—Peter R. Kann, Publisher, The Wall Street Journal, January 3, 2001

The job of the media—TV, radio, Internet news sites, newspapers and magazines—is to seek out and publish the facts and the truth. But surprisingly, although today’s world is better wired than at any time in history, the media often isn’t doing its job. Censorship is alive and well and appears to be as widespread as ever. How is this possible? Because vested interests—especially governments and multi-national corporations—control or greatly influence the news by outright or de facto control of the global media. This week’s column highlights examples of blatant censorship, cover-ups and media distortions around the world.

Have you seen this headline in the world media lately? Not likely. But in reality, Black racism—against both Blacks and Whites—is running rampant, at levels unimagined during apartheid. Yet, Whites still get blamed in the media for every modern-day Africa ill from AIDS to poverty to bad weather.

In 1994 in Rwanda, members of the Hutu tribe killed more than 500,000 members of the Tutsi tribe. This was an African holocaust driven by unbridled Black-on-Black racism, yet the word "racism" is never used to depict this horrible genocide.

Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s Marxist dictator, blames all of his country’s troubles on Whites, who are being systematically killed or driven out of the country by his government-sponsored thugs. Many former Black employees of White landowners have also been murdered by Mugabe’s henchmen. Mugabe deserves total condemnation for his racist crimes, yet the UN and western countries have uttered scant disapproval.

South Africa’s government is engaged in a deliberate criminalization campaign against its White commercial farmers via the media. Based on nothing more than media allegations, scores of farmers are being hauled into courts on racism charges. In the past year only a single farmer was found guilty of any charges, as witnesses who made the claims either could not be found or were discovered lying under cross-examination. It’s pure racist harassment.

South Africa has now banned publication of crime statistics, probably to disguise the fact that massive crime and corruption is pushing this once powerful nation into economic ruin. Mugabe-style racism is spreading to South Africa, where gangs of Blacks armed with AK-47s are viciously attacking Whites, especially commercial farmers, a la Zimbabwe. Adriana Stuijt, a South African journalist, reported on NewsMax.com (Apr 28) that "armed attacks against commercial farm families are carried out with unusual extremes of cruelty … White men often are tortured for hours, with slow barbed-wire strangulation and deliberate mutilation of their sexual parts while they are alive … female members of the White farmers’ families, including very small children, are subjected to vicious gang rapes from which they are frequently left infected with HIV-AIDS." Under South Africa’s new gun control laws, White farmers can legally only possess a small handgun for protection, which is wholly inadequate.

In the past, South Africa prided itself on self-sufficiency in food, and it was a significant food exporter. In 1991, there were 60,000 commercial farmers in South Africa, but today there are only 40,000 left. For the first time in its history South Africa has to import staple foods such as maize. Black racism is driving commercial farmers out of South Africa, killing the geese that lay its golden eggs.

Another of the most egregious sins in South Africa is President Mbeki’s untenable position on HIV-AIDS. After fighting (and winning) in the courts to get vastly reduced prices for generic AIDS drugs from major pharmaceutical companies, Mbeki spokesmen promptly stated that Africans aren’t dying of AIDS, but from historic diseases that have plagued Africa for centuries, and that no special attempts would be made to import cheap AIDS drugs. Mbeki has caught an African plague worse than AIDS: denial coupled with racism. Mandela is openly criticizing him.

Disguised African racism isn’t limited to sub-Sahara. Sudan is the site of Africa’s longest running civil war (45 years) between Khartoum’s Muslim government and Blacks in the oil-rich upper-Nile region. Two million have been killed and counting; and another 4.4 million are refugees, although everyone assiduously avoids using the term "racism."

Libya’s Ghadaffi goes through periodic mood swings when he occasionally utters something nearly statesmanlike. But on a normal day he’s busy fueling the fires of African conflict by inciting racism against the West. He recently told a gathering of African leaders they need to oust all Whites from Africa. You rarely see these unsavory, but vital facts in the world media.

In a classic example of government subterfuge and double-speak, when California "deregulated" its power companies, it continued to "regulate" the prices they could charge customers. It’s like giving your child a car for graduation, but keeping the keys.

Utility companies clearly saw the looming California power crisis and warned years ago of the shortsightedness of failing to build new power plants. But without the freedom to set energy prices that would provide sufficient profit to justify investment in new plants, the financial risk was too high and they wisely chose not to. The stage was set for a catastrophe.

Now that this government-made disaster has arrived, officials are reverting to standard procedure: play the blame game. The media needs to expose this devious attempt by California’s state government to shift the blame from itself to energy companies. Calls for re-regulation and state control of utilities will only worsen the problem. Government has no business running or regulating energy and utility companies, but it’s highly doubtful whether Californians have yet learned that its state government is the problem, not the solution. California officials are effectively using the media to shift the blame, which may result in more bad political decisions before the lights come back on. The Bush Administration is telling the story straight: the US has an energy crisis, and it needs a sound energy policy including more drilling and more nuclear plants.

The real battle will be in the media. Critics say NMD risks starting another arms race, Congressional Democrats say a NMD system won’t work, and most of the rest of the world is solidly opposed. The reality is arms proliferation by 3^rd world nations (e.g., Red China and North Korea) is already in full swing; it always takes time to develop and perfect new technology and the sooner the US gets started the better; rogue nations naturally don’t want a stronger US defense; and Europe is squeamish, of all things, about riling Russian sensibilities. Of immense importance, Bush plans to simultaneously reduce outdated and dangerous nuclear weapons stockpiles. Great effort needs to be made to figure out a way to get Russia’s dangerous nuclear weapons inventory reduced also. NMD is the right course for survival. Remember Pearl Harbor.

Russia’s leadership is in denial of its problems and doesn’t want any media reminding them of the fact. Sadly, Russia is far from becoming a viable nation politically and economically. All three of Russia’s national TV networks are now solidly back under state control. As Zbigniew Brzezinski said at the time of the Kursk submarine disaster: "Mr. Putin is not so much the wave of the future as the last gasp of the Soviet past."

It boggles the mind how Canada’s Liberal Party was able to pass Bill C-2 last year. C-2 makes it illegal for private citizens or groups to spend more than $3,000 of their own money, or to even comment on parties, candidates or issues during federal elections. Only Canada’s major parties are allowed freedom of expression. The media should be shouting that Emperor Chretien has no clothes?

In recent weeks, following the US-China spy plane incident, the true nature of China’s communist regime is being revealed. Though long overdue, the world media is finally weighing in with meaningful commentary, analysis and criticism … that is, with the exception of Rupert Murdoch’s gigantic global media empire, News Corp. Why? The main market for News Corp’s Asian subsidiary, Star TV, is China, and Murdoch has ordered News Corp to kowtow to Beijing’s wishes to refrain from China criticism rather than report the news.

—The Sunday Times of London, December 31, 2000