Polls/fake news/march. posted by Richard Seymour

Interesting poll results on some websites recently. John Harris runs a website named after his book So Now Who Do We Vote For? for dismayed Labour voters. It includes an excellent breakdown of local Labour constituencies, results from the last election, a very brief synopsis and a recommendation for tactical left-of-Labour voters. In its poll of visitors asking who they intend to vote for, Respect leads by a substantial margin, with the Greens in second place, Lib Dems third and Labour fourth. They also link to a fine new website called Make My Vote Count . The Muslim Public Affairs Committee asks visitors to choose a party for the next election which, again, Respect leads by a substantial margin. The Black Information Link has a poll asking whether visitors prefer Galloway or Oona King for Bow and Bethnal Green constituency. Galloway takes it with 94% of the vote.

The Bush administration has been in some trouble for manufacturing fake news broadcasts that glorify government policy, with the use of PR firms. Local news outlets have been broadcasting these as if they were real news. According to David Miller of Spinwatch , the BBC has fallen for the same old trick :

Spinwatch investigation has revealed that journalists working for the Services Sound and Vision Corporation (SSVC) have been commissioned to provide news reports to the BBC. The BBC has been using these reports as if they were genuine news. In fact, the SSVC is entirely funded by the Ministry of Defence as a propaganda operation, which according to its own website makes a 'considerable contribution' to the 'morale' of the armed forces.

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Spinwatch can reveal that we have our very own fake journalists operating in the UK. The government pays for their wages and they provide news as if they were normal journalists rather than paid propagandists. Normally they work in a little known outfit with the acronym BFBS, which stands for British Forces Broadcasting Service. BFBS exists to 'entertain and inform' British armed forces around the world and is entirely funded by the British Ministry of Defence. BFBS is run by the SSVC. But on this occasion no mention of Ministry of defence funding was made. She was introduced simply as a reporter 'from the British Forces Broadcasting Service' who 'has been embedded with the Scots Guards'. As one wag inside the BBC puts it, this suggests a process of 'double embedding', first working for the MoD and second embedding with a regiment. The report began:

'Route 6 is the main road North out of Basra. It runs through the badlands of Iraq's marsh Arabs They make a living from crime - carjackings, smuggling and murder are common place. It's also the scene of an age old feud between two warring tribes.' (Good Morning Scotland, BBC Radio Scotland, 25 November 2004 - see below for link to full transcript)

Naturally enough, we are told that the regiment in which the reporter is 'embedded' has resolved these tribal problems by negotiating 'a ceasefire' following which 'the two tribes had had their first nights sleep in several months'.

Finally, you'll want to congregate at the north end of Hyde Park for the demo today. It starts in about two hours time, although you will usually wait a while before the damn thing gets moving. If you want to save your feet, I recommend you prop yourself up by a tree with a copy of Socialist Worker while you wait. I'll be filming it and taking pictures on my mobile. If I can find a way to get the footage on the web, I shall do so. See you there.