Posted on 05/14/2004 9:24:34 PM PDT by wagglebee
The Boston Globe today tried to distance itself from its admitted error in publishing pornographic photos fraudulently depicting the rape of Iraqi women by American GIs by blaming the city councilor who distributed the pictures at a press conference.
In an editorial, the paper admitted for the first time the photos were "bogus" and "appeared" to be taken from a porn site, but in a separate article, the Globe's ombudsman claims she still has failed to discover the source of the photos and still has not confirmed or denied their veracity to readers.
The photographs – uncovered by WorldNetDaily as fodder for Arab propaganda – accompanied an article in the Boston paper about local city councilor Chuck Turner, who distributed the graphic pictures Tuesday at a press conference with activist Sadiki Kambon.
Turner told reporters the photos showed U.S. soldiers raping Iraqi women, asserting, "The American people have a right and responsibility to see the pictures."
As WND reported, the photographs were produced by a group called Extreme Traffic. The site "Sex in War" was built around the Extreme Traffic 'rape' content. Select photos also were carried by another site "Iraq Babes" and the hard rape site, but all images were derived from "Sex in War."
Ombudsman Chris Chinlund contended she still did not know the source of the photographs, but WND has copies of e-mails proving otherwise.
Chinlund wrote: "Various sources last week said the photos displayed by Turner came from a pornography website, and they may well have, although I could not trace it to the source."
The WND e-mails to Chinlund, reporter Donovan Slack and editor Marty Baron gave the address of the "Sex in War" site, from which the photos were taken. Select photos also were carried on "Iraq Babes," which has been shut down following WND's original report. But WND told the Globe all the images were contained on the "Sex in War" site and also gave the URL to the companion marketing site.
In addition, on Wednesday, at the Globe's request, WND walked reporter Slack through part of the "Sex in War" site - for which she paid a 5-day subscription - until she could see two of the scenes shown by the Globe. Slack then was left to find the others.
When Slack realized the images were exact matches with the porn shoots she said, "This is ridiculous!" and quipped, "I'll be working at Penthouse soon!"
Nevertheless, Chinlund had only this to say in today's Globe piece:
"I did find one news website with a note from a woman identified as the porn site operator. She was quoted as saying the images, shot in Hungary, had been removed because they were used for anti-American purposes."
The reference is to WND's story about the shutting down of "Iraq Babes," but she avoided commenting about the parent Hungarian site, "Sex in War," which never has been shut down, and as Chinlund repeatedly was told by WND, is the source of all the images.
Also, the photo mix-up already has been covered thoroughly in pornography industry news media.
In addition, Chinlund did not mention she was given all of WND's investigative pieces on the subject, which provide a complete explanation of the origin of the photos.
Editor Baron refused to speak with WND yesterday, when told WND wanted to question him on why the Globe was refusing to admit it knows the images came from a porn website.
He also refused to answer e-mails indicating WND's surprise over the comments the Globe ombudsman made in a story by Agence France-Presse in which she implied she had no idea where the photos came from and had "failed" to find their source.
Chinlund also did not respond to WND's e-mail and verbal messages, including this one:
"Since the Globe has known for over 24 hours that the photos were taken from the porn site ["Sex in War"], which was, contrary to your statement, never taken down, I'd like to get your comments for publication."
The rival Boston Herald published a story yesterday with the headline, "Globe caught with pants down: Paper duped into running porn photos."
The Herald, which quoted from WorldNetDaily's story, said it covered Turner's news conference, along with a number of news outlets, including the Associated Press, but "did not run a story after determining the photos were highly suspicious."
As the Herald reported, the pictures "showed hard-core sex acts and genitalia. ...In a large shot in the paper's early editions, pornographic details are clearly visible. In later editions, the photograph was reduced, making the images slightly more obscure."
Meanwhile, the Globe reported today six of Boston's 13 city councilors signed a letter condemning Turner for holding the news conference that featured the photos.
The letter, addressed to the press and public, described Turner's actions as "hasty, of dubious intent, highly inflammatory and embarrassing to those of us who support our troops."
