Click here to view this media While discussing the latest developments in the Rupertgate scandal and the arrest of Rebekah Brooks , Howard Kurtz seemed to have some trouble believing Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff when he said the Wall Street Journal was just another example of Rupert Murdoch only giving interviews to outlets that he owns and directing them on what questions to ask and how to frame their reporting — that is until he explained that he’s seen it first hand. KURTZ: Michael Wolfe, let’s talk about Murdoch’s role himself, he has the full page ad showing the apology. He went to visit the family of the murdered girl who’s phone was hacked into, one of the most horrifying abuses in this whole thing. But then he talks to the Wall Street Journal and here he is defending James, “I think he acted as fast as he could, the moment he could.” It doesn’t seem like he’s doing the full contrition route yet. WOLFF: One of the curious things about Rupert Murdoch is that when he gives an interview, he only gives it to news outlets he owns. And those are always very funny interviews because he is essentially telling his reporters what questions to ask and how to cast his response. KURTZ: Wait. How do you know he’s telling his reporters what questions to ask? That’s not entirely fair. The Wall Street Journal is a pretty good newspaper. WOLFF: Because I’ve sat with him in the… when he’s done this. I know who calls before. It is absolutely the Murdoch playbook, you call ahead, you set it up, you tell them what questions to ask; in the middle of the interview, he often does this. KURTZ: So what does all this get him when he does an interview with an outlet he controls? WOLFF: I don’t know what it gets him. It gets him further into a deeper hole.
Continue reading …Chris Matthews Uses Dubious Historical Analogy to Tar Conservative Republicans on Debt Ceiling Issue
July 18, 2011 No Comment
According to Chris Matthews, conservative House Republicans who are holding steadfast on resisting a debt ceiling deal that includes tax hikes are like the apocryphal bovine of doom behind the 1871 fire that destroyed much of Chicago: Pat [Buchanan], are you happy with your party being the party of Mrs. O'Leary's cow, basically starting the fire that was just mentioned? These guys are running around burning down houses. It's a different kind of Tea Party…. This is Mrs. O'Leary's cow politics. But not only was Matthews's claim insulting to principled Republicans, it is, surprise, surprise,
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New Unite leader hits out at £361,000 severence payment given to predecessor and vows to end such large payoffs Britain’s largest trade union, Unite, is facing a “golden goodbye” pay row after its former leader was paid more than £500,000 last year, including a £361,000 severance payment. Derek Simpson, 66, who stepped down as joint general secretary last year, received the payout as his successor was attacking the government for overseeing “obscene” remuneration at state-owned companies such as Royal Bank of Scotland. According to Unite’s annual return for 2010, Simpson received £510,659, the bulk comprising of £361,347 in severance pay. He also received £97,677 in gross salary, and more than £51,000 in housing benefit and car allowances. Simpson’s colleague and joint general secretary, Tony Woodley, did not receive a payoff and was paid a total of £136,289. He is still employed by Unite on £20,000 a year. Simpson and Woodley’s successor, Len McCluskey, said he was shocked by the payment. But he stressed that Simpson’s payoff was drawn up under the financial system used by the Amicus union, which merged with the T&G in 2007 to form Unite. The Amicus and T&G finance functions were not combined until late last year. “It was absolutely unbeknownst to me or the Unite executive,” said McCluskey. “It occurred under a different regime with a union that no longer exists and operated under different governance.” At a meeting on Monday, Unite’s executive requested a legal opinion on the settlement, although it is understood that the payoff follows precedent for previous Amicus leaders. McCluskey said there would be no similar payments under his regime, but the union was powerless to intervene in Simpson’s case. “It is inappropriate but there is little that I can do about it. There will be no such agreements in Unite going forward.” Technically, it is not within our jurisdiction. This is a decision taken by a previous union and therefore we can do nothing other than pass comment and make certain that Unite does not engage in such practices.” McCluskey is a critic of bankers’ bonuses and in January said: “As ordinary workers cope with fuel and food price rises, these obscene and unfair rewards are a reminder that in Cameron’s Britain, we really are not all in this together.” He admitted that the revelation could damage Unite’s standing in the debate over public spending cuts. “There is no doubt that it will not be viewed in a favourable light by our members or potential members. “We have to get the message across that this happened in a previous union. This is a new union with a new vision and new, democratic ways of operating. And we are committed to working in a proactive way with working people.” Unite’s return shows that the union has 1.5 million members, of whom only 1.2 million pay subscriptions. Woodley’s