Your task is to extract the thesis of an opinionated news article by selecting some of its text segments. The thesis is a summarization of what the author wants to persuade the reader of. Your answer should consist of segments of the given text. Note that you are not allowed to combine different sentences.
Example: Our 'impartial' broadcasters have become mouthpieces of the elite. When people say they have no politics, it means that their politics aligns with the status quo . None of us are unbiased , none removed from the question of power . We are social creatures who absorb the outlook and opinions of those with whom we associate, and unconciously echo them . Objectivity is impossible . The illusion of neutrality is one of the reasons for the rotten state of journalism, as those who might have been expected to hold power to account drift thoughtlessly into its arms . But until I came across the scandal currently erupting in Canada, I hadn't understood just how quickly standards are falling . In 2013 reporters at CBC, Canada's equivalent of the BBC, broke a major story . They discovered that RBC - Royal Bank of Canada - had done something cruel and unusual even by banking standards . It was obliging junior staff to train a group of temporary foreign workers , who would then be given the staff's jobs . Just after the first report was aired, according to the website Canadaland, something odd happened : journalists preparing to expand on the investigation were summoned to a conference call with Amanda Lang, CBC's senior business correspondent and a star presenter . The reporters she spoke to say she repeatedly attempted to scuttle the story, dismissing it as trivial and dull . They were astonished . But not half as astonished as when they discovered the following, unpublished facts . First ,  that Lang had spoken at a series of events run or sponsored by RBC  - for which she appears, on one occasion, to have been paid around 15,000 Canadian dollars . Second , that she was booked to speak at an event sponsored by the outsourcing company the bank had hired to implement the cruel practice exposed by her colleagues . Third , that her partner is a board member at RBC . Lang then interviewed the bank's chief executive on her own show . When he dismissed the story as unfair and misleading , she did not challenge him . That evening she uncritically repeated his talking points on CBC's main current affairs programme . Her interests, again, were not revealed . Then she wrote a comment article for the Globe and Mail newspaper suggesting that her colleagues' story arose from an outdated suspicion of business, was dangerous to Canada's interests, and was nothing but "a sideshow" . Here's what she said about the bank's employment practices:"It's called capitalism, and it isn't a dirty word." Canadaland, which exposed Lang's conflicts last week, found that other journalists at the broadcaster were furious, but too frightened to speak on the record . But after CBC tried to dismiss the scandal as "half-truths based on anonymous sources" , Kathy Tomlinson, the reporter who had broken the story about the bank, bravely spoke publicly to the website . The following morning, staff in her office arrived to find this message spelt out in magnets on their fridge:"Jesse Brown snitches get stitches" . Jesse Brown is Canadaland's founder . CBC refused to answer my questions , and I have not had a response from Lang . It amazes me that she remains employed by CBC , which has so far done nothing but bluster and berate its critics . This is grotesque . But it's symptomatic of a much wider problem in journalism : those who are supposed to scrutinise the financial and political elite are embedded within it . Many belong to a service-sector aristocracy, wedded metaphorically (sometimes literally) to finance . Often unwittingly, they amplify the voices of the elite, while muffling those raised against it . A study by academics at the Cardiff School of Journalism examined the BBC Today programme's reporting of the bank bailouts in 2008 . It discovered that the contributors it chose were "almost completely dominated by stockbrokers, investment bankers, hedge fund managers and other City voices . Civil society voices or commentators who questioned the benefits of having such a large finance sector were almost completely absent from coverage." The financiers who had caused the crisis were asked to interpret it . The same goes for discussions about the deficit and the perceived need for austerity . The debate has been dominated by political and economic elites , while alternative voices - arguing that the crisis has been exaggerated, or that instead of cuts, the government should respond with Keynesian spending programmes or taxes on financial transactions, wealth or land- have scarcely been heard . Those priorities have changed your life : the BBC helped to shape the political consensus under which so many are now suffering . The BBC's business reporting breaks its editorial guidelines every day by failing to provide alternative viewpoints . Every weekday morning, the Today programme grovels to business leaders for 10 minutes . It might occasionally challenge them on the value or viability of their companies, but hardly ever on their ethics . Corporate critics are shut out of its business coverage - and almost all the rest . On BBC News at Six, the Cardiff researchers found, business representatives outnumbered trade union representatives by 19 to one . "The BBC tends to reproduce a Conservative, Eurosceptic, pro-business version of the world," the study said . This, remember, is where people turn when they don't trust the corporate press . While the way in which the media handle the stories that are covered is bad enough , the absence of coverage is even worse . If an issue does not divide the main political parties , it vanishes from view , though the parties now disagree on hardly anything . Another study reveals a near total collapse of environmental coverage on ITV and BBC news: it declined from 2.5% (ITV) and 1.6% (BBC) of total airtime in 2007 to, respectively, 0.2% and 0.3% in 2014 . There were as many news stories on these outlets about Madeleine McCann in 2014 - seven years after her disappearance - as there were about all environmental issues put together . Those entrusted to challenge power are the loyalists of power . They rage against social media and people such as Russell Brand, without seeing that the popularity of alternatives is a response to their own failures: their failure to expose the claims of the haut monde, their failure to enlist a diversity of opinion, their failure to permit the audience to see that another world is possible . If even the public sector broadcasters parrot the talking points of the elite , what hope is there for informed democratic choice? o Twitter: @georgemonbiot . A fully referenced version of this article can be found at Monbiot.com .
