Posted on 02/03/2005 9:23:28 AM PST by BJungNan
News forum that caught CBS fake National Guard documents shines light on another media blunder
"I need you all to look at this photo and tell me if you think the vest is what is being issued and worn in Iraq. Also does the M-16 shown look small?" - posted on 02/01/2005 11:26:05 AM PST by Dog
"Ok, some things I'd like to point out... first, that vest, and those boots, they aren't military issue, if they are I've never seen em. Next, the mag in the M4 isn't issued I believe, it looks like a mag you would buy for civilian use." - posted on 02/01/2005 11:27:15 AM PST by BladeLWS
"Is this a hoax? The 'captured soldier' suspiciously looks like a doll for sale on the internet." - posted on 02/01/2005 11:27:22 AM PST by BlackRain
"Did you ever consider becoming an investigative journalist? You just broke this story wide open." - posted on 02/01/2005 11:29:45 AM PST by 1LongTimeLurker
" I can't take any credit for the find. These guys deserve the credit - MilitaryPhotos.net - posted on 02/01/2005 11:35:09 AM PST by BlackRain
"hee hee ....how embarrassing for AP." - posted on 02/01/2005 11:35:35 AM PST by Gator101
So goes a thread on the internet news forum Free Republic as a story about a toy soldier being held hostage was still being reported as a real hostage situation by the mainstream news media.
As noted in the thread reposted above, in this case Free Republic was not the first to discover the doll become "hostage" story - MilitaryPhotos.net was - but as the most popular political news forum on the internet, it was first to amplify the mainstream media mistake. And it was way ahead of that media in getting the story out.
It was the same news forum that first broke the CBS fake National Guard documents story. And so it has been on many other stories on a daily basis. Free Republic with its tens of thousands of citizen reporters, and commentators - albeit most of them amateur has become an influential source of news.
In this age of the communications revolution, two way news has become a reality. Free Republic has taken that revolution a step further.
And for fact checking - with those same tens of thousands of forum participants having expertise in a variety of fields and professions, you can find no better fact checking source for finding out a GI hostage was really a GI Joe.
Give credit where credit is due.
Thanks!
He should have seen the Space Shuttle crash thread. That thread was awesome for such a tragic event.
One H*ll of a Post. :>)
I'll second that. When my wife hears a breaking news story now, she'll ask me "What are they saying about that?" or "That just sounds like BS, what does FR say?"
The "they" is FRee Republic. And as usual, freerepublic always has the straight scoop.
Or this happens...I tell someone about some news event. Two or three days later they ask me, how did you know about that? FR was that far ahead of the MSM on the story.
The other thing I find happening to me is when I am readng a news story on another site, when I get to the end of the story I start looking for the comments, reaction to it. Not being on FR, of course, there are none.
We likely could have sunk Ross Perot's candidacy by exposing his nuttiness. A friend who worked at EDS while Perot still owned it told of Perot going through the parking lot, finding that an employee had bought a red car and then calling the employee in and firing him!
We all have to laugh at how the MSM keeps referring to Internet users as "amateurs".
The MSM drags out these same old hags for every story when their "reporters" have ZERO experience in any discipline other than journalism.
The Internet has millions of people with speciality education and experience in every discipline. The MSM refuses to acknowledge that fact as they ask old hag #2 for their comment on technical aspects of a story she knows nothing about.
The MSM fears the Internet; that is why they fail to acknowledge that these "amateurs" are actually PROFESSIONALS in every possible discipline in existence.
Eat that, RATher.
"Just doin' it for the love of the game, son."
***I signed up only 3 months after Jim Robinson and people are still calling me "son".
Well, duh. I mean, would you? What, with the cutsie frowny emoticon and all?
Yeah. He's green with envy.
Minutemen of the Media Revolution
I noticed that when I look at daguerreotypes of Civil War soldiers, they all have it. Although I think they called it "seeing the Eliphant." That must have been some real sh!t man, some real sh!t.
Power to the Pajama People!
We got a lot of time on our hands?
That's ok, cause we know just what to do with it!
That Toy Soldiers thread was a scream!
I agree. I just went back and read it again for another laugh.
Do you think they are laughing at the AP?
Exactly. If you watch the evening 'news' or pay 50 cents for a 'newspaper,' you're just wasting your time on old news. I can't count how many times people have asked me if I've heard about something on the news and I knew it three days before it 'broke' with the MSM because I was here.
Standing by with expertise regarding Barbie, Ken and Co. should the need arise.
bttt
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