concern over faltering membership has seen him take a new full-time post as the executive officer for organising. This week McCluskey announced plans to launch a cut-price “community membership” for students and the unemployed in a riposte to David Cameron’s big society policies. According to the return, Unite generated an income of £141.6m last year but spent £171.9m, pushing the union into a deficit of £30.2m. Simpson could not be reached for comment. His last year in office was dominated by the battle between British Airways and its cabin crew, which saw 22 days of strikes and cost the carrier £150m. Simpson infuriated BA at one point in negotiations by sending out live twitter updates. At the time Woodley described the tweets as “unfortunate, to say the least”. Unite Pay Banking David Cameron Conservatives Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …New Unite leader hits out at £361,000 severence payment given to predecessor and vows to end such large payoffs Britain’s largest trade union, Unite, is facing a “golden goodbye” pay row after its former leader was paid more than £500,000 last year, including a £361,000 severance payment. Derek Simpson, 66, who stepped down as joint general secretary last year, received the payout as his successor was attacking the government for overseeing “obscene” remuneration at state-owned companies such as Royal Bank of Scotland. According to Unite’s annual return for 2010, Simpson received £510,659, the bulk comprising of £361,347 in severance pay. He also received £97,677 in gross salary, and more than £51,000 in housing benefit and car allowances. Simpson’s colleague and joint general secretary, Tony Woodley, did not receive a payoff and was paid a total of £136,289. He is still employed by Unite on £20,000 a year. Simpson and Woodley’s successor, Len McCluskey, said he was shocked by the payment. But he stressed that Simpson’s payoff was drawn up under the financial system used by the Amicus union, which merged with the T&G in 2007 to form Unite. The Amicus and T&G finance functions were not combined until late last year. “It was absolutely unbeknownst to me or the Unite executive,” said McCluskey. “It occurred under a different regime with a union that no longer exists and operated under different governance.” At a meeting on Monday, Unite’s executive requested a legal opinion on the settlement, although it is understood that the payoff follows precedent for previous Amicus leaders. McCluskey said there would be no similar payments under his regime, but the union was powerless to intervene in Simpson’s case. “It is inappropriate but there is little that I can do about it. There will be no such agreements in Unite going forward.” Technically, it is not within our jurisdiction. This is a decision taken by a previous union and therefore we can do nothing other than pass comment and make certain that Unite does not engage in such practices.” McCluskey is a critic of bankers’ bonuses and in January said: “As ordinary workers cope with fuel and food price rises, these obscene and unfair rewards are a reminder that in Cameron’s Britain, we really are not all in this together.” He admitted that the revelation could damage Unite’s standing in the debate over public spending cuts. “There is no doubt that it will not be viewed in a favourable light by our members or potential members. “We have to get the message across that this happened in a previous union. This is a new union with a new vision and new, democratic ways of operating. And we are committed to working in a proactive way with working people.” Unite’s return shows that the union has 1.5 million members, of whom only 1.2 million pay subscriptions. Woodley’s concern over faltering membership has seen him take a new full-time post as the executive officer for organising. This week McCluskey announced plans to launch a cut-price “community membership” for students and the unemployed in a riposte to David Cameron’s big society policies. According to the return, Unite generated an income of £141.6m last year but spent £171.9m, pushing the union into a deficit of £30.2m. Simpson could not be reached for comment. His last year in office was dominated by the battle between British Airways and its cabin crew, which saw 22 days of strikes and cost the carrier £150m. Simpson infuriated BA at one point in negotiations by sending out live twitter updates. At the time Woodley described the tweets as “unfortunate, to say the least”. Unite Pay Banking David Cameron Conservatives Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …New Unite leader hits out at £361,000 severence payment given to predecessor and vows to end such large payoffs Britain’s largest trade union, Unite, is facing a “golden goodbye” pay row after its former leader was paid more than £500,000 last year, including a £361,000 severance payment. Derek Simpson, 66, who stepped down as joint general secretary last year, received the payout as his successor was attacking the government for overseeing “obscene” remuneration at state-owned companies such as Royal Bank of Scotland. According to Unite’s annual return for 2010, Simpson received £510,659, the bulk comprising of £361,347 in severance pay. He also received £97,677 in gross salary, and more than £51,000 in housing benefit and car allowances. Simpson’s colleague and joint general secretary, Tony Woodley, did not receive a payoff and