Trouble spots seem to be becoming an opportunity for politicians and journalists to prove their moral stature. For now Zimbabwe has slipped off the radar, but mainstream coverage of troubled Burma has been no less propagandised and establishment centred. Talk of boycotting the Beijing Olympics as if China is a fascist state, and demanding China display "its relationship with the world" by showing it be a "responsible" and "respected member of the global community"!

I struggle to remember when, if ever, these standards have been applied closer to home. I would try not to be carried in the maelstrom of condemnation, corporate media is very rarely consistent in its indignation and I don't believe this wave of outrage, on aggregate is anything more than a cynical western ploy. Differential treatment occurs on a large scale, the media, intellectuals and the public are able to remain largely unconscious of the fact, and are able to maintain a high moral and self-righteous tone.

Looking closely, the scrutiny applied in this case is quite typically inconsisent. Articles and news coverage/discussions vehemently searching for responsibility at higher levels of the Chinese administration, by these standards surely the US should be condemned for its long "association with tyranny and oppression" in Gaza and the West Bank. But those events are treated as isolated to the region, in contrast the media have been at pains to stress the almost direct responsibility of China for the oppression in Burma. Here, public are led to condemn China whilst at the same time being subject to imagery of US and British virtue in their sudden concern for the region.

The crisis in Burma is a serious one, but the way its being used, in effect to demonise China is quite typical of Western media who see themselves as championing freedom and civilisation, while at the same time supporting imperial adventures which cost millions of lives. The devotion of our leaders and media to this narrow set of victims merely raises public self-esteem and patriotism, and demonstrates the disparate focus on "worthy" and "unworthy" victims. Just recently a report published by the Opinion Research Business (ORB) found that up to 1.2 Million Iraqi's have now been killed as a result of the US/UK invasion. This study has been almost entirely blanked by the US-UK media.

I'm sure you don't have to cogitate this simple hypothesis but imagine the western media's reaction if China had invaded Iraq? Or indeed Afghanistan? For the same reasons stipulated by the US.

Carefully analysing media performance in international affairs is nothing new, Medialens perform a meticulous and necessary task in deconstructing mainstream British sources, and there have been numerous studies on corporate media throughout the years. The issue is not one of paranoia or unproductive pessimism, but serious reflections about the lazy assumptions which lie behind reportage of other countries, cultures, and institutions, which do not conform to establishment consensus. The media are indeed part of the establishment and should be treated as so. The proliferation of online journalism has exposed so much mainstream fabrication, erroneous judgements and outright propaganda, that the notion of an reliable and independent media is becoming less and less believable. The importance of the media nowadays cannot be understated and therefore analysis and criticism has never been more necessary.