[Miss Marple]

I have nothing but praise for your efforts to explain the manipulation and deception in this article. For many years I have watched as otherwise intelligent Freepers were manipulated by the press with this type of shoddy journalism.

If I had a dollar for every time an outraged thread followed a New York Times story, I would be a wealthy woman.

The construct is usually to start with a false premise, back it up with quotes from unattributable sources, and sprinkle in a few attributed quotes on a peripheral issue, giving the illusion that the article has factual backing. That is what has been done in this article, and it is a shameful propaganda technique that I had hoped people by now would be able to spot.

Thanks for your pointing it out.

[presidio9]

The construct is usually to start with a false premise, back it up with quotes from unattributable sources, and sprinkle in a few attributed quotes on a peripheral issue, giving the illusion that the article has factual backing.

I was done here multiple times by a couple of diligent posters who even linked other articles that made the EXCAT same error. The problem here on FR usually is that a lot of Catholics have been filled with misinformation about what the Pope can and can't do. Those false premises lead them to misinterpret what the man says. I think there are honest reporters out there who make the same mistake, and others who seek to intentionally mislead. Plus there are moderators here on FR who encourage delibrate and lying attacks on Catholicism.