Media Duped Again: Message Boards Take Fact-checking Lead

RatherBiased.com ^

[RatherBiased.com]

Dan Rather was lucky he wasn't on the air when it occured because surely he would have breathlesly relayed the details. Many mainstream media outlets were duped by a picture of a toy soldier that was purported to be an American troop held hostage by terrorists in Iraq.

Media outlets such as MSNBC and the Associated Press relayed the claims of the terrorists for two hours before they were shown to be false.

As with Memogate, it was online message boards that found the evidence: At 2:20pm EST, a poster on Militaryphotos.net posted an image of the GI Joe action figure. Members of other online forums like Fark.com, Democratic Underground, and FreeRepublic.com made similar conclusions within minutes.

UPDATE: Dan Rather was absent from his anchor spot on tonight's "Evening News." Is it just a coincidence that Document Dan was "on assignment" on the day the AP got busted for running fake photos?

For more on Rather's experiences with rushing too quickly to report the news, see our "Jumping the Gun" page.

[Spok]

My daughter's Barbie is still under sedation.

[thoughtomator]

DU of course, learned it from us, since the ones "in the know" there get all their real news from here.

[CFC__VRWC]

It's real bad when even the DUmmies pick up on the hoax befroe the MSM does.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

I love the fact that the terrorists are reduced to playing with dolls now.:)

[Zeppelin]

I used to pop Barbie heads off all the time when I was a kid. Does that make me evil too