Media

A selection of this week's celebrity news... Beyoncé's Super Bowl Halftime Show: How She's Prepping and What She's Getting Paid http://eonli.ne/14t3Xj0 Justin Bieber Boob-Gate: He Didn't Grab a Female Fan's Breast, Says Rep http://eonli.ne/14sYqc7 Prince Harry Talks Naked Vegas Scandal, Army Life in Just-Aired Frontline Afghanistan Documentary http://eonli.ne/XercrE Lady Gaga Stripped of 156 Million YouTube Views http://eonli.ne/Xeo5jg Sarah Palin on Fox News Exit: I'm "Broadening Our Audience" http://eonli.ne/XefCg2

More than 60 people attended a meeting on January 24 to discuss the Coburg Structure Plan.  This plan, put forward by the Moreland City Council, will allow the construction of 10-storey buildings adjacent to existing homes in Coburg, an inner-northern Melbourne suburb. The meeting was called by newly elected Socialist Alliance councillor Sue Bolton, whose electorate includes Coburg. Bolton told the meeting that most residents she had spoken to did not know about the plan.

The 2013 Green Left Weekly Fighting Fund was launched on January 19. To keep the project afloat, we again set the target of an ambitious $250,000. Last year we fell short, but still raised an impressive $209,000 for this vital, independent media project.

A selection of this week's celebrity news... Kyle XY's Matt Dallas comes out and announces he's engaged. http://eonli.ne/XfcVeU NBC Bosses Admit to Talking Donald Trump Out of Presidential Race. http://eonli.ne/Ux6Z3U Charlie Sheen Kisses Porn Star Gal-Pal Georgia Jones in Mexico. http://eonli.ne/UpPdiV Princess Diana Picture Decreed "Not to Be Published" Surfaces, Isn't Very Scandalous At All. http://eonli.ne/WsNCUj Gérard Depardieu Granted Russian Citizenship by Vladimir Putin Following French Tax Row. http://eonli.ne/UgyWwN

The Venezuelan government has responded to opposition and private media accusations that it is being “mysterious” regarding information on Chavez’s health situation, and has called such statements as well as rumours being spread on social networks “psychological warfare”.

WikiLeaks editor Julian Assangen delivered his speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he's been holed-up for six months., Despite being granted political asylum by the South American nation, British authorities insist he will arrested if he sets a fo outside the embassy.

Venezuela Analysis is the main English-language website, read around the world, providing serious news and analysis on the Bolivarian revolution under way int he Latin American nation. Green Left strongly supports VA's work, regularly reprints its articles and is proud of its collaboration with the site. Below, is an appeal for financial support from VA to ensure it continues to get out the real story of the inspiring struggle of Venezuela's people for "socialism of the 21st century" * * *

In the week Lord Leveson published almost a million words about his inquiry into the “culture, practice and ethics” of Britain's corporate press, two illuminating books about media and freedom were also published. Their contrast with the Punch and Judy show staged by Leveson is striking. For 36 years, Project Censored, based in California, has documented critically important stories unreported or suppressed by the media most US people watch or read.

This is the last issue of Green Left Weekly for this year. Our small staff which works very hard, week after week, to get out this publication will take a much-needed break after a hectic political year, and get ready to relaunch in mid-January. The 2012 Green Left Fighting Fund has now raised about $193,000 so we have to try to raise a further $57,000 by the end of the year to get to our $250,000 target — or as close as we can get.

For its final issue of 2012, Green Left asked staff, contributors and others to name their book of the year. Mel Barnes Co-editor of Green Left Weekly Mine-field By Paul Cleary Black Inc http://bit.ly/NdE39u In his follow-up to Too Much Luck, Paul Cleary travels throughout Australia to speak to people affected by the rapid coal and coal seam gas expansion taking place.

Israel's latest attack on Gaza killed about 32 times more Palestinians than Israelis killed by Palestinian rockets. But few who followed mainstream media reports would realise this fact. When the ceasefire was announced on November 21, 161 Palestinians and five Israelis had been killed in the attacks, CBSnews.com said. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said that by November 20, 66% of Palestinians killed were civilians. Of the more than 900 Palestinians injured, 97% were civilians.

In Peter Watkins' remarkable BBC film, The War Game, which foresaw the aftermath of an attack on London with a one-megaton nuclear bomb, the narrator says: “On almost the entire subject of thermo-clear weapons, there is now practically total silence in the press, official publications and on TV. Is there hope to be found in this silence?” The truth of this statement was equal to its irony. On November 24, 1965, the BBC banned The War Game as “too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting”.