Sky News report into Pegida rally in Cologne misrepresents ‘refugee’ problem

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Sky News UK did what looked like a complete ‘hatchet-job’ in their afternoon report from todaysPegida rally in Cologne.

We can overlook the persistent use of ‘right wing Pegida’ in every UK news report at present.  Done in a style similar to the nonsensical ‘so called ISIS’ idea bandied about when ISIS were committing atrocities, intended to sway public opinion away from attaching ‘Islamic State’ to ‘Islam’. This is swaying opinion and painting Pegida as an EDL-like, far right extremist group. They aren’t regularly calling Pegida ‘extremists’ yet, but that may only be a matter of time.

Pegida ‘manifesto’ translated from German to English.

Sky News headline 9th Jan 2016 “right wing Pegida”

We can overlook the ramping up of the pro-refugee propaganda machine since Christmas (even reporting again on the death of Aylan Kurdi, ignoring again the furore surrounding the guilt of his father). This pro-refugee propaganda is no longer so effective on the UK population, we have since seen through the rhetoric.

Sky News can usually be relied upon to at least give some semblance of unbiased reporting on most issues, although they still introduce an inevitable and unavoidable bias that human intervention brings to anything.

Today they went out of their way to pre-emptively counter any concerns held by Pegida, with blatant misreporting of the nationality and status of those responsible for the Cologne attacks and failing to acknowledge the other attacks across Europe. The counter argument and presentation of counter (skewed) ‘facts’ actually during the report on the rally was a completely open and intended misrepresentation of Pegida and the rally itself. It’s difficult to watch the Sky News coverage and actually gain anything insightful about attendance numbers or the reason they are protesting in the first place.

I am no Pegida member, nor even supporter. What I am is someone who assumes a mass protest, particularly one which has become a Europe-wide ‘movement’, has a point to make. Their point may be something we should dismiss instantly as hate-fuelled, divisive, even racist, if indeed that is their message. What we should not do, however, is dismiss their point before we hear it. I recognise that Pegida members have legitimate concerns over the forced invasion of Muslim migrants into Europe, particularly given we obviously have no way to ensure they are reliable, trustworthy citizens and not criminals, terrorists or rapists. Should Sky News decide if we hear thismessage, or hear a totally skewed message of their own formulation?

If our media filter and misreport on such mass groups of individuals, sharing common concerns, then how can we citizens make a fully informed opinion? Should we assume the media know best, or should we be entitled to hear all arguments, openly debate and reach a logical and informed conclusion? I’d lean more towards talking to those who wish to talk, but firmly dealing with those who wish to cause unrest.

Sky News blatantly misrepresents the ‘refugee’ input into Cologne attacks

Mark Stone, Sky News Europe Correspondent, presented a report from the Pegida rally outside the train station in Cologne this afternoon.

Watch it below, paying particular attention to how he presents his ‘facts’ over the number arrested and deflects (misrepresents?) to suggest to viewers that only 5 of the 32 (4 Syrians and 1 Iraqi) were indeed ‘refugees’.

I’ll permit his total being incorrect, 32 instead of his 31, putting this down to not having recent data before filming.

Mark breaks down his 31 arrested as follows:

• 18 were ‘asylum seekers’
• Only 4 were Syrian ‘refugees’
• Only 1 was an Iraqi ‘refugee’

Mark emphasises the word ‘fact’ throughout his number-crunching portion, offering a conclusion that only 5 of the ‘31’ arrested were anything to do with ‘refugees’, ignoring the word ‘migrant’ altogether in continuance of Sky News pro-refugee propaganda we’ve had thrust at us since Xmas.

Is he seriously suggesting that Merkels Million ‘genuine refugees’ are solely Syrian and Iraqi and that only they are genuine refugees in the first place? Where does this leave the Iranians, Afghans, Moroccans, Eritreans, Somalians, etc?  Are they no longer to be classed as ‘refugees’? Quite confusing, eh?

This is, at best, disingenuous (at worst, blatant misrepresentation).

