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Those fake rape photos: Boston Globe attempts cover-up of fake rape pix
WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Friday, May 14, 2004 | Joseph Farah

Posted on 05/14/2004 2:52:01 AM PDT by JohnHuang2

It was 10 days ago now that WorldNetDaily first blew the whistle on the fake rape photos that were being disseminated internationally in an effort to exaggerate the extent of the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal.

Explicit photos depicting rape of Iraqi women by U.S. American GIs were picked up from porn sites in the U.S. and abroad by Arab and Muslim propagandists and posted on Internet sites and published in newspapers.

Certainly, these horrifying bogus images of brutality have persuaded millions that the prisoner abuse scandal is far worse than it really is.

Perhaps those expectations are par for the course in the Arab and Muslim world where hatred for the West runs deep. But how does one explain the reaction of the Boston Globe when a city councilor challenged the paper to investigate the authenticity of the already discredited photos?

The Boston Globe published them.

No checking.

No verification.

Not even as much as a Google search was performed by the reporters and editors involved.

If even this kind of cursory search had been done, the previous WorldNetDaily articles would have popped up. One U.S. porn site had already shut down as a result of the WND series.

What can one say about such sloppy journalism?

Does it make you angry?

Were the editors at the Boston Globe repentant?

Guess what?

The staff at the Boston Globe was furious at WorldNetDaily for exposing their gaffe.

Within minutes of the posting of the story, the Globe reporter and editors were angrily demanding WND editors retract the story, pull it from the website, make it go away.

Why?

The reporter first told WND editors that our reporter, Sherrie Gossett, had not identified herself as a journalist.

After Gossett produced e-mails in which she clearly identified herself as a journalist and offered up links to four previous stories she had written on the subject of the bogus rape photos in an effort to help the Globe, the story changed.

Then one of the editors told me our reporter had failed to explain she was eliciting information for the purpose of preparing a story.

I explained patiently to this editor that in my nearly 30 years in this business I couldn't recall a single instance in which I said to an interview subject that I was eliciting information for the purpose of preparing a story. That is understood. I've also been interviewed dozens of times by journalists and never once has one explained to me in advance that he or she was eliciting information for the purpose of preparing a story.

Yet, such was the level of embarrassment at the Boston Globe that staffers were grasping at straws this week in an effort to cover their own shame.

Unfortunately, as we've seen with the history of these photos published by the Globe, they are not merely journalistic embarrassments, they truly hurt America's position in the war in Iraq and the broader war against Islamist terrorism.

More than 24 hours after published the photos, the Boston Globe had still not offered up a correction.

Too many Americans, perhaps the Boston Globe included, are eager to see the USA get a black eye in Iraq. They are ready, willing and able to expect the worst about our conduct in this war. Some are projecting, before the evidence is in, this scandal is just part of the systematic and widespread human rights abuses perpetrated by the U.S. military.

Without wasting any more time, without fueling any more anti-American hatred and before endangering any more American lives, the Boston Globe should do the right thing – make a full and complete retraction of those photos.

And maybe the Globe editors should thank WND for bringing this matter to their attention instead of blaming us for their embarrassment.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: agitprop; aidandcomfort; boston; bostonglobe; bushhasser; ccrm; coverup; fakephotos; globe; iraqipow; iraqipowphotos; lyingliars; mediabias; porn; sedition; thebiglie; traitors; treason
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To: JohnHuang2
Yet, such was the level of embarrassment at the Boston Globe that staffers were grasping at straws this week in an effort to cover their own shame.

Really REALLY doubt that they feel ANY shame. Angry? YES, Shame NO!!!

21 posted on 05/14/2004 3:53:36 AM PDT by listenhillary (The media and DNC have joined the terrorists and declared war on the USA.)
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To: TwilightDog

Many thanks. It will give me great pleasure alerting them of this idiot violating their rules and regs. Probably only a minor inconvenience to this idiot, but anything to upset his day. He'll probably write a conspiracy story about his current server being meddled with by the 'evil Pentagon'. Thanks once again.


22 posted on 05/14/2004 3:56:39 AM PDT by Tommyjo
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

Uhhh... why did you spend money on it when you could read most of it for free? You must have a high BS threshold. ;>D


23 posted on 05/14/2004 3:59:13 AM PDT by johnny7 (“I'm just a poor boy from a poor fam-il-y...” Frederick Mercury)
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To: JohnHuang2
The Globe's ombudsman's report denies that these images were accepted because of editorial policy.

This is, of course, another lie. We should focus on getting a retraction AND a confession that this would not have happened if the target was a Democrat.

Believing the ombudsman's lies that these were non-partisan errors involves three separate acts of credulity.

First, you have to believe that covering press conferences by left wing wackos is a neutral act. This would only be true if the Globe gave equal space to right wing wacko media events, which is of course false.

Second, you have to believe that systematic rape of female civilians by American soldiers is so routine that images such as these forgeries are readily obtained by minor local politicians. This is also false, of course.

Third, you have to believe that the lack of editorial discretion was not informed by a wish to believe the underlying scam. Would the Globe have run a porno web site spread of "Easter Weekend at the Kennedy Compound"? If a reporter had "run this by" an editor - "Hey boss, we've got a story about Kennedys raping local women for Easter vigil-mind if we run the photos?" can we imagine that the editor would say, "Oh sure" and not at least see the images? Of course, this is another transparant lie.

Don't let up. The coverup is worse than the disease.

24 posted on 05/14/2004 4:00:46 AM PDT by Jim Noble (Now you go feed those hogs before they worry themselves into anemia!)
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To: Tommyjo

I suppose the only thing that inspires some people's passions are hatemongering, & lies in the furtherance of hatemongering. And then they delude themselves that their beliefs have a basis, even whomever did the photo manipulation for the fabricated pictures.


25 posted on 05/14/2004 4:01:03 AM PDT by TwilightDog ("The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast"--Oscar Wilde)
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To: johnny7

The Sunday sports section is outstanding, the Sunday crossword puzzle, and parade magazine (I get a kick out of Maria v. S.)


26 posted on 05/14/2004 4:02:16 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Uday and Qusay are ead-day)
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To: Beckwith

The so called "Mainstream Media" keeps up its brainwashing agenda. I have tuned out to them!


27 posted on 05/14/2004 4:09:52 AM PDT by gunnedah
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

I hope you told them why.


28 posted on 05/14/2004 4:23:41 AM PDT by anniegetyourgun
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To: JohnHuang2

Is it any wonder that Rummy has stopped reading the newspapers?!?


29 posted on 05/14/2004 4:25:41 AM PDT by anniegetyourgun
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To: anniegetyourgun

None whatsoever. If my wife didn't want the weekend papers, which is all I get, in order to check the obits for client news, I'd drop the AJC like a hot potato.


30 posted on 05/14/2004 4:35:27 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (hoplophobia is a mental aberration rather than a mere attitude)
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To: whd23

He's running that video clip of the South Tower backwards, so that the black object ascends rather than descends.


31 posted on 05/14/2004 4:50:11 AM PDT by Paul_B
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To: JohnHuang2
What can one say about such sloppy journalism?

It's not even sloppy journalism. It's sloppy propaganda.

32 posted on 05/14/2004 4:53:07 AM PDT by mewzilla
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To: anniegetyourgun

I was Norm's first call that day. He seemed like a nice guy. He was probably in a strip mall in Wilmington, not Bombay. He asked me if cost had anything to do with it. I told him no. He asked me if I would care to tell him why and I said, "I can get more reliable information in the National Enquirer." He just moaned "Oh" softly and wished me a good day. I hope he was busy the rest of the day.


33 posted on 05/14/2004 6:09:30 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Uday and Qusay are ead-day)
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To: JohnHuang2

If I recall correctly, the Globe had the largest circulation loss of any major US newspaper over the most-recent six month period. It's pretty bad if even people in Boston are dropping it.


34 posted on 05/14/2004 6:24:39 AM PDT by speedy (Tagline for demonstration purposes only. Not for internal consumption.)
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To: Jim Noble
Don't let up. The coverup is worse than the disease.

Quite frankly I'm surprised I haven't seen this front page story in the Herald:

CITY COUNCILOR USES TAXPAYER MONEY TO PROMOTE PORN

This guy, Chuck Turner, is an elected official. He used city money and city resources to call and host this press conference. If he'd been a white Irishman, you can be damn sure the Boring Broadsheet would've covered the story using this angle.

Why the press silence? Where's the press outrage?

35 posted on 05/14/2004 6:27:00 AM PDT by 54-46 Was My Number
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To: whd23; Tommyjo

Well, you don't really need much funding to make up lies, type them up in html, grab some pics from a porn site, then publish them on your web page. Sounds like he needs meds and tinfoil, rather than funding.


36 posted on 05/14/2004 6:32:26 AM PDT by MizSterious (First, the journalists, THEN the lawyers.)
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To: All

Everyone in the Boston Globe chain of command MUST resign! We must show the world's peoples that we are sensitive and caring, and all that other stuff.


37 posted on 05/14/2004 6:49:45 AM PDT by WilliamofCarmichael (Benedict Arnold was a hero for both sides in the same war, too!)
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To: WilliamofCarmichael

Here is a copy of my letter to the globe ombud. Do not copy it, but you are welcome to write your own to ombud@globe.com.


I found your 'apology' horrendously inadequate. You apologized for the systemic screw ups, which is appropriate. You did not apologize for the damage your story did to America's reputation in the world in general and our struggle against terrorists in particular. Make no mistake, your story was cached and will be used as a propoganda weapon and terrorist recruiting tool. Your paper has aided and abetted our enemies, the definition of treason.

The other thing that you have not done is address your failing as ombudsman. If there was any semblence of ideological diversity in your newsroom, the veracity of the fake pictures would have been questioned. That is another systemic problem; one you are ignoring. A left wing Nation of Islam front man nut job handed you something that fit your paper's similar perspective and bias on this administration and the military in general. The source alone should have sent half a million red flags up; but it fit your bias, so your editors failed to even notice it.

Your role as ombudsman is theoretically to represent the readers. In fact, it is to represent the interests of the owners, whose ideological biases are well known. Your role is to be their shill, to make it seem that they are not pushing the agenda that they are. You failed...you let them be too obvious.



Again, don't copy it, there is no point in them getting form letters, and this is far too specific to be common thoughts. Feel free to write something similar, but in your own words.


38 posted on 05/14/2004 7:35:24 AM PDT by blanknoone (How many flips would a flip-flop flop if a flip-flop could flop flips?)
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To: TwilightDog

I have received the following Yahoo:


"Thank you for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.
Thank you for informing us of possible abuse on Yahoo! GeoCities. We have investigated the site and taken the necessary action. Please continue to notify us of any content you believe violates the GeoCities Terms of Service.... Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.

Currently at this time (GMT 1238) the site is down:


http://geocities.com/vialls/index.html


"This page is not available. We're sorry, but this page is currently unavailable for viewing. If this site belongs to you, please read this help page for more information and assistance."


He's probably just removing the images/pixelating them, but there is always the chance that he has been kicked off!

Woo Hoo!


39 posted on 05/15/2004 5:42:24 AM PDT by Tommyjo
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To: TwilightDog

Keep on complaining to the Boston Globe and do not give up.
The Boston Globe has done harm by printing lies. So write
baron@globe.com


40 posted on 05/15/2004 9:27:39 AM PDT by tessalu
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