In article noted the Globe ran a story about the news conference which said the "photographs contained no evidence indicating that the people in them were U.S. soldiers or that the photos were taken in Iraq."
Today's article concluded: "In an editor's note yesterday, the Globe apologized for publishing a photograph taken at Turner's news conference that showed the pictures."
Standard procedure for libs -- no personal responsibility.
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Chuck TurnerDistrict 7, elected in 1999 |
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Contact Councilor Turner |
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| Representing | |
|---|---|
| Roxbury: Ward 8 Pcts 3-4, 7; Ward 9 Pcts 3-5; Ward 11 Pct 1-3, 5; Ward 12 Pcts 1-9 Dorchester: Ward 7 Pct 10; Ward 8 Pct 5-6; Ward 13 Pct 1-2, 4-5 South End: Ward 4 Pct 4; Ward 9 Pct 2 Fenway/Kenmore: Ward 4 Pcts 5, 8-9 |
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| Committee Chair | |
| Human Rights |
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| Committee Vice Chair | |
| Hunger & Homelessness | |
Well, now who's gonna sue whom?
So, somebody tell me what's going to be the bottom line here? The fact that these photos were bogus has not been flooding the news networks; not even Fox News.
Has Councilor Turner apologized or is that something liberals expect only Bush and Rumsfeld to do?
These libs make me ill nearly to the point of nausea. If the newspaper had any professional standards someone would get fired.
What do liberal organizations and the government have in common? No personal responsibility. No one ever loses their job or gets penalized for a major screw up.
I saw one quick report about the Globe's retraction on a cable network, and they showed a very quick portion of one of the photos in question. I think the "soldiers" in the photo were wearing green BDUs. I was like "WTF??"
I saw one quick report about the Globe's retraction on a cable network, and they showed a very quick portion of one of the photos in question. I think the "soldiers" in the photo were wearing green BDUs. I was like "WTF??"
No more double posts, you big dope!
Totally unacceptable.
At least that rag in Britain had the decency and integrity to fire the editor responsible for publishing fake photos of Iraqi women allegedly being raped by British soldiers.
The Globe is a cowardly disgrace.
The editor of the Daily Mirror has resigned after admitting its alleged Iraqi abuse pictures had been "a hoax". Piers Morgan's decision came as the paper "apologised unreservedly" for printing the pictures. The editor, one of the best known faces in Fleet Street, had earlier brushed away growing pressure on him to quit.
The Queen's Lancashire Regiment, subject of the abuse allegations, had said the pictures were "utter and complete nonsense". Military figures for the regiment said the photos are fake and that the newspaper should apologise.
In a hard-hitting press conference at Fulwood Barracks, Preston, key figures for the regiment said the Daily Mirror had increased the danger faced by British troops serving in Iraq. Col. David Black, a former commanding officer of the QLR, said: "(They are) almost a recruiting poster for al Qaeda and every other terrorist organisation."
They did not call for the resignation of the Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, but said the board of governors and shareholders should put pressure on the paper to cooperate fully with an ongoing inquiry.
The reputation of the regiment had been "unjustly sullied", they added. Brig Geoff Sheldon said: "It's time that the ego of one editor is measured against the life of the soldier.
Here's the thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1135624/posts
*cough*
If President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld hadn't produced a climate in which this kind of abuse could flourish, Councilor Turer would have never been put in the position of producing phony pictures. We are back to square one. President Bush and Rumsfeld should apologize to Councilor Turner. (The scary thing is that there are people out there that think like this!)
NYslimes bought the Glop.
The only reason that terrorists are doing these things is that they realize that Libs are so profoundly stupid and gullible. Libs have no sense of proportion, and they let their emotions overrun their feeble peabrains. They use no skeptisism or tests of reasonableness because they can't reason.
No wonder their mascot is a jackass.
Americans have a right to demand that this low life Chuck Turner be jailed for deliberately trying to harm the people and the soldiers of the USA in war time. He needs jail, and all the punishment that goes with it.
Shame on the City of Boston for having such an un-American on their pay roll! This is a National Disgrace, the Boston Globe! They should be fined and put out of business! Who needs a newspaper cranking out lies?
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