Example solution: The illusion of neutrality is one of the reasons for the rotten state of journalism, as those who might have been expected to hold power to account drift thoughtlessly into its arms We are social creatures who absorb the outlook and opinions of those with whom we associate, and unconciously echo them
Example explanation: The text span selected for thesis is meaningful and correct. Pay attention that there can be more than one correct thesis for each article. Some meaningful subsets of this thesis also can be accepted as a thesis, like : "none of us are unbiased"

Problem: Iran talks: Moving beyond 'worn out' policies. The stakes are high in the latest round of nuclear talks starting today in Geneva between Iran and the P5+1 at the deputy foreign minister level . Over the past week, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Jawed Zarif have held long conversations in Geneva and Paris, lasting over seven hours . Both realise that more flexibility is required to avoid the break up of the talks . British Prime Minister David Cameron spoke on the subject with US President Barack Obama and the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the EU foreign policy chief all held talks separately with Zarif . Yet if both sides continue to stick to their strict red lines it is questionable whether this round of talks will be any better than the last . It may be time for more flexible red lines if failure is to be avoided . "Chances are less than 50/50," admits Obama, in a joint press conference with the British Prime Minister David Cameron when both leaders spent well over half of their press conferences spelling out what was at stake if a deal with Iran was not finalised by the June deadline . Obama explained how"the most successful, the most effective sanctions regime" had eventually led Iran to the negotiating table . He said:"If we can get a verifiable deal with the necessary assurances then that would be the best deal." Yet Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said sanctions are a "worn out policy" and asked the White House to adopt a "logical approach" . Iran would not accept a deal that constrains its enrichment programme without the West reducing sanctions . "Now we have come to a stage in the talks that requires the other side to take its decision to enable us to move forward," said Zarif when arriving in Geneva . "There needs to be some new and comprehensive proposals." The latest directive from Iran's leader, Ali Khamenei is that officials "should take away the weapon of sanctions from the enemy" . "Even one step in retreat will lead to enemy's advance," he said . He is angered that "Americans say flagrantly that even if Iran withdraws in the nuclear issue, the sanctions will not be lifted all together and at once" . Khamenei is referring to the main point of contention; the issue of the period of curbing Iran's enrichment programme in exchange for the lifting of four sets of sanctions imposed on Iran by the UN, EU and the US . The US wants the curbing of sanctions to be in a period covering well over 10 years, closer to 20 or in "double digits" as US administration officials put it . This is to ensure Iran's breakout time is prolonged . Iran sees this as an attempt for forcing it to forego what it calls its peaceful enrichment programme . It does not accept this long period of curbing its enrichment programme without the reciprocal reduction in sanctions . It is believed that the Iranian leader could be persuaded with anything below 10 years or a timeframe in a "single digit" . "Iran is deeply suspicious of the US and the West," said Obama . Mutual distrust is at the core of the failure of the unwillingness on both side to be flexible . Khamenei still refers to the US as"enemy" and the US continues to refuse to lift sanctions fearing Iran's return to enrichment . It is not clear if western trust has taken another blow from reports that Syria is still trying to make nuclear weapons and has been getting help from Iran and North Korea . The two sides would not be able to reach an agreement especially when the US Congress is pushing daily for imposing further sanctions in support of the Israeli lobby . Republican Senator Mark Kirk and Democratic Senator Robert Menendez are finalising a bill for tougher sanctions . Senator Bob Corker is also working on a bill to ensure the congress must approve any final deal with Iran . Iran hardliners answer sanctions with the threat of enrichment . "Further sanctions will result in a vote in the Iranian parliament for continuing enrichment," said Ali Larijani, the head of Judiciary . "The enemies wanted to deprive Iran from its right to the nuclear technology and even resorted to military threats to this end." Hardline members of parliament are proposing a bill to increase the uranium enrichment programme to 60 percent . "I am not, repeat, not suggesting that we are in immediate war footing, should negotiations with Iran fail," said Obama . At the same time he made it clear he would veto any congressional attempts at new sanctions against Iran . "Hold your fire," he told the congress . "We must not jeopardise the chance" to get a verifiable deal with Iran . Although Republicans now hold a 54-46 seat majority in the Senate , it is not clear whether there would manage to get the 67 votes required in the Senate to override an Obama veto of any Iran legislation . In intensive meetings with his European counterpart, Zarif has no doubt conveyed to them that if there is no easing of the sanctions there would be little he could do back home . He has asked for "serious and brave decisions" in order to move forward . The world has heard expressions of commitments and hope from Iran and the countries P5+1 for over a year now . Yet those brave words must be coupled either with more flexibility as recommended by experts or coupled alternatively with new ideas, new methods and possibly new redlines . There is still time and several avenues are still open . For example there could be more direct involvement by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in the form of a representative, a high calibre UN negotiator , who could add momentum to the talks and create synergy . Otherwise it is difficult to see how the negotiators can come up with a solution if they have not managed it in the past 14 months .

Solution: The stakes are high in the latest round of nuclear talks starting today in Geneva between Iran and the P5+1 at the deputy foreign minister level