This time over a fake morgue and the destination of the "burned bodies" which the AP attempts to change on Nov. 28 quietly and without retraction, in the hopes that it won't be noticed by the sheeple. Well, it has been noticed.

See-dubya highlights the latest hole in the Jamil Hussein story, via Confederate Yankee. Questions, questions, questions:

Is this how the AP corrects its stories? Whether there is a morgue at Kazamiyah hospital or not, the destination of the bodies changed within three days, without notice or explanation. Why would we presume this witness–supposedly one of their two anonymous eyewitnesses to the burning–is any more reliable than the fellow who said the bodies went into the morgue at Kazamiyah hospital? Which of the AP’s sources lied to them?

Ask Dan Rather. Or Eason Jordan. Or Mary Mapes. Or Adnan Hajj. Et cetera.

This developement is several days old (here's the Jawa post on it), but no less crucial.

Stay tuned.

Posted by: Good Lt. at 05:36 PM | Comments (21) | Add Comment
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So what's it gonna be then, eh?

Confederate Yankee wonders what the return policy on Hussein-credited AP stories is, and highlights the progression thus far of this disgraceful attempt at "war coverage."

Meanwhile, Eric Scheie of Classical Values takes down the frantic Eric Boehlert of (Only The Leftwing) Media Matters and his Dowdified attacks on "warbloggers" who dare to question (and expose) the media gods' apparent decreeing of truthiness from Mt. Olympus.

Michelle Malkin goes to the belly of the beast, finds nothing and ignores the left's attempts to shift the focus of this journalistic debacle onto the "larger anti-war truth/context" of fictional news stories.

Credibility is the issue here, and Jamil Hussein (if he even exists) is just the latest example of how a principal cog of the mainstream press forgot what the word means.

Just in case you need a primer on the industry's self-imposed standards, check out the ethical code of the Society of Professional Journalists. No - its not satire.

ht: Special thanks to the intrepid Jules Crittenden.

Posted by: Good Lt. at 02:10 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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A commentor at LGF points us to the text of the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics. Keep Jamilgate and all of the MSM shennanigans we've uncovered these past few years in mind as you read this. Try not to laugh out loud (there are more at the link - these are listed in no particular order):

Journalists should:

— Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources' reliability.

— Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible

— Avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events. If re-enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it.

— Clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct.

— Encourage the public to voice grievances against the news media.

— Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.

— Expose unethical practices of journalists and the news media.

— Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.

— Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.

— Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.

— Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public. Use of such methods should be explained as part of the story

Need more clarity? Wuzzadem, in all of its pictoral-narrative glory, lays it out.

Posted by: Good Lt. at 07:23 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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"Iraqi Police Captain Jamil Hussein," the Associated Press' source for the horror story about the six burning Sunnis, and at least sixty other AP stories from the past two years, is looking more and more mythical.

The latest from Michelle Malkin is a non-reponse to questions she raised yesterday, and forwarded to the Associated Press:

Here is the response I received yesterday from AP media relations officer Linda Wagner:

Michelle-
I have no additional information for you at this time.

Linda

I also cc'ed my questions to AP exec editor Kathleen Carroll.

She did not respond.

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1 Bluto;

Thanks for the post. These AP dickweeds are unredeemable. They are unforgivably destructive of the truth.

Carry on, oh Dread Pundit!

USA, all the way!

Posted by: Michael Weaver at December 21, 2006 10:44 PM (2OHpj)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Sensationalized breathless headline for Reuters story: "U.S. soldiers' suicide rate in Iraq doubles in 2005" (actually, the rate in 2004 was 10.5 per 100,000. The 2006 rate of 19.9 per 100,000 is a bit short of "double," but few people with two brain cells to rub together expect truth and accuracy from Reuters - Adnan Hajj and the other fake/staged news events of the Israeli-Hizbullah war saw to that).

Money quote, buried deep, deep into the story:

While every suicide was one too many, Kiley said, the suicide rate among soldiers was lower than the average among civilians of the same age and gender.

Time it will take for the first blame-America-first lefty to accuse me of not caring about soldier suicides: a New York minute.

Posted by: Bluto at 12:09 AM | Comments (31) | Add Comment
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Curt at Flopping Aces notes that the Associated Press has quietly changed the copy of their November 28 response to questions about the "burning six" story. And the Google cached version has mysteriously changed, as well (screen caps of the dueling stories here).

After Confederate Yankee noticed that the page briefly went down, an unacknowledged paragraph rewrite appeared:

AP reporters who have been working in Iraq throughout the conflict learned of the mosque incident through witnesses and later corroborated it with police.

AP reporters who have been working in Iraq throughout the conflict learned of the mosque incident through witnesses and neighborhood residents and corroborated it with a named police spokesmen and also through hospital and morgue workers.

Why would the Associated Press try to change the record on a controversial story, especially one in which the AP's reporting has come into question? It's tough to come up with an innocent explanation for this one.

Update: Allahpundit at HotAir thinks that the quotes are from two different documents, but wonders why the supporting witnesses were left out of the later document. I'm not convinced that there were two documents. The copy is just too similar.

Posted by: Bluto at 02:38 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Yesterday "Armed Liberal" at Winds of Change posted a short blurb about queries he had made to friends of his in Iraq:

With the help of some friends who have been doing a smidgen of looking, and it appears - appears, but is not certain - that there is in fact a Jamail Hussein in the Yarmouk police station in Baghdad. We'll know more tomorrow.

Posted by: Bluto at 03:04 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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In the past, it has generally been the left, rather than the right, which has been quickest to pounce on big multinational corporations "exploiting the people" and peddling shoddy products and services. The right has traditionally had more of a "caveat emptor" attitude--i.e., if you can't be bothered to pay attention to what you're buying, you deserve what you get.

Oddly, the often shoddy services being peddled by the world's corporate media conglomerates find most of their their toughest critics on the right wing and most of their defenders on the left.

As regards previous stories, the left has been more silent than anything, mostly ignoring the numerous examples of atrocious journalism. On the Jamil Hussein / Burning Six story, the left seems to be taking a more active role defending big media. Their hearts ache, apparently, for a huge multinational corporation under attack by some regular citizens.

Firedoglake, for example, has this to say about Michelle's upcoming trip:

Meanwhile, LG&M has a Christmas wish that I'd like to second. May all the warbloggers take Malkin's bravery as a challenge to demonstrate that the AP simply doesn't know what it's talking about and prove those of us suffering from BDS dead wrong.

Will she go? Does she actually believe the stuff she writes?

Posted by: Ragnar at 11:12 AM | Comments (23) | Add Comment
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1 Every discussion is not just another opportunity to pontificate on Bill O'Reilly, WMDs, 9-11 truth, or whatever freak-ass kool-aid you folks are drinking this week.
So your point is that the fact that the war itself was based on the evidence from mentally ill German alcoholic is just "freak-ass kool-aid".

The Left don't care for "six burning Sunnies" much because the story itself is quite ordinary.
The Left are skeptical about Malkin because it's very obvious that her motive is not truth. She's been found to peddle untruths so many times, she has no credibility left whatsoever.
In this AP story she was giving "Associated (with Terrorists) Press" presentations from the very beginning, even though the only evidence for her point of view was press-release from CENTCOM and MOI (MOI means, in effect, also terrorists).

You know, there was one HotAir video that sort of closed the question about Malkin. She was saying all the usual nonsense about "Democrats -- terrorist-lovers", and one of her points was "Democrats say that you have to understand terrorist". The video illustration for these words was a quote from Richard Clarke saying that you have to understand terrorist's thinking in order to deal with the threat adequately.
What Malkin said was the most stupid thing imaginable, sort of "those Doctors say that you have to understand illness in order to fight it. They don't get it: you have to be tough on illness, you don't need to understand anything".

The Left don't carry the water for MSM, they just have fun at expense of Malkin who had shown that she doesn't care for truth and/or logical thinking so many times you just can't count.

Posted by: Nikolay at December 18, 2006 12:40 PM (mS6dz)

2 The Left's core belief is to be in opposition to the Right.  If the Right attacked alien invaders from outer space, the Left would defend them.  If the Right defended the MSM, the Left would attack it.    The Left opposes the Right.  Period.  That's how they wake up in the morning. 

