Senior Admin Official: 'New' Osama Tape First Aired Five Years Ago

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A terrorist website releases a tape of Osama Bin Laden, claiming it's new. And how do the MSM react? By rushing to air it, or in the case of wire services like AP, trumpet it in print. As of 6:30 A.M. EDT this morning, the AP story Bin Laden Appears in New al-Qaida Video was featured on Drudge.

There's only one problem. A senior Bush administration official informs this NewsBuster that:

"intelligence agencies have determined the video was previously aired as a portion of a longer show first on MBC TV (Middle East broadcast station) on April 17, 2002."

What's the result of the MSM's sloppy "air-first-verify-later" approach? The world’s most evil and despicable terrorists are given tons of free air time and print exposure.

Shades of the recent incident in which the MSM breathlessly promoted news of 20 beheaded bodies having been discovered in Iraq, only to have the story debunked within 48 hours.

Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net