L.A. Times: Reprinting enemy propaganda or just crappy reporting?
posted at 12:50 pm on November 24, 2006 by Allahpundit
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It’s a must-read and it’s long so I won’t waste your time here. Suffice it to say, if in fact they got duped by a jihadi stringer, their sin is like Reutersgate squared.
Let me quote this because it deserves to be quoted:
I learned something important about reporting from Iraq in general. Big Media journalists often rely on sources that are unreliable. They don’t tell you the pressures these sources might be under from insurgents and terrorists. They refuse to tell you who their stringers are, so we can assess their motivations. They get quotes from doctors who seem to see only civilian deaths. If the military has been given insufficient time to respond to an allegation, these journalists don’t check with the military later, to verify that the story they’ve written is accurate. And sometimes, as here, their stories are completely at odds with numerous other accounts reported in other press outlets — and they seem to have no interest in finding out why.
It’s very sobering to realize that much of the news coming out of Iraq is completely unreliable. And it’s a bigger issue than whether the L.A. Times got a single story wrong on November 15.
As you read, keep a running tally of all the people who aren’t allowed to talk about the incident for fear of some sort of retribution. Hint: they’re not all Iraqi.
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The more closely that one looks at much of the Mainstrem Media (MSM) it becomes apparent they are mediums for the Left’s propaganda.
The interests of the enemies of the United States and Left in this country are in many cases identical, and contrary to the intersts of our nation. In my opinion when MSM components such as the LA Times initiates “reporting” it is in many cases propaganda with political bias that favors both the Left and in this case the Islamofacist.
With the Left and the Islamofacist the old addage “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” takes on new meaning.
omegaram on November 24, 2006 at 12:56 PM
Sobering indeed!
A good question would be: How many other items of “news” are also wrong or unreliable?
Then ask: Is it intentional disinformation or not?
Then ask: Why?
Emmett J. on November 24, 2006 at 1:07 PM
Very interesting article. It reaffirms what I already believe to be true regarding the MSM. However – I think the propaganda involved here belongs as much to the editors of the L.A. Times as it does the stringers in Iraq. They publish stories that support their ideology and the political view they wish to project. The fact they don’t even bother to check the validity of the stories they publish is not surprising. Why fact-check a story that supports your propaganda? They would only fact-check it if it didn’t.
thedecider on November 24, 2006 at 1:15 PM
I don’t think there can be much doubt that the big media would love for us to lose, and they will do anything possible to make it happen. They want to end a war and cause an American defeat just like their buddies in the vietnam war so they can join the “we changed the world” club.
quax1 on November 24, 2006 at 1:16 PM
As reporters, the MSM has a “lowly” role in our society. As official Stalinist propagandists, they would have a much more important role. They’re just in this for a career boost.
stonemeister on November 24, 2006 at 1:28 PM
LOL. Are these the only 2 choices? Damn, give your readers some credit!
THeDRiFTeR on November 24, 2006 at 1:29 PM
…if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: we don’t really *KNOW* what’s going on in Iraq…but, all the grubby little “saviors” of America, so a’quiver to be relevant by there actually being crises real or imagined, seem to be bleating as if it’s somehow common knowledge that “Iraq is a disaster”, etc., etc., ad nauseum.
We just don’t know, those of us who have to rely on open-source media.
It’s like the way one is taught among the ivy-covered academes today: go out with a fixed idea and prove it. Don’t bother to find out whether it’s true or false. Don’t let the focus of your research be “what happened” or “what’s going on”. Let your researches buttress your fixed, pre-conceived notions.
Iraq is *SUPPOSED* to be a disaster. It has to be a disaster for the Left to be right. So, you “shape” the news by seeking out facts that support your point of view. I’m not saying that they’re lying. What they report is based on facts. Folks are being blown up, Iraqi police are ineffective at times, troops are being killed. Those are facts. The problem comes when you don’t report *ALL* the facts.
Ask any artist or architect: there is no *POSSIBLITY* of perspective when you only have one point of view.
Good article. Keep ‘em coming!
Puritan1648 on November 24, 2006 at 2:10 PM
If we want to know what is NOT happening in Iraq, then we can watch Al Jazeera, Al AP, Al Reuters, Al C-BS, Al A-BS, and of course Al N-BS. We can read the military blogs and press releases ourselves, and get a more accurate story. We can talk to our friends and relatives who are there, and get a very accurate story.
We can rely on the Mainstream Media, and the Michael Moore’s of the Liberal Nutroots, and get a fantasy version of the story.
Snake307 on November 24, 2006 at 3:58 PM
In my line of work I meet a lot of Troops coming and going to and from Afghanistan and Iraq. I talk to as many for as long as time and job duties permit. They all seem to have a common thread: The media is lying to us. They lie by omission. Yes there are car bombs going off, yes it should be reported, but why do they skip over the part about turning over sections to the local forces our guys have trained? How many bad guys we’ve killed or captured? How many successful local elections have take place. Yeah, they told us about the three major elections but ommit the smaller off year local elections. Power plants opened? Stock market gains? Schools? Businesses? Never. Why? Because A) It’s dog bites man and B) It goes against their agenda.
Libs LOVE to hear from Kerry, Murtha, Clarke, Duckworth, etc but ignore those Troops who support their own mission. But telling this to Hotair Readers is just preachin’ to the choir. You guys already know this, we gotta get this out to the general public.
Michelle on the Factor: “CNN WANTS us to lose this war.”
Tony737 on November 24, 2006 at 9:56 PM
Just one more PROOF that the media gives aid and comfort to the enemy — like most liberals do.
Michelle notes that the traitors running the media are starting to get nervous as a grand jury investigates. Look for other papers and broadcast outlets to file “amicus” briefs in support of the “Traitor Times.”
georgej on November 26, 2006 at 5:57 AM
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