Posted by: dcb at December 18, 2006 12:47 PM (8e/V4)

3 It's an "ends justify the means" mentality.  If the end is "stop Amerikkkan hegemoney" - then the intermediate end of "get America to pull out of Iraq immediately" is acceptable -- and then "printing false stories about war atrocities is acceptable, if the goal is to convince Americans of how evil the war is, and thus gets the American public to call for an immediate pullout."

Further, "corporations are evil", but when used as a "means" (AP) to a noble "end" (defeat Zionism), the leftists will tolerate the AP lies.

Don't believe me? Recall the leftists knowing denials/lies/coverups for all the Soviet famines and purges.  When the "end" then was promotion of utopian communism, the unpleasant "means" of Stalin had to be allowed.

This sort of thinking is the antithesis of American thought (as the result of combining Protestant, Capitalist, and English common law philosophies). And yes, I say it is downright "unAmerican".

Posted by: wooga at December 18, 2006 12:51 PM (t9sT5)

4 Nikolay, your ad hominem attack against MM holds no water.

Posted by: BohicaTwentyTwo at December 18, 2006 02:30 PM (oC8nQ)

5 Nikolay, I have to disagree with you. i've been around folks who have been lied about in the MSM, backed up by leftist/liberal bias. I have spent years watching the media jump hoops for a socialists agenda, and that was long before I ever heard of Michelle Malkin.

As for Malkin, I started fact checking her the first time I saw her in print, and she is laser accurate in a way the MSM needs to be. In short, what she says is factual, and she has multiple, verifiable sources, and her sources often lead to other verifiable sources. She works for it.

Your only going to convince people who don't do their homework, and start out with your bias as their own. I encourage any reader here to do their own homework if you doubt Ms Malkin's abilities as a reporter. Don't be lazy, and just accept this attack, on her. Study her!

Her only weakness is that she is a human being. Expect an occassional mistake. Also expect her to post a correction ASAP, unlike the AP!

The MSM is a tool of what you might call 'soft-marxism' and I haven't trusted the MSM since the mid-eighties.

If the MSM went away tommorrow, and we had to rebuild with the new media only, we would still get ten times better information, despite the online marxists.

So like I said, we disagree.

USA, all the way!

Posted by: Michael Weaver at December 18, 2006 02:47 PM (2OHpj)

6 Wooga when you say "leftists" do you mean all who are not Republicans? Or thaose that are hard core Maoists? In the last election about 56% of the American electorate voted Democratic. Should all of these be labeled "leftists"?
Blaming leftists for not speaking out against Stalin is like blaming the conservatives for not speaking out against Hitler and Tojo.

Posted by: John Ryan at December 18, 2006 02:55 PM (TcoRJ)

7 like blaming the conservatives for not speaking out against Hitler and Tojo.

Isn't that precisely what you Leftists do?  Blame the Right for Hitler?  Blame christians for Hitler?  Blame the Pope for Hitler?   Interesting how the Left always tells us not to do exactly what they themselves always do.

Posted by: dcb at December 18, 2006 03:16 PM (8e/V4)

8 Blaming leftists for not speaking out against Stalin is like blaming
the conservatives for not speaking out against Hitler and Tojo.
Well, John, this sort of comments certainly make _you_ a leftist.  The notion that right wing = fascist...
Fascist is first and foremost a statist philosophy, just like socialism and communism.  The "right" in the traditional _American_ context (see Reagan), is anti-statist (although Bush is quickly seeking to end this through 'compassionate' conservativism).

But this notion of "my opposition is a monolithic entity" is one of the pre-requisites of being a mouth breathing, spittle flinging leftist.  Only when faced with a monolithic enemy does the 'ends justify the means' become an appealing life jacket.

There are many democrats who are not leftists. These range from folks like Bill Clinton to Zell Miller.  There are key issues which are good indicators of "you might be a leftist if...":
1. belief that private citizens should not own guns
2. rejection of federalism and notions of state sovereignty
3. belief that the primary purpose of the federal government is to provide social welfare
4. belief that capitalism is an inherently evil system
5. rejection of both popular democracy and the democratic republic; instead believing that the average citizen is too dogmatic and reactionary to be trusted with the reigns of power, and thus we must elevate an elite group of philosopher kings (the judiciary) over the elected branches (executive and legislative)
6. the belief that 'freedom of speech' should end when the speech is offensive.

In the US, I would peg this as no more than 25% (at an absolute maximum) of the population. It's probably between 10 and 15%. In mainland western europe, it's plurality of the population, if not an outright majority.

Posted by: wooga at December 18, 2006 04:05 PM (t9sT5)

9 As for Malkin, I started fact checking her the first time I saw her in print, and she is laser accurate in a way the MSM needs to be. In short, what she says is factual, and she has multiple, verifiable sources, and her sources often lead to other verifiable sources. She works for it.
Was it not Malkin who was in the center of "NYT publishes Rumsfeld's coordinates to help Al-Qaeda" hysteria? Was she not hyping "Terror in the sky -- I saw sinister Syrian musicians" insanity? Was she not promoting the lie (or, at least, never confirmed rumor) "Pelosi wants Hastings as the Chairman of House Intelligence Committee"?
What are the proven facts, not conspiracy fantasies in the "six terror-imams" story?
I agree, she tends to repudiate her stories when they turn out to be false, but in a "non-apology apology" way, and only after blowing the story out of proportion.

And do you remember her post about the actress killed in NY by some construction-worker? It was called "the bloody consequences of the open borders". One of the most shameful ways of exploiting someone's death I can imagine. It's like writing an article about O.J. case with a title "The bloody consequences of abolishment of slavery". Or if some Jew killed somebody -- "Holocaust: job sadly not done".

Malkin is all bent on destroying her own country, endlessly promoting delusions and misconceptions -- and this in one of the most dangerous times in history. I can why so many sane people are skeptical of whatever she writes.

Posted by: Nikolay at December 18, 2006 04:58 PM (mS6dz)

10 Why do corporate media carry water for the left?


Could it possibly be....Marxism?

Posted by: Jeff Bargholz at December 18, 2006 05:01 PM (bLPT+)

11 Nikolay;
Ditto my first post, plus I totally agree with Malkin after following up on other sources about the murdred actress story. She reported about something that genuinely affects the security of out public spaces. It affects the safety of MY wife, or MY sisters, or My neices. it was entirely relevent.

Compare that the the shameful thread at Democratic Underground, after two FOX news reporters were kidnapped by Islamists.

Malkin has my confidence, and leftist MSM news sources don't. I try to spy on everyone equally

USA, all the way!

Posted by: Michael Weaver at December 18, 2006 05:11 PM (2OHpj)

12 She reported about something that genuinely affects the security of out public spaces. It affects the safety of MY wife, or MY sisters, or My neices. it was entirely relevent.
Her report was not logical, don't you understand? One death is just that -- one death. To connect a single death to a general policy problem in a way she did is something out of the worst biggot's handbook.

It's the same thing as saying that some black guy raping and killing some woman proves that there is a "black danger" and they will come "after YOUR wife, or YOUR sisters, or YOUR nieces".

Can you show any difference between this logic and Malkin's logic? Besides the fact that illegal immigrants are _illegal_, which is totally irellevant?
Compare that the the shameful thread at Democratic Underground, after two FOX news reporters were kidnapped by Islamists.
Haven't seen that.

Posted by: Nikolay at December 18, 2006 05:52 PM (mS6dz)

13 After warning against knee-jerk kool-Aid comments, the lefties crawled out and did just that. Those morons just cant help themselves.


Nikolame chanted "Bush lied, people died," and then vented inaccuracies and slander about Michelle Malkin.


The ever deceitful John Lyin chose to lie (natch,) about the last election and even used the left's idiotic standard of claiming Hitler was a right-winger. (Chuckle.)


Nikolame: The overthrow of Saddam Hussein was not based on WMD, and WMD have been found in Iraq as reported by the New York Times (American Pravda.)


You're right that  "the Left don't care for 'six burning Sunnies' much because the story itself is quite ordinary." (Italics mine.) Fake stories from the Establishment Media are indeed, ordinary.


The left hates Malkin because she exposes Marxist deceit and stupidity on a regular basis. If she had no credibility, you wouldn't have spent so much effort trying to discredit her with your illogical, stupid lies.


John Lyin: Ony 70 million Americans out of a population of 300 million voted in the last elections. The vast majority of the eloctorate stayed home, and even the majority of registered voters stayed home in disgust. The Dhimmiecrats were elected by the extremist fringe and a minority of Americans brainwashed by the Establishment Media. The people who stayed home decided the election.


