One of the more interesting phenomenon of the reluctant pas de deux being danced by the blogosphere and the mainstream media is how that interaction reveals levels of propaganda heretofore unseen. Also, the interaction is fraught with irony. Institutions like CBS (greatly) and the New York Times (to a lesser extent) live in fear of the blogosphere and what it can do, for oftern justifiable reasons. Heads have rolled. But in reality the blogosphere is journalism’s best friend and hope in helping to restore its lost credibility. Journalists will only gain the respect they do not have when they are seen as purveyors of truth–or at least honest brokers in the pursuit of it.
None one understands this better than Wretchard. His response to the article attacking him (and me to a lesser degree) in Salon is a tour-de-force, taking the discussion to levels I never thought about. Read it.
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14 Comments
1. Terrye:Roger:
I have to admit I do not trust the press, especially the AP. I just can not trust them anymore. For years I listened to NPR every blessed day. I watched the CBS evening news and never missed 60 Minutes. I read the WaPo and even the NYT from to time. For the most part I believed them. I figured out years ago when I was farming that they were not always all that smart about things they had no personal experience in and thought they might be lacking in competence sometimes, but I did not really think they had a self seriving agenda that included lying to the public. Now I think they do, they lie and what is more they know they are doing it and feel justified. Because they are the press and while the facts might be a little murky they are over all more or less accurate, or so they tell themselves.
I had hoped that when the election was over we would not see so much of this but I realize that is not the case.
Given the choice between a free Iraq with a representative government and murder and mayhem the majority of the reporters out there today I think prefer the latter.
I am not sure if it is money and fame or prejudice, but those men that were killed on Haifa street were election workers doing a difficult job under dangerous circumstances and their deaths should be a tragedy not an excuse to trash the war and the upcoming election.
Dec 23, 2004 - 4:55 pm 2. PeterUK:The Salon article is typical of the patronising,we know best,nothing to worry your little heads about,screed that we have had from the liberal left establishment for decades.Sorry Roger I know you hate labels,but having listened to their didactic certitudes, churned for so long out whilst the world went pear shaped,it is a case of the biter bit.
This affair should be examined with all the rigour of Dan Rather and Kevin Sites,there may be nothing to it, but in that case a full disclosure, but protecting the cameraman,should not be a difficult problem.
The main reason AP have the dogs on them is that they loftily denied any collusion and regard themselves above scrutiny,further explanation being superfluous,well it ain’t like that anymore.
The given objectivity of journalists has just gone the same way as the divine right of kings.
PS you have had many links.
Dec 23, 2004 - 5:11 pm 3. heather:The discussion threads on the Haifa Street murders at Belmont Club are fascinating and informative.
My own drum, which I keep beating, is that the Board of Directors of the very American Associated Press – each and all of them – should be asked about that very suspicious photo series. I have found the names of the Directors, and listed them in the most recent thread at Belmont.
Another thought: the “Press” is adamant that it be “independent” of American government policies. But it seems – SEEMS – that it is quite OK with providing a very expensive, sophisticated megaphone for the terrorist killers who murdered some fellows working on an ELECTION!
As Wretchard at Belmont Club says, there is every indication that this murder was a political act, dependent upon the presence of the AP photographer, and the Associated Press distribution system.
Each and every Board Member of the AP makes their money from newspapers purchased and read by Americans, most of them in small towns through the mid west.
Dec 23, 2004 - 5:36 pm 4. Terrye:Speaking of the Press the USA Today editor, Neuharth, has called for a withdrawal from Iraq. Just cut and run, no glory here like in WW2.
Dec 23, 2004 - 5:37 pm 5. PeterUK:Heather,
Didn’t you post an interesting connection between Neuharth and Curley in relation to USATODAY?
Dec 23, 2004 - 6:28 pm 6. Belinda:It’s usually more prudent (and accurate) to ascribe questionable activities to stupidity, rather than to deliberate evil.
I’m trying to do that here but it’s very difficult, if not totally absurd. To look at it another way: if this was *not* a setup, what kind of photo would be expected? I use the singular “photo” on purpose–the series of pics published by the AP doesn’t strike me as just lucky happenstance for an otherwise life-endangered journalist, even one innocently invited to a “demonstration.”
The images are disturbingly static, close-range, sequenced and focused. War photographers do sometimes capture a telling moment, one moment, out of tens of thousands of tries. But this… it just reeks of pre-production somehow. The stench of collusion permeates.
I’d like to be wrong about this but I’m afraid I may not be.
Dec 23, 2004 - 6:29 pm 7. mrp:AP, alas, has long disseminated Ba’athist propaganda. One example, published in August, 2003, is titled “Fisherman By Day Terrorist By Night” (I call it the Niko Price Special). It is blatantly anti-American
(and after taking a look at the article’s host website, oh, what irony).
An excerpt:
“Because they are wanted men, none of these fighters appear publicly. Their videotapes and statements outline their goals and brag about their accomplishments.
“The interview was arranged after four days of persuasion, through go-betweens, that it was safe to come to Baghdad.”
(emphasis added)
The AP apparently arranged to have smuggled an American-killing terrorist into Baghdad just to get an interview. I guess ‘the fisherman’ smuggled himself out.
Of course, this being an AP article, it is certainly possible that the whole thing was spun out of whole cloth.
Dec 23, 2004 - 6:41 pm 8. David Thomson:ìAnd he continued to take photographs for a fairly long period of time, capturing not just a single photograph, but a sequence of them.î
If indeed the photographer took pictures ìfor a fairly long period of timeî—the odds dramatically increase that the murderers made sure that he had ample opportunity to record their monstrous actions. To be blunt, he probably knew that he had nothing to worry about. Might the man be very brave or foolhardy? Yes, that is still possible. But would you bet in Las Vegas on this being the likelihood? I wouldnít.
Dec 23, 2004 - 6:46 pm 9. Lem:The most compelling of the pentagon’s competing grand strategies for winning the war on terror has been briefed literally hundred’s of times, without much fanfare. The briefer’s name is Prof. Thomas P.M. Barnett. He also blogs.
People who say Bush doesn’t know what he’s doing are either politically inclined to say so, have not bother finding out or both.
From Disinpopidia.org
“For the most part Barnett (an admitedly democrat) praises the Bush administration for realizing that a new strategic vision was necessary, including formally adopting the policy of preemptive war. He does, however, find fault in the administration for failing to explain clearly to both Americans and their nation’s allies how this new strategic vision will work.
‘It may seem facile to say that this administration has made the right strategic moves only to tell its story poorly to the world, but perceptions matter plenty in this highly charged period of world history.’ Given the strained relationship between the U.S. and its allies, it’s clearly not enough simply to do the right thing; you have to convince people you’re doing the right thing.’
“Eschewing the gloomy predictions of a world in constant chaos, Barnett instead offers an optimistic view of a future that many of us will be alive to see. We will have to pay a price to see this future, both in blood and money, but if we do nothing we’ll have to pay and receive nothing for our troubles but more strife.”
Click Lem
Dec 23, 2004 - 6:51 pm 10. george:Shades of mohamed Aldura…. Shades of Sarajevo..shades of rammallah.
who else but the blogoshere will challenge the dishonest reporting of embedded Journalists working for those who create the news?
Are we witnessing the results of the ‘Swedish effect’ the sympathy which evolves over time between kidnappers and their victims ?
Looks like AP has much to answer for.
Dec 23, 2004 - 6:52 pm 11. PJ:When asked by Salon how the photog happened upon the murders, the AP declined to answer, citing security concerns. I guess that’s the Eason/CNN rationale: access is more important than ethics.
I would ask, first: access to what, propaganda? This event would not be militarily significant unless it was photographed and disseminated to the West, and the murderers and the AP knew that, I would bet.
Secondly, no one asked for names. Just tell us, AP, how it was arranged.
Dec 23, 2004 - 7:18 pm 12. Baron Bodissey:A very similar conversation is going on at Belmont Club on this topic. PeterUK has recommended that we combine with the one going on here.
On Belmont Club, Enigma asked, “…now that we’ve identified that we’re in a propaganda war, how do we fight and win it?”
My answer was: BLOGSTORMS. The prototype is what happened to CBS and Dan Rather. “The distributed intelligence of the internet” can be directed at the unmasking of MSM propaganda which serves the strategic interests of the enemy.
Heather has done some excellent work wrt AP bigwigs.
Major thanks to Roger for bringing the issue up and linking to Wretchard.
Dec 23, 2004 - 9:06 pm 13. Tonto Goldstein:Lem – Thomas P.M.Barnett is a striver with a polished spiel. Too polished. He’s a facile fast-talker. A Cebrowski-ized PowerPoint fandango man. He can say a thousand slogans in five minutes — some of which make sense. He makes up terms without defining them, and sucks the listener in. I haven’t read his book, but his pitch turns me off. He’s dangerous. Watch him closely. Beltway types eat it up his “new rule sets”. Just my opinion.
Dec 23, 2004 - 9:28 pm 14. Ron Wrght:Roger,
There is a similar discussion going on over at Dean’s World. Excerpt I posted over there:
The MSM no longer is a trusted source to report objectively the news of the day without spinning it to it’s own political agenda. They probably have done this all along I guess. It’s just more blatant nowadays:
[...]
Here’s a story that deserves an airing in the open but the MSM is too timid to break the story. They’re all waiting on the edge of the pool for some other sucker to jump in first. This is one hell of a story. This is a medical mystery detective thriller with “All the President’s Men” all rolled into one screenplay.
[...]
Here’s something you can do right from your own keyboard. Support this Spirit of America project now raising funds:
[...]
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I should have linked to this one too. Now have you seen this one in the MSN over here yet?
Link Here
Ron Wright, Moderator
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http://www.hspig.org
Dec 24, 2004 - 9:54 pm