On the British State-Funded BBC’s Pending Smear

The British state-funded BBC, which has a history of perverted war  propaganda against the people of Syria, a history of whitewashing the  crimes of terrorists in Syria, a history of flat out lying about events  in Syria, has decided to launch another smear against myself, Vanessa Beeley, researchers of the Working Group on Syria, a former ambassador to Syria, and others.

This is not just another character assassination, though, this is a serious threat against journalists and those speaking truth against establishment narratives. Thanks to those who have tweeted or spoken about this revolting attack.

On Twitter, Jonathan Cook lent his support.

Youtube channel, The Convo Couch, put out a report yesterday on the issue.

Vanessa Beeley spoke on UK Column News about the matter.

And others on social media have expressed exceptional support to the journalists, academics and others targeted in the pending smear.

Following is the hostile, journalistic integrity-devoid email sent to me by a British state-funded hack (who is such a cowardly hack she hides her Twitter feed).

Since I frankly neither expect Chloe/the BBC to republish the entirety of any reply I give them, I’ll paste here the basic reply I sent.

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Chloe/BBC,

You asked for a clarification or comment to your hostile email to me full of accusations and insinuations, yet you did not make clear whether you would publish in full my reply.

Will you?

If you do not do this, I will say I attempted to meet your request for replies but you declined to publish in full. And I will do so myself, widely.

Yours was not the first email I’ve received from a state-funded media hack. Perhaps you mimicked the Guardian whose tech story writer sent me a very similar email back in 2017? Or maybe you both got the same memo.

Since your email was clearly not with the intent to pursue honest journalism and an honest conversation, I will reply to that which I feel merits addressing.

First, my travels to and around Syria, and everywhere I have gone for my journalism, are at my expense. I have been supported solely by per piece income from my articles, and by readers who have followed my journalism for years, and have seen my track record of consistency, choosing to send me donations because they believe in my work.

I am not funded by any government. But you are: your employer is British state-funded. As such, you cannot claim to be impartial. Further, if you or the BBC publish anything insinuating or stating that I receive funding from any government, I will seek legal counsel against you and the BBC.

My writings for RT are opinion articles, per piece. Hence, I do not “work for” RT, I am a freelancer, and contribute to other news and analysis sites. Further, my words are my thoughts alone, not any governments, and are based on my experiences on the ground as well as research. It is completely disingenuous of you to imply my writing is anything other than my own views, and it is slanderous of you.

Since 2007, as a freelancer on the ground in Palestine, I have contributed to a variety of independent media, in more recent years Mint Press News, Dissident Voice, Inter Press Services, among others. All are detailed on my blog, which I know you are familiar with as you emailed me via an email address specific to my blog.

As for my credentials, I have over 13 years of on the ground experience, writing from Palestine, Syria, Venezuela, eastern Ukraine frontlines, and more.

My journalism has not only won the support of countless readers online, but also merited me, in 2017, being awarded by the Mexican Journalists’ Press Club (founded in 1951), awarded the “International Journalism Award for International Reporting”, with prestigious co-recipients as the award-winning journalist, John Pilger.

I was also the first recipient of the “Serena Shim Award For Uncompromised Integrity In Journalism”, and in 2017 was shortlisted for the prestigious Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism.

Further, I have the respect and support of distinguished, award-winning, journalists like Stephen Kinzer, Dan Kovalik, Peter Kuznick (co-author with Oliver Stone of “The Untold History of the United States”), and John Pilger.

Stephen Kinzer in December 2017 commented:

“I happen to agree with Eva’s take on Syria, but from a journalist’s perspective, the true importance of what she does goes beyond reporting from any single country. She challenges the accepted narrative–and that is the essence of journalism. Everything else is stenography. Budding foreign correspondents take note!!”

John Pilger thought enough of my journalism to express it to me personally, but also to defend the journalism of myself and Vanessa Beeley, in a September 2018 article, describing our work as “substantiated investigative work.”

By the way, my support has only increased when people became aware of the fact that you/the BBC would be running a character assassination piece on myself and colleagues. 

I have my own questions for you:

Have you been to Syria since 2011? If so, have you ever entered Syria illegally?

If you have not been to Syria since 2011, how can you claim to have any sense of reality on the ground?

How can you justify turning a blind eye to the fact that countless White Helmets members have worked directly with terrorist groups in Syria, let alone been members of said groups, holding weapons, standing on the bodies of dead Syrians, and involved in terrorizing civilians? Can you honestly claim you were unaware of these facts?

How do you explain the presence, throughout Syria, of White Helmets headquarters next to or in close proximity to headquarters of al-Qaeda in Syria, Faylaq al-Rahman, Nour al-Din al-Zenki, and other terrorist groups? How can the White Helmets be deemed as neutral?

P.S. Why does a prominent and published journalist with the BBC feel the need to hide her tweets? What are you afraid of the public seeing? Do you feel this is professional of a journalist to hide their Twitter output, and indeed much of their identity?

Regards,

Eva Karene Bartlett

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Chloe sent a similar but more detailed email to Vanessa Beeley, which Vanessa deconstructed at length on Twitter.