_{"Blaming leftists for not speaking out against Stalin is like blaming the conservatives for not speaking out against Hitler and Tojo."}

The innate deceit and stupidity  of this statement is a perfect example of leftism. Conservatives not only spoke out against Hitler and Tojo, they went to war against them. Leftists not only excused Stalin's atrocities, they opposed America's entry into WWII. It wasn't until Hitler attacked their beloved worker's paradise, the Soviet Union, that they discovered patriotism. Patriotism for the USSR, treason for America, of course.


Most ridiculous of all is your description of Hitler and his National Socialist German Worker's Party as "right-wing."


Describing the feudal system of Imperial Japan as "right-wing" is also quite ignorant. Feudalism does resemble the communist regimes from the USSR, China, North Korea, and Cuba, though.


Ist it any wonder the corporate media are as deceitful and incompetent as the left they carry water for?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



 

Posted by: Jeff Bargholz at December 18, 2006 06:13 PM (bLPT+)

14 Nikolame:


The NYT has been quite open about illegally publishing national security secrets, including Rumsfeld's whereabouts and the location of his vacation home--complete with a photo of his security devices.


Musicians from a terrorist stronghold who nobody wants to hear cant be up to no good? Next you'll say the flying imams were innocent.


"Pelosi wants Hastings as Chairman of the House Intelligence Committeee?" Your beloved left-wing Establishment Media reported the same story. Were they engaging in "hysterical conspiracy theories?" (Please look up the definition of "conspiracy," by the way.)


God help you, you did say that the flying imams were innocent! (Retard alert!)


Malkin's comments about an actress murdered by a criminal wetback were "one of the most shameful ways of exploiting someone's death (you) can imagine?" How exactly did she capitalize on it? She didn't use it to become an America-last martyr and go on tour promoting three semi-literate books did she? The left worshipped media darling Cindy She-hag for ghoulisly exploiting her own son's death. Truly repulsive.


The crime rate of wetbacks is now the highest in the country--even higher than that of those innocent Blacks you mentioned. The murder of that NY actress was by no stretch of the imagination an isolated incident. The fact that every single wetback is here illegally is as relevant as it gets. If they weren't allowed in the country, they couldn't commit all their crimes, you raging moron.


The real racists are assholes like you who only want immigrants from South of the border and other Turd World countries to emigrate to America. If Congress were to abolish the immigration quotas that favor "non-whites," you would scream bloody murder.


The next time you carry water for the corporate media, use a bucket instead of a net, dipshit.
 
 
 

Posted by: Jeff Bargholz at December 18, 2006 07:37 PM (bLPT+)

15 "
Haven't seen that."

That's not surprising. People like you have a difficult time following news stories if they don't uphold or reinforce your leftist biases and carefully constructed uber-narratives.

Posted by: Good Lt at December 18, 2006 08:32 PM (D0TMh)

16 Nikolay;
When 12 million aliens come into your country, in violation of your borders, and your laws, and especially when they do so while retaining foriegn allegiance, it is called an "invasion".

You need to check out how many more than "one death" are the result of illegal aliens, and alien smuggling. Your missing the boat, and I need to keep this under ten minutes so just go read her article again, and learb something.

Your comparison to 'black' people is weak because most 'black' people in America are regular citizens, like most 'white' people are. They don't start from the default position of being foriegn nationals breaking our laws with intent. You can't claim that it is irrelevant, because it adds to a likely predisposition. Get a better argument.

Also, Michelle Malkin has earned my respect, while the MSM has lost it. Unless Ms Malkin goes horribly wrong somehow (like the AP) I don't see that changing.

USA, all the way! Forever, and always! To the stars.

Posted by: Michael Weaver at December 19, 2006 01:34 AM (2OHpj)

17 The NYT has been quite open about illegally publishing national security secrets, including Rumsfeld's whereabouts and the location of his vacation home--complete with a photo of his security devices.
OK, you still didn't notice the fact that the publication was explicitly permitted by Rumsfeld's office?

Musicians from a terrorist stronghold who nobody wants to hear cant be up to no good?
If you followed the story through, you'd see that it was total bunk. Everyone who happened to be born in Syria is guilty even if proved innocent -- is that your logic?

God help you, you did say that the flying imams were innocent! (Retard alert!)
I didn't say they were innocent, I said that I didn't see any conclusive proof that they were guilty.

That's not surprising. People like you have a difficult time following news stories if they don't uphold or reinforce your leftist biases and carefully constructed uber-narratives.
DU thread is a news story?

When 12 million aliens come into your country, in violation of your borders, and your laws, and especially when they do so while retaining foriegn allegiance, it is called an "invasion"
What do you mean by "foreign allegiance"? Formal citizenship? Or you're one who believe that there's a looming danger of "reconquista"?

BTW, 12 million compared to the whole population of 300 millions makes 4%, which is about as big as the number of refugees from Iraq in Syria. If you compare the number of refugees in Jordan to the total population, it would mean something like 35 millions in US. Haven't seen many tears for those countries and the invasion they suffer.

They don't start from the default position of being foriegn nationals breaking our laws with intent. You can't claim that it is irrelevant, because it adds to a likely predisposition.
OK, smoking marijuana means breaking the law. If somebody who smokes marijuana commits a murder, this is another case of "reefer madness".
You can rationally argue about illegal immigration as much as you want, but there's nothing rational in what Malkin wrote about that story.

Posted by: Nikolay at December 19, 2006 05:08 AM (mS6dz)

18 Ragnar, Pawn of the Illuminati:

Good summary of the larger issue, i.e., that the Associated Press is not a credible news source, and that it is curious that the political left buys their product religiously, if I may.

Posted by: Jaibones at December 19, 2006 08:26 AM (8quDU)

19 And do you remember her post about the actress killed in NY by some construction-worker? It was called "the bloody consequences of the open borders". One of the most shameful ways of exploiting someone's death I can imagine. It's like writing an article about O.J. case with a title "The bloody consequences of abolishment of slavery". Or if some Jew killed somebody -- "Holocaust: job sadly not done".

Nikolay, are you saying that enforcing our immigration policy is morally equivalent to the crimes of slavery and genocide?

It's perfectly legitimate to discuss the impact of illegal immigration on crime. Illegals make up a disproportionate percentage of our prison population. Also, there is no question that not being able to work legally necessarily puts an illegal immigrant into contact with the underground economy.

Immigration policy in the US has not always been enlightened or humane. The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 was intended to restrict immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, i.e. Italians and Jews. As the Nazis consolidated their power and the threat to Jews in Europe grew, it was almost impossible for Jews to get into the US.

Still, a country has a right to control borders and immigration. Even without illegals, the US has a very liberal immigration policy in general. Asians and Africans are welcome here, and Dearborn, Michigan is just 20 minutes from here, so you can't tell me that we discriminate against Muslims.

The US can't, however, continue to be the solution to problems in Mexico and Central America. I suppose it might be easier for Mexicans to earn a living here (plus send billions back to Mexico) than for Mexicans to grow the Mexican economy. Maybe it's because Mexico has the crutch of the US, but I don't understand why Mexico hasn't developed it's economy like countries in Asia.

Posted by: Bozoer Rebbe at December 19, 2006 10:36 AM (jPrUe)

20 Nikolay, are you saying that enforcing our immigration policy is morally equivalent to the crimes of slavery and genocide?
No, I'm saying that there's equal level of intellectual dishonesty behind Malkin's argument (he wouldn't do this if he wasn't in the country in the first place) and Holocaust argument.

Sure, illegal immigration is a huge problem. The other problem -- there's no easy and realistic solution. Hysterical nonsense of Malkin's sort (she also believes in reconquista) doesn't help in any way.

Posted by: Nikolay at December 19, 2006 12:57 PM (mS6dz)

21 Nikolay;
I don't have much time so in brief:
Refugees are just running away from an immediate threat, and usually would like to go back home. As for so called 'palestinian refugees' that is really a false term. Study your Judean history.

The forces we used to invade Iraq, or Afghanistan were a tiny fraction compared to the overall population. They were more noticeable because they were an overt invasion. It has been said that less than 2% of people living in the origional 13 colonies took a side in the revolutionary war, and yet those 2% decided the matter, didn't they?

