Half The

Want something close to the
truth? Better check your sources

NatHan LowtHER
Tue Martcer (ONIVERSITY OF
VICTORIA)

VICTORIA (CUP) -- Critic-
ally examining several sources
sounds like something from an es-
say outline. But outside the class-
room, we must do this to get an
informed idea of global politics.
Arecent CNN broadcast on Iran’s
nuclear. ambition is a good ex-
ample of how mainstream media
shows only part of the story.

Early in January, a senior Iran-
ian legislator announced-that Iran
had begun to install 3,000 new
centrifuges, devices used in en-
riching uranium to produce nucle-
ar power. That’s up from the 350
they’d been running since April
last year.

The claim was quickly denied
by Iran’s Atomic Energy Organ-
ization’s public relations depart-
ment, but it still made headlines.
Watching CNN, I saw the story
told with the snazzy graphics
they’re so (in)famous for.

' Using a nice bullet-point for-
mat that would make any Power-
Pointer proud, CNN informed
their viewers that Iran could have
the 3,000 centrifuges installed by
March. The next line was short
and to the point: “3,000 centri-
fuges =
segment ended with the report
that Tehran had refused 38 Inter-
national Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) inspectors.

And that was it. The way the
graphics read, Iran was ramp-
ing up their enrichment program,
booting out those pesky inspect-
ors and preparing to finish their
first nuclear bomb right around
the time we students are finishing
our final exams.

But the report was seriously

misleading. Of course, to be fair,’

it is possible CNN returned to
the story later in the evening and
brought more than flash cards.
They may very well have broken
down the whole scenario, giving
in-depth, expert analysis to all the
possible implications. But if they
did, I missed it, and likely so did
many other viewers.

The problem I have with the
CNN broadcast is the selective-

1 nuclear bomb.” The ~

ness of the information presented.
It’s true that those 3,000 centri-
fuges could result in a_ nuclear
bomb. But, technically speaking,
so could 350 -- it’s just a matter of
how quickly. However, the only
time reference given by CNN was
that the centrifuges might be in-
stalled by March and that “3,000
centrifuges = 1 nuclear bomb.”

I had to search other news
sources to find the rest of the
story. A few clicks to Reuters.com
and IISS.org lead me to facts left
out of the broadcast.

First, the booted-out inspect-
ors, who Reuters identifies as cit-
izens of France, Germany, Britain
and Canada, are 38 of a pool of 200
and have been barred by Tehran in
response-to those countries’ ac-
ceptance of UN sanctions against
Iran. A Vienna diplomat put it this
way: “The IAEA has enough in-
spectors in Iran -- 38 off the list
does not affect ongoing verifica-
tion. This is a political signal to
respond to Western pressure.”

Then there is the more import-
ant question: How far away is Iran
from having the capacity to build
a nuclear weapon? So far, accord-
ing to Reuters, Iran has only en-
riched their uranium about three
to five per cent. It requires over 80
per cent to be used in a weapon.

The extra centrifuges will pot-
entially allow Iran to reach that
level much faster. According to
London’s International Institute
for Strategic Studies (IISS), 3,000
centrifuges operating with no
IAEA safeguards could produce
enough weapons-grade uranium
for one bomb in 271 days.

The IAEA head, Mohamed
ElBaradei, told Reuters in mid-
January that-he agrees with for-
mer U.S, intelligence chief John
Negroponte that Iran is four to
tine years away from being able
to make a bomb.

“CNN cut the core facts for
flashy news. That’s what sells. But
having mainstream media sources
that provoke knee-jerk emotional
responses from their viewers does
nothing to encourage rational and
informed discourse.

IS

Brian BURLEIGH
CONTRIBUTER

Jeremy,

While I agree with what your
heart is saying, your mouth is
expelling, in my opinion, FUD. I
am an avid Mac OS X proponent
(if you don’t have a Mac, go buy
one...right now...), but I feel that
your list of complaints against
Vista really amount to nothing.
EULAs have always had ridicu-
lous rights restrictions, and while
I don’t agree with their placement
in an EULA (actually, most things
‘about EULAs bother me), they
basically amount to nothing. Vista
is not going to delete your music
downloading software; it’s not
going to stop you from installing
your Half Life 2 no-CD crack. It’s
going to stop users from having to
deal with mal/spyware.

“You forget that the average
Windows user doesn’t even really
understand what that means. They
check their email, play games,
maybe download some music/

yourself.

OVER THE EDGE _ February 28, 2007

RE: Last Issue’s On The Digital
‘Front Comments

On Windows Vista

movies, and do some Office work.

-They aren’t downloading mali-
cious software that they would
like to run even though there is
clearly a trojan horse in it. Users
that want some freedom in that
respect will dig into the OS and
find the setting that they need to
change. The rest of the user base
won’t care. :

With regards to piracy, I’d like
to point out that Windows XP also
has a 30 day verification period
(which, yes, was also cracked).
This measure was put in place to
stop users from simply copying
their friend’s XP (or in this case
Vista) CD (DVD) and simply in-
stalling it with said friend’s serial
number. Yes, if you really want to
pirate Vista, you can, but for the
lament, it requires a significant
amount of work. People who pir-
ate OSs will always do so, and to
expect them to change is short-
sighted, but Microsoft knows
this. They aren’t targetting those
people with their restrictions.

On the issue of DRM (digital
restrictions management), I feel
that taking the rights to use your

Vote now — vote often!

media away from user’s is not
good for anyone. My favourite
part of the issue is that ‘most art-
ists don’t even care about people
copying their music, it’s simply
the recording industry (1 hate
using that term -- Sony, BGM, etc
all use entities like the RIAA to do
all their dirty work) being scared
of the new information frontier. I
admit to downloading music, but
I also admit to spending 4-5 times
more a year on CD’s since I started
downloading music. FYI, if you
buy music from the iTunes store
you can only download it once.
After that, it’s gone. There’s a lot
to improve upon in all directions
with that issue, and I’d rather not
get into it.

Finally, your little note about
how user’s may not create work-
around for Windows is kind of
interesting, since all (most?) com-
mercial software is like that. You
are not legally able to install that
no-CD crack for HL2 that I men-
tioned earlier, but people still feel
as if they have the right to (after
all, they bought the software,
right?).

_GEOFFREY R. WELLER LIBRARY

Help us celebrate a truly Canadian cultural event!

Canada Reads is an annual “battle of the books” which takes place on CBC radio airing the
week of February 26 ~ March 2, 2007. Five prominent advocates defend their choice for the book
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This year the Geoffrey R. Weller Library is holding our own campaign. Five prominent
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