was paid a total of £136,289. He is still employed by Unite on £20,000 a year. Simpson and Woodley’s successor, Len McCluskey, said he was shocked by the payment. But he stressed that Simpson’s payoff was drawn up under the financial system used by the Amicus union, which merged with the T&G in 2007 to form Unite. The Amicus and T&G finance functions were not combined until late last year. “It was absolutely unbeknownst to me or the Unite executive,” said McCluskey. “It occurred under a different regime with a union that no longer exists and operated under different governance.” At a meeting on Monday, Unite’s executive requested a legal opinion on the settlement, although it is understood that the payoff follows precedent for previous Amicus leaders. McCluskey said there would be no similar payments under his regime, but the union was powerless to intervene in Simpson’s case. “It is inappropriate but there is little that I can do about it. There will be no such agreements in Unite going forward.” Technically, it is not within our jurisdiction. This is a decision taken by a previous union and therefore we can do nothing other than pass comment and make certain that Unite does not engage in such practices.” McCluskey is a critic of bankers’ bonuses and in January said: “As ordinary workers cope with fuel and food price rises, these obscene and unfair rewards are a reminder that in Cameron’s Britain, we really are not all in this together.” He admitted that the revelation could damage Unite’s standing in the debate over public spending cuts. “There is no doubt that it will not be viewed in a favourable light by our members or potential members. “We have to get the message across that this happened in a previous union. This is a new union with a new vision and new, democratic ways of operating. And we are committed to working in a proactive way with working people.” Unite’s return shows that the union has 1.5 million members, of whom only 1.2 million pay subscriptions. Woodley’s concern over faltering membership has seen him take a new full-time post as the executive officer for organising. This week McCluskey announced plans to launch a cut-price “community membership” for students and the unemployed in a riposte to David Cameron’s big society policies. According to the return, Unite generated an income of £141.6m last year but spent £171.9m, pushing the union into a deficit of £30.2m. Simpson could not be reached for comment. His last year in office was dominated by the battle between British Airways and its cabin crew, which saw 22 days of strikes and cost the carrier £150m. Simpson infuriated BA at one point in negotiations by sending out live twitter updates. At the time Woodley described the tweets as “unfortunate, to say the least”. Unite Pay Banking David Cameron Conservatives Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Asked Why Workers Should Pay For Tax Cuts, Romney Repeats The Right-Wing Lie That We Need Lower Taxes On Business To Compete
July 18, 2011 No CommentGood old Mittens! He’s standing up for the rights of corporations to squeeze every last drop out of the U.S. treasury that by rights, belongs to them and their warrior class of entrepreneurial heroes. So much so, that when this man asks a rational question at a Rotary Club event, instead of answering him, Mittens repeats the right-wing lie that we have the highest taxes in the industrial world. He doesn’t seem to want to explain that the effective rate (that is, the rate paid after numerous deductions) is one of the lowest. That’s why we have so many giant corporations that not only pay no tax at all, they even get rebates. But Mittens insists they need even more tax cuts in order to compete: A member of the local Rotary Club stood yesterday to ask former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) a question weighing on the minds of millions of jobless Americans: At a time when corporations are sitting on record amounts of cash , why are the Americans who can least afford it being asked to shoulder the burden of trillions of dollars in potential budget cuts? But Romney dodged the question, ignoring the plight of the poor and unemployed, and instead launched into a speech about how American jobs were being outsourced to developing countries with cheap labor and miniscule tax rates because the U.S. has made itself unattractive to major corporations. Instead of sticking up for Americans who are facing cuts to the safety net programs they desperately need, Romney took the opportunity to proclaim that America’s problems could be fixed if it gave corporations yet another tax cut : QUESTIONER: We obviously need cuts to the budget…but many of the recipients of those programs are Americans whose jobs have gone places where labor is cheap. So corporate profits remain high and in some cases higher than ever. Is it fair to ask those Americans to shoulder reductions in favor of businesses and corporations who have sent those jobs overseas? ROMNEY: We need to make ourselves the most attractive place in the world for entrepreneurs and pioneers and businesses, just like it was when the Founders created this country. How do you do that? One, you make sure our employer tax rates aren’t the highest in the world . Right now they’re tied with Japan as the highest in the world. They’re about 10 points higher than the corporate tax rates in many of the countries in Europe.
