Posted on 07/27/2006 12:45:54 PM PDT by SmithL
A CNN reporter has exposed tactics used by Hizbullah terrorists to stage media events in order to give the impression of a large number of civilian casualties caused by Israeli bombing attacks on terrorist position, according to a report issued by the Honest Reporting organization.
Rich Noyes said he was assigned to photograph buildings damaged in the bombings. "After letting us take pictures of a few damaged buildings, they take us to another location, where there are ambulances waiting. This is a heavily orchestrated Hezbollah media event. When we got here, all the ambulances were lined up," and the drivers turned on their sirens and sped away for photographers. "These ambulances aren't responding to any new bombings. The sirens are strictly for effect," Noyes said.
No..did not hear about that, is it a fact? Would not in the least be a surprise.
He better quit going to Hezbo land if he's reporting like this. Once he becomes a liability to them he'll not be treated real well...............
The schmuck will be fired.
Hmmm. If this report of their report is true, it makes you wonder if the four WERE actually killed by the Israelis or by Hezbollah rockets.
"Is it possible that the MSM has at last revealed secrets of our enemies instead of our own?"
No. The 'staging' is public info. You can watch the videos of several staged events, including the recent 'beach' bombing.
The dead father gets up at the end of the video.
I see someone beat me to it.
It is called PALLYWOOD. They have directors, makeup artists, and camera crews.
I do believe this report and in my mind it about 50-50 that it was the Hezbollah rockets. Sad to say I do not know if we will ever know.
Did hell freeze over in Lebanon where the CNN reporter was?
He probably has a new contract in his pocket!
bttt
That insulates him from the Hezbollah supporters at CNN, but not their supporters in Lebanon. Still a pretty brave act to point out the deception.
I have been favorably impressed with Anderson Cooper's objective coverage.
A lot fairer to Israel than Shep Smith.
Investigating dirty tactics of terrorists, the nerve of CNN. They are suppose to try to make the US look bad.
As I said elsewhere, I get the feeling that CNN dislikes being made into dupes even more than they dislike Israel.
Check out this CNN interview by Howard Kurtz (he is also Wash Post's media critic) :
KURTZ: I want to go to the question of how Hezbollah and the bombardment of Lebanon is being covered. I want to play some tape for our viewers about -- showing correspondents dealing with Hezbollah, which is trying to, obviously, make its own play for public sympathy on the airwaves. Let's take a look at that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hezbollah gave us a tour of one of its shelters.
They are saying that no one else in the world has come to their help, and they're pledging their loyalty to Hassan Nasrallah.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This morning, Hezbollah showed journalists around the ruins of its former stronghold, but Hezbollah is also determined that outsiders will only see what it wants them to see.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is one of the bombs that fell, and look what happened to this building, which is all inhabited by innocent civilians living there. People were just working like everybody else. No military -- no military bases, nothing, no aircraft fire, just people living there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KURTZ: John Roberts, is there a danger that journalists can be used by Hezbollah when they get these bomb damage assessment tours, when there's very little ability to get any independent reporting to find out, you know, how much Hezbollah activity there may be in this or that residential area?
ROBERTS: Absolutely, Howard. We have to do the same thing on the Israeli salt side. We take everything with a grain of salt. We -- you know, we hope that they're telling us the truth, but we always have to issue the caveat that this is what the Israeli Defense Forces say.
And it's the same thing with Hezbollah. They take you for a tour of their damaged areas. They could be engaging in some spin. So you always keep that in mind, that whatever you're being told on the ground, the situation in reality could actually be quite different.
KURTZ: And does it seem to you that, when we see these awful heartrending pictures of people who have been injured or killed by bombing attacks on both sides that there is -- to use the word spin that there is an effort by both sides to kind of play up their victims and get world sympathy because, after all, a lot of innocent civilians -- whoever is right and whoever is wrong, and who started it and so forth, a lot of innocent civilians are being killed on both sides.
ROBERTS: That's the thing with war. That's the horrible aspect of war. Is that so many innocent civilians do get caught in the crossfire, or they become victims of what's known in the military as collateral damage, and both sides try to play that up.
On the Israeli side, they say that Hezbollah is firing indiscriminately at civilian positions. That's all they're firing at is civilian positions. They're not trying to hit military positions.
And then at the same time, Hezbollah and the Lebanese government on the other side are saying that Israelis are bombing a lot of civilian targets, as well, and there's a lot of civilians who are being caught up in the bombings.
So yes, both sides do try to play that to their advantage. And right now, on the Israeli side, the latest count we have was 17 dead. On the Lebanese side it's a little more uncertain. It's anywhere between about 265 and 355, depending on whose count you go by.
