大象传媒

What moral bankruptcy has befallen the conservative party -the dogma of neocons and jumping on a band-wagon.

So "dangerous", the americans have released them....

What would anyone feel like being jailed without over-sight or external information.

Best wishes,

Quevoni

"Only a year ago - you'd might never heard of him. "

Apart from the abysmal grammar, I can't understand why you are wasting time on this when far more time could be spent on the 'What Happened Next?' piece.

"And if you want to know how Amy Winehouse's single "Rehab" came to be written - then it's a must watch."

As Mr Paxman might say 'Hmm..yeeess..'

If you want to cover culture, why don't you cover something really important - like the fact that the Arts Council has pulled the plug on funding dozens of projects and local theatres, instead of investing time on someone who 'has had a Grammy nomination'. Oa oa, bully for him..

So "dangerous", the americans have released them....

What would anyone feel like being jailed without over-sight or external information.

Quevoni

I agree with part of what you say Quevoni, however when you make it sound that all the detainees are innocent, well then I have to part company with you.

The interview with Mark Ronson was a pointless exercise.
If you really wanted to know something about music production why not go into the studio while he was recording and explain some of the effects and recording techniques he uses. We could have heard Winehouse's voice pre-production when it was completely clean and then afterwards when it had been treated. That might have been quite interesting.
Instead, we were subjected to the same jaded "celeb-style" interview we could have seen on MTV or E4.
The interviewer was ackward, while Ronson came across as vapid and unlikeable - the whole exercise was highly cringe inducing.
I not adverse to the idea of Newsnight covering popular culture occasionaly, but please, please stop doing this type of drab and empty interview.

Joseph, Thanks,

Though I don't think I mentioned innocence anywhere, it's just that isn't an intertwined value of Democracy, also justice (i.e. fair trials), and isn't that meant to be a "british" value?

Kind regards,

Quevoni

For an object lesson in the bias of the 大象传媒 one could barely do better than look at the episodes of the 10 O鈥檆lock News and Newsnight on Wednesday 19 January and at the top story on both: the return of three Guantanamo detainees.

We had Daniel Sandford appearing on both shows and commenting on the fact that two of the returned detainees are facing extradition to Spain. Mr Sandford delivered this soundbite: they鈥檝e come 鈥渙ut of the frying pan of Guantanamo and into the fire of Spanish justice鈥�.

The main criticism of Guantanamo over recent years is that it has never put people on trial, yet here we have a scenario in which two of these terror suspects might go on trial and Mr Sandford has made himself judge and jury in the whole proceedings.

Is Spain widely thought to have a discredited justice system? Daniel Sandford鈥檚 soundbite implies that it has. Where鈥檚 your famed 大象传媒-style 鈥渃ultural sensitivity鈥� towards Spain鈥檚 way of doing things (all supervised, of course, by the European Court of Human Rights), Daniel? Or does the 大象传媒鈥檚 political correctness run on a points-based system? More bias in your favour if you鈥檙e a Muslim, say?

Then we had this from Mr Sandford, again it was a phrase employed on both broadcasts: this move 鈥� to extradite to Spain 鈥� will 鈥渄ismay their families, lawyers and supporters鈥�. So what? Anybody facing a criminal enquiry anywhere in the world will have families, lawyers and supporters who are 鈥渄ismayed鈥�. Why weren鈥檛 similar dewy-eyed sentiments aired later on when both shows covered the arrest of a Manchester United player on a charge of rape? Having railed at the Americans at so long for not holding a trial, the critics of Guantanamo may be about to get their wish for a trial for two of these suspects in Spain. What鈥檚 wrong with that?

Then on Newsnight we had a debate with Clive Stafford Smith, a lawyer and supporter of these three detainees. Asked about one person who might be on their way to Spain, he kept banging on about a piece of videotape in which there had been a case of mistaken identity, which formed part of American intelligence on him.

