from the beating heart of this internet, the one
remaining open channel where information can travel free from filters and
barriers.
Today’s story: As a shadowy specter hangs
over our ability to access and assess the facts, is an honest media The Force
that can free and restore balance and peace in this far reach of the Galaxy?
The battle has shifted at light speed to
cyberspace, where rebel journalists have made the jump to hyperspace, challenging
the Establishment’s grip on information and are now being pursued by its
sinister agents.
To learn more of what’s happening, we’re
set to bring in figures on opposite ends of the spectrum. Thus, we welcome our
first journalist at hand, WikiLeaks founder, rebel publisher, Julian Assange.
Mr Assange, good to have you back on the
show - Robert, it's good to be hack. I mean back, Hello.
Tell us, what's happened since last we
spoke?
Assange: Well, WikiLeaks has continued to deliver
master strokes, for speaking more truth to power than all papers combined.
We've been ostracised and greatly maligned, by the lamestream media where balls
are sadly lacking, and seen the State’s haranguing of alleged whistleblower
Bradley Manning. I’ve been under mansion arrest, tagged by Serco, then the
bastards imposed an extrajudicial embargo, Cutting off our PayPal donors and
credit card flow.
Host: Why? Have you broken any laws or been
charged?
Assange: No! But a secret Grand Jury has issued a
sealed indictment saying I’m ‘aiding the enemy’, they‘re seeking to extradite
me.
Host: I’m confused.... who is ‘the enemy’?
Assange: Clearly, since WikiLeaks aids Democracy,
the enemy is the people: you and me.
Host: Ok, to compare to this, we turn to another
Australian journalist; his Media Empire spans the equator influencing every one
of us in the world: it's The Emperor of NewsCorp, Rupert Murdoch. Hello, Rupert. Tell us your take on
journalism.
Rupert: It’s like playing Monopoly against the
world and winning. You buy up all the real Fourth Estate: The Times, The Sun,
SKY, and many Stars are all mine. I expanded my News of the World Order
patiently, now my Death STAR stations are fully operational!
Host: You’ve changed the face of the news, with
tabloids, pay TV...
Rupert: I foresaw that, by putting titties on Page
3, amidst a chronicle of crime, sports and inanity, scandalous spam which the
proles soak up avidly, my empire would expand globally, spreading the fear
giving me the power to make or crush political careers!
Host: Both of you have transformed journalism’s
focus by exposing secret dealings; or by keeping truths enclosed, so can you
explain why one of you is a rich media mogul while the other is hunted like a
criminal interloper?
Assange: In ‘03 the media were feeding us lies about
WMD; WikiLeaks is here to ensure history won’t repeat. We publish truth instead
of lies. That’s certainly why we’re being persecuted: we’re doing
journalism right.
Rupert: You will pay the price for your lack of
television. You’re headed straight for an American prison. Journalists, take a
good look at this rebel fool: what's happening to him, soon could happen to you!
Assange: If you strike me down the movement you’re
attacking will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine. This
generation is burning the mass media to its foundations. Truth is a virus, and
Courage is contagious!
Rupert: Mwhahaha! you can't knock me out the Fox!
But I see that you are still capable of hacks: the Strafor leak shows
that we are alike. Julian, my son, come over to the Dark Side!
Watch:
A News Hope
