Is NBC Following CBS' Example?

Conservative Thoughts ^ | May 19, 2005 | John Kuethe

[Wrangler22]

Will Katie and Matt follow Dan Rather down the path of "unsubstantiated claims"? It appears so. On Tuesday's TODAY show they aired a report that resembled the Newsweek story (now retracted) that has inflamed the Muslim world and led to deadly riots.

The TODAY story made unsubstantiated claims that U.S. Marines kicked a Quran and then took it and spray painted in black paint a cross right on top of the Quran while raiding a mosque in Ramadi. The "Today" broadcast also covered an allegation that U.S. troops had gang-raped an Iraqi woman.

While some people figure, if true, breaking the story is justified, it would be a sad escalation of already strained relations with Islamic people around the world. The fact that journalists can run pieces based on "unnamed" sources leaves the door wide open to impropriety. The media in this country is always looking to break the "big" story, and then those who lag a bit behind "pile on". It does not appear as if the take into consideration what the ramifications of their actions may be across the world. . .

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Following it?

They're both working off the same blueprint.

(Or maybe I should say "red"-print.)

[Wrangler22]

No, Blue is correct, as in blue state, democrat, etc.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

We're in a civil war whose front line is televised news and blogs and newspapers....

[Dallas59]

HA! Katie misses her ex girlfriend in Nevada. The one the Pitt Bull.

[Jeffery T.]

The Los Angeles Times also ran a story similar to the Newsweek story which used unnamed sources just a few days after the Newsweek story broke. It is no secret that the MSM is circling the wagons and protecting their own in a cocoon of arrogance and misinformation.

[Dallas59]

I hope Katies exgirlfriend spills the beans.

[Jeffery T.]

This type of reporting is a lessening of journalistic standards, and it does not represent the shift that is occuring in news readership. People are not so much interested in the next biggest big story, which is a relic from Watergate times; people are more interested in trusting the news that is reaching them, making sure the news if accurate and responsible. If the MSM keeps going down this hole, their readership will begin disappearing, which is already what is happening to the national news. I was watching Brian Williams two days ago, and he called Judge Owens "radical" simply because she felt that pregnant teens should consult their parents before having an abortion. To a lot of everyday Americans, this is simply common sense, not radical.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

My local newspaper ran an editorial from the LA Times about how all the talk about the effects of the Newsweek article have been blown out of proportion by the conservatives.

I wanted to shake the writer and say: 17 people died, a huge problem has been created and you say it's been blown out of proportion?

The blood of the injured and dead is upon the irresponsible journalists who would do this.

[Jeffery T.]

The thing that bothers me more is that in their attempt to fan the flames of American hatred, they put many American troops into further harm by further fanning the flames of religious hatred in the Muslim world.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Exactly. They don't care. A strike against our military is a strike for their cause. They are at war with their own country.

[Jeffery T.]

They are so blinded by their opposition to Pres. Bush that they would destroy all that is good about this country to ensure that their philosophy is adhered to and followed.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

They are in their way like the Taliban...you will join them or be crushed.

[An American In Dairyland]

They're both working off the same blueprint.

NBC and it's clones like MSNBC as well as the Washington Post are in some sort of partnership with Newsweek. Supposedly this can be found on the mast head of Newsweek but I heard Scarborough point it out on his show the other night. By rights every NBC affiliate and show should be stating this every time they discuss Newsweek but few ever do it the way Shephard Smith does when he covers a story from the NY Post.

[bilhosty]

Why are they doing this? Even if it were true nobody but a few Muslims in this country would care. The only people who would care are the Islamic peoples who would be outraged and cause a lot of problems for our country and the Anti-American crowd. Oops! The anti-American crowd. I guess I just answered my own question.