we interrupt this programme

of holiday reporting to bring this relatively short and very informative interview from Perth's rtrfm with Dutch journalist, Joris Luyendijik.

To quote from the radio station's homepage:

Between 1998 and 2003, he covered everything from the Iraq War to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But the more he saw, the less he understood, because what happens on the ground is very different from what’s reported in the news.

His book, ‘Fit to Print’ exposes the way journalists are forced to manipulate and filter news from the Middle East.

Joris Luyendijk joined Danae Gibson on Morning Magazine to uncover the truth…

Anyone who has any understanding of semantics will have no trouble in realising that people are being manipulated when only one side is shown to have moderates, or indeed, when conflicts are viewed in terms of sides instead of the complexities that are usually involved.

It's a pretty short, but very informative interview, and you can listen to it here, and you can also download the mp3 directly.

I like the exposure that Danae Gibson gives to different people on her Morning Magazine section, and it is one of the few places in Perth radio where you will hear an alternative (no, I'm not on their payroll :) ).