Continue reading …Asked Why Workers Should Pay For Tax Cuts, Romney Repeats The Right-Wing Lie That We Need Lower Taxes On Business To Compete
July 18, 2011 No CommentGood old Mittens! He’s standing up for the rights of corporations to squeeze every last drop out of the U.S. treasury that by rights, belongs to them and their warrior class of entrepreneurial heroes. So much so, that when this man asks a rational question at a Rotary Club event, instead of answering him, Mittens repeats the right-wing lie that we have the highest taxes in the industrial world. He doesn’t seem to want to explain that the effective rate (that is, the rate paid after numerous deductions) is one of the lowest. That’s why we have so many giant corporations that not only pay no tax at all, they even get rebates. But Mittens insists they need even more tax cuts in order to compete: A member of the local Rotary Club stood yesterday to ask former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) a question weighing on the minds of millions of jobless Americans: At a time when corporations are sitting on record amounts of cash , why are the Americans who can least afford it being asked to shoulder the burden of trillions of dollars in potential budget cuts? But Romney dodged the question, ignoring the plight of the poor and unemployed, and instead launched into a speech about how American jobs were being outsourced to developing countries with cheap labor and miniscule tax rates because the U.S. has made itself unattractive to major corporations. Instead of sticking up for Americans who are facing cuts to the safety net programs they desperately need, Romney took the opportunity to proclaim that America’s problems could be fixed if it gave corporations yet another tax cut : QUESTIONER: We obviously need cuts to the budget…but many of the recipients of those programs are Americans whose jobs have gone places where labor is cheap. So corporate profits remain high and in some cases higher than ever. Is it fair to ask those Americans to shoulder reductions in favor of businesses and corporations who have sent those jobs overseas? ROMNEY: We need to make ourselves the most attractive place in the world for entrepreneurs and pioneers and businesses, just like it was when the Founders created this country. How do you do that? One, you make sure our employer tax rates aren’t the highest in the world . Right now they’re tied with Japan as the highest in the world. They’re about 10 points higher than the corporate tax rates in many of the countries in Europe.
Continue reading …Probing Bachmann, Palin, and Gingrich, NBC’s Investigative Unit Ignores Obama’s ATF Debacle
July 18, 2011 No CommentThe NBC News Investigative Unit has devoted considerable resources to uncovering “scandals” ranging from Marcus Bachmann's health clinic to Newt Gingrich's credit line at Tiffany to the Sarah Palin document dump, but continues to ignore a botched Justice Department operation that contributed to the death of a U.S. border agent. Examining the trove of reports filed by NBC News national investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff over the last few months reveals a fixation on investigations involving Republican politicians and an aversion to probes concerning the Obama administration, even as other media outlets expose the controversial ATF practice of letting guns purchased in America slip across the U.S.-Mexico border in hopes the trail would lead federal agents to drug kingpins. Just days before Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-Calif.) investigation into operation “Fast and Furious” went unreported on the NBC “Nightly News, ” Isikoff flew to Juneau, Alaska to aimlessly scour newly-released emails during Sarah Palin's time as governor. Even MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews described Isikoff as “feverishly pouring over those documents.” As it turned out, the documents produced no scandals, forcing Isikoff to admit his Al Capone's vault moment: “So far, I don't think anybody's found any bombshells here.” So uninteresting, the Palin investigation never even made it into the correspondent's online archive, dubbed the “Isikoff Files.” Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy Something else that won't be found in Isikoff's tome of probes is a thorough investigation into the role the ATF's gun-walking practices played in the slaying of U.S. Border Agent Brian Terry, who was killed in a firefight with Mexican drug cartel members in December. As CBS reported, two of the guns found at the crime scene were part of thousands the ATF allegedly allowed gunrunners to purchase and smuggle into Mexico. While a flawed Obama administration operation that reportedly contributed to the death of a U.S. border agent failed to interest NBC's Investigative Unit, the $137,000 in Medicaid funds paid to Michele Bachmann's husband's health clinic deserved coverage simply because Bachmann “has forcefully denounced the Medicaid program for swelling the 'welfare rolls'.” Apparently Isikoff thinks it's scandalous that instead of depriving poor people of health care, Marcus Bachmann accepted