• Disrupting Power Since 2015
  • Donate
  • Login
Monday, May 12, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
Canary
MEDIA THAT DISRUPTS
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
MANAGE SUBSCRIPTION
SUPPORT
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Canary
No Result
View All Result

Marr just had another Noam Chomsky moment, live on TV

Steve Topple by Steve Topple
13 September 2020
in Trending, UK
Reading Time: 3 mins read
171 3
A A
4
Home Trending
324
SHARES
2.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

On the Sunday 13 September of the Andrew Marr Show the corporate media got a knock-out blow. Because an Irish politician inadvertently put the host in a similar position to one Noam Chomsky did several years ago. And it exposed a huge problem that persists with the corporate media.

A classic truth bomb

The infamous clip where Chomksy drops a truth bomb on Marr is well-known. He broke down the fact that corporate journalists are often inadvertently responsible for peddling establishment propaganda. As Chomsky noted, he didn’t think journalists like Marr “self-censor”. But that:

if you believed something different, you wouldn’t be sitting where you’re sitting.

Now, Marr was subject to a similar ‘light bulb moment’ thanks to an Irish politician.

Marr: busted

Ireland’s foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney was on Marr. He was discussing the chaos over Brexit and the internal market bill. As The Canary previously reported, the government is planning on breaking the law over it. It’s to do with the fact that it wants to renege on some of the original deal it signed with the EU. On Sunday 13 September, Labour said it would “not vote” for the bill if it broke the law.

Coveney was not happy with the UK government’s proposed actions. But he also made an interesting point about the media coverage of the issue. He said to Marr that:

Andrew, you’ve been following these negotiations for more than three years now, and you’re a pretty good detail person. And you know that that is a completely bogus argument.

He then laid out why the Tories’ argument is bogus. Marr repeatedly interrupted, putting the Tories’ side of the story across. But Coveney wasn’t happy with this. He said to Marr that:

You seem to be suggesting that there are two sides that are equal in this disagreement. There aren’t. There is one side that is breaking an agreement that was signed by both.

Marr ‘OK’d’ and ‘but’d’ his way through Coveney’s take down, going back to put the Tories’ side across again. And Guardian political commentator Peter Walker latched onto this.

A “conundrum”?

He tweeted that:

it’s a conundrum for UK journalists, as faced in US with Trump: how do you discuss what your leaders say when it it obviously, demonstrably not true?

And this is [the] case whatever side of the Brexit argument one is on: No 10’s argument that it’s EU suddenly threatening NI peace/moving the goalposts is not only untrue, but obviously so. Makes it tricky to present it with BBC-style “balance”/they said-you said. It’s a new world.

But Walker’s point that it’s a “conundrum” for journalists to say that political leaders are lying sums up the problem with the corporate press.

Wedded to the establishment

It’s what Chomsky previously called Marr out on. And it’s also what Media Lens highlighted in the ‘five stages of mainstream journalism’:

The four – make that five! – stages of 'mainstream' journalism, highlighted by Michael Parenti.https://t.co/67bjLm8UH2 pic.twitter.com/XUWj9Mqezt

— Media Lens (@medialens) August 25, 2017

It’s that corporate journalists are essentially wedded to the establishment. They cannot bite the hand that feeds them. So instead they have to placate rather than agitate. Marr presenting the Brexit situation as a story with ‘two sides’ is a prime example of this. In the interests of ‘balance’, the truth is no longer relevant. Even if that ‘balance’ presents lies as fact or opinion.

Walker said that this is a “new world”. But it’s not. It’s the same one that has been operating for decades. It’s refreshing for a politician to effectively call it out, live on TV. But regardless of whether Marr ‘got it’ or not – him and the rest of the corporate press pack will continue with their subservient behaviour anyway.

Featured image via BBC iPlayer – screengrab

Share130Tweet81
Previous Post

As another local lockdown looms, the Tory government is failing Wales

Next Post

Glasgow City Council calling workers’ strike ‘illegal’ is a ‘smear on low paid workers’

Next Post
George Square Glasgow

Glasgow City Council calling workers’ strike ‘illegal’ is a 'smear on low paid workers'

Donald Trump is 'reckless and selfish' holding Nevada indoor rally

David Cameron Austerity Pandemic

Ex-prime ministers line up to protest Johnson's moves to override EU Brexit deal

Refugees make it to land in Kent after hazardous Channel crossing

NHS staff forced to stay off work due to lack of testing

Please login to join discussion
Steel companies ArcelorMittal and Ternium continue to run roughshod over Global South communities
News

Steel companies ArcelorMittal and Ternium continue to ride roughshod over Global South communities

by The Canary
12 May 2025
Jenu Kuruba families begin their long-awaited re-occupation of their ancestral homes inside the Nagarhole National Park. They carried photos of loved ones who had died after the village was evicted, so they too can return to the forest.
Analysis

An Indigenous community in India just faced down 130 police to return to their ancestral lands

by The Canary
12 May 2025
Nigel Farage waving Reform
Analysis

Reform’s new ‘manifesto’ is just catnip for the fat cats

by The Canary
12 May 2025
UN experts say Israel has 'criminal responsibility' for 'genocidal conduct'
Analysis

UN experts have now accused Israel of ‘genocidal conduct’ in Gaza

by Maryam Jameela
12 May 2025
A new petition calls for mandatory training for education staff on neurodivergence
News

A new petition calls for mandatory training for education staff on neurodivergence

by The Canary
12 May 2025
  • Contact
  • About & FAQ
  • Get our Daily News Email
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

The Canary
PO Box 71199
LONDON
SE20 9EX

Canary Media Ltd – registered in England. Company registration number 09788095.

For guest posting, contact [email protected]

For other enquiries, contact: [email protected]

The Canary is owned and run by independent journalists and volunteers, NOT offshore billionaires.

You can write for us, or support us by making a regular or one-off donation.

© Canary Media Ltd 2024, all rights reserved | Website by Monster | Hosted by Krystal | Privacy Settings

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion

© 2023 Canary - Worker's co-op.

Before you go, have you seen...?

Steel companies ArcelorMittal and Ternium continue to run roughshod over Global South communities
News
The Canary

Steel companies ArcelorMittal and Ternium continue to ride roughshod over Global South communities

Jenu Kuruba families begin their long-awaited re-occupation of their ancestral homes inside the Nagarhole National Park. They carried photos of loved ones who had died after the village was evicted, so they too can return to the forest.
Analysis
The Canary

An Indigenous community in India just faced down 130 police to return to their ancestral lands

Nigel Farage waving Reform
Analysis
The Canary

Reform’s new ‘manifesto’ is just catnip for the fat cats

UN experts say Israel has 'criminal responsibility' for 'genocidal conduct'
Analysis
Maryam Jameela

UN experts have now accused Israel of ‘genocidal conduct’ in Gaza

ADVERTISEMENT
Lifestyle
Nathan Spears

Why More People Are Seeking Legal Advice When Separating

Travel
Nathan Spears

Hungary Vignette Adventures: Discovering Hidden Gems by Car

How Social Media Affects the Mental Health of Young Adults Today
Tech
The Canary

How Social Media Affects the Mental Health of Young Adults Today