KURTZ: And on that point about the importance of images in war and the battle for public opinion, Israel at first knocked out a Hezbollah television station. But over the weekend, Israel attacked two Lebanese television stations who were not believed at all to be allied with Hezbollah.
And so is this a strategy in your view of trying to -- Israel trying to limit the pictures available from the other side, because it knows those images can be damaging to its cause?
ROBERTS: Yes. Absolutely. They want to take away any opportunity for propaganda. And they know that Al Manar is funding for Hezbollah, even though Al Manar proclaims its innocence. It certainly gets all of its support from Hezbollah. They want to take that off the air as soon as possible, because that could definitely operate as a propaganda machine, but even the other Lebanese television stations, broadcasting pictures of the destruction there, could turn hearts and minds in that part of the country.
The United States really wants to drive home the point. President Bush says this at every opportunity, as does Condoleezza Rice, and all the other cabinet officials, that it was Hezbollah who started this war. That's the position that they are taking and they want the world to believe in, and they don't want anything to get in the way of that message.
KURTZ: All right. I want to go now to CNN's Nic Robertson, who joins us live from Beirut.
Nic Robertson, we were speaking a moment ago about the way journalists cover Hezbollah and some of these tours that Hezbollah officials have arranged of the bomb damage in the areas of Southern Lebanon. You, I believe, got one of those tours.
Isn't it difficult for you as a journalist to independently verify any claims made by Hezbollah, because you're not able to go into the buildings and see whether or not there is any military activity or any weapons being hidden there?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Howard, there's no doubt about it: Hezbollah has a very, very sophisticated and slick media operations. In fact, beyond that, it has very, very good control over its areas in the south of Beirut. They deny journalists access into those areas. They can turn on and off access to hospitals in those areas. They have a lot of power and influence. You don't get in there without their permission.
And when I went we were given about 10 or 15 minutes, quite literally running through a number of neighborhoods that they directed and they took us to.
What I would say at that time was, it was very clear to me that the Hezbollah press official who took us on that guided tour -- and there were Hezbollah security officials around us at the time with walkie-talkie radios -- that he felt a great deal of anxiety about the situation. And they were telling him -- I just listened to an explosion going off there, coming from the southern suburbs. They were -- they were telling him -- a second explosion there. They were telling here -- rumbling on -- they were telling him get out of this area, and he was very, very anxious about it.
But there's no doubt about it. They had control of the situation. They designated the places that we went to, and we certainly didn't have time to go into the houses or lift up the rubble to see what was underneath.
So what we did see today in a similar excursion, and Hezbollah is now running a number of these every day, taking journalists into this area. They realize that this is a good way for them to get their message out, taking journalists on a regular basis. This particular press officer came across his press office today, what was left of it in the rubble. He pointed out business cards that he said were from his office that was a Hezbollah press office in that area.
So there's no doubt that the bombs there are hitting Hezbollah facilities. But from what we can see, there appear to be a lot of civilian damage, a lot of civilian properties. But again, as you say, we didn't have enough time to go in, root through those houses, see if perhaps there was somebody there who was, you know, taxi driver there...
KURTZ: So to -- so to what extent...
ROBERTSON: ... of access, Howard.
KURTZ: To what extent do you feel like you're being used to put up the pictures that they want -- obviously, it's terrible that so many civilians have been killed -- without any ability, as you just outlined, to verify, because -- to verify Hezbollah's role, because this is a fighting force that is known to blend in among the civilian population and keep some of its weapons there?
ROBERTSON: Absolutely. And I think as we try and do our job, which is go out and see what's happened to the best of our ability, clearly, in that environment, in the southern suburbs of Beirut that Hezbollah controls, the only way we can get into those areas is with a Hezbollah escort. And absolutely, when you hear their claims they have to come with -- with a -- more than a grain of salt, that you have to put in some journalistic integrity. That you have to point out to the audience and let them know that this was a guided tour by Hezbollah press officials along with security, that it was a very rushed affair.
KURTZ: Right.
ROBERTSON: That there wasn't time to go and look through those buildings. The audience has to know the conditions of that tour. But again, if we didn't get all -- or we could not get access to those areas without Hezbollah compliance, they control those areas.
KURTZ: Right.
ROBERTSON: And I think to bring the audience the full picture of what's happening in Beirut, you have to go into those southern suburbs.
KURTZ: All right.
ROBERTSON: Because that's where the vast majority of bombs were falling.
KURTZ: I understand.
ROBERTSON: Again, they come with a health warning that we cannot vouch for everything that Hezbollah is saying. And I think the audience is sophisticated enough to appreciate that, Howard.
KURTZ: All right. We've got to take a break here, Nic. We appreciate that perspective. CNN's Nic Robertson in Beirut; John Roberts in Northern Israel.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0607/23/rs.01.html
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