government funds. When news broke that Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's credit line at Tiffany and Co. was actually $1 million, not the initially reported $500,000, Isikoff drilled down on the former House Speaker's spending habits. “For Newt Gingrich, there is no end to the bad news,” read Isikoff's lede in a June 22 story that was clearly more deserving of the intrepid correspondent's time than the ATF's perilous gun-smuggling operation that is the subject of a congressional investigation. The latest development that NBC's Investigative Unit has failed to follow up on is that the Justice Department, in response to the backlash over operation “Fast and Furious,” announced on July 11 that gun shop owners in four southwestern states were now required to report frequent purchasers of automatic weapons to federal authorities. In April, NBC's Chris Hansen mentioned the ATF operation in passing and toward the end of an undercover investigation, during which the “Dateline” correspondent spoke with people caught up in the Mexican drug war. “The ATF told us it's investigating,” Hansen reported tersely. To rummage through the “Isikoff Files” for yourself, click here . To comb over all of the NBC Investigative Unit's reports, click here . –Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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Grim footage of Sadiq Hamed Shwehdi’s infamous execution also emerges from Benghazi Muammar Gaddafi had already ruled Libya for 15 years in June 1984 and he had a fearsome reputation for brutality towards his enemies. But the grim scene that unfolded in the eastern city of Benghazi was a spectacular first even for him. It was blazing hot day. Thousands of schoolchildren and students were bused into Benghazi’s basketball stadium, where they saw a frightened young man with curly hair and beard, kneeling with his hands bound behind his back, pleading for his life before people’s prosecutors. Sadiq Hamid Shwehdi, 30, was accused of plotting to assassinate the leader of the revolution. The court described him as “a terrorist from the Muslim Brotherhood, an agent of America”. In this grainy, recently re-discovered film, Shwehdi is seen alone in the centre of the stadium, sobbing as he confesses to his crime of joining the “stray dogs” – in the chilling terminology of the regime – before being sentenced to death. In the crowd, a young woman in olive green fatigues shouts and waves her clenched fists. Later, in a nauseating display of zeal, she pulls at Shwehdi’s legs as he writhes on the makeshift gallows, the basketball scoreboard clearly visible in the background, until he stops struggling. Huda “the hangman” Ben Amer went on to become a Gaddafi favourite and fled Benghazi after this year’s uprising. “Many Libyans saw the original live broadcast of the trial at the time and still remember it, but this is the full video and audio – and it has not been seen since then,” said Peter Bouckaert, the Human Rights Watch researcher who unearthed the material. Until now only fragments of the original were available. Shwehdi’s brother Ibrahim handed over four Beta video tapes to be digitised and preserved for posterity. Bouckaert worked with Tim Hetherington, an American war photographer who was killed in April covering the siege of Misrata. Together they pored over hundreds of still photographs taken from a state security office that was burned and looted by protesters. Many show Gaddafi looking young and relaxed in the early days after the 1969 revolution, hobnobbing with his hero, the then Egyptian president Gamal Abdel-Nasser. Another set of images records a last visit to Benghazi by the ageing King Idris, the pro-western monarch overthrown by Gaddafi and fellow officers as they emulated Nasser. This jerky, gruesome footage also captures a moment of international intrigue in the years when Libya became an obsession for the US, with Ronald Reagan dubbing Gaddafi the “mad dog” of the Middle East. Shwehdi’s execution followed a daring assault on Gaddafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli the previous month, an attempted coup planned by the National Front for the Salvation of Libya which the regime claimed was backed by the CIA. Shwehdi’s cousin Magdi was killed in the raid. Two thousand people were arrested and 12 were hanged publicly in their home towns, some during the Ramadan holiday. “Shwehdi’s execution was ordered by a state-managed kangaroo court,” said Ashour Shamis, a London-based dissident who helped plan the coup, which was doomed when its military commander was killed. Shwehdi and the others were trained in Morocco and Sudan. Some entered Libya from neighbouring Tunisia, where the operation was overseen by security chief Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who went on to become the country’s president. “He was an ordinary Libyan who felt disgust for the Gaddafi regime,” said Shamis. “He gave up his studies and a comfortable life in America to return to Libya. He knew he was risking his life.” Other hangings were broadcast, and re-broadcast, on Libyan state TV. Cases of torture, demolition of homes and