My college instructor for "Race and Minorities" was teaching the freakin 'Reconquista' like it was justified! There really is a movement, and it's more mainstream than you would like us to believe. Unless you really don't know, which I should allow for, I guess. Don't be snotty

Yes, Marijuana predisposes you to more criminal behavior. It also opens you up to Meth, and even worse criminal behavior. I've seen it. I know more about it than I want to, and that is all I'm going to say.

Yes, cheating on your math test predisposes you to cheat some more, if you don't get caught. Ask anyone who has been a teacher.

Michelle Malkin is right, and your not! Nyah, nyah!

Have a good one.

USA, all the way!

Posted by: Michael Weaver at December 19, 2006 02:41 PM (2OHpj)

22 Nikolame:


_{"OK, you still didn't notice the fact that the publication was explicitly permitted by Rumsfeld's office?"}


The New Pravda Times has illegally leaked a hell of a lot of national security secrets. Leaks which you have conveniently chosen to ignore, instead focusing on Donald rumsfeld's vacation house. Typical leftist pettifoggery.


Rumsfeld allowed the photos to be taken, but the NPD abused his kindness by highlighting a photo and description of his security measures in the piece it ran.


_{"If you followed the story through, you'd see that it was total bunk. Everyone who happened to be born in Syria is guilty even if proved innocent -- is that your logic?"}


Did Malkin ever lie about the musicians? They were never "proven" to be innocent of anything. Everyone born in Syria is innocent--is that your logic?


_{"I didn't say they were innocent, I said that I didn't see any conclusive proof that they were guilty."}


No, liar. You described the flying imam facts as "conspiracy theories."


_{"DU thread is a news story?"}


Yes it was. It was featured in many media outlets, becuase the vile hypocrisy of the DU writers angered every decent person who read them. The story wasn't featured at America-last news manufacturing outlets like CNN or the leftist blogospere, so if you didn't see them, it's because like Good Lt wrote: "That's not surprising. People like you have a difficult time following news stories if they don't uphold or reinforce your leftist biases and carefully constructed uber-narratives."


_{"What do you mean by 'foreign allegiance'? Formal citizenship? Or you're one who believe that there's a looming danger of 'reconquista?'"}


He means allegiance to Mexico, and yes, they have formal citizenship as Mexican Nationals. Are you one of the fools who doesn't believe the "reconquista" movement is dangerous?


The 12 million figure for illegals is very conservative, and doesn't include the 3 million who have entered every year since that figure was trotted out two years ago, the millions of children born in America to wetbacks, or the tens of millions of wetbacks who have received amnesty.


There were never 12 million Iraqi refugees in Syria, and far more people have returned to Iraq in the last three years than have left.


You wont see any tears shed by real Americans for Jordan and Syria, especially over phony invasion figures.


_{"OK, smoking marijuana means breaking the law. If somebody who smokes marijuana commits a murder, this is another case of 'reefer madness.'"}


More leftist pettifoggery and evasion. Wetbacks are default criminals because they enter America illegally. Black American citizens are not default criminals for being Black, you racist piece of shit.


Smoking marijuana has nothing to do with the subject you're addressing. Very little of what you write does. This has already been pointed out to you numerous times, but as a leftist automaton, you're incapable of changing your programming.


_{"You can rationally argue about illegal immigration as much as you want, but there's nothing rational in what Malkin wrote about that story."}


Actually, there is nothing irrational in what she wrote, and you know it, you left-wing projectionist.


Say hi to Cindy She-hag for me.
 
 
 



 

Posted by: Jeff Bargholz at December 20, 2006 03:56 AM (bLPT+)

23 Two things;

Thanks Jeff Bargholz for that great last comment, and ...

I have to click "preview" to see comments that are left later, after I last commented. is there a reason, and can we fix it somehow?

Thanks.

USA, all the way!

Posted by: Michael Weaver at December 20, 2006 03:18 PM (2OHpj)

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Got to be read to actualy believe it. Its got everything, and the article is even written by discredited E&P reporter Greg Mitchell. Former CNN Baghdad bureau chief Eason Jordan has re-risen from obscurity.Jordan sparked cotroversy when he revealed in 2003 that CNN had been censoring and witholding reports and information on Saddam Hussein's fairly constant stream human rights atrocities in order to maintain the CNN bureau in Baghdad.

He then sparked off his own premature retirement after accusing US troops of deliberately targeting journalists in Iraq at the World Economic Forum in 2005.

Now, he's back. And not only is he back, he's slated to run a CNN-backed all-Iraq news site.

OK. The guy who lied about Hussein's atrocieies is now going to somehow be responsible for the dissemination of any kind of news from Iraq?

From Editor & Publisher:

“Iraq is the story of our time,” he declares. His goal for the site is for it to become nothing less than “the world's premier Iraq-focused information source” -- and with no “political slant.”

The name of his new venture, he says, was inspired by a Donald Rumsfeld reference to this war being a “long, hard slog.”

*** Read it all ------->
Cross-posted at Mein Blogovault. more...

Posted by: Good Lt. at 10:34 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 323 words, total size 3 kb.

I was bothered by Dante Chinni’s article about Bill Roggio at the Christian Science Monitor. Dante accuses Bill of a “pro war” bias. I was just reading this article by Mr. Roggio and I found it to be objective.

So I decided to run a little experiment. I wrote this post this morning. It includes three stories. The first is the car bombing in Baghdad today. The second is a story about Iraqi Police finding a bomb near the Golden Mosque in Samarra. The third is about Iraqi army forces freeing 23 hostages and capturing or killing some members of the cell.

I consider the deaths of the innocent people in the car bombing, “negative news.” I consider the other two stories “positive news.”

I decided to follow all three today and see just who picked them up and who didn’t. To test the old saying, “Bad news travels fast.”

First we have the bad news about the car bombing. It has 779 entries on Google news. Everyone reported it as expected.

Next we have the attempted bombing at the Mosque. It has only 10 entries on Google News. NPR did report this over lunch hour. However, note the al-Reuters story uses a misleading sensational headline, “Bomb explodes at Iraq's Samarra mosque”. That kind of dampens the mood eh?

And last but not least we have Centcom’s report on the hostage recovery, with enemy terrorists killed and captured. It has one entry on Google News, me.

But we follow a lot of hostage stories. So I thought surely CSM will be covering this. After all Jill Carroll works for CSM. So I surfed on over and nope, nada, nothing!

I would have expected that 23 hostages saved from being shot or cruelly beheaded would be news and big news at that. I guess not.

MORE BELOW more...

Posted by: Howie at 04:51 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 587 words, total size 5 kb.

AllahP notes that the AP will now refrain from naming sources for much of its "stringer" coverage in the future. I'm sure that will help sort out the real from the propaganda. Chalk this one up as a win for the bloggers, as the AP hasn't produced the source, and won't because it has been demonstrated that the 'source' doesn't really exist - at the very least not in the capacity or with the 'credibility' with which the AP presented the source.

Unless the AP wants to produce him, which they won't.

Dan Reihl offers more evidence that the alleged "burning Sunni" incident never happened.

Green Helmet Guy lives on, however, in the AP annals of fame and honor. I and many others scoff derisively and with satisfaction that the AP has not only lost its rudder, but has run aground and is leaking a massive oil slick into the sound. Stay tuned.

Posted by: Good Lt. at 11:04 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 159 words, total size 1 kb.

Seldom do you see Multinational Force releases on memeorandum. But a story we ran on Thursday was picked up by other bloggers over the weekend and did show. The more we all link them the more exposure these stories will get. If you read TJR this week you get a striking difference from the defeatism that is running rampant of late in the MSM.

Flopping Aces notes a story from The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq that started out on a few obscure websites and then moved to al-Jazeera. Then was picked up by the AP. We are accused of “atrocities”. FloppingAces noted the discrepancy with the Multi National Force’s account and asks, is this more “News From The Enemy?”

The answer is YES! I believe this report came from the funerals following the strike where an American Pilot was lost when his F16 crashed supporting ground troops and operations to secure the area afterward.

When this was first reported on al-Jazeera along with the pictures of our pilot there were shots of dead “martyred mujahadeen”. There were shots of the damage caused by the warplane that occurred during the battle. The ending shot showed a black flag flying over the damaged structure with cheering fighters. These were combatants, mujahadeen, fighters, soldiers.