Chloe also previously harassed members of the Working Group on Syria,  Propaganda and Media–the group of academics and researchers whose scrutiny into the alleged Douma chemical attack led to the initial OPCW whistleblowers to speak out (long before others belatedly chased those leaks).

In a meticulously-compiled report exposing Chloe’s whitewashing details around the alleged Douma chemical attack, the Working Group detail the nature of the correspondence (harassment) from her/the BBC.

Since the loaded questions in her hostile email take issue with my perspective and reporting on the White Helmets, I detail below my reports which address issues pertaining to the White Helmets and their crimes against Syrian civilians.

–Organ theft, staged attacks: UN panel details White Helmets’ criminal activities, media yawns

–Meet Aylan & Omran: Child victims used for Syrian war propaganda

–Syrian civilians from ground zero expose chemical hoax

–Torture, starvation, executions: Eastern Ghouta civilians talk of life under terrorist rule

–Decision to bring White Helmets to Canada dangerous and criminal

–Liberate Syria’s Idlib, precisely for the civilians that America fakes concern over

–Syria War Diary: What Life Is Like Under ‘Moderate’ ‘Rebel’ Rule

Regarding the boy in the ambulance (Omran Daqneesh), I met him and interviewed his father in mid 2017.

–MintPress Meets The Father Of Iconic Aleppo Boy, Who Says Media Lied About His Son

The BBC, on the other hand, repeatedly purveyed the lies & war propaganda that Russia/Syria had airstruck the boy’s home.

SYRIAN CIVILIANS’ SUFFERING:

However, my writing on Syria is not *only* on the White Helmets. In fact, most of it is on the suffering of civilians under terrorist rule or attacks, something the BBC and other Western corporate or state-funded media actively ignore, but which I have been doing since 2014.

–Where is the West’s compassion & condemnation following terror attacks in Middle East?

–In Aleppo, US and Saudi-Backed Rebels Targeted ‘Every Syrian’

–Welcome to Hadar: A Village Under Siege by Syrian Rebels and Israeli Forces Alike

–Mhardeh: A Call from a Martyred Christian Town for Syria’s Full Liberation

–Voices from Syria’s Rukban Refugee Camp Belie Corporate Media Reporting

–The Caesar Act: The Latest Western Attack on Syria Didn’t Drop From a Plane

–Order Returns To Western Syria, Civilians Recount Horrors Of “Rebel” Rule

–US sanctions are part of a multi-front war on Syria, and its long-suffering civilians are the main target

–Western leaders, screw your ‘Sanctions Target the Regime’ blather: Sanctions KILL PEOPLE

–US exceptionalism: Exploiting certain Syrians, ignoring others

–UN Feigns Outrage Over Eastern Ghouta While Terrorist Rockets Rain on Damascus

–US-Backed Terrorism in Syria: A First-Hand Account of the Use of Mortars Against Civilians – Global Research

–Media Black-Out on Arab Journalists and Civilians Beheaded in Syria by Western-Backed Mercenaries – Global Research

–Liberated Homs Residents Challenge Notion of “Revolution”

–Devastation…and Inspiration: Recalling Liberated Ma’loula

–University Hospital, Damascus: Meeting Victims of Western-backed Mortar and Rocket Terrorism February 24-26, 2015

–SYRIA: The Children of Kafarya and Foua are Crying in the Dark – 21st Century Wire

–Overcoming savagery, treachery, Maaloula’s heroic defenders fight for the future — Sott.net

–Western corporate media ‘disappears’ over 1.5 million Syrians and 4,000 doctors — Sott.net

• • •

…and aside from that, my writing focuses on:

-the war propaganda of British and other Western state-funded media, like the BBC:

“In April 2014, after an elementary school was mortared by terrorists east of Damascus, killing one child, the BBC later reported, “the government is also accused of launching them into neighborhoods under its control.” On a recent social media post, I noted this deceitful journalism, and the BBC could have easily learned about the trajectory of mortars and from where the mortar in question could only have come: the “moderates” east of Damascus.” –From: Absurdities of Syrian war propaganda — RT Op-ed

–Сorporate media continues to recycle accusations of starvation, chemical weapons, and more, in the propaganda war on Syria.

–Deconstructing the NATO Narrative on Syria

–How the Mainstream Media Whitewashed Al-Qaeda and the White Helmets in Syria – Global Research

–Exploitation of Bana al-Abed: Parents use child to whitewash terrorists in Aleppo

‘They know that we know they are liars, they keep lying’

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My reporting from has included a great deal of personal risk from mortars and terrorist snipers.

For example:

-Going to the state hospital in Dara’a in 2018 when the city was being mortared by terrorists. Getting to the hospital involved shooting down a road (in a taxi) with terrorist snipers 100 m away. Much of the hospital was destroyed or inaccessible.

· Twitter thread with videos from inside the hospital.

-standing (without body armour) on Castello Road in November 2016 when it was repeatedly mortared by terrorists. https://mintpressnews.com/aleppo-how-us-saudi-backed-rebels-target-every-syrian/222594/

-leaving Aleppo via Castello when the road was being mortared by terrorist factions, in August 2016 [videos]

-on 2 different occasions being fired at by terrorist snipers [tweet]

…among many examples.

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In closing: For questions on my credentials, read here and decide for yourself.