mass detentions were also reported that year. Human rights abuses persisted even as Gaddafi began to mend fences with the wider world and, eventually to come in from the cold. In 1996, 1,200 inmates, many of them Islamists, were killed in a notorious massacre in Tripoli’s Abu Salim prison. No Libyan official has yet been called to account over that. Protests involving the lawyer representing the victims’ families proved to be the spark for the Benghazi uprising. Gaddafi, his son, Saif al-Islam, and intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi are wanted by the international criminal court (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity committed in the initial unrest in February. “This film will not be relevant to the ICC case because that only covers a limited time period,” said Bouckaert. “But we felt that it was important to preserve this traumatic part of the heritage of the Libyan people. It is also part of the legacy of my friend Tim Hetherington because it was the last project he was working on before he was killed.” Muammar Gaddafi Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa Human rights Ian Black guardian.co.uk
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Concluding instalment in Hogwarts franchise postponed to make way for Beginning of the Great Revival: The Founding of a Party The wizard Harry Potter is being forced to make his farewell as a pirate in Beijing because China is holding back the official version of the concluding episode in the Hogwarts franchise in favour of an epic celebrating the 90-year-old Communist party. Counterfeit DVD hawkers are selling poor-quality copies of the Deathly Hallows 2 in the capital days after its release in foreign markets. The original will not be screened for a fortnight, at least partly due to the priority put on the big-budget political epic Beginning of the Great Revival: The Founding of a Party, which brings together more than 150 Chinese stars, including Hollywood icon Chow Yun-fat, in a two-hour tale of the Communist party’s roots. With its depiction of the romances and idealism of a young Mao, the story aims to attract a new audience to the party, which marked its 90th anniversary on 1 July. With enormous political prestige at stake, China’s film authorities have gone out of their way to ensure success for the movie, which premiered last month. The biggest potential foreign rivals have reportedly been delayed to allow a clearer run at the box office. Deathly Hallows will be released on 4 August; Transformers: Dark of the Moon on Thursday , three weeks after its release in the US. To protect the domestic film industry, only 20 foreign films are approved for release in China each year. Film industry observers say it is customary for the authorities to give preferential treatment to Chinese revolutionary and historical films. “This practice is long-standing. Unlike the US, films are not treated just as consumer products in China. More importance is given to their role in shaping opinion and educating the public,” said Li Hongyu, a film journalist for the South Weekend newspaper. “But the situation is better than it was 10 years ago. At least the Communist party no longer requires its members to go to the cinema for certain movies.” Harry Potter fans have joked that their best option was to help the Communist party achieve its goal – purportedly 800 million yuan (£77.5m) – ahead of time. “The fans of Transformers and Harry Potter should join forces and encourage their dads, mums, uncles, aunts, grandfathers, grandmothers, etc to see The Beginning of the Great Revival. Then we won’t wait until August,” blogged Gudushizhe88 on the Baidu Tieba web forum. The official Xinhua news agency says the historical extravaganza earned $46m during its first three weeks – not far from the record pace the authorities had aimed for. Critics insist this is due to block-ticket buying by state-run firms and local governments, such as the northern city of Changchun, which reportedly bought tickets for 100,000 party members. The true figures may never be known. Popular websites have been ordered to disable their ratings and comments sections. Some netizens have posted photographs of doctored tickets for different films – such as Kung Fu Panda 2, Fast Five and the latest Pirates of the Caribbean – that were sold in the name of “Great Revival” in an apparent attempt to manipulate audience numbers. China Film Group, which produced the movie, denied that cinemas had been pressured to bump up the box office numbers. Even if official sleight of hand conjures up impressive box office figures for the communist epic, the marketing magic of Harry Potter could yet prevail – at least on the black market. “Harry Potter brand new. Good copies. Just 10 yuan,” said an illegal hawker outside Beijing’s Silk Market as he pulled out a large bundle of pirated movies, including the latest Pirates of the Caribbean, Cars 2 and The Mechanic. Great Revival was not among them. Additional reporting by Cecily Huang China Harry Potter Science fiction and fantasy Jonathan Watts guardian.co.uk
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