But at the funerals the story changes. The plane was not shot down during the battle. They mention a plane but it was used to cause damage afterward to “cover up crimes” that occurred during the battle. . They give an entirely different description of events. They say there were no fighters present, all were unarmed innocent civilians and were gunned down with no provocation. In direct disagreement with the first story.

This is now the version of events being pushed by Association of Muslim Scholars. A group with ties to Sunni insurgents in Iraq.

The group of hard-line Sunnis, which has routinely opposed the "U.S. occupation" of Iraq, alleged that American soldiers entered two Iraqi homes, shot their large families to death, then planted bombs that blew up the buildings to make it look as if the Iraqis had died in a U.S. airstrike targeting insurgents.

“U.S. planes bombed two adjacent houses in al-Jalameda area after midnight targeting the houses of the two brothers Mohammed and Mahmoud Hussein Jalmoud in western Ishaqi,” the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VoI) by telephone. “According to a preliminary toll, the bombing resulted in the death of 30 residents,”

MNF: AK-47s, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-personnel mines, explosives, blasting caps and suicide vests. Who could they be? Coalition Forces also found that two of the terrorists killed were women. Al-Qaida in Iraq has both men and women supporting and facilitating their operations unfortunately.

If just keep supporting these stories we can get them a lot more exposure. I’ve noted that if a few blogs run a story a lot of MSM outlets jump on it. That is if we can just get them past using our side as sources. They seem to have no trouble using the enemy’s sources.

Posted by: Howie at 08:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 559 words, total size 4 kb.

The entry is below the fold - its a rather lengthy rebuttal to AP exec. editor Kathleen Carroll's asinine swipes at bloggers, coupled with a comparative analysis of inaccurate AP and wire service coverage. The original "Green Helmet Guy" entry is at the bottom of the post. Grab a cuppa joe and stay a while. More to come. more...

Posted by: Good Lt. at 11:59 PM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
Post contains 1935 words, total size 14 kb.

1 Makes me proud to be associated with the "mad rabble of society".  Cram their lies back down their throats. 

Posted by: Buzzy at December 08, 2006 11:33 PM (CXz7T)

2 We're workin' on it, brotha.

Posted by: Good Lt at December 08, 2006 11:48 PM (D0TMh)

3 Wow! Just wow!
Did AP used to be credible? I can't remember anymore. It is now just "Daily Kos" with better circulation.

Posted by: Chuck the Lucky at December 09, 2006 01:27 AM (hgX7d)

4 Yes, Carroll is right: A journalist may have to deal with unsavory people; lawyers have to do the same thing, too. Even so, this should not mean that journalists stop being citizens, with responsibilities that go hand in hand with citizenship (such as reporting the commission of a crime, something a lawyer, as an officer of the court, would be obligated to do in respect to a client). Unfortunately, many journalists these days seem to think they exist in an "objective" realm that is above citizenship or nationality or judgments or responsibilities of any kind. Carroll and her many like-mided AP colleagues are among them; and this includes AP's staffers who, for most part, type up their stories from the Green Zone while sending Iraqi "journalists" (as Carroll calls them) out in the field to do their legwork. (A NYT story dealt with this Green Zone "bunker mentality" on the part of AP staffers a number of months ago, incidentally -- so Carroll's comments about bloggers sitting safely behind their computers is perplexing.)

Posted by: David at December 09, 2006 02:01 AM (1Y2SS)

5 The Associated Press is basically suffering what happens to all large corporations with a virtual monopoly, it is becoming sloppy, incompetant, and unaccountable. The New York Post link above puts Robert Bateman, an historian and reporter, giving one man's story of how the AP covered up evidence that its Pulitzer-Prize nominated story about an incident in the Korean War was completely falsified by a man later convicted for getting PTSD treatment for combat that he did not endure.

Not only that, but this spurious news organization tried to wreck Bateman's career by attempting to stop his academic research and then the publishing of his book. More lately, this fraudulent excuse for journalism had an article out yesterday that neglected to give the state country or any relevant details about the woman who had three dead fetuses in her refrigerator! Whatever happened to who, what, when, where, etc.?

More serious, the Iraqi government and the U.S. Army have long warned the AP about its use of "spokesmen" who don't exist. Indeed this time it appears that there is no such officer in the Iraqi police force in Baghdad. More, they could find no evidence of such an attack (though they did see that one mosque had been hit with some gasoline and had some smoke and scorching damage in the entryway).

Did the AP retract or reinvestigate? Nah. Instead, in a follow-up story a few days later, it simply noted the old (2005) news about efforts to plant Coalition press releases in the Iraqi media, accused the Iraqis of censorship and claimed that it had found three more (anonymous, naturally) witnesses. In effect, AP said that, no matter what the Iraqi police headquarters said, Hussein is one of its spokesmen after all.
Bizarrely, it seems that not even Iraqi Sunni politicians believe the AP story; even the radical Association of Muslim Scholars hasn't embraced the account. But we here are supposed to anyway. After all, AP doesn't make mistakes.
The AP has a number of executives, including Kathleen Carroll, who are simply giving disinformation and false sourcing in their stories. For that, the CSJ, whose students nowadays cheat on take-home ethics exams to practice for their Pulitzer scams, are predictably taking notes on just how to Mau-mau the flak-catchers, Kathleen Carroll style

Posted by: daveinboca at December 09, 2006 07:44 AM (44Q0C)

6 The news media is the gravest enemy civilization faces today.

They glorify chaos, crime, and tyranny because "If it bleeds, it leads".

Posted by: Phillep at December 09, 2006 09:41 AM (Jeoud)

7 "Do you really think these people would risk their lives under Israeli shelling to set up a digging ceremony for dead Lebanese kids?"

The AP mouthpiece makes it sound like there was an ongoing artillery barrage of the entire area, rather than what it really was, brief, individual air strikes targeting the sites of rocket attacks on Israeli civilian areas. Once the Israeli air force had destroyed a target there was no reason to attack again, and so the Palestinian propagandists were in no real danger.

Funny how the AP just cannot stop telling lies.

Posted by: pst314 at December 09, 2006 10:01 AM (lCxSZ)

8 Whoa.  Looks like we started something.

Posted by: Howie at December 09, 2006 10:20 AM (YdcZ0)

9 This post is too long.

Posted by: Speaking for the Choir at December 09, 2006 10:52 AM (HSkSw)

10 Deal! :-)

Posted by: Good Lt at December 09, 2006 10:57 AM (D0TMh)

11 Wow! I think you've just overturned a really big rock...  Carroll's product is tainted, and  I don't think this is an isolated incident.


Defense through denial ..what is she thinking?  Bloggers, aka "the mad rabble of society," are like hundreds of little Ralph Nader's, digging and digging, ferreting out the facts.

With so many of the other MSM outlets pulling from the AP, the credibility of the MSM has just crashed and broken into a thousand pieces.

If I had millions, I would start up a service to compete with the AP.
Their monopoly is doomed.

Posted by: Heroic Dreamer at December 09, 2006 12:02 PM (vufNv)

12 The "mad rabble" are essentially fact checkers, which honest journalists should be most appreciative for (we're basically doing their jobs for them).  But they aren't, because they care less about the facts than they do about a good yarn.

Posted by: Jesusland Carlos at December 09, 2006 12:27 PM (8e/V4)

13 Wow! Wow! I'm so glad I could pop in and see this. You guys are awesome. Keep up the good work.

Heroic Dreamer ... What do you think it would take to start a 'real news' competitor to AP?

OH! and "Death to AP!" (If you like it, say it with me)

USA all the way!

Posted by: Michael Weaver at December 09, 2006 05:19 PM (2OHpj)

14 Is Greem helmut guy really piddledick?

Posted by: Greyrooster at December 09, 2006 06:15 PM (ezJiI)

15 Gregie: The tracker has tracked you. Says you  were easy to find. Have a nice day. You screwed up. Pity. But you reap what you sow.

Posted by: Greyrooster at December 09, 2006 06:55 PM (ezJiI)

16 "The AP has a number of executives, including Kathleen Carroll, who are simply giving disinformation and false sourcing in their stories. For that, the CSJ, whose students nowadays cheat on take-home ethics exams to practice for their Pulitzer scams, are predictably taking notes on just how to Mau-mau the flak-catchers, Kathleen Carroll style"
Dave in Boca


Best paragraph I've read in months--on any subject.


I wonder how many many future Kathleen Carrols the CSJ churns out every year? Phillep is right. The Establishment Media has set itself up in opposition to civilization, and in my opinion, mankind. They are much more dangerous than the jihadis or anything else.


Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end for the monopoly of lies enjoyed by the Establishment Media, starting with Reuters and the AP. 

Posted by: Jeff Bargholz at December 09, 2006 07:02 PM (bLPT+)

17 Does Gregie have a beard?

Posted by: Greyrooster at December 09, 2006 07:08 PM (ezJiI)

18 Gatcha Greg. You are not a very smart lefturd. You left a trail that was easy. See ya.

Posted by: Greyrooster at December 09, 2006 07:27 PM (ezJiI)

19 Michael Weaver:  first, Death to AP!

Second, good question re: setting up an alternative AP. I don't really know what it would take.

I think the AP functions primarily as a clearinghouse -  a wholesaler -  of freelance stories and photos.  They collect  them and  then resell them to various subscribers.

The AP's reputation is their most valuable asset - which is why it stuns me that Carroll is denying a problem, rather than owning up to it and  trying to fix it. 

She is digging this hole deeper and deeper and it feels alot like Rathergate to me . Carroll is so biased that she can only sees what she wants to see. Adios  AP reputation.

Interestingly, during the most recent Israeli/Hizb'Allah war, Pajama Media set up a corner on their site where they gathered reports from various sources on the ground - effectively replacing the AP. 

Maybe that's the new model - Web clearing houses gathering  from various reporters/bloggers around the world. 

What's to stop the Jawa Report, for example, from soliciting reports or photos from readers on the ground in Iraq - and then selling them to other media (TV, print etc.)?

I think the main puzzle is how the economics work out.  So far bloggers are working for free, or almost for free.

It's clear  that our enemies have planted stories and photos in our media and  I wonder if our Defense Department ever addresses this, or has a plan to fight back in any way.

Posted by: Heroic Dreamer at December 09, 2006 08:12 PM (vufNv)

20 I've tracked me a rooster. If anything bad should happen to greg, it might be bad for a little banty bigot that hangs around here.

Posted by: Darth Odie at December 09, 2006 09:26 PM (YdcZ0)

21 Gee if only the AP would actually get their facts right and not push enemy propaganda then maybe they wouldn't have to deal with the bloggers.
Too much whine from Ms.Carroll...oh and by the way yes maybe you do have to deal with unsavory characters to get the story, but is there anything called FACT CHECKING AND NOT TAKING THE WORD OF ONE PERSON. Apparently not.
I say go bloggers...great job.

Posted by: little sue at December 09, 2006 09:31 PM (yZo3G)

22 Thanks Heoric Dreamer, and 'Death to AP'

"What's to stop the Jawa report, for example, from soliciting reports or photos ..."

I think your question was way better than mine, and 'Death to AP'

I suppose that if your using digital caams, and word processing programs in common use, it wouldn't be to hard to at least start a test project, and see if it will grow.

Any fees would have to be peanuts at first, absolutely. I would suppose that the contributing 'journalists' might take other kinds of benefits till things got up and running.

Some might even donate their time, because they think it is the right thing to do

And 'Death to AP'

But does any of this even sound kosher with the exalted high Jawa's in charge?

USA all the way! and 'Death to AP'

Posted by: Michael Weaver at December 10, 2006 07:47 AM (2OHpj)

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UPDATE: The Polar Ice Caps are thickening.

The Senate's Environment & Public Works Committee has released "A Skeptic’s Guide to Debunking Global Warming Alarmism. Hot & Cold Media Spin Cycle: A Challenge To Journalists who Cover Global Warming.”

The publication is available online here. A sample: more...

Posted by: Bluto at 10:43 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 271 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Currently 16 degrees here with a windchill of 9 degrees. . . where the hell is AlGore when you need him??

Posted by: MCPO Airdale at December 08, 2006 11:21 PM (3nKvy)

2 I'm with you, Bluto.

I'm freeeeeeezing here in Philly. The Ice Caps are apparently growing too.

Put that in yer pipe and smoke it, Algore.

Posted by: Good Lt at December 08, 2006 11:47 PM (D0TMh)

3 "He said the research only covered a relatively small area, over a short period of time and it was possible that what they were detecting was a minor fluctuation."

Good enough for me. I'm off to bust out some CFCs....

Posted by: Joe Public at December 09, 2006 02:56 AM (I6EGJ)

4 Got a 404 on:

UPDATE: The Polar Ice Caps are thickening.

Posted by: Phillep at December 09, 2006 08:58 AM (Jeoud)

5 Gee, y'think somebody ought to tell Senators Snowe and Rockefeller about this?

Posted by: Old Grouch at December 09, 2006 02:01 PM (+crQH)

6 The only 'scientists' screaming about global warming are the ones who have grant dollars at stake.  Hey, I've got a science degree and nobody asked my opinion.  I'm going to go with:  the polar ice caps are turning into Cool Whip.  From the pictures I've seen, they're 1) white, 2) cool, and 3) whipped.  There you have it.  My research is just as valid as their's.

Posted by: slug at December 09, 2006 03:38 PM (rexzn)

7

An interesting book to read is "The Skeptical Environmentalist".

Posted by: RepJ at December 09, 2006 04:15 PM (L5LRS)

8 Good posting.

Much evidence from prehistory shows that we have had co2 in the enviroment fae in excess of what Gore, and his field of dreamers would like you to know about.

We could use Gore's mouth to power an aircraft carrier. I don't think it would efect ewhatever global warming there is, but at least he would be putting all that wind to a productive use.

Oh, and I voted against Al Gore. So I can take partial credit

USA all the way!

Posted by: Michael Weaver at December 09, 2006 06:09 PM (2OHpj)

9 Jawa report?

Posted by: Greyrooster at December 09, 2006 06:19 PM (ezJiI)

10

One of the science channels had a great show on global warming and cooling over the last  2 millenia and how it has influenced our world today both politically and environmentally. When I was kid I remembered the scare of global cooling!!! hell snowmobile/snowblower sales were higher  than all of the 80's and 90's!

Posted by: DAT at December 09, 2006 09:44 PM (VxXTk)

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Author and columnist Mark Steyn was merciless with the Associated Press in particular and the mainstream media in general on The O'Reilly Factor, stopping just barely short of calling them traitors. Allah at HotAir has the video.

Sample:

...I believe that the majority of American newspapers, which is full of Associated Press content, on the central issue of this, of our time; they're either dupes, at best, or actually semi-treasonous and colluding with the enemy and demoralizing America on the homefront - including having agents of the enemy on their payroll; this is a disgraceful organization.

Posted by: Bluto at 11:01 PM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
Post contains 126 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Yes, Mary Steyn is on target. They probably are dupes and semi-treasonous. But one factor that’s been overlooked is the AP’s “culture.” Indeed, the AP’s main undoing in Iraq – its heavy reliance on local stringers and “fixers” – is also being done in its foreign bureaus all over the world; and I say that based on a stint with the AP as a correspondent in one of those bureaus.

Just as in Iraq, the AP’s stringers and “fixers” elsewhere in the world are not on salary. They are paid per article or per assignment. Those stringers may submit rough copy, but it gets cleaned up in the bureau that processes news for a particular region or country. (And you’d be surprised at what a “finished product” may look like in comparison to what was originally submitted from a local stringer.)

Ironically, more than a few of the AP’s foreign “local hires” lack the experience to even be considered for an AP job in the states. Yet they play major roles in shaping foreign news that – via the AP’s wires – provides most Americans with their view of the world, and of Iraq. Along with issues of competence and training and ethics, there’s the issue of ideological sympathies of the AP’s Iraq stringers. Those sympathies obviously are open to question – more so than in other countries.

Back to the issue of “culture”: In the AP foreign bureaus that process the work of local stringers, the ambitious and salaried U.S.-hired desk editors have (I always thought) one thing in mind: pleasing their editors in New York and making themselves look good – even if it means covering up their own mistakes and oversights. Stories, for instance, are inevitably “tweaked” to make it look like the AP filed the story first – and hide the fact that it was late with the story, either because a local paper reported it first or because the local stringer just dropped the ball. Once, for instance, I filed a story about a police shooting that resulted in the death of an innocent bystander (a young school boy). The shooting triggered significant rioting. Somehow, the story I filed was overlooked by the editors at a regional office. We all make mistakes.

