Posted on 12/03/2005 9:52:27 AM PST by beyond the sea
The American media is up in arms over reports that the Pentagon hired a public relations firm to write positive news stories about the Iraq war and get them printed in the Iraqi press.
But Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad, isn't letting journalists get away with their phony display of outrage.
After the New York Times front-paged the "fake news" story Thursday under the headline: "U.S. Is Said to Pay to Plant Articles in Iraq Papers," Gen. Lynch defended the practice.
"We don't lie. We don't need to lie," he told reporters in Baghdad. "We do empower our operational commanders with the ability to inform the Iraqi public, but everything we do is based on fact, not based on fiction."
Sounds to us like Gen. Lynch was taking a none too subtle jab at the mainstream media's penchant for reporting - not just planted stories - but its own faked news reports.
Perhaps the next time he's questioned about "planting" stories, he'll get even more specific, by reminding the military's accusers of their own sorry history.
Beginning with:
• The New York Times - and the false reports the Old Gray Lady printed about PFC Jessica Lynch - courtesy of Jayson Blair.
• The Washington Post - which won a Pulitzer Prize for its series on Little Jimmy, the 8-year-old heroin addict - which the paper had to give back once star Post reporter Janet Cooke admitted she'd faked the whole story.
• CBS - Perhaps at the next press briefing, Gen. Lynch could inquire as to whether the Tiffany network has yet discovered just who it was who forged President Bush's National Guard records - before Dan Rather committed professional suicide by putting them in the air.
• NBC - Gen. Lynch might offer the Peacock network a hearty round of congratualtions for their relatively good conduct over the last decade. It's been more than 10 years since NBC aired video of an exploding GM truck gas tank - which was faked by their reporters.
In fact, the list of fake news stories reported by the mainstream press is so long it would make even Baghdad Bob blush.
It's good to know that some in the military - like Gen. Lynch - aren't about to let the press' hypocrisy go unnoted.
Yoi ...... nicer legs????
They (the media) own America................... forget about it................ it's all over.................... this country is history as The Founding Fathers had created this Republic................ unless FReepers and others get some nuts............. and real damn fast!
Is logic taught any more? Seems to me it should be then people would know what is a fact and what is opinion. Many decades ago, I was taught: " A Fact is an unqualified assertion whose truth or falseness can be objectively ascertained." Does that still stand today?.
PRAVDA
Right on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They all sure jumped on the fake news that the insurgents took over Ramadi, didn't they LOL!!!
Duh! If Jayna Davis of OKC fame ............... oh, never mind.
THIS WOMAN IS AS BAD AS ONE OF HITLER'S OPERATIVES!
it pleases me to see the military is slowly pulling off the kids gloves when dealing with the Fifth Column
I can still see Wolf Blitzer breathless on CNN announcing to the world that Al Qaeda in Iraq had captured a US soldier....who turned out to be a GI Joe doll.
Btw, some scum is good plant food. The media is worse.
;-)
I just got home from shopping...yikes...lotsa money spent..but not one CENT spent in a store that doesn't have Merry Christmas in their advertising!!
Anyway...I think you are on to something...we are at WAR...and WE the people, in our pajamas, with our computers...have GOT to rise up and force this country to start holding the "powers that be", whether it is in Washington, Capital City, State, Town...and MEDIA...
I have realized how ignorant I am...about a lot of things..because all I had was Walter Cronkite...and teachers that never taught "history" and "government"...
Now, the question is....how do we go about "fixing" our country before our kids and grandkiddos have not country left to learn ABOUT?
We have to start going after them personally.
The MSM have seen too many movies, read NOVELS, and talk to their friends who think the US military is a bunch of murderers who enjoy killing civilians, bayonet babies, level towns, rape women, napalm the countryside, etc.
We used to reserve those descriptions for our enemies.
The MSM only wants a headline that will get them some recognition, regardless of whether it is true or not (of course, most of the "believe" it is true...but that is usually their own bias taking over)
The Los Angeles Times, in its report citing unnamed U.S. military officials, said that, while the articles are based on fact, they omit information that might reflect poorly on the U.S. or Iraqi governments. Dozens of such articles have run at a time when the U.S. government is pledging to promote free speech and democratic principles in Iraq, the paper said.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan today said the Bush administration is ``very concerned'' about the report.
``The United States is a leader when it comes to promoting and advocating a free and independent media around the world, and we will continue to do so,'' McClellan told reporters at a press briefing. ``We want to see what the facts are,'' he said.
The White House PR operation is criminally negligent
It could start correcting its absurd performance by accusing Kerry and Kennedy by name of giving comfort to and emboldening our enemy.
Then they could demand the identities of the 8 red bastards that supplied miltary secrets on pscyh ops to the LA Times (U.S. Military Covertly Pays to Run Stories in Iraqi Press) and jail the reporters if they don't comply.
Make the leftist press as much an enemy in the minds of the public as the ragheads.
They won't.
The PR war will be won, but not by this group.
"The old established/liberal/socialist media is America's most ruthless, relentless, and destructive enemy."
It all began with the Spanish American War when the Hearst newspapers emanded thast he USA invade Cuba to "save" the exploited and enslaved sugar cane plantation workers.
These guys are still dangerous because they are allowed to compete directly against our elected official on policy and security decisions, having the ear of the masses to fill full of lies and half truths. They create and uniformed, emotional public who cannot fully participate in our democratic republic.
Solution: Liscense all journalists just like lawyers and Doctors, and when they lie? Disbar them as reporters. Make the individuals responsible for their own conduct. Put professional standards in place and compose a canon of ethics for reporters and journalists. Extreme cases , like Dan Blathers was ( created news designed to influence an election outcome), should result in a jail sentence or
in extreme cases in time of war, possible charges of sedition and treason resulting in the death penalty when fabricated news puts our soldiers at risk.
Not to mention Fake Photographs! I hope the General keeps up the drum-roll about bogus stories from that theater and corrects them every time they pop up. Here we can help: Send suspect reports to his command and FR.
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