Max Watts asked Victorian left ALP Senator Olive Zakharov how she would vote on Hawke’s support for the US-Iraq War. She said she would be forced to support it. When he asked why she replied because 312 babies had been tipped out of their Kuwaiti incubators and she could not oppose that. Watts thought about it and asked a friend who was a Melbourne doctor how many incubators there were in Melbourne (approximate population three million). She said about 30. Watts wondered why Kuwait (approximate population 1.5 million) would have 312 incubators. He also wondered at the precision of the answer.
A year and a half and many dead later a US reporter tracked the story down. The “nurse” was the daughter of the Kuwaiti Ambassador to the US. She was never a nurse and had not witnessed anything in a Kuwaiti hospital. Hill and Knowlton were questioned about the $11.6 million they were paid for that and other PR activities to help set up the war. In response to questioning a representative of Hill and Knowlton claimed the firm was doing its “patriotic duty”. Watts won the Golden Reel for the best 1991 news story on alternative radio. A good reporter must question authority and think.
The press had failed. With his limited resources Max Watts uncovered government lies. Surely the mainstream press could have done likewise had they a mind to do so.
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The Australian and UK systems failed also. Both Tony Blair and John Howard lied to their parliaments. This is an offence under the Westminster system. They will not be brought to account either.
So how could such a journal be made to happen? One way would be to create a publically-funded national newspaper, one that is genuinely independent, one that has a guaranteed income (for example 1 per cent of the annual tax revenue) Such a press would have the resources to protect our representative democracy.
It may be trite but there is a lot of truth in quote, popularly attributed to Thomas Jefferson: the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
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About the Authors
David Fisher is an old man fascinated by the ecological implications of language, sex and mathematics.
John Töns is President of the Zero Carbon Network a network established to promote clear thinking about the issues associated with climate change. In addition to operating the only zero carbon boarding kennels in South Australia he is also completing a PhD at Flinders University in the area of Global Justice. John is a founding member of a new political party Stop Population Growth Now.
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