Al Gore’s Oscar Award Should be Rescinded

Today Dr Muriel Newman, Director of the New Zealand Centre for Political Research, has written to the President of the Academy Awards, requesting that the Oscar presented to Al Gore for the Best Documentary film, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, be rescinded.  

“With the release of the British High Court judgement overnight that found that ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ was littered with nine inconvenient untruths, it is clear that Al Gore embellished the truth to create dramatic effect (see http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/corporate_law/article2633838.ece).

“Given that the Oscar Award was presented in the documentary category and not the drama category, the only appropriate action now is for the Academy to rescind the Award as it was clearly inappropriately classed as a documentary.

“The truth, as inconvenient as it is to Al Gore, is that his so-called documentary contained critical distortions that are quite contrary to the principles of good documentary journalism. Good documentaries should be factually correct. Clearly this documentary is not.

“This situation is not unlike that confronting sports bodies, when their sports “stars” are found to be drug cheats. In such cases, the sportsmen and women are stripped of their medals and titles, with the next-place getter elevated. While this is an extremely unpleasant duty, it is necessary if the integrity of competitive sport is to be protected.

“Just this week Olympic gold medal winner Marion Jones has been stripped of her titles and medals.

“If the integrity of the Academy Awards is to remain intact, is wholly appropriate that Al Gore be stripped of his ‘Best Documentary’ film Oscar.

“If the Academy wishes to acknowledge the work of people like Al Gore they should form a new category of film called ‘Political Drama’. That’s how ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ should be categorised”, Dr Newman said. 

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Gordon Campbell: On Failures Of Care For Those With Mental Disabilities

Hard to imagine a more disturbing insight into the treatment of the vulnerable than the Health Ministry report on Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau. The Ministry has found that the country’s only kaupapa Maori intellectual disability residential care provider has been “seriously dysfunctional.”

The ministry says the business has failed to recruit and retain quality staff – and says the kaimahi (caregivers) that have been employed are seriously unsuitable for the job, lacking basic knowledge. But Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau doesn’t get all the blame. The report says there’s a significant gap under disability laws to ensure there’s oversight by qualified clinical professionals. More>>