:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::
"Everything is being compressed into tiny tablets. You take a little pill of news every day - 23 minutes - and that's supposed to be enough." -Walter Cronkite, RE TV news. The Web has changed that for many, however, and here is an extra dose for your daily news cocktail. This prescription tends to include surveillance and now war-related links, along with the occasional pop culture junk and whatever else seizes my attention as I scan online news sites.:: 6.29.2003 ::
:: WMD war in the UK ::
No 10 and BBC are on warpath over Iraq WMDs
The war of words and threats between BBC and Tony Blair' powerful communications director Alastair Campbell over the allegation by a Radio 4 reporter that Campbell sexed up Iraq weapons dossier has led to the drawing of battle lines between Downing Street and mandarins at BBC.
A cabinet minister has reportedly said that the issue was now "tribal".
This unprecedented row between the Government and the Broadcasting Corporation took a dramatic turn on Saturday night when Andrew Gilligan, the reporter at the centre of claims that Number 10 sexed up evidence against Saddam Hussain, announced that he was ready to sue Phil Woolas, the deputy leader of the House of Commons, unless he received a full apology for allegation made by the minister against him.
Woolas had sent a letter to Gilligan saying that he had misled Foreign Affairs Select Committee which is conducting an inquiry into the Government's handling of the run-up to war in Iraq. Gilligan is livid and says the allegation that he misled the Committee is defamatory. He has also said that unlike Campbell's allegations, Woolas's are not protected by parliamentary privilege.
Gilligan has released the letter he sent to Woolas and that has led to furious media campaign and also ld both the Government and BBC into uncharted territory.
posted by me
:: 9:58:00 AM [+] ::
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