At this point, the viewer hopes that the chair, Jeremy Paxman, will air the most prominent questions likely to come into the viewer鈥檚 head. The question clearly begged to be asked, 鈥淵es, Mr Stafford Smith, but was that piece of VT the only piece of evidence in this case and how do you know the Spanish are relying on it鈥�? Isn鈥檛 that called prejudicing due process? It is not unusual to have flawed pieces of evidence in any criminal enquiry, they will simply be discarded as irrelevant if it is proved that is all they are.

Finally, as the debate closed, Mr Stafford Smith got very heated and started saying words to the effect of: 鈥淗e should be free. It鈥檚 Eid, the festival of Muslims, today.鈥� What on earth has that got to do with the fair administration of justice and protecting the public, pray tell? I waited for Jeremy Paxman, who had been very perky the evening before with Nick Clegg, to put the point to Mr Stafford Smith, but as is so often the case with anti-terrorism debates on Newsnight, Mr Paxman lost his tongue.

I always thought Jeremy Paxman more Mr. Knight ley than Mr. Darcy.

Gavin Esler is more Mr. Darcy.
What is it with the 'wet' shirt?
Anyone with a degee in English would tell you that the meomorable scene is where Mr. Darcy gets out of his bath!!

"IFFY" the new word for NHS initiatives!......as described to Gerry Robinson.

Mr Stafford Smith on the story of the return of three Guantanamo detainees,
made his usual sarcastic comments about the likely risk his client poses now he is freed. But perhaps Mr Paxman should have reminded him of an earlier Gtmo release, Abdullah Mehsud: who was another, so called "Muslim in the wrong place at the wrong time".
Mehsud, spent 25 months in custody at the US base in Cuba before his release in March 2004.

Abdullah Mehsud, was a Taleban veteran who was shot dead by Pakistani forces when he returned to his previous Jihadist ways.

re: Ed Iglehart comment. I have no fear of Mr Mehsud contradicting or suing me for libel, not because he is dead, but because I got my information off the 大象传媒 website i.e he would have to sue them as well. read edit below.
大象传媒 website.

Profile: Abdullah Mehsud

Mehsud said he led his fighters by taking risks
Abdullah Mehsud, who Pakistani officials say is dead, was a Taleban veteran of Guantanamo Bay who became one of Pakistan's most wanted Islamic militant leaders.
Mehsud, 33, spent 25 months in custody at the US base in Cuba before his release in March 2004.

He commanded militants who kidnapped two Chinese engineers in Pakistan's South Waziristan region shortly after his release.

One of the Chinese men was killed during a rescue bid by Pakistani forces.

As a young man, Mehsud fought for the Taleban against the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.

He lost a leg in a landmine explosion a few days before the Taleban took Kabul in September 1996.

He surrendered along with several thousand fighters to the forces of Uzbek warlord, Abdul Rashid Dostum, in December 2001 in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, and was later turned over to the US military authorities.

Mehsud studied at a government college in Peshawar before attending a seminary where he befriended Afghan Taleban members and joined their movement.

My argument is with notion that everyone is a mistaken school builder who happens to be captured by the wicked US.
Merry Xmas

re: Ed Iglehart comment. I have no fear of Mr Mehsud contradicting or suing me for libel, not because he is dead, but because I got my information off the 大象传媒 website i.e he would have to sue them as well. read section below.
大象传媒 website.
Profile: Abdullah Mehsud
Mehsud said he led his fighters by taking risks
Abdullah Mehsud, who Pakistani officials say is dead, was a Taleban veteran of Guantanamo Bay who became one of Pakistan's most wanted Islamic militant leaders.
Mehsud, 33, spent 25 months in custody at the US base in Cuba before his release in March 2004.
He commanded militants who kidnapped two Chinese engineers in Pakistan's South Waziristan region shortly after his release.
One of the Chinese men was killed during a rescue bid by Pakistani forces.
As a young man, Mehsud fought for the Taleban against the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.

The question is not whether MR Mesuad was or was not Taliban, but the notion (from some like Stafford Smith), that everyone released from G/tmo is a "school builder" who was picked up in the wrong place by the wicked USA.