If this isn't an EU Propaganda unit in the making please tell what it is

Tomorrow the European Parliament's Culture committee will be voting on a report by a certain Morten Løkkegaard, a new Danish MEP and former journalist with a string of questionable activities to his name, including 9/11 conspiracy stuff.

He was elected last year with the express purpose of convincing voters that "the EU is exciting and delicious" and that the EU must "be something hyped - to something more fat." He was he says, looking for a way to ensure that the EU was better promoted,
"It has surprised me hurt that the EU project, which I think is brilliant, have been sold so poorly. We must have done something about," .
He also said that he "had not yet found columbus egg to have made the EU popular." (Got to love machine translation).

Well it seems that he has found his columbus egg after all, and here it is,

It is his draft report

"on journalism and new media – creating a public sphere in Europe"

Amongst the other ways of bigging up the EU comes this corker,

Invites the Member States to consider including the EU as a subject in all secondary education curricula and encourages them to exchange best practice in this area at EU level;

Which just has to be fraught with difficulties. This one which could have hilarious results,

Asks the Commission to introduce annual scoreboards that list and compare EU
news broadcasting by public service networks in the Member States;

And this one which is frankly scary,

Suggests setting up a taskforce of independent journalists who are free of editorial control, hired from outside the EU institutions and based in Brussels, with the task of producing daily EU news coverage to be published on different platforms and channels in accordance with journalistic news criteria; suggests appointing an independent chief editor for this taskforce;

Yeah, of course, right, this would be entirely independent. He is proposing, and the Committee will no doubt support the creation of a EU news agency - over and above its massive current media spend to fill the airwaves with EU propaganda. And don't pretend that it would be independent.

Does anybody truly believe that if the EU was paying the wages that a journalist would be able to do an investigation into EU corruption, expenses scandals and so on?

Of course not.

Now I know that this is an own initiative report, and therefore has no legislative power, but it was from things like this that idiotic ideas (and expensive ideas) such as Europarl TV and the infamous failed MEP Facebook MyParl.eu were created.

The Committee must vote this down.

Update
New Europe picks up my post (pg 22 of the Pdf)

How Euroscepticism can kill millions

No really it can. That is if you take the latest propaganda wheeze from the European Parliament office in London, launching tomorrow at the BETT trade fair it Olympia, at face value. Called 'Crisis Point' it is an interactive whole school program by which a children are encouraged to pretend to be EU Commissioners or MEPs for a day. This way they learn vital citizenship lessons.

The day starts with a news report. Xtreme Drug Resistant TB has claimed a life in England, and Europe goes into scare meltdown.

We must have new legislation to stop this horrid disease today...

Of course this just exemplifies the way in which the EU now propagandises itself. As we know from their own 'Communication Strategy' a key target demographic is kiddiewinks,

"It has to be seen as complementary to the already existing or proposed initiatives and programmes such as those in the field of education, youth, culture and promoting active European citizenship".

First they see a target audience, then they commission somebody to produce something that targets that audience. In this case to the tune of 70,000 Euros through a subsidiary of Bell Pottinger/Chime. Then launch.

If you go to the website there are all the things that you as a teacher need to have a fun day promoting the efficacy of EU action in public health. Oh yes it claims to be 'impartial', well given the strictures of the Education Act it could hardly do otherwise now could it? After all the Act states,

"407. - (1) The local education authority, governing body and head teacher shall take such steps as are reasonably practicable to secure that where political issues are brought to the attention of pupils while they are- (a) in attendance at a maintained school, or (b) taking part in extra-curricular activities which are provided or organised for registered pupils at the school by or on behalf of the school, they are offered a balanced presentation of opposing views."

But if you play with the rather spiffing flash program available to download from the site, then what do we find. If you put in that you want to retain national control over policies the outcomes include tens of millions of deaths, and a 60% likelihood of civil unrest. Now if you take a communitarian approach you can bring down the deaths to the low teens (best I have managed) and have no civil unrest.

Genius.

Now apart from the basic propaganda aspect of this is the point that this sort of exercise ties into another major issue facing us, an issue that is dealt with today in the Daily Mail by Chris Booker, and is a reprise of his excellent book (with Richard North) 'Scared to death'.

