The Media's Dereliction of Duty

The media has consistently focused on alleged atrocities by US soldiers since the war in Iraq began, but it recently has gone on a feeding frenzy. Ever since John Murtha announced that “our Marines killed Iraqi civilians in cold blood”, the media has been on a mission to publicize and dramatize any report that comes out of Iraq regarding alleged bad acts by our soldiers.

The stories are splashed on the front pages. They make the cover stories in magazines and are usually called “special reports”. Day after day, details are touted as “breaking news” in the media. Anonymous sources and neighbors of the victims are cited as “experts”. Photos of Iraqis pointing to bullet holes in walls and blood stains on the floor are published as evidence of crimes by US military. Every story about any minutia of information surrounding the investigation includes a rehash of the “alleged acts” and a recounting of all the “other investigations” of other atrocities. Every story has an undercurrent of “this is just the tip of the iceberg.”

In their rush to get the story out to the public, the reporters literally just throw the information up against the wall to see what sticks. There is minimal, if any, investigation into the “eyewitnesses” and the reliability of such reports before publishing them. Videos supplied by neighbors are broadcast without verifying that the scenes are actually from the supposed event. There is minimal fact-checking.

The best example of this was in the rush to judgment in the Haditha “massacre”. The Washington Post article, “Witnesses describe Haditha slayings of Iraqis” by Ellen Knickmeyer on May 27, 2006 reported the following…

“Aws Fahmi, a Haditha resident who said he watched and listened from his home as Marines went from house to house killing members of three families, recalled hearing his neighbor across the street”

Then on June 7, 2006, the Associated Press carried another recounting of the events of that day in November from Thaer al-Hadithi (the budding journalist and eyewitness)…

"At about the same time, a man who stepped out of his nearby house to see what was happening at Ayed Ahmed's home was shot and wounded, according to al-Hadithi. Aws Fahmi, 43, was left to bleed on the street for about two hours before a female neighbor dragged him to safety, al-Hadithi told the AP."

There is no benefit of the doubt given to our soldiers. If it is reported as “murder” by eyewitnesses, that is how the media presents it. Anonymous sources are given the benefit of the doubt and are even excused for telling tales out of school. How many times have you read or heard “on the condition of anonymity due to an ongoing investigation”?

The headlines are misleading and imply that the soldiers have been found “guilty” of the atrocities. The New York Times published an article on July 8, 2006 about the investigation into the senior officers’ follow-up on the initial Haditha reports. But the headline “General Faults Marine Response to Iraq Killings” led the reader to believe that the General is faulting the soldiers directly involved in the incident. How many people scan only the headlines and never bother to read past the first paragraph before jerking their knees?

Then we have the op-ed writers who are more complicit in fingering the soldiers for blame. The Washington Post carried an op-ed by Andrew J. Bacevich titled “What’s an Iraqi Life Worth?” Bacevich laments the loss of innocent Iraqi civilians killed by US operations, even those killed in the course of battle, as sending us deeper into the quagmire…

“Any action resulting in Iraqi civilian deaths, however inadvertent, undermines the Bush administration’s narrative of liberation and swells the ranks of those resisting the US presence.”

Bacevich also is concerned about the “noncombatant casualties” inciting further insurgent attacks…

“Misdirected violence alienates those we are claiming to protect. It plays into the hands of the insurgents, advancing their cause and undercutting our own. It fatally undermines the campaign to win hearts and minds, suggesting to Iraqis and Americans alike that Iraqi civilians – and perhaps Arabs and Muslims more generally are expendable.”

Once again the media fails to realize the true source of undermining our campaign in Iraq – it is the media themselves. Every report that claims US soldiers killed in cold blood without any investigation proving the claim as fact undermines our soldiers and our country. It provides fuel to the insurgents’ fire. It allows the insurgents to claim, to the Iraqi people, the moral high ground with retaliatory attacks – “we’re taking care of the evil doers who want to harm you”.

Every atrocity claim is trumpeted by the anti-Bush fanatics as another failure of leadership. Each report is used by members of the anti-American organizations to further their own agenda. When the outrage of the anti-war crowd over alleged atrocities exceeds their outrage over the torture and murder of two US soldiers, the inflammatory media reports are used as justification of their misplaced outrage.

The new media has stepped up and taken up the duties neglected by the “old media”. Research that should be done by journalists is done by bloggers and other members of the new media. Facts that are overlooked or just not reported are being covered by the new media. Citizens are doing the job of the media and are doing it with confirmed facts. If not for unrelenting dedication to get to the truth of the matter, who knows where we would be.

It is time for the media to step up to their journalistic responsibilities and do their job – research, review, confirm and report the facts. As long as the media continues down this path, expect further decline in circulation and profits. The shame is that our soldiers are the ones suffering from the media’s dereliction of duty.

Here is something, we can all do this week to start eliminating the NY Slimes as a threat to our nation's security. We can do it at our computers and do it in less than 1 hour. Besides sending a severe warning to the NY Slimes and the mutual fund companies who buy NY Slimes stock, we will improve our precious investment capital being wasted on NY Slimes stock.
If a few thousand freepers did this simple action this week and a few thousand new freepers, friends and relatives each following week, we will have a terminal impact on the NY Slimes acts of sedition. Please send this how to your blogs, friends, relatives and email lists. This action will serve as a cannon shot across the bows fo the other Dinosaur Liberal Fish Wraps re sedition will not be tolerated any more.

INSTRUCTIONS FROM Grampa Dave:

Want to smash the NY Slimes?
Check your mutual funds to see if they own NYT, the NY Slimes Stock

How many of us own mutual funds which own NY Slimes stock and even worse have increased their NYT holdings this year.
NYT investment by a mutual fund company is a terrible investment re the dollar loss in Stock value the last 2 years. Those investments are an attempt to keep the NY Slimes afloat with our mutual fund $'s.
Now it is very evident that the NY Slimes is an agent and abettor of the al Qaeda Serial Killers. The Slimes is endangering the lives of our families, friends, innocent Americans and every warrior of ours.
Go to this link to see if your mutual fund owns NYT.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/invsub/ownership/ownership.asp
When the MS Money stock home page comes up, enter NYT into the search area and hit enter and the following screen will show up re ownership of the NY Slimes stock:
The New York Times Company: Ownership Information

Shares Outstanding 145.00 Mil

Institutional Ownership (%) 83.40

Top 10 Institutions (%) 58.60

Mutual Fund Ownership (%) 42.64

5%/Insider Ownership (%) 7.77

Float (%)

Highlight the Mutual Fund Ownership and hit enter.
If thousands of Freepers, whose mutual funds own shares of NY Slimes did the following:

Sell those mutual funds or trade them for funds not owning NYT.

Send a letter to the fund managers and the CEO's of the mutual fund company telling them why you sold/transferred their mutual fund owning NY Slimes stock. Then demand to know why they are wasting your precious $'s on a treason/sedition company which is a terrible investment.

Contact the SEC to investigate why this mutual fund and mutual fund company invested your $'s in one of the worse investments of the past 2 years. Was the investment of yours and others a political bailout of the NY Slimes.

Send this how to re Mutual Funds with NYT stock to everyone on your email list for a wakeup call.

We might have a lot more impact than trying to boycott companies which sell to the elite liberals of NYC and advertise in the NY Slimes.

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