Posted on 03/04/2006 5:20:23 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
by Mark Finkelstein
March 4, 2006
Who would have thought it?: in the crucial first half-hour of their respective shows this morning, Fox & Friends Weekend didn't cover the incident at the University of North Carolina in which an Iranian drove an SUV through a crowd, injuring five people - but the Today show did.
Interviewed by co-host Lester Holt, one of the students who was injured stated he had no doubt the driver - recent UNC grad Mohammed Reza Taheriazar of Iran - acted intentionally. According to the injured student, the SUV had been moving very slowly through an area in the center of the UNC campus, not causing any concern, when suddenly he heard its engine revving hard. The next thing he knew, he was on the vehicle's hood. For the record, the injured student had received medical treatment and was released, though was still feeling sore this morning.
Today reported the FBI statement that Taheriazar "allegedly made statements that he acted to avenge the American treatment of Muslims." Today also displayed Taheriazar's photo twice during the segment.
An aside: Google the incident, and you'll find that virtually every headline is along the lines "SUV Plows Through Crowd", suggesting the culprit was the inanimate object [and a hated one at that in enviro circles] rather than its Iranian driver.
One notable exception is a column in the conservative Human Events flatly entitled "Religious Terrorism Strikes Chapel Hill". The piece was written by Jillian Bandes, a former columnist for the UNC school newspaper, the Daily Tar Heel. Bandes had been dismissed from her position as columnist "after writing in support of racial profiling of Arabs in airports around the anniversary of 9/11." Her column in turn links to a story by a local ABC affiliate providing additional details about Taheriazar and leaving little doubt that the act was both intentional and motivated by religious animus. Last month, Muslim students at UNC protested the publication in The Daily Tar Heel of an original cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammad.
In any case, if Today's segment was not a hard-hitting investigative piece on religious terrorism in the U.S., credit NBC nonetheless for running it at all.
Today Show/NewsBusters ping.
Click on NewsBusters link at top for article containing clickable links to Human Events column, ABC story, and photo of alleged perpetrator.
It's a cultural thing and we have to learn to celebrate diversity.
They'd probably never've mentioned it if the wackdoodle'd been driving a Yugo. They're hatred of SUVs, which most of them probably own/drive, overcame their desire to shill for Islamists.
It's a civil war.
If the wackdoodle'd been driving a Yugo, it would've fallen apart the second it grazed the first person.
And, by the way, I love the word "wackdoodle."
}:-)4
Excellent point. Few might know that this past week was the Feast of the Jeep, in which for hundreds of years Iranians have celebrated the triumph of the forces of Daimler Chrysler over GM invaders by driving Jeep Explorers through crowds.
I saw something about this on tv this morning, but in the piece I saw, he was mentioned ONLY as a student. Nothing was said about him being Iranian or a muslim.
A reminder about Fox -
"Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal boasted in Dubai earlier this week about his ability to change the news content that viewers around the world see on television.
In early September 2005, Bin Talal bought 5.46% of voting shares in News Corp. This made the Fifth richest man on the Forbes World's Richest People, the fourth largest voting shareholder in News Corp., the parent of Fox News. News Corp. is the world's leading newspaper publisher in English. It operates more than 175 newspapers, in the UK, Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the US, and distributes more than 40 million papers per week. In addition, News Corp. owns and operates an international collection of TV outlets, radio stations, magazines, book publishers and film studios.
After bin Talal purchased his voting shares in News Corp., on September 23, 2005, he stated in an advertising supplement to the New York Times, “When I invest in a group like CITICROUP, the Four Seasons, the News Corp. or Time Warner, my objective is not to manage those companies.” But this is not quite accurate, considering the Prince’s December 5, 2005 statement given to Middle East Online regarding his ability to change what viewers see on Fox News. Covering the riots in Paris last November, Fox ran a banner saying: "Muslim riots." Bin Talal was not happy. "I picked up the phone and called Murdoch... (and told him) these are not Muslim riots, these are riots out of poverty," he said. "Within 30 minutes, the title was changed from Muslim riots to civil riots."
"SUV Plows Through Crowd"
There are dozens of headlines like that posted on FR. Those SUV's do wicked things.
Its hard to celebrate diversity while it is trying to run over you.
LOL. Seriously, though, pedestrians do stand a better chance of surviving a collision with a passenger car than an SUV. A fact I wish more SUV drivers would keep in mind when behind the wheel.
Well, he looks like a happy camper, doesn't he? Yikes.
I was shocked to see the AP story in my morning newspaper not only refer to the perp as Iranian, but to ascribe Islamic religious motives to the crime.
Say, isn't that spelled wack-a-doodle? No? Hmm, maybe I've been doing it wrong all these years ...
(Har, har!)
Jeep Explorer? Is that about the same as a Ford Cherokee?
They're all equally evil, with a predilection for suddenly driving themselves through crowds, while simultaneously destroying the ozone layer and melting the polar ice caps ;-)
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