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John Pilger passed away on December 30, 2023. His Legacy will Live.

John Pilger was a giant in the field of international journalism, and put together 70 documentaries over the course of his life. He not only did not shrink from telling any story now matter what the position of the centre of the report, he stood up for independent reporting and press outlets and stood shoulder to shoulder with Julian Assange when the Wikileaks president was hounded as a criminal. (see last week’s episode.)

With John Pilger having died over six months ago, we at the Global Research News Hour pay tribute to the memory of a giant international journalist and film-maker by providing repeats of our first interview with him back in September of 2017.

A guest journalist named Lesley Hughes talked to Mr. Pilger on the topic of the challenges facing genuine reporting in the 2010s, the shrinking of the anti-war movement under President Obama, mainstream media warmongering over Russia, and the mendacity of ‘hope.’

(MAW July 12, 2024.)

This interview was first published October 7, 2017.

“It is not enough for journalists to see themselves as mere messengers without understanding the hidden agendas of the message and myths that surround it.” – John Pilger [1]

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

Click to download the audio (MP3 format)

Ecological disasters, economic disruption, military incursions, political upheaval, and financial exploitation all converge and coordinate on the world scene. A chorus of violence, chaos and destruction reaching a crescendo at this stage in human history.

We have a US President facing opposition from within the very power structure of his country. We have an unprecedented level of hostility being exchanged between two nuclear states: North Korea and the United States. Russia stands accused of meddling and interfering with a US election in spite of a lack of concrete evidence to this effect. A lone gunman in Las Vegas, apparently with no military training or background manages to kill or wound nearly 600 people from a distance of 390 yards in only a few minutes. A Caribbean island and US territory, Puerto Rico, is in crisis after a major hurricane wipes out most of its power generation and access to potable water.

It serves certain powerful interests to emphasize certain developments while under-emphasizing or even ignoring others.

Ironically, in an age when the internet was supposed to liberate the masses from domination of corporate-friendly narratives, special interests have not encountered much in the way of organized resistance to their agendas.

Journalists in the truest sense of the word are truth-tellers. They break down artifice and propaganda and keep the powerful on their toes. To quote the aphorism: they comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

Few people on the planet have upheld this principle as long, as diligently and as consistently as John Pilger.

An Australian by nationality, John Pilger has been a working journalist for more than half a century. He has covered numerous wars, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Egypt, India, Bangladesh, Biafra and the Middle East . He marched alongside America’s poor following the assasination of Dr. Martin Luther King, and was present in the room when presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.

His documentaries, which now number around 70, have earned him numerous awards and accolades including The George Foster Peabody Award in 1990, a  British Academy of Film and Television Arts  in 1991, an American Television Award (Emmy) also in 1991, the Sophie Prize for Human Rights in 2003 and the Royal Television Society Best Documentary in 2004. He has contributed to numerous publications and media outlets over the decades including the BBC, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, The Independent,

The New York Times, New Statesman, The Los Angeles Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, Information Clearing House, Truthout, Truthdig, ZNET, Common Cause, Antiwar.com and Global Research. [2]

In this week’s feature interview, conducted by special guest host, veteran Winnipeg print and broadcast journalist Lesley Hughes, John Pilger discusses the role of the journalist and modern challenges to authentic journalism, the misleading characterization of North Korea as current tensions mount, the West’s role in instigating the refugee crisis, the destruction of an authentic anti-war movement under President Obama, mainstream media warmongering on Russia, and the mendacity of ‘hope’.

As a final note. The Global Research News Hour wishes to acknowledge and thank University of Manitoba based radio station CJUM 101.5 FM for providing access to their studio for recording purposes.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

Click to download the audio (MP3 format)

The Global Research News Hour airs every Friday at 1pm CT on CKUW 95.9FM in Winnipeg. The programme is also podcast at globalresearch.ca . The show can be heard on the Progressive Radio Network at prn.fm. Listen in everyThursday at 6pm ET.

Community Radio Stations carrying the Global Research News Hour:

CHLY 101.7fm in Nanaimo, B.C – Thursdays at 1pm PT

Boston College Radio WZBC 90.3FM NEWTONS  during the Truth and Justice Radio Programming slot -Sundays at 7am ET.

Port Perry Radio in Port Perry, Ontario –1  Thursdays at 1pm ET

Burnaby Radio Station CJSF out of Simon Fraser University. 90.1FM to most of Greater Vancouver, from Langley to Point Grey and from the North Shore to the US Border.

It is also available on 93.9 FM cable in the communities of SFU, Burnaby, New Westminister, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Surrey and Delta, in British Columbia, Canada. – Tune in  at its new time – Wednesdays at 4pm PT.

Radio station CFUV 101.9FM based at the University of Victoria airs the Global Research News Hour every Sunday from 7 to 8am PT.

CORTES COMMUNITY RADIO CKTZ  89.5 out of Manson’s Landing, B.C airs the show Tuesday mornings at 10am Pacific time.

Cowichan Valley Community Radio CICV 98.7 FM serving the Cowichan Lake area of Vancouver Island, BC airs the program Thursdays at 6am pacific time.

Campus and community radio CFMH 107.3fm in  Saint John, N.B. airs the Global Research News Hour Fridays at 10am.

Caper Radio CJBU 107.3FM in Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia airs the Global Research News Hour starting Wednesday Morning from 8:00 to 9:00am. Find more details at www.caperradio.ca

Notes: 

1.  http://johnpilger.com/biography
2. ibid