Gentlemen’s agreement

Prince Henry was flown back home from Afghanistan after news of him serving there leaked

This week on The Listening Post Richard Gizbert examines the gentlemen’s agreement that kept a royal prince out of the media spotlight.

When British royal Prince Henry of Wales, known universally as Harry, was denied the chance of serving in Iraq on safety grounds he was bitterly disappointed.

So after personally lobbying the army to allow him to serve in Afghanistan, an unprecedented deal was struck between the ministry of defence and the editors and proprietors of Britain’s top news organisations to keep the deployment secret.

It was not long however before the news surfaced on the internet. Then it was only a matter of time before the floodgates opened and Prince Harry was on a flight back to UK headquarters.

The Listening Post takes a look at the practicalities and the ethics of a media conspiracy of silence.

The Listening Post looks at how Russians viewed the country’s presidential elections

Also, the show takes a look at the Russian elections.

Vladimir Putin has not so much relinquished power as gifted it, or at least parts of it, to Dmitry Medvedev, his personally chosen successor.

The western media has long viewed the Russian elections as a stitch-up, but what is the view within Russia? The Listening Post’s Simon Ostrovsky was there to find out.

In Newsbytes we say farewell to two characters we have covered before.

Melanie Morgan has lost her job at KSFO, a San Francisco talk radio station, after 13 years as a right wing firebrand. And a bientôt to media baron Conrad Black, who has started a six and a half year jail sentence for fraud.

Elsewhere, international human rights organisation Amnesty International publishes a damning report on Somalia’s record on journalistic freedom, and the BBC gives a launch date for their long awaited Arab language TV service.

And our video of the week is a trailer for Morgan ‘Super Size Me’ Spurlock’s latest feature documentary: Where in the world is Osama Bin Laden?

Watch part one of this episode of The Listening Post on YouTube

Watch part two of this episode of The Listening Post on YouTube

This episode of The Listening Post aired on Friday, March 7, 2008