SPY EYES

How the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist has exposed the double standards of the international news media.

Murder in Tehran could be the title of the latest Hollywood blockbuster, but this is not a movie.

On January 11, the fourth Iranian nuclear scientist to be assassinated in two years was blown up by a magnetic bomb attached to his car door. And while the media did not reveal Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan’s assassin, they did reveal their own agendas and double standards.

Iranian media instantly pointed the finger at Israel. As ever, the Israelis neither confirmed nor denied. Over in the US and the UK, mainstream media outlets used his death as yet another beat in the drum roll for war against the Islamic Republic.

In this week’s News Divide, we look at what the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist says about the news media and their own agendas.

Quick hits from Listening Post Newsbytes: Thousands of websites go offline to protest against proposed anti-piracy legislation; the Indian government backs a court order that could have implications for leading internet companies; the trial of a prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist comes to an end but the sentence is little comfort for supporters; and Pakistan’s poor record on investigating murder cases involving journalists just got worse.

News channel or propaganda tool?

In 2005, the Kremlin created Russia Today, or RT, as it is now known. RT is an international news channel set up to rival Western news channels and to provide a Russian perspective. The network has since added two more channels, broadcasting in Spanish and Arabic. RT’s English-language project is getting mixed reviews. Its criticism of Washington’s political agenda is relentless and it has a penchant for off-beat stories and conspiracy theories.

In this week’s feature, Listening Post’s Ana de Sousa looks at a channel that seems more interested in reviving the Cold War than reporting what is really happening in Russia today.

Our Internet Video of the Week comes from a California-based duo named Corridor Digital. The pair spend their time producing mini-films that they post online. Their latest offering was shot in the streets of Los Angeles and shows a man fighting off death – with a spray can. Bringing graffiti to life, the video has racked up nearly two million hits online. We are sure you will like it as much as we did.