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A tiny fraction of media coverage, mostly postings on online discussion boards, blogs and websites, is making highly offensive and untrue claims about Common Purpose.
- Sir David Bell, Director for People, Pearson plc and Chair of the Board of Trustees, Common Purpose International
Despite the volume of evidence that I have already presented in relation to the organisation, Common Purpose, one issue is becoming increasingly clear - The British Media generally neglects to inform the British public of its' activities and has also failed to educate its' readership in relation to the the United Nations Agenda 21 programme. The obvious consequence of this censoring of the truth in the Mainstream Media is that it resurfaces in another format; 'in blogs, on online discussion boards and on websites'.
The Role Of The Media In A Democratic And Free Society
In the following video the late President John F. Kennedy of the USA addresses an audience of the press some 50 years ago. Kennedy said:
The very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweigh the dangers which are cited to justify it.
Readers are reminded that Common Purpose tells us itself that it employs the Chatham House rule meaning that 'participants are free to use the information received but that neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant may be revealed'.
Let us move on and briefly examine a number of examples from the British Press and media.
The British Broadcasting Corporation
According to a Freedom of Information response the BBC has spent a massive £158,100 on Common Purpose training. The BBC claimed that this was to 'assist senior editorial staff in building partnerships and developing knowledge, experience and contacts in their local area'. The following list provides a small sample of Common Purpose trained BBC personnel.
It's hardly surprising that a press report in October 2006 revealed that
A host of BBC executives and star presenters admitted what critics have been telling them for years: the BBC is dominated by trendy, Left-leaning liberals who are biased against Christianity and in favour of multiculturalism....Political pundit Andrew Marr said: 'The BBC is not impartial or neutral. It's a publicly funded, urban organisation with an abnormally large number of young people, ethnic minorities and gay people.
Four years later we learn that little, if anything, has changed. The BBC remains reliably pro-EU, pro-PC, anti-Israel, in favour of the sexual revolution, soft on drugs [and] fanatical about man-made climate change.
Key BBC employees such a Robert Peston are not only fully involved with Common Purpose but are prepared to advertise their involvement and recommend Common Purpose using their BBC title.
Trinity Mirror Group
The minutes of the British Printing Industries Federation AGM 2009 reveals that 'Mike Taylor introduced Rupert Middleton, Group Managing Director, Trinity Mirror PLC, as the next President of the BPIF'.
He then told attendees that
Rupert Middleton was accountable for all newspaper printing in the Group, across 9 sites with 2,000 staff and a turnover of approximately £300 million. He had taken a First in Law at Cambridge University in 1978. After practicing as a Barrister he had worked for five years at the Industrial Society...In 1997, he had been part of the management buy-out team that privatised HMSO [Her Majesties Stationery Supplies], as Chief Executive of the Security Printing and Parliamentary Services Business. He had joined Trinity Mirror in 2004.
Isn't it is little strange how Middleton's connection with his wife's operation, Common Purpose, is conspicuously absent from the Mirror Group website.
Trinity Mirror Group has five National Newspapers and over 150 Regional Newspapers.
Here are another two senior Trinity Mirror Group managers connected with Common Purpose.
Common Purpose Navigator is a programme like no other I have experienced...It filled me with a real sense of purpose and optimism
- Toby Batchelor, Head of Trading, Trinity Mirror Midlands
Louise Rogers, Regional Training Manager, Trinity Mirror Midlands - Common Purpose Advisory Group Member.
The Media Standards Trust
According to their web site The Media Standards Trust 'aims to find ways to foster the highest standards of excellence in news journalism on behalf of the public, and ensure public trust in news is nurtured……..We believe high standards of news and information are critical to the health of our democratic society'.
Whilst no one would deny the need for 'high standards of excellence in news journalism' just how independent is the Media Standards Trust?
One look at their Board should give a hint.
The Media Trust
Another organisation with a similar sounding name is the Media Trust. The Media Trust website tells its readers that they
work with media organisations and charities to enhance their communications and enable communities to find their voice and make it heard.
They also claim that
everyone should have a voice and the opportunity to be heard.
I have no doubt that there are occasions when some individuals have difficulty in articulating their point of view. Under normal circumstances the Vision & Mission Statement of organisations like the Media Trust would be welcome. But when we dig a little deeper alarm bells start to sound.
Media Trust Corporate Members include: The BBC, Channel 4, Daily Mail, Disney Channel UK, Guardian Media Group, ITV PLC, MTV Networks, News International, Sky, Virgin Media TV & Warner Brothers.
Media Trust And The Big Society
Caroline Diehl, CEO states the she
wants to see the UK's creative, media and digital industry fully engaged in the Big Society as mentors, volunteers, story tellers and digital organisers, trainers, film makers and online trainers.
What really worries me most is her claim that:
Communities need the help of the media industry to ensure that our new world is transparent and democratic at the local level.
Personally, I have no need for people like Caroline Diehl or any of her Media Trust connections to advocate on my behalf. You shouldn't either because she is another member of the Common Purpose club having graduated from their Matrix Course in East London in 1994/5.
Once again we find the taxpayer indirectly funding their work with the Media Trust boasting the following project funders 2008/09 - The Arts Council for England & Wales, The Cabinet Office, The Department of Culture Media & Sport, The Department for Children Schools & families, The Equality & Human Rights Commission & The National Lottery amongst others.
Community TV
Within the Media Trust March 2009 accounts filed with the Charity Commission it states
Media Trust established a subsidiary trading company, The Community Channel, on 22nd October 1998. The Chief Executive of the Media Trust is also a Director of the trading company.
Community channel is majority-funded by the Cabinet Office [and] receives free airtime from Sky, Virgin TV and Freeview. Featured on their website today is
The Community Channel also has an 8 page factsheet telling you more about organisations working towards the MDG's. Whilst the above organisations might talk publicly about democracy and democratic society I am suspicious that they are already operating within a swiftly developing Kleptocracy.
Instead of investigating and exposing the obvious conflicts of interests arising when a secret organisation's members network across our Government Institutions and media the BBC chooses to publish trivia such as the recent story that 'people could be given cash incentives to give up smoking or lose weight under proposals by the Health Watchdog for England and Wales'.
Marr attacks Bloggers
BBC Political presenter Andrew Marr criticised bloggers in this week's Telegraph whilst also admitting that 'it was a hard fact that the media would be employing fewer journalists as sales of hard copies declined'. Marr claimed that 'so-called citizen journalists will never offer a real replacement for newspapers and television news [as] most citizen journalism strikes me as nothing to do with journalism at all'.
Personally I wouldn't want to be associated with a left leaning jounalistic hack such as Marr Instead of providing readers with both critical analysis and commentary 21st century journalists hide the obvious behind a curtain of soundbites, sensationalism and propaganda.
If you don't believe me consider the following quotation from 70 years ago. The author was brother to Aldous Huxley, who most will remember as the author of Brave New World.
'There are thus two tasks for the mass media division of UNESCO, the one general the other special. The special one is to enlist the press and the radio and the cinema to the fullest extent in the service of formal and adult education, of science and learning, of art and culture. The general one is to see that these agencies are used to contribute to mutual comprehension between different Nations and cultures, and also to promote the growth of a Common Outlook [my emphasis] shared by all Nations and Cultures.
The task is to help the emergence of a single world culture, with its' own philosophy and background of ideas, and it's own broad purpose'. - Julian Huxley - UNESCO: Its' Purpose and it's Philosophy.
