About

Media Workers Against the War is a group of concerned journalists and media staff who campaign against the “war on terror” and against the racism directed against Muslims in consequence of the war.

Set up by campaigning journalists John Pilger and Paul Foot in 1990 to campaign against the first Gulf War, Media Workers Against the War believes British and US troops are making the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan worse and should leave immediately.

Media Workers Against the War believes that much mainstream media coverage of the war on terror adopts the assumptions of the British and American governments as “common sense”, fails to subject those assumptions to critical examination, and consistently underplays and under-reports the anti-war movement — the largest radical protest movement this country has ever seen.

We campaign for better journalism. You can be pro-war and do good journalism, or be anti-war and do bad journalism. We believe, however, that journalism suffers because of the pro-war editorial positions of so many senior media personnel.

MWAW seeks to:

  • Persuade all sections of the media to report the war fairly through critical, informed questioning and investigation of politicians and the military;
  • Ensure that broadcasters follow the terms of their charters on impartiality and context;
  • Urge print editors and broadcasters to follow the ethical principles of journalism, as laid down by professional bodies such as the NUJ and BECTU, in war coverage;
  • Investigate and publicise biased, incomplete or distorted coverage of the “war on terror”, incitement to racial or religious hatred in the media;
  • Urge the public to bring the media to account, pressure it to tell the truth and resist political interference, whether in the form of direct government pressure, official regulation or commercial and business interests.

Media Workers Aganst the War advisory committee:

Tim Lezard (NUJ national executive committee)

Lauren Booth, freelance journalist

Haifa Zangana, chair of Iraqi Committee for National Media and Culture

Sami Ramadani, London Metropolitan University