Category: embargo

 

Clock called “The Chariot of Diana” (detail). circa 1610. Ebony, gilt bronze, 31 x 41 x 17 cm. Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan. Downloaded from the Web Gallery of Art at www.wga.hu with express permission. Many thanks!            

         Network wars. Authored by Student # 5. Unedited by blog admin.

                    Quote “Last  weekend  (Dec. 29-30, 2007  -blog admin), ABS-CBN issued a public statement about another network’s (not mentioned) alleged manipulation of the TV ratings survey conducted by AGB Nielsen. The 3-minute video clip aired (during primetime) explained how the ratings are (sic)  determined and went on to talk about the other network’s informant, who was paid to go around the homes (in Bacolod) with the TV meters and pay them so that they would switch channels. I laud the fact that ABS-CBN made an effort to explain certain technicalities to the public, yet they are (sic)  not without fault.                      

           Quote “In response to this statement, GMA has started airing a 2-minute video clip contradicting ABS-CBN’s previous statements. It accused the latter of twisting the facts. It went on to say that Maya Reforma of AGB never admitted to (sic)  any kind of cheating committed by GMA (while Judge Gonzales asserted that ABS-CBN’s apprehensions “are not without justifiable reasons”).    

 

Clock called “The Chariot of Diana” . circa 1610. Ebony, gilt bronze, 31 x 41 x 17 cm. Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan. Downloaded from the Web Gallery of Art at www.wga.hu with express permission.  Thanks again!                                 

       Quote “Clause # 5 of the KBP TV Code regarding Public Affairs, states that: “No station shall allow its airtime and other facilities to be used to malign or unfairly attack other persons or groups on issues which have no bearing on the public welfare.” Both stations are clearly guilty about violating this provision. In its statement, GMA has clearly identified ABS-CBN, adding that they will (sic) file a suit against the network. Compared to GMA, ABS-CBN didn’t mention any particular network, but still I think it was not appropriate to devote precious airtime to such matters. It wasn’t even a matter of life and death. ABS-CBN has already filed a case against AGB and if GMA intends to file a case against the other network, then they should just have let the courts decide about the matter and not publicize it excessively.

                      Quote “In addition, both networks’ actions also violate (sic)  a provision from (sic)  the Journalist’s Code of Ethics saying that journalists should not “suppress  essential facts nor distort the truth by omission or improper emphasis.” Both networks chose to include facts that would present them on (sic) a positive side (sic)  and put the blame on their competitor. Clearly, there was a conflict of interest present in both sides. Jan 4, 1:57 AM” closed-quote. 

             

Effigy of a Knight. c. 1300. Artist unknown.Stone. Dorchester Abbey, Dorchester. Downloaded from the Web Gallery of Art at www.wga.hu with express permission. Thanks!

        On: “Wrong spelling!” Authored by cool. Unedited by blog admin. Authored by Student no. 10 post no. 3

       Quote “For two days  of  watching “The Big News”, a 15-minute early evening newscast over ABC-5, I can’t (sic) help but criticize the newscast for some grammatical errors committed by its reporters and most especially on (sic) its captions for their news items. There are misspelled words such as “suplies,” “explane”, among others. This is really unethical because as journalists, they should check first everything before they flash it onscreen. Aside from that, there’s (sic)  an instance that they don’t (sic) put the name of the interviewed government official, especially those who are (sic) controversial like Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. It’s (sic) really negligence on their part for not properly identifying personalities (by putting their names onscreen). The newscast violated the first provision on (sic) the journalist’s code of ethics that gives primary importance on accuracy of facts, grammar, information and the like. Dec 30, 5:58 PM.” Closed-quote.  

     

Francisco de Goya. The Third of May, 1808: The Execution of the Defenders of Madrid. 1814. Oil on canvas, 266 x 345 cm. Museo del Prado , Madrid. Downloaded with express permission  from the Web Gallery of Art at www.wga.hu  .  Thanks             

        From American University Washington College of  Law Professor Michael Tigar (Constitutional Law; Supreme Court; French legal system; criminal law and procedure; human rights);  represented Terry Nichols in the Oklahoma City bombing trial; one of the most renowned lawyers in the United States; he has argued seven cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and more than 100 appellate cases; written extensively about litigation, aspects of trial practice, criminal law, the death penalty, and the role of the criminal defense lawyer. His books include Fighting Injustice (ABA, 2002); Federal Appeals: Jurisdiction and Practice; and Examining Witnesses. In addition, he has written several plays about famous trials. Throughout his career, Tigar has been active in pro bono cases, the American Bar Association, continuing legal education programs, and international human rights. During the apartheid period, he went to South Africa to train black lawyers. Prior to joining AU, Tigar served as a professor at the University of Texas Law School:        

         Quote “We do not want for examples of how claims for justice may be presented based on the rediscovered norms of human rights. In assessing these stories, one must keep in mind that using legal ideology to present claims for justice is not an end in itself. That is, the claims are made by and on behalf of a movement for change, and the purely “legal”  maneuvers are but one element of the movement’s activity. To see matters otherwise puts law and lawyers too much in the  center  of things, and risks both reification of the norms and trivialization of the movement’s popular base.       

         Quote “My partners and I sued the Chilean junta (of Pinochet  – blog admin) and won a judgment declaring it responsible for the killings. The damage award was eventually paid. This case thus helped to establish the principle of state responsibility for acts of terrorism conducted against political opponents. It was, of course, no secret that agents of reactionary governments used the United States as a base for operations against their own nationals. This was a pathbreaking decision on state liability for such conduct.

                   Quote “In the meantime, with renewed vigor after the junta yielded power, lawyers in Chile brought cases dealing with the junta’s abuses. General Manuel Contreras, head of the secret police, was tried and convicted by a military court. He then gave a statement implicating Pinochet in all the murders and tortures and disappearances. This statement added to a considerable body of evidence of Pinochet’s personal involvement in those crimes. After all, Pinochet’s favorite expression was “not a leaf moves in Chile but that I know of it.” 

          xxxxxxx        

         Quote “The answer to such difficulties lies in the relationship between law and movements for social change. The Pinochet litigation in London and Spain would not have had a lasting effect unless a movement in Chile had taken up the call to bring him to justice. All of our work on the Pinochet matter, from 1976 forward, has been done in close collaboration with the movement for change in Chile. That movement redoubled its efforts when Pinochet was released in Britain, and the Chilean courts have now stripped him of his immunity from suit and prosecution. In the same vein, aberrational invocations of human rights and universal jurisdiction principles will be countered by responses from the people affected by the alleged conduct. If no movement for change responds to an initiative, it will lose force.  

          XXXX 

              Quote “Principles of legal ideology, reflecting international consensus, become the basis for demands for change. And if the change does not come, the insistent argument that this represents a betrayal of “the law” helps to galvanize the movement for change. One need only look at the struggles for civil rights and against apartheid to see the point. To say that one desires change is one thing. To say that one is entitled to change, and to back that argument up by appeals to legal ideology, makes the demand clearer. And, as I noted above, the great powers no longer possess a monopoly on formulating principles of legal ideology. Thus, the conduct of the most reactionary government—as in Chief Justice Marshall’s day—is no longer the defining principle of international norms. XXXX closed-quote. – Michael Tigar, “Law and the Rise of Capitalism” new edition at www.monthlyreview.org/lawrise