Richard North (blogger)

Richard North (not to be confused with the other Richard North who writes under the name Richard D North for various right wing think tanks) is a right-wing blogger who runs this blog. "He is a full-time parliamentary researcher with a PhD and has also worked for newspapers (currently researching for the Sunday Telegraph) since 1992." He has also written for Private Eye under the nom de plume 'Muckspreader'[1].

Flakking for Israel

On 6 August 2006, North blogged about the veracity of the eponymous photographs of the rescuers after the Israeli bombing of Qana. North's contention is that the photos were staged. On 7 August 2006, North's story was a key part of a BBC Newsnight special section on the manipulation of images coming out of a conflict zone. (The transcript of the Newsnight program can be read here.) Note that the questions about the veracity of the Qana photos were widely circulated by LittleGreenFootballs, the right-wing blog. (NB: Charles Johnson, the editor of LGF, received a prize for "promoting Israel and Zionism" because of LGF's flak.) This is what MediaLens had to say about this sordid affair:

In an August 7 discussion, ironically, of the power of propaganda, the BBC's Newsnight programme focused on alleged tampering of photographs of Israeli attacks on Beirut. Had a photographer added an extra flare falling from an Israeli bomber for dramatic effect? Did the same photographer alter clouds of smoke to make them seem more ominous? Had Hezbollah propagandists needlessly carried the body of a dead child around in Qana to ensure journalists got the picture?
More importantly, but undiscussed – what was the moral value of promoting scepticism, based on such trivial concerns, towards the overwhelming evidence of the undeniable catastrophe that has befallen Lebanon? What was the moral value of muddying the reality that the Lebanese child really had been killed by an Israeli attack on Qana? Can we imagine a discussion of whether the fiery colours at the heart of the fireball from the second jet to hit the World Trade Centre on 9/11 was enhanced for effect? Would journalists have highlighted the issue on national television, or would they have dismissed it out of hand? How can we explain the difference? The answer lies in the value of blood.

From the Bruges Group biography:

After a brief career in the Royal Air Force, Richard North became a local government officer and then ran his own

consultancy business for two decades. He then moved into trade politics and thence to the European Parliament as research director for the group of European Democracies and Diversities.
Through this professional work, Richard obtained first hand experience of the damaging effects of Brussels directives and their interpretation by UK officials on British businesses, and has gained an unrivalled insight into the workings of the European Union.
Along with Christopher Booker the Sunday Telegraph columnist, he is the co-author of The Great Deception, the seminal history of the European Union. Dr North has also written two books

on bureaucracy and the EU, with Christopher Booker, and one on the death of British agriculture.

Affiliations

• The Bruges Group –- Commentator
• European Democracies and Diversities -- researcher
• EuroReferendum Blog -- main blogger
• Telegraph Group
• The People's No Campaign, Analysis and Research Director [2]
• Charles Johnson -- North circulates Johnson's materials/flak

External Resources, Notes

Resources

• Raymond Snoddy, How to save the face of a venerable news organisation, The Independent, 12 Feb 2007.