Editing John Pilger (section)

===''The War You Don't See'' (2010)===
The subject of ''The War You Don't See'' is the role of the media in making war. It concentrates on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories. It begins with the [[Collateral Murder]] video leaked by [[Chelsea Manning]] and released by [[WikiLeaks]]. In an interview, Julian Assange describes WikiLeaks as an organisation that gives power to 'conscientious objectors' within 'power systems'. The documentary contends that the media far from acting as the fourth estate – instead uncritically reports the official line and spin from governments and in turn delivers propaganda over journalism. During the documentary Pilger states that "propaganda relies on us in the media to aim its deceptions not at a far away country but at you at home".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bradshaw |first1=Peter |title=The War You Don't See – review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/dec/09/the-war-you-dont-see-review |access-date=7 June 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=9 December 2010 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The War You Don't See |url=https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/war-you-dont-see/ |website=Top Documentary Films |access-date=7 June 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>[http://johnpilger.com/videos/julian-assange-in-conversation-with-john-pilger "Julian Assange in conversation with John Pilger"], johnpilger.com.</ref><ref name="Telegraph12">[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/9519767/Julian-Assanges-backers-lose-200000-bail-money.html "Julian Assange's backers lose £200,000 bail money"], ''The Telegraph'' (UK), 4 September 2012.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The War You Don't See |url=http://johnpilger.com/videos/the-war-you-dont-see |website=johnpilger.com |date=13 December 2010 |access-date=7 June 2020}}</ref>

==== Reception ====
In its review, Time Out magazine said: "This wonderfully researched and outraged film gathers and presents the case for the prosecution. In a world of embedded reporters, sophisticated spin and governmental evasion, what price investigative journalism?"<ref>{{Cite news |last=Harrison |first=Phil |title=The War You Don't See |url=https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-war-you-dont-see |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240525014259/https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-war-you-dont-see |archive-date=2024-05-25 |access-date=2025-01-31 |work=Time Out Worldwide |language=en-GB}}</ref>

For Christopher Czechowicz of the [[Frontline Club]]: "Perhaps what’s most important about this film is its simple message. For John Pilger, the mainstream Fourth Estate is not doing its job properly. Whereas independent journalists are able to articulate the truth in a sophisticated manner, mainstream sources remain disinterested in their work. Time and again, they prefer baseless  information, sound bytes and sensational footage of clamoring crowds  that rouse emotion to the hard tasks journalists must perform. In Pilger’s final remarks in the film, what remains clear is that more than ever, uncompromised, brave journalism is needed in our world, always  challenging the official story, in his words, “however patriotic it  appears, or however seductive or insidious it is.”<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Pilger and The Wars We Don't See |url=https://www.frontlineclub.com/john_pilger_and_the_wars_we_dont_see/ |access-date=2025-01-31 |website=Frontline Club |language=en}}</ref>

When interviewed about the film on [[Al Jazeera English|Al Jazeera]]'s [[The Listening Post]] he was asked that the media could in fact prevent war, Pilger replied that in his own view that the media could in fact stop a war from occurring.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=0Jof3ojxCBaI320h&t=308&v=ZGEyOe2_fAE&feature=youtu.be |title=The Listening Post - 'The war you don't see' |date=2010-12-25 |last=Al Jazeera English |access-date=2025-01-31 |via=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title='The war you don't see' |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-listening-post/2010/12/23/the-war-you-dont-see |access-date=2025-01-31 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref>

Having been criticised directly in the documentary, with Pilger interviewing [[Fran Unsworth]], the then BBC Head of Newsgathering about its war coverage. The former BBC World News editor, Jon Williams responded to the charge of embedded journalism no longer being objective with the following: "But "embedding" does have real value. There are 9,500 British troops in Afghanistan - and more than 100,000 US service personnel. Theirs is an important perspective, and their operations an important part of the story. The security situation means, sometimes, it is only possible to travel to certain parts of the country as part of a military "embed"."<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC - The Editors: The Wars You Don't See |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2010/12/the_wars_you_dont_see.html |access-date=2025-01-31 |website=BBC |language=en}}</ref>

[[John Lloyd (journalist)|John Lloyd]] in the ''[[Financial Times]]'' said ''The War You Don't See'' was a "one-sided" documentary which "had no thought of explaining, even hinting, that the wars fought by the US and the UK had a scrap of just cause, nor of examining the nature of what Pilger simply stated were "lies" – especially those that took the two countries to the invasion of Iraq".<ref name="Lloyd2010">{{cite news|last=Lloyd|first=John|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/318591d6-07cf-11e0-8138-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2HIqapm6b|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210221214/https://www.ft.com/content/318591d6-07cf-11e0-8138-00144feabdc0#axzz2HIqapm6b|archive-date=10 December 2022|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|title=Polemic in the hands of a master propagandist|work=Financial Times|date=17 December 2010|access-date=22 April 2017}}</ref>