Those that purport to govern us are past masters in the use of the 'Doctrine of Beneficial Crisis'. Pick up an incident, exaggerate the situation, position government action as our saviour and produce centralising legislation, giving themselves more power. Of course this is all done at breakneck speed with the concomitant that it is done badly and ends up costing a packet of our money.

Result, more central power, and massively increased costs.

More genius.

Guardian Journalist on the button shocker

Talking about the plethora of journalism degrees out there Nick Davies said,

"But there is a danger with the courses: there are now hundreds of them which claim to teach these skills, but a great many of them are genuine crap, taught by people who haven't the faintest idea of how to do the job."

Of course having thousands of jopurnalists without the first idea about how to do the job is a brilliant wheeze. If the fourth estate is filled with media-ocrity then who will be left to criticise?

Oh good God

Picture the scene,

The big day has finally arrived. The house has been scrubbed and decorated. The whole family is here. Mum and dad have finally been able to take some time off. And they're out in the kitchen, making sure that everything is just right. Dinner's bubbling away on the stove, and the kids are tearing into their presents while grandma and grandpa – fresh in from Spain for the event – look on fondly.

Gosh don't your cockles just simmer with delight? And how does this paradigm of the perfect existance occur?

You wouldn't know it, but the EU helps make happy, festive scenes like this possible.

Surprise!!! Please pass the sick bucket , somebody

Hat Tip
Open Europe

Suffer little children

Oh my giddy aunt. This is one of the latest propaganda films from the Commission and leaves me a little scared. Tell me what you think, please

Do as I say

The world is full of hectoring ninnys who take extreme pleasure in telling us what, and what not to do.

Every day for the last week I have recieved and invitation from a Dutch MEP Jules Maaten to join him and others to dicuss Foetal Alcohol Syndrome.

The blurb that came with the invite included this
"Because there is no proven safe amount and no proven safe time for alcohol in pregnancy, pregnant women should abstain from alcohol. Although many pregnant women do so, there is still a substantial number of women in all the EU Member States who continue to drink – ranging from 25% in Spain to 35%-50% in the Netherlands and even higher rates in the UK or Ireland."
Now I know that if a pregnatnt women keeps on going out and getting blotto then she will harm her unborn child, that much is common sense, but these people want to ban women from haveing a glass of wine for the full term of the pregnancy.
Before they get the ban in place they plan to scare women with lurid tales of malformations viz this which they helpfully attached,

Characteristic Findings in Children Exposed to Alcohol in Utero

Characteristic facial anomalies
—Short palpebral fissures
—Ptosis
—Flat midface
—Upturned nose
—Smooth philtrum
—Thin upper lip

Growth retardation
—Low relative birthweight
—Growth retardation despite adequate nutrition
—Low weight relative to height

CNS* neurodevelopmental defects
—Microcephaly
—Structural brain abnormalities, including agenesis of the corpus callosum and cerebellar hypoplasia
—Other neurologic signs, such as fine motor difficulties, sensorineural hearing loss, poor gait coordination, and poor eye-hand coordination

Unexplained behavioral abnormalities
—Learning disabilities
—Poor school performance
—Poor impulse control
—Problems with social perception
—Poor language abilities
—Poor abstract reasoning
—Poor math skills
—Impaired memory and judgment

Birth defects
Including but not limited to:
—Congenital heart defects
—Skeletal and limb deformities
—Anatomic renal abnormalities
—Ophthalmologic abnormalities
—Hearing loss
—Cleft lip or palate

Feeling guilty yet? Apart from the fact that if we add up those figures I am utterly syuprised to discover that if more than 50% of British women have a glass or two during pregnancy, and that there is no safe limit, how is it that only 1% have any trouble at all, and of that 1% even the FAS campaigners admit that they cannot explain - therefore do not know if things such as "poor school performance" can be put down to the booze. So alot of this is hooly and hectoring statist control freakery. What right do they have to scare the pants off a majority of women, in order to deal with a small but awful problem. None at all, but of course, they are lobbyists and legislators and they like nothing better to scare manipulate and bully people.
The chaps behind this, Eurocare make the following claim on their website,

"The European Union can no longer remain solely an economic union. It must become a social community where the collective health interest takes precedence over individual economic interests...

Alcohol is not just a marketable commodity like others. It is a toxic, psychotropic and dependence inducing drug. Its use must be publicly controlled.
The means of production, distribution, consumption and control of alcohol must be tackled at a European level."

Of course it will not suprise you to discover that this organisation is part funded by the European Commission which has commissioned a number of reports about how the EU should take over legislation in this area.

Nor will it suprise you to discover that the lunch discussion was accompanied by a decent quantity of bottles of fine French wine.

Just beggars belief

Despite the fact that this is a European Commission Propaganda Film, Entitled "Film lovers will love this" it is not entirely work safe.
Taken from the new EUTube Commission film site.

Go and have a look round, it is what your money is beingf spent on.

Now I liked the film Amelie, but this is just absurd.

Update

First the Sunday Times, and now the Mail seem to have picked up on the story - though to be fair, the Sunday Times got there first

Silver Ring Piece held up to the light

Devastating destruction of the Silver Ring Thing case going through the courts at present over at the Ministry of Truth.

It appears that all is not as it seems. Funnily enough it all rather reminds me of the back story to the schoolgirl Niqab case the other year.

Commission accused of meddling in Belgian election

The Belgian Commissioner, Louis 'Le Gob' Michel is standing for election to the Belgian Senate on June 10th for the Mouvement Reformateur (Wallon Liberals) and is in the centre of a storm inside the European Commission.

Back in the end of January the Commission admin decided that, along with the European Voice and various news sources, to try a three month trial of dumping Belgian newspaper "Tribune de Bruxelles" onto official's desks. The idea was that there would be a three month trial, followed by a consultation with staff. Five months later the paper is still being dumped and this is causing ructions. The first complaints were naturally linguistic, it is in French, and thus the Flemish were upset. Then people began to notice that the paper's previous 'constructive critical' line of EU doings had been replaced with slavish obeisance to all things European. After all access to the officials is one hell of a selling point to advertisers.

That is bad enough but in the last few weeks things have become even more serious.

The Tribune is without a shadow of doubt a paper which supports the MR. In the current edition, prominent on the front page is a delightful ad for Frederique Ries, currently an MEP and also standing for the MR in the elections. Rumours abound that DG Admin has been under pressure from Mr Michel's team to continue the experiment.

Comments on the Commission's internal debate forum are getting pretty heated,

"If free press exists in Belgium, it would be my guess that it is temporarily nonexistent at the rue des Francs / Frankenstraat 79 in Brussels (Address of the Tribune)".

"free distribution of this paper is just not desirable"

"Are you an EC official working in Brussels and entitled to participate in the upcoming (June 10th) Belgian elections - and are you still undecided who to vote for? Then DG ADMIN has a suggestion for you! Why not consider bestowing your favours on Ms. Frédérique Ries (MR), whose portrait and electoral slogan adorn the front page of the latest issue of the 'Tribune de Bruxelles' – the commercial weekly which
(four months after the distribution of the infamous first issue, and almost one month after the expiry of the so-called "trial period") continues to be delivered to your doorstep through the tacit but very active complicity of our Administration…
Thank you, DG ADMIN, for having behaved from the very start and for continuing to behave, in the matter of the 'Tribune', with shameless disregard for even the most elementary ethical standards".

"I totally agree with the arguments put forward by our colleagues... on the political bias shown by "La Tribune de Bruxelles". Contrary to what some CenD readers might think, such bias doesn't stop at splashing Frédérique Ries's photogenic features on its front cover: anybody who's cast even a cursory glance at the Tribune over the last few months, if not further back, will know that its sympathies are, publicly and unequivocally, with the MR, and that it is very critical, sometimes virulently so, of both the CdH and (especially) the PS.
...I do not think it is the job of the European Commission to interfere in the electoral process by distributing propaganda of whatever type or colour inside its buildings. The Commission must remain above the political squabbles of our host country...The Commission must not only stay neutral, but, most importantly, be seen to stay neutral, when it comes to Belgian political life, and to elections in particular. It dismays me to observe that our Administration is now prepared to jettison such a fundamental principle, apparently at the behest of one trade union (to which admittedly it owes a couple of favours). This affair, moreover, goes beyond questions of abstract principle: let's not forget that Belgians (i.e. people who might be tangibly affected by the propaganda) represent quite a large percentage of staff in the Commission. There is also the not exactly irrelevant matter of our present Belgian Commissioner's political affiliation. What if at least a section of Belgian public opinion, the media and rival parties started accusing the Commission of trying to help M. Michel's political side? Does the Administration really want to become involved in this type of controversy? Is the mutual back-scratching with R&D really worth the potential embarrassment?"

Well, does it? If Michel, (who it is thought has recently had a balloon inserted in his belly to cut his own emissions) is encouraging the Admin to dawdle then this is a scandal of serious proportions. It could of course be cock up rather than conspiracy, but like most cock ups in the EU, it cocks up in the preferred direction.

Propagandist or Journalist? You decide

If the EU is to be our government then it is imperative that there is a free and independent press. A press that citizens can trust to give them full information with clear, accurate and honest reporting. Of course there can be an editorial line, but as a citizen I should be able to know what that line is and to judge the source accordingly. The problem is, is that the system is corrupted by incompetence self selection and dishonesty.

Take the example of Enrico Mayrhofer. Enrico is a nice enough chap, I have been on nodding acquaintance with him for a number of years. But to be frank I was disgusted to discover that he is a fraud. I was handed a copy of dire free glossy advertising puff magazine 'Together' as I wandered into work. In it we learn in a dribblingly cringemaking interview that he is a,
"Italian journalist who has been living in Brussels for nine years, working as a correspondent for an Italian regional TV channel and as Press Officer of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions"(in fact he is the Director of their Brussels Office) .
The CPMR is a large lobbying organisation in Brussels, constantly trying to direct Commission funding towards its members. It even holds contracts, (pg 6) with the Commission.
However, what are we told the day in the life of Enrico includes?

"10.30…He has to meet an MEP involved in maritime issues, who wants to be briefed before a speech. "Sometimes we're ghostwriters"
12.00 Press Conference in the Berlyamont, headquarters of the European Commission. President Barroso is presenting the EU budget to Member States. This topic cannot be missed by Enrico's TV channel…
Afternoon… Press release to prepare, speeches to translate, newsletter to edit, articles to write, position paper to circulate."

How can somebody boast about writing a politician's speech in one breath be expected to report on it in the next? This is a clear conflict of interest. Does his audience have a clue? I doubt it. How can he ask serious questions about the EU budget when he is getting wages from an organisation that needs funds from the budget. There is no way that he can produce anything other than propaganda, but his audience is utterly unaware. In the register of accredited journalists to the European Institutions he uses a yahoo email address, as a lobbyist he uses enrico.mayrhofer@crpm.org I note that his phone number is the same for both. I wonder which organisation pays for it, Antennasud or the CPMR? Or maybe both?

The awful thing is that Enrico is not alone, there are hundreds of journalists in Brussels, many of whom moonlight as lobbyists, or should I say that there are hundreds of lobbyists in Brussels moonlighting as journalists. It is a cosy existence, the Commission has much of the media in its pocket and they get dual wages. The only loser is the citizen who gets propaganda instead of news. This is a festering scandal , but who in this town would dare try to expose it? Not only that but he is a member of the International Press Association . The IPA was involved in the Developement of a Code of Conduct (in April 2004) along with the International Federation of Journalists and others which states clearly,

"The growth of new media services also provides a welcome opportunity to restate and reaffirm the values of independent journalism in a city where lobbying interests and political policymakers compete for influence.

All journalists groups and media working from and based in Brussels should,

declare

• Their commitment to maintaining the highest standards of journalism, freedom of the press and pluralism;...
• That the credibility of news and information depends on the highest ethical standards in the gathering, presentation and circulation of news material.

They should,

5. Implement internal standards for monitoring the personal interests of employees and owners that may compromise editorial independence and which must be made known to the Editor in Chief;

6. Make available information on the external interests and ownership profile of the organisation;

7. Make available information regarding any benefits providing a pecuniary advantage provided by public authorities, including information on engagement in projects or activities funded by international organisations;

Oh yes and the title of the column, featuring Enrico? "EU Worker", well quite.