[Media-watch] British semi covert propganda unit

david Miller david.miller at stir.ac.uk
Wed Mar 26 16:20:15 GMT 2003



Here is a story on British Satellite News, an FCO funded free propaganda news service.  The script below is the result of a press release by the Islamic Media Unit another propaganda unit of the Foreign Office. The BSN website is slightly coy about the fact that it is a propaganda operation funded by the British government: http://www.bsn.org.uk



http://www.bsn.org.uk/bsn/bsnenscripts.nsf/(httpscripts)/507FD7F67B3D25BA80256C0D0043A3EF?OpenDocument 

BRITISH MUSLIMS IN NORTH AFRICA 4 March 2002
LONDON

BSN: 0210A
STORY: BRITISH MUSLIMS VISIT NORTH AFRICA
DATE SHOT: MARCH 1, 2002
TXN DATE: MARCH 4, 2002
LOCATION: LONDON
AUDIO:    NATURAL SOUND AND ENGLISH SPEECH
DURATION:    1.40

SHOT LIST: 
(London, March 1, 2002)
1. Wide shot Islamic Media Unit
2. Various of staff working at desks
3. SOT (English speech) super details: Ashraf Eissa, Islamic Media Advisor, Foreign Office
"The main objective is actually to try to show Muslims....
4. Set up shots of Gerard Russell, Head of Islamic Media Unit, Foreign Office
5. SOT (English speech) super details: Gerard Russell, Head of Islamic Media Unit
"If you are in the Middle East and you're watching Arab TV....
6. Various of staff working in Islamic Media Unit

SUGGESTED INTRO:
Senior members of the British Muslim community are in Morocco and Tunisia this week to meet parliamentarians and government officials. It's part of a series of visits by British Muslims to Islamic countries which the British government is organising to dispel misconceptions about life for Muslims in Britain.


SCRIPT: 
The visit was organised by the Islamic Media Unit, a section of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office set up in the wake of the terrorist attacks on America.

SOT (English speech) super details: Ashraf Eissa, Islamic Media Advisor
"The main objective is actually to try to show Muslims in the Arab and Muslim world generally that the Muslim community in Britain is still enjoying all its rights and freedoms and not affected in the wake of September the Eleventh events."

The Arabic-speaking head of the unit, Gerard Russell, also gives interviews to Arabic press and broadcasters on Muslim life in Britain and the government's policy toward the region.

SOT (English speech) super details: Gerard Russell, Head of Islamic Media Unit
"If you are in the Middle East, and you're watching Arab TV, the figures you will usually see on the television screen from Britain will be extremist Muslims, people who really come from a small group of about fifty to a hundred people whose voices are very loud but who do not represent more than a tiny proportion of the Muslim community in Britain. So, you know, that's the kind of misunderstanding for one thing that we'd like to overcome. So many Muslims have come to me and have said to me how upset they are to have these kind of figures talking on television being heard by millions of people overseas while the majority of decent, ordinary, moderate people are not heard."

The next officially-sponsored trip by leading British Muslims is scheduled for later in March to Malaysia and Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim countries.


(DP/PW) 
    
 







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