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Title: The Dangers of Misinformation Post by: Phoenix on 2005-05-16, 01:38 http://story.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050515/...han_newsweek_dc (http://story.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050515/ts_nm/religion_afghan_newsweek_dc)
Quote Newsweek magazine said on Sunday it erred in a May 9 report that U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay, and apologized to the victims of deadly Muslim protests sparked by the article... The report sparked angry and violent protests across the Muslim world from Afghanistan, where 16 were killed and more than 100 injured, to Pakistan to Indonesia to Gaza. In the past week it was condemned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and by the Arab League. On Sunday, Afghan Muslim clerics threatened to call for a holy war against the United States. "We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst," Whitaker wrote in the magazine's latest issue, due to appear on U.S. newsstands on Monday. Oh, but since it's "journalism" nobody will be prosecuted over this. People are dead, and more will probably follow because someone just couldn't resist to print another "let's bash the USA" piece without checking their damned facts first. This is why I really, really despise reporters. It's jerks like this and their incompetence that cause wars. Title: Re: The Dangers of Misinformation Post by: Makou on 2005-05-16, 02:11 Back up the truck. I know you hate conspiracy theories, but think about this for a second: Did Newsweek retract the story because it was actually in error, or to protect any Americans for appearing to be "at fault" for this, especially after the Iraqi prisoner abuse garbage?
I'm not saying they weren't wrong. It's just a thought, and something that's entirely possible. Title: Re: The Dangers of Misinformation Post by: scalliano on 2005-05-16, 03:00 Title: Re: The Dangers of Misinformation Post by: Phoenix on 2005-05-16, 05:26 If it were true why the hell would they retract it? I'd be more concerned about them publishing false information and not retracting it, especially after the 60 minutes fiasco. Either way the retraction is too little, too late. The damage is already done.
Title: Re: The Dangers of Misinformation Post by: Makou on 2005-05-16, 06:14 The issue with poor treatment of Iraqi prisoners got the US military a lot of bad press worldwide, that's why. No other reason.
And you're right. Either way, it's too little too late. Title: Re: The Dangers of Misinformation Post by: Moshman on 2005-05-16, 08:27 Quote Oh, but since it's "journalism" nobody will be prosecuted over this. People are dead, and more will probably follow because someone just couldn't resist to print another "let's bash the USA" piece without checking their damned facts first. This is why I really, really despise reporters. It's jerks like this and their incompetence that cause wars. Exactly, why don't they ever talk about the American prisioners who are/were being tortured to death, what about them. I'm really getting tired of the media, I really am. Let's not talk about what's really important, instead let's talk about the celeberty who cheated on their spouse for some new hot sexy ho or who f**ked who on Desparate Housewifes or even better, here's one, what's the sexiest lesbian bi-men scene , it's turning the focus away from what matters., worse yet this kinda of bolder-wash is what our young children are veiwing. We see thousands of young teenage girls die and depressed each year because they starved themselves to death because they want a size 4 like Brittany Spears (what a ho). The media has a grip on the world, and it's literally going to hell, just the way the Bible predicted. Title: Re: The Dangers of Misinformation Post by: Thomas Mink on 2005-05-16, 08:35 :offtopic:
Best lesbian (and?) bi-men scene... mmmmmm. If ya find out.. let me know. :D Title: Re: The Dangers of Misinformation Post by: Phoenix on 2005-05-16, 16:42 Mak: It's also standard Al Qaida operating procedure to lie and make up allegations in order to incite more anti-US sentiment abroad because they know it will be reported, so you can bet over half of what the prisoners are saying is exagurration or flat out lies. This makes it extremely difficult to sort out actual abuse from false accusations. Frankly I don't care one bit about actual Al Qaida captives and what's happening to them, but the possibility that someone is sitting in Guantanamo that could be innocent is why abuse of any kind cannot be tolerated. The other problem is that when you have media publications that are already biased against the war and administration it becomes far too easy to believe every outrageous accusation, especially when there is some actual level of abuse going on. It tends to lend a degree of believability to any accusation.
The terrorist leaders, unlike their footsoldiers, aren't idiots. The propaganda war is something they know inside-out because it's how they gain recruits in the first place, and they know the media is gullible enough to be a perfect puppet forum for disemination of their rhetoric. They also know how enamored the US is with free speech and the free press, and they capitalize on it. They're extremely opportunistic and damned good at it. The press needs to keep that in mind before shooting their mouths off just to print another story. Apoligies don't bring back the dead. |