by Stephen Lendman

Official government data are manipulated. Credibility's entirely lacking. Reported good news is hype. Grim underlying reality is suppressed.

The monthly Labor Department jobs report is typical. Progressive Radio News Hour regular economist Jack Rasmus calls the latest January one "largely statistical legerdemain."

A reported 243,000 nonfarm jobs reported lacked credibility. Manipulation manufactured them. Even the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) admits:

"The confidence level for the monthly change in total employment is on the order of plus or minus 430,000 jobs."

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The Independent just announced that British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) would be running an apology worldwide for airing documentaries produced by a public relations firm. The anticipated apology resulted from last year's reporting in The Independent on this pecuiar BBC practice. A special committee investigated and confirmed the news fixing process.

"The BBC will today apologise to an estimated 74 million people around the world for a news fixing scandal, exposed by The Independent, in which it broadcast documentaries made by a London TV company that was earning millions of pounds from PR clients which it featured in its programming." The Independent, Feb 11

Sweet! The PR firm got a big payday from its clients, the nation of Malaysia for example, to produce the client-friendly documentaries. Then, the firm sold the documentaries to BBC for a nominal fee. The client state gets the publicity it wants, packaged for maximum effect, and BBC gets low cost content.

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