Posted on 01/19/2006 10:50:57 AM PST by Howlin
The point you need to make to your father about untruthful reporters is not that they tell lies. They lie by not telling the entire story.....lying by omission. They also give distorted impression of events by refusing to put facts in context. Three examples of dishonest journalism can be found in the way the media handled the FEMA Katrina response stories, the NSA spying controversy, and the coverage of the Iraq war.
For instance, the media measures the success of the Iraq war by their daily casualty count...not progress being made. While constantly hyping the casualty rates of the Iraq conflict, they never, ever put it into the context of other conflicts. If Americans knew that tens of thousands of Americans died in one day in some battles during the civil war, or that we lost over 8,000 men just trying to recapture Iwo Jima, then 2,500 deaths suffered over nearly three years, while freeing 50 million people, begins to seem like a reasonable cost. without the context of deaths suffered in previous conflicts it is impossible for even a fair-minded person to determine the relative success or failure of a military action when casualties are used as the barometer for that success.
In the Katrina reporting one was left to believe that everything that was done poorly was the fault of FEMA and the federal government. During the first week of the media's assault on the Bush administration you were led to believe that Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin were little more than spectators. Their own responsibilities for planning, notification, and command and control resources was completely ignored by the press. Why?? Because it would negate the anger and animus they wanted to direct at the White House they loathe.
Not only did they lie by omission be refusing to hold Blanco and Nagin responsible for issues that were clearly their responsibility, they played the no-context card perfectly by not disclosing the time it took FEMA to respond to other conflicts. FEMA could have had the fastest response time to Katrina that the agency has ever had in an emergency, but how would anyone know if previous response times by FEMA were never revealed. The FEMA website clearly puts the responsibility for the first 72 hours on the local authorities... could just one network have shown a screen-shot of the website and illuminated this fact?
In the NSA warrantless "wiretapping" imbroglio you are left to believe that nothing like this has ever happened before. If you were born yesterday you would never know that Lincoln suspended Habeus Corpus and jailed, without charges, thousands of Americans who simply spoke badly about the president and the Emancipation proclomation.
If you were an alien that just landed on earth you would never have a clue that FDR imprisoned every japanese national and spied on Americans daily during WWII.
If you were a liberal and facts did not matter, then you would never remember the terms "echelon" or "carnivore". Both of these programs, that facilitated spying on American citizens by the Clinton administration, defended by jamie Gorelick as totally constitutional, are never mentioned by the press when reporting on the current NSA controversy.
This is how the media "tells the truth" without really telling the truth. They do it by omission of relevant facts and context. The absence of information is a tool to lie and the traditional mainstream media has perfected this technique to a science. They do every minute of every day. It is a shameful thing
Explain to your father that this is how they lie to us.
Freegards,
PresidentFelon
I heard him say that as I was FForwarding through his ridiculous program! This person makes me SICK!
These are great examples. Thanks for your thoughts.
Funny, I read the same thing and it never crossed my mind that she meant anyone but Nagin by way of explaining him. I certainly would have never thought she was referring to God. That is not our lovely First Lady's way.
I'm still seething!
And if anyone knows Ed Rogers' email address, please give it to me.
Chris, with his education- Holy Cross ..is not a
moron. He has been the victim of working with a
few Democrats that are ignoramusses...including..
Jimmmmy Carter.....and this association shows up
in off the cuff thoughts, that come fast and quick,
like his conversations..... As a product of a similar
education (Jesuit)...I can say that the "Pol Pun"
business, today, is being slanted to Dems and they
can't handle it...Jake
I will get video of this -- can someone please reply or mail me what time in the show he said this? Thanks.
I changed my mind. I do care.
thank you for letting me know.
An excellent post on the lying by omission of the MSM. It's been going on for years, and is ramped up exponentially during republican administrations.
Thanks for bringing this latest episode to the front page, Howlin. I gave up on Matthews before the election. His "reporting" on the Swift Boat vets, and John O'Neil, was despicable. We gave him the heave then and there.
Ok I got the video, am posting soon.
Anybody got Chrissy's email address? I think he needs an avalance of email pointing out his error.
Another good example is when the NYT wrote that the 9/11 commission report was a blow to the administration's position that Saddam had ties to AQ. Two 9/11 commission members were on Fox News the next day and said they didn't know what NYT was talking about, that they agree with Dick CHeney (Cheney had recently stated that there was a connection between Saddam and AQ. Neither the NYT nor any of the "news" outlets that ran with their lie ever acknowledged the correction by the 9/11 commission members, and to this day pretend the original NYT report was correct.
Early in life I had noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper. -- George Orwell
Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth. By simply not mentioning certain subjects... totalitarian propagandists have influenced opinion much more effectively than they could have by the most eloquent denunciations. -- Aldous Huxley
In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act. -- George Orwell
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Hey, Howlin!
Hey, Kate!
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