Editing Media Lens (section)

==Foundation and influences==
[[File:Medialens gandhifoundation.JPG|thumb|right|[[David Edwards (journalist)|David Edwards]] and [[David Cromwell]] of Media Lens receive the [[Gandhi Foundation]] Peace Award, 2 December 2007]]
{{Journalism sidebar}}
By the late 1990s, [[David Edwards (journalist)|David Edwards]] had concluded that there was a "media suppression of the truth about the effect of the [[Sanctions against Iraq|sanctions]]" against Iraq, and an indifference to [[Global warming|climate change]]: "the media were still celebrating the idea that Britain might soon be blessed with a Mediterranean climate". Another motivation came from interviewing [[Denis Halliday]], former head of the UN’s humanitarian aid program, after concluding its actions in Iraq were "[[Genocide|genocidal]]".<ref name="UKIM-NTM">{{cite web|last=Walby|first=Sam|url=http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/05/479234.html|title=Interview with David Edwards from Media Lens|publisher=UK Indymedia|date=10 May 2011}} Interview also reproduced at {{cite web|url=http://nowthenmagazine.com/issue-38/media-lens/|title=Interview with David Edwards|work=Now Then|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517040852/http://nowthenmagazine.com/issue-38/media-lens/|archive-date=17 May 2011}}</ref>

Meanwhile, [[David Cromwell]] had found coverage of certain issues to be "paltry",<ref>{{cite book|last=Cromwell|first=David|title=Why Are We the Good Guys?|location=Alresford|publisher=Zero Books|year=2012|page=30}}</ref> and had gained a negligible response from the newspapers to which he had written.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cromwell|first=David|title=Why Are We the Good Guys?|page=35}}</ref> The two men first met in 1999, and Edwards suggested beginning a collaborative website.<ref name="alterzoom">{{cite web|last=Pedro|first=Joan|url=http://alterzoom.org:80/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=145&Itemid=48|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011152632/http://alterzoom.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=145&Itemid=48|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 October 2007|title=Interview with David Edwards and David Cromwell of Media Lens|work=alterzoom|date=6 October 2007|access-date=30 March 2020}}</ref>

Central to Media Lens analysis is the [[Propaganda model]], first developed by [[Edward S. Herman|Edward Herman]] and [[Noam Chomsky]], in their book ''[[Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media|Manufacturing Consent]]'' (1988).<ref name=DF2009/><ref name=GoP2005>{{cite book|last1=Edwards|first1=David|last2=Cromwell|first2=David|title=Guardians of Power: The Myth of the Liberal Media|year=2006|publisher=Pluto Press|isbn=0745324827|pages=4–5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=29xoAAAAIAAJ&q=editions:ISBN0745324835}}</ref> The theory posits that the way in which news media is structured (through [[advertising]], [[Concentration of media ownership|media ownership]], government sourcing and others) creates an inherent [[conflict of interest]] which leads to [[systemic bias]] and propaganda for undemocratic forces.<ref name=DF2009/><ref name=GoP2005/> Edwards has also cited [[Erich Fromm]], who thought "a society that subordinates people and planet to profit is inherently insane and toxic",<ref name="UKIM-NTM"/> and his practice of [[Buddhism]] as influences.<ref>See the last chapter of ''Newspeak in the 21st Century'' (London: Pluto, 2009) where Edwards explains this part of his life.</ref>

Media Lens has expressed admiration for Australian born journalist [[John Pilger]] on several occasions. Around 2006, Media Lens said ''The Guardian'' would not publish Pilger "because he’s honest about the media" and "draws attention to the vital role of the entire liberal media establishment in crimes against humanity. So he is ''persona non grata''".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://medialens.org/index.php/bookshop/interviews-about-the-books/119-uk-watch-interviews-media-lens.html|title=UK Watch Interviews Media Lens|work=Media Lens|date=15 January 2013|orig-year=c. 2006|access-date=17 February 2018}}</ref> In a 2007 interview, Media Lens said Pilger was a "huge inspiration" and, while discussing his work in the mainstream media, stated that "on the one hand, his work has a tremendous effect in enlightening a lot of people. On the other hand, his work is used to strengthen the propaganda system‘s false claims of honesty and openness".<ref name="Pilger2013">{{cite web|last1=Pilger|first1=John|last2=Albert|first2=Michael|url=http://www.zcommunications.org/the-view-from-the-ground-by-john-pilger|title=The View From The Ground|work=Z net|publisher=Z Communications|date=16 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130219060727/http://www.zcommunications.org/the-view-from-the-ground-by-john-pilger|archive-date=19 February 2013|quote=I have worked all my career in the mainstream. I’ve done this by expending a huge amount of energy in maintaining my place, and fighting my corner. It has been often and literally a struggle, but in time I learned to navigate through and sometimes around institutions. Learning to navigate is critical for young, principled journalists.}}</ref><ref name="alterzoom"/>

Writing in [[Z Communications]] in May 2014, Elliot Murphy said that Media Lens pay careful attention to the writings of [[George Orwell]], "noting the prevalence of clichés which should arouse suspicion in any reader of the press or listener of parliamentary debates. These include 'at a time when', 'demands difficult choices', 'pivotal moment', 'towards', 'inextricably linked', 'courage', 'human being', 'some people say that', 'left of centre', and 'history tells us'. Cromwell and Edwards observe that 'it is not important to make sense in the media; it is important only to be able to bandy the jargon of media discourse in a way that suggests in-depth knowledge: Iran-Contra, IMF, G8, the "roadmap to peace", "UN resolution 1441", and so on' ".<ref name="Murphy"/>