In late-January 2006, I made a formal complaint to TVNZ about an NBC news item that aired on the 20th January, on the grounds that it incorrectly stated that bin Laden was responsible for 9/11 attacks, while evidence demonstrated that the US Administration was behind the atrocities. TVNZ did not uphold my complaint, and you can read the related letters in Issue 3 of Uncensored Magazine.
Consequently, I then complained to the Broadcasting Standards Authority, (BSA), and their decision, dated the 4th May, is now available at their website:
https://www.bsa.govt.nz/decisions/2006/2006-011.htm
Interestingly, the BSA has DECLINED TO DETERMINE whether the bogus bin Laden broadcast was inaccurate under section 11 (b) of the Broadcasting Act 1989. While this is a move in the right direction, given that they could have chosen not to uphold my complaint, it is by no means good enough, particulary given that taxpayers are funding the BSA, and the evidence to show the US government was complicit in 9/11 is overwhelming.
Also not good enough, was the BSA’s seeming blithe unconcern and indifference to the fact that 9/11 has been used as a pretext to wage the Iraq war, and to torture and kill civilians. The BSA’s comparison of 9/11attacks to the moon landings, [refer 10 in letter], is simply not appropriate.
On May the 9th, I sent the following e-mail to the BSA in regards to their decision:
Broadcasting Standards Authority,
Complaints Manager.
Attn: John Sneyd.
Dear John,
Could you please e-mail a copy of the BSA letter written on the 4th May to this address.
Also, please draw it to the attention of the members of the BSA, that during the time the panel was reaching the conclusion that Osama bin Laden’s “involvement [in 9/11] is a widely accepted fact supported by the weight of credible evidence,” the Vice President of the USA, Dick Cheney, stated in an interview with Tony Snow, on March the 29th, that “evidence has NEVER been forthcoming” to show Osama bin Laden was involved in 9/11. The transcript of this interview is posted on the White House website – a website the BSA will undoubtedly deem a reliable source.
Please refer: www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060329-2.html
THE VICE PRESIDENT: That’s correct. We had one report early on from another intelligence service that suggested that the lead hijacker, Mohamed Atta, had met with Iraqi intelligence officials in Prague, Czechoslovakia. And that reporting waxed and waned where the degree of confidence in it, and so forth, has been pretty well knocked down now at this stage, that that meeting ever took place. SO WE’VE NEVER MADE THE CASE, OR ARGUED THE CASE THAT SOMEHOW OSAMA BEN LADEN [sic] WAS DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN 9/11. That evidence has never been forthcoming. But there — that’s a separate proposition from the question of whether or not there was some kind of a relationship between the Iraqi government, Iraqi intelligence services and the al Qaeda organization.
Why did BSA members not acknowledge this pivotal admission from the Vice President when they were arriving at their conclusion? Their failure to do so is utterly disgraceful in my opinion, as it is indicative that they are failing in their duty to do proper research prior to arriving at important decisions and therefore making a farce out of their obligation to serve the public.
Yours sincerely,
Clare Swinney.
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Hero, Antony Thorpe also made a complaint to the BSA on this topic. The BSA’s response is here:
https://www.bsa.govt.nz/decisions/2006/2006-077.htm