The next day, when I queried the bureau chief as to why the story failed to run, she went into a panic. She had me file another story that was written up so as to, essentially, disguise the fact that the AP’s bureau editor’s dropped the ball on the original story I submitted.

If such a shooting and rioting occurred in Chicago, on the other hand, the AP could not get away with covering their behinds in this way. They can, on the other hand, get away with this abroad because of a lack of oversight and accountability.

In Iraq, however, the AP’s institutional shortcomings have become obvious thanks to bloggers who are scrutinizing the AP’s coverage. I am not surprised at all by the defense coming from the AP’s top news executives in New York: “We stand by our story…blah, blah, blah.”

Apart from this “cover-your-behind” culture and the use of “local hires,” there’s the issue of how the AP defines news: “If it bleeds, it leads.” One thing that struck me about its stories during the early part of the war, when things were going much better than they are now, was how they made it seem like the entire country was in chaos. Yet the daily casualties being reported, at the top of nearly every AP story, were often no worse than what’s found in high-crime countries like Columbia, Jamaica, or Venezuela.

In 2005 in Venezuela, for instance, there were 9,402 homicides – or the daily equivalent, in other words, of one of Iraq’s suicide bombings that kill 25 or so people. Yet not every story out of Venezuela refers to this horrific murder rate, which, incidentally, has soared under Hugo Chavez. Iraq and Venezuela have roughly the same sized populations, about 25 million people.

Incidentally, in two other fields with which I am somewhat familiar – aviation and medicine – I have witnessed cultures in which pilots and physicians constantly second-guess themselves. They constantly ask how they could have done better, and they honestly review their mistakes with the aim of figuring out how to avoid repeating them. Such a culture does not seem to exist in journalism.

All in all, the AP has a lot of explaining to do.

Posted by: David at December 08, 2006 01:22 AM (AN+Gn)

2 David, nice article, but AP has nothing to explain, because we all know
the truth already. Besides, I'd rather they explain to the hangman
while he's fitting the noose on their necks.

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at December 08, 2006 07:15 AM (v3I+x)

3 Interesting David. But why the swipe at "Mary" Steyn?

Posted by: Randman at December 08, 2006 09:13 AM (Sal3J)

4 I'm sure it is a typo, Randman. You're no ball of fire.

Posted by: AynRandland Carlos at December 08, 2006 09:42 AM (HSkSw)

5 15% does not constitute a board or steward position at Reuters

Posted by: DAT at December 08, 2006 12:06 PM (VxXTk)

6 John Ryan: facts on Reuters stockholders, http://about.reuters.com/investors/
 
So if I own stock in sesame street does this mean I get to be a puppeteer? John Ryan fallacies never win an argument.

Posted by: DAT at December 08, 2006 12:13 PM (VxXTk)

7 John ryan,

what exactly is your point?  That Rupert Murdoch only cares about profits?  Great, we agree.  So what's the AP's excuse?  They'd make more money by NOT being traitorous Leftards.

Posted by: Jesusland Carlos at December 08, 2006 12:21 PM (8e/V4)

8 The news  media is a business that is driven by profits, not by any political agenda.

John ryan,

so if Mark Steyn and Rush Limbaugh are only motivated by "profits", then why are you Libs such haters towards them?  They're just trying to feed their families.

Posted by: Jesusland Carlos at December 08, 2006 12:59 PM (8e/V4)

9 Jesusland Carlos is right. The news media are losing a fortune by slanting their news to the far left and lying through their asses. Their political agenda is very expensive for them. Nobody subscribes to newspapers anymore, and the minute Fox News goes to broadcast TV, all the other "news" outlets will lose what viewers they have. Only nitwits and die-hard moonbats like John Lyin will patronize them.


John Lyin is full of shit, like always. (This is great. I get to rip him a new one, but I didn't have to read his mealy mouthed drivel because it's been mercifully deleted.)

Posted by: Jeff Bargholz at December 08, 2006 02:34 PM (bLPT+)

10 Why was john ryan deleted? 

Posted by: Jesusland Carlos at December 08, 2006 02:43 PM (8e/V4)

11 John Ryan was deleted cause he does not formulate his argument in a logical manner but in a condescending manner with major fallacies. His fallacy was "hasty generalization". Reason and logic in a argument no matter your political leaning always lends credence to your argument and validity, hence your post not being deleted.

Posted by: DAT at December 08, 2006 02:56 PM (VxXTk)

12 Conservatives should resist the temptation to delete dissenting comments, unless they are intentional insulting.  I wouldn't put mere condescension in that category.

Posted by: Jesusland Carlos at December 08, 2006 03:39 PM (8e/V4)

13 John Lyin's comments should be instantly deleted in any event because
simply briefly glancing at them makes one a little stupid. Lefturds
don't breed, so they reproduce by parasitically enstupidating
others.  

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at December 09, 2006 07:26 PM (v3I+x)

14 I'm an anti-deletionist.

John Ryan is no more annoying than PuddleDuck, and he provides the context that establishes how screwed up the left really is. Since I haven't seen Puddle for awhile, I say we need to take care of the moonbats that are left here. Think of it as an enviromental issue ;p

Anyway, I actually get value out of at least reading, and deconstructing the leftist attitude. I can use their material, as a method of sharpening my own knife.

Hopefully we haven't seen the last of No Fear, Puddle, and the others. But not the spam.

USA all the way!

Posted by: Michael Weaver at December 09, 2006 09:25 PM (2OHpj)

15 Nice
---
fast food, fast food restaurant

Posted by: FatMan at January 10, 2007 04:37 PM (29DCz)

16 Keep up! electric toothbrush

Posted by: tooth at January 16, 2007 10:40 AM (29DCz)

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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 Will Bunch, a reporter for the Philadelphia Daily News, trying to scurry away from the light. Bunch is upset that conservative bloggers and CENTCOM blew the whistle on the AP's bogus story. Apparently, Bunch is a big fan of "fake but accurate."

This is from Bunch's Daily News blog, "Attytood": more...

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Mark Tapscott, editorial page editor of The Washington Examiner mentions the reason for the media's silence on the discredited "six burning Sunnis" story, but doesn't identify it as such [emphasis added]: more...

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NewsBusters has the story. NBC correspondent Richard Engel, who last week told the Nightly News audience that Iraq had "collapsed," complained to Howard Kurtz on CNN's "Reliable Sources" that reporters were endangering themselves because of conservative critics:

Howard Kurtz: "Richard Engel, top administration officials, as you well know, have repeatedly criticized correspondents like you for painting an unnecessarily negative picture of what's going on in Iraq, staying in the Green Zone, and all of that. Now that this -- even the private doubts and reservations of the White House and the Pentagon are coming out, do you feel vindicated?"

Richard Engel: "No. It's been very frustrating all along to be at the receiving end of that criticism with acquisitions like we just spend all of our time in the Green Zone....It's also, in some degree, dangerous. I mean, I know reporters, colleagues of mine who have received so much criticism over the last three and a half, four years, that they felt they've had something to prove. And so they put themselves in extraordinarily dangerous situations. And I know one reporter who was kidnapped as a result of it. So it's not a sense of vindication, but it is good that people are finally starting to see that the situation in Iraq is tremendously difficult, and it is not just reporters who are looking for bad -- bad news stories."

Here's a tip for you Richard, and you don't have to leave your Green Zone hotel bar to take advantage: go here. This is the official CENTCOM page. In the right sidebar you'll see a link called "Press Releases." Here you'll find all the stories that you and your "journalist" comrades never, ever give any air time to. Each week there are scores of stories about Coalition operations, dead and captured terrorists, weapons caches discovered and destroyed, even US casualty lists for you to gloat over - maybe you could start a trend, reporting everything that's happening in Iraq instead of just the stories that our enemies and the Democrats want reported.

It's even easier than getting stories from al Qaeda moles, like the Associated Press.

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Cross-posted at Mein Blogovault. (Note: Some of the links require a Control-F search to find Majdi's photos. Simply type "majdi" into the field and search.)

It is increasingly difficult to distinguish between objective news sources, reporters and photographers and propagandists with clear agendas in the wire services. I was struck yesterday by a photograph of a Palestinian youth who was killed by Israeli soldiers after throwing rocks at them while they were dismantling a barricade in the West Bank.

As a practical matter, I can understand why these 'stringers' are not investigated or vetted. There are so many of them, all seemingly with cameras ready to shoot at the slightest sign of "Israeli/Western aggression," or more commonly, "Arab angst/grief." They get lost in the daily shuffle of news proliferation. The AP is a monopolistic organization that thinks so few people are noticing these kinds of "stringers" that it makes no difference what their critics think.

