When the "six burning Sunnis" story hit the blogosphere, James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal wrote that bloggers had "turned over a rock" at the Associated Press.
In his Best of the Web column today, Taranto turns over a rock himself and discovers a reporter for the Philadelphia Daily News trying to scurry away from the light. Will Bunch is upset that conservative bloggers, the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior, and CENTCOM blew the whistle on the AP's story.
From Bunch's Daily News blog, "Attytood":
Now comes the flap over a mosque attack in Baghdad, and a dispute over the news account -- trumpted [sic] on this Daily News front page at top -- that six Sunni worshippers were burned alive. This Huffington Post post does a good job of breaking down the mixed signals on whether this event really happened as reported by the AP. It's clear to me that a) The AP based its article on information from a trusted and previously reliable source, which is no guarantee of avoiding an error but is also the proven and accepted way all over the world that journalists gather news and b) even if the report were wrong, and I'm not convinced that it is, it was in the context of horrific -- and demonstrably true -- escalating violence in Baghdad.
So, journalism is like horseshoes and hand grenades; close but dead wrong is fine as long as you follow "proven and accepted" techniques and meet your truthiness quota.
Bunch continues:
In fact, it's almost not worth swatting at these gnats from the 101st Fighting Keyboard Commandos. I'd rather just concede, and let them have as their main talking points on the Middle East: The fact that smoke was added to a picture of a real Israeli bombing of Lebanon, that the AP printed an incorrect story about one of the hundreds of deadly acts of sectarian violence in Iraq, and even the allegation -- totally unproven and not resulting in any actual charges -- that one Iraqi photographer who has worked with the AP has ties to the insurgents.
Fine. So far, bloggers have counted 61 stories quoting the mysterious "police captain Jamil Hussein," the source for the six burning Sunnis story, who is unknown to the Iraqi government and seems to have dropped off the face of the Earth. And Mr. Bunch, if the only problem with Adnan Hajj's photos was a little smoke added to one, why did Reuters pull all ten years of his work? And why did bloggers subsequently discover multiple examples of fake and staged photographs? The "one Iraqi photographer?" That would be Bilal Hussein, who was captured in an al Qaeda bombmaking factory with an al Qaeda leader (a terrorist, not an "insurgent"), and tested positive for explosives.
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Shouldn't the title of this p
December 7, 2006 - 15:08 ET by thepukeShouldn't the title of this post read "Fabricator" rather than "Reporter?"
It's sad, I know, but it's almost refreshing to me when members of the MSM openly admit their horrible biases, because admissions like these are evidence that liberals can't hope to belie...
Now, now, this is a dignified
December 7, 2006 - 15:24 ET by Al BrownNow, now, this is a dignified website. A slightly different and more irreverent version of the story on my own site, The Dread Pundit Bluto, is titled, "Accuracy, Shmaccuracy, It's the Truthiness That Counts."
Gee, Al, you aren't casting d
December 7, 2006 - 15:58 ET by Dave RGee, Al, you aren't casting dispersions upon your own site, are you?
Yeah, This Bunch guy is a bunch of something, alright.
Of course I'm not knocking Th
December 7, 2006 - 18:54 ET by Al BrownOf course I'm not knocking The Dread Pundit Bluto. Everyone knows it's the number one blog on the web...involving lame wordplay from "The Princess Bride."
Dan Rather redux; the repor
December 7, 2006 - 15:11 ET by robert108Dan Rather redux; the report was fake, but the violence is true. Yeah.
Is it just me or does there
December 7, 2006 - 15:12 ET by james789Is it just me or does there seem to be a Dan Rather school of journalism turning loose todays members of the drive-by hit media?
The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price,
peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of
soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life. Theodore Roosevelt
Another slow day at the news
December 7, 2006 - 15:26 ET by RunningBeerAnother slow day at the news room, eh Bunch?
The first time I saw total fabrication of a story was about 20 yrs ago on one of those evening "news" programs like Inside Edition (or one of those). They were attacking GMC trying to expose the dangers of their pickup that would explode on side impact because of poor gas tank location. After 3 tries (and 3 trucks $$) without any explosion they resorted to planting a small device to set off the explosion, without ever bothering to tell anyone about the 3 tries or the device.
I guess MSM feels that the news is what you make of it!
Son?
December 7, 2006 - 19:35 ET by UphillRunningBeer? Aren't you the son of Chief RunningTab?
Brother of
December 7, 2006 - 19:41 ET by dagdaAnd brother to Beerrun?
Our real problem, then, is not our strength today; it is rather the vital necessity of action today to ensure our strength tomorrow. Dwight Eisenhower
Almost forgot that one, Runni
December 8, 2006 - 01:43 ET by Indiana JoeAlmost forgot that one, RunningBeer! Yep, EXACTLY as you described it. I remember when it was uncovered, you could see the "squib" charges detonate under the truck a split-second before the actual impact. That should be the first display in the future "Museum of Media Bias."
Let's start fund-raising now! How do you apply for tax-exempt status? .... ;^)
<edit> If memory serves, that was an NBC "Special Report," or somesuch...seems NBC had SOMETHING to do with it, IIRC.
That was NBC Dateline on 1973
December 8, 2006 - 04:18 ET by UnsaneThat was NBC Dateline on 1973-1987 Chevy/GMC pickups, around the 1992 time frame.
"Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy." -Sir Winston Churchill, British statesman (1874-1965)
What you are seeing here is t
December 7, 2006 - 15:35 ET by Ruths husband BenWhat you are seeing here is the arrogance of the media reporting the "TRUTH", their truth, through lies. And now the coverup and denial begins. What a pathetic excuse for journalists these weasels are.
By the way, I think the NY Post Cover "Surrender Monkeys" (as shown on Drudge) is going to turn out to be another Photoshop fiasco. Someone switched the monkeys faces with their keysters!
Rb I saw that cover... it was
December 7, 2006 - 15:53 ET by bigtimerRb I saw that cover... it was hilariously true!!! I am still chuckling over it!.... fits the macaca's perfectly....perfect picture for a front-page story and all that jazz!
"Once the coffers of the federal government are opened to the public, there will be no shutting them again." - Grover Cleveland
I like this one:b) even if th
December 7, 2006 - 15:36 ET by Conservative in the ArtsI like this one:
b) even if the report were wrong,...... and demonstrably true -- escalating violence in Baghdad.
Soon, the MSM is going to be bored with just reporting car bombs. Soon, the MSM is going to say that anthrax or some chemical weapon was used because it's "escalating the violence in Baghdad." Sure, the report would be false, but "demonstrably true" Ha!
AP Philly Daily News
December 7, 2006 - 16:59 ET by chinesearithmeticAny newspaper that hides in The Huffington Post's skirt should change its name to My Daily Reader.
Just when you think these boz
December 8, 2006 - 01:57 ET by Indiana JoeJust when you think these bozos can't get any more arrogant, they prove you wrong. Faked photos are no big deal, faked stories are merely "illustrative."
When did the "Creative Writing" crowd change their major to "Journalism?"
Apparently, it was sometime AFTER they were hired...wait, maybe BEFORE???
The lines aren't just "blurred" anymore, they are GONE!
Wow, they're no longer afra
December 8, 2006 - 06:52 ET by liberal_bug_zapperWow, they're no longer afraid of posting fake stories and pictures. They know that even if they do it... and end up taking it down or retracting it... it's the first image that makes the impression and that image or impression of the story is the one that takes up residence in people's psyche.
There has to be punishment for them when they lie. These lies cause damage and they kill people. I think that the government is hamstrung from doing anything against them due to the First Amendment. But we aren't. The families of US soldiers in Iraq who get hurt or killed by escalating violence must begin to sue the US media when they print lies. We need to sue them and sue them. We need to gather funds to just sue them every time they print lies we can prove... and we need to make sure that the plaintiffs are those whose lives are put directly in danger or directly affected (easily seen) by the lies.... this way, the suits cannot be simply dismissed.
"There has to be punishm
December 8, 2006 - 09:07 ET by Indiana Joe"There has to be punishment for them when they lie. These lies cause damage and they kill people."
Well, now, LBZ, that gives seed to a thought. Civil actions are brought due to "violation of civil rights." A kidapper can be sued civilly by victims for "unlawful detention," or whatever the lawyerese is for that situation. A 5th Amendment right, I believe, or is it 4th? And remember the civil judgement against OJ in the homicides he was criminally exonerated for. And slander and libel are examples of limits on the "freedom of speech," or of the press. As is shouting "fire" in a crowded theater, the old stand-by.
SO... combining these concepts seems to suggest that where a media outlet wilfully lies, misrepresents or otherwise "spins" facts, and demonstrable harm (including "mental anguish," perhaps?) results, there could arguably be a legal cause of action. After all, it seems pretty easy to come up with proof that the MSM DOES lie, if only by omission, on a fairly regular basis. And the only REAL defense to slander and libel, I believe, is proof of the TRUTH of the questionable statements.
Surely in a country with such a surfeit of lawyers as this one, some lawyer out there could look into this approach. And in an atmosphere where new "rights" seem to be discovered or created out of whole cloth on a fairly regular basis, this concept should have no trouble making headway. When you really consider it, it almost already exists for individuals. Let's just move it into the class-action category, against the media giants that own the outlets. Maybe THAT will get their attention!
Just me playing lawyer, early in the morning... or.....something worth considering?
So what do you NOT report?
December 8, 2006 - 10:52 ET by Challenger Grimb) even if the report were wrong, and I'm not convinced that
it is, it was in the context of horrific -- and demonstrably true --
escalating violence in Baghdad.
Hmm.... it seems to me that by this logic, we should see in the headlines any day now: "Escalating violence in Germany threatens to destablize the country into a civil war while Japan prepares to rise up against US again."
After all, how do we know those countries are peaceful? It wouldn't surprise me if Iraq was functioning, peaceful and had their own silicon valley for years before the media reported this fact to the rest of us.
By this man's logic, the tabloids at the supermarket are true and accurate as well. I guess "Men in Black" was right about that.