The facts, as widely reported, are:

• 32 have been arrested in total so far
• 22 are ‘current’ asylum-seekers
• 9 are Algerian
• 8 are Moroccan
• 5 are Iranian
• 4 are Syrian
• 1 is Iraqi
• 1 is Serbian
• 1 (the latest arrested alongside a 16yo Moroccan) is a Tunisian
• 1 holds an American passport, but no further information given
• 2 are described as ‘German’ but no further information given

So, to report the ‘fact’ that the #rapefugees (as described on one of today’s banners) were not responsible for the Cologne attacks, to suggest that a mere 5 of those arrested were a part of ‘Merkels Million’, was blatant propaganda and bias.

You tell me, reader.  When you listen to Marks presentation of the ‘facts’, then you read my summary…do you feel Mark was being sincere and honest?

So many questions, so little honesty

Are Sky News correspondents, such as Mark Stone in this instance, responsible for their own words during these reports? Are they told what to say, how to present their ‘facts’, how to ‘lean’ when presenting their report?

If indeed they are influenced, who does this and why? Is this UK government influence? Is it, as we’ve seen already with the BBC, because they are beholding financially to an overbearing and undemocratic EU?

Was the purpose of today’s blatant misreporting of the Cologne NYE migrant rampage designed to reduce tension and reduce blame being apportioned to the million or so unknown migrants Ms Merkel welcomed with open arms during 2015? Maybe this was the reason and Sky News had totally honourable intentions? Maybe Sky News was trying to reduce conflict across Europe and had all of our best interests at heart?…and I’ll await the flying pigs.

Were the ‘figures’ deliberately skewed to counter the very reason for the Pegida rally today?  Is it the preference of those ‘in power’ that the general population be kept in the dark over these happenings and the reality of their perpetrators?

Would the ownership, trickling down through the puppeteers at the top of the Sky News organisation, have decided they want to support their elite chums in their quest to flood Europe and the West with undocumented cheap labour, amending demographics to ensure they can bend the political will of nations to support their greed?

So many questions.

So difficult to ascertain any believable or credible answers.

So indicative of the bias in UK media (of which Sky are the best of a bad bunch, in my humble opinion), peddling a false impression of the events unfolding in a very troubled Europe at present. The news reporting in the UK is so filtered, it feels more like North Korea every day.

Are we witnessing censorship?

Bad enough to see bias like this from Sky, a well-respected UK media outlet with a large audience. Add to this the suspension from Twitter of #FreeSpeech advocate Old Holbornyesterday. Another loud voice, calling for transparency over the Cologne attacks and others like it, silenced before it can whip up too much support amongst an eager audience.

Then we see a stern warning being issued, by Twitter themselves, to Milo Yiannopolous. Milo is a flamboyant Conservative journalist for Breitbart, another massive voice refusing to be silent over Cologne. Milo is such a voice, with such a widespread audience, he actually turned Twitter upside down through the night last night, with followers changing their names in solidarity (myself included) and causing the #JeSuisMilo hashtag to trend worldwide.

I’m not saying all of these are directly linked, though all were ‘off message’ as far as Western authorities and our UK media are concerned. I am not quite ready for the tinfoil hat and moving into a shelter in my back garden. I am, however, saying that someone, somewhere, is orchestrating a campaign to silence critics and upset any collective debate over the blatant propaganda the citizens of Europe are being force-fed by a controlled media. The reasons for this are unclear, cheap labour being favoured by many as the end result.

We (in the West) are cloaking something with our very public ‘humanitarian’ response to the ever-increasing waves of migrants. If we were truly worried about these migrants from a humanitarian perspective we would not encourage or permit them to travel a leg of their journey in death defying boats, we would go and pick them up from land and deliver them safely to their destination land.

So, no, I do not believe we are presenting the true reasons behind the meltdown of Merkel, the pro-refugee propaganda and the silencing of anything making the ancient culture invading our shores feel uncomfortable or unwelcome.

References and further reading

Asylum seekers among suspects in Cologne’s New Year violence – Reuters
Merkel backs tougher laws after sex attacks – Sky News
Asylum Seekers arrested as 31 suspects investigated for Cologne NYE sexual assaults – Sydney Morning Herald
Cologne police chief removed after New Year Eve attacks – BBC
Cologne police face fresh NYE cover-up claims – TheLocal.de