Unfortunately for them (and ultimately us), looking into wire stringers like Adnan Hajj and non-existant sources like 'Iraqi Police Captain' Jamil Hussein has given sufficient cause for concern that the wire services (and by proxy, our mainstream outlets) are crawling with agenda-oriented activists masquerading as journalists. Qais al-Bashir. Bassem Mroue. Sami Moubayeb. Majdi Mohammed. The Centcom list of fakes and insurgent propagandists. It goes on and on in the fog of the information war.

Keeping this in mind, a few of the Majdi Mohammed's photos seemed reminiscent of techniques seen in Pallywood productions, and still more seemed a little too close to terrorists and gunmen to be coming from a reporter who was truly being objective.

I had a bad feeling that Googling the images of Majdi Mohammed would reveal more photos verifying this gestalt. To my dismay, I was right.

Mohammed has an archive of AP photos that have run in numerous publications (news, activist and otherwise) around the world for several years covering the Palestinian/Israeli conflict that, for some odd reason, always seems to photograph the Palestinians dead, bleeding, dying, crying, "resisting," training foot soldiers or in riot mode. In other words, from a decidedly Palestinian perspective.

Israeli photos? A burning Israeli jeep, an Israeli bulldozer, and nothing. Plenty of balance there, no? More below the jump. more...

Posted by: Good Lt. at 12:36 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Could someone tell me how this is NOT giving aid and comfort to the enemy? This is the last line from an article today on the helicopter crash.
 
Helicopter crash in Iraq kills 4 Marines
By QAIS AL-BASHIR, Associated Press Writer
"The crash occurred in Anbar province, where many of Iraq's Sunni Arab insurgent groups are based and where many U.S. Marines die in battles with the militants."

Posted by: BohicaTwentyTwo at December 04, 2006 01:46 PM (oC8nQ)

2 And we just though cultural and moral realitivism was fucking up our civilization. Welcome to press realitivism.

Posted by: Randman at December 04, 2006 10:03 PM (Sal3J)

3 BohicaTwentyTwo
Your right on! The whole story seems designed to wring heartache from some Missuri Mother worried about her son.

Mom's will worry in wartime, but walking around behind them saying 'your sons gonna die, your sons gonna die' is sick. Especially when it pretends to be objective news.

Thanks Good Lt.
We need to remain vigilant, that's for sure.

USA all the way!

Posted by: Michael Weaver at December 04, 2006 11:31 PM (2OHpj)

4 Oops ! Thank God spelling isn't a critical survival skill

USA all the way!

Posted by: Michael Weaver at December 04, 2006 11:33 PM (2OHpj)

5 You brought up a good point about the conservative blogosphere being
the ony check and balance to the never ending barrage of anti-Western
propaganda the media pumps out.  While the liberal blogosphere is
busy
trying to negate everything the conservatives do by attacking
conservatives on a political front (I'm not talking about the
uber-right religious nuts like Robertson and Falwell) while ignoring
what the media does, we see just exactly
where everyone stands.  It seems the conservatives are the only
ones (in the blogosphere at least) who can multi-task, as liberals have
a one track mind; beat the conservatives, even if they have to loosely
align themselves with America's enemies.  They really think we're their enemies and not so much the anti-Westerners and Islamofascists.





What many liberals do not understand is that we should be together - in
this regard at least.  But they're so wrapped up in the political
aspects of liberalism vs. conservatism and who has power that they are
blind to real dangers.  These people, the anti-Western media and those
they propagandize for, don't care whether you're liberal or not in this
country.  They would gleefully watch ALL of us drown.  Especiallyhedonistic
liberalism.  You want to wear your jeans down past your pubic hair
line?  We'll fight for your right to do so.  You want to
create art like the Piss Christ?  We'll fight for your right to do
so.  You want to shout unpopular rhetoric?  We'll fight for
that too.  We may criticize you for it, but that's not the same.



What the liberal blogosphere is inadvertantly
saying, or doing, (or not saying or doing, however you want to look at
it) is giving the anti-Western media carte blanc to continue to
advocate for the downfall of Western civilization of which liberals are a
part.  It's much like the old adage about poking holes in the boat
because you don't like where the captain is taking it.



They say, "I love my country!  I AM patriotic!" 
I'm not so sure.  If they were so patriotic and love their country
so much, why do they advocate so strongly to become more European-like?




There are a few smart liberals out there who are beginning to "get it".
They admit it meekly and only when backed into a corner, but at least
it's in their head.

Posted by: Oyster at December 05, 2006 06:56 AM (YudAC)

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It was only a matter of time before the Gray Lady, in her arrogant fashion, put in her two cents worth about the discredited "Six Burning Sunnis" story. more...

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Cross-posted at Mein Blogovault.

The AP (get those magnifying glasses out, people) attempts to explain how the Israelis are equivalent to the Palestinians in violations of a 5-month old Gaza truce in this warped little piece ( by AP "stringer" by Ibrahim Barzak).

Israelis and Palestinians threatened Sunday to scrap a truce that has largely ended five months of Gaza violence, with Palestinian militants insisting it must also apply to the West Bank and Israeli leaders complaining that Gaza rocket squads are still active.

Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz told his Cabinet militants in Gaza continued firing rockets into Israel - including one on Sunday - despite the cease-fire.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "warned that Israel would not be able to show restraint for very much longer in the face of the ongoing rocket fire," a statement from Olmert's office said following his meeting with the Austrian foreign minister.

Israeli officials fear militants are using the truce to rearm with weapons smuggled through tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border.

And of course, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian boy who was peacefully throwing rocks at soldiers taking down a roadblock in the West Bank. The soldiers should have taken the rocks and just done nothing, I suppose. Brutal Zionist thugs:

Israeli troops on Sunday shot and killed Jamil al-Zabazhi, 15, who was throwing rocks at soldiers in the West Bank city of Nablus, witnesses and hospital officials said. The army said troops fired at Palestinians throwing rocks at soldiers who were dismantling a barricade on a road.

A statement from the group said Israel would be responsible "for any response in the coming hours" by Islamic Jihad."We will respond to any violation. We are waiting for the right time and place," [the spokesman] said.

In the five months before the truce took effect a week ago, Gaza militants fired daily barrages of rockets at Israeli towns and villages, and Israel hit back with airstrikes at militants and incursions into northern Gaza, causing dozens of casualties and widespread destruction.

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An assistant professor of communications at Virginia Tech, Jim A. Kuypers, has written a book detailing systematic bias from America's mainstream media:

“Immediately following 9/11, the mainstream news media (represented by CBS, ABC, NBC, USA Today, New York Times, and Washington Post) did echo Bush, but within eight weeks it began to intentionally ignore certain information the president was sharing, and instead reframed the president's themes or intentionally introduced new material to shift the focus.”

This goes beyond reporting alternate points of view. “In short,” Kupyers explained, “if someone were relying only on the mainstream media for information, they would have no idea what the president actually said. It was as if the press were reporting on a different speech.”

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In today's Boston Herald, columnist Jules Crittenden calls on the mainstream media to confront the Associated Press over its "shoddy work:"

When a company defrauds its customers, or delivers shoddy goods, the customers sooner or later are going to take their business elsewhere. But if that company has a virtual monopoly, and offers something its customers must have, they may have no choice but to keep taking it.

That’s when the customers, en masse, need to raise a stink. That’s when someone else with the resources needs to seriously consider whether the time is ripe to compete.

The Associated Press is embroiled in a scandal. Conservative bloggers, the new media watchdogs, lifted a rock at the AP.

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Just what did brigadier general Abdul-Karim Khalaf of the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior do to cause the Associated Press, in an absurdly hysterical wire story compare him to deposed dictator Saddam Hussein? more...

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The "police captain" that the Associated Press used as the source for their story about six Sunni men dragged from prayers and burned alive by Shiite militants is not a policeman and does not work for the Iraqi government in any capacity, according to the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior.

CENTCOM had warned the AP about Hussein and other questionable sources they were using, but was rebuffed by the wire service organization. The AP's sensational story of the burning Sunnis was cited by NBC as a reason they decided to start calling violence in Iraq a "civil war." The source "police captain Jamil Hussein" has been quoted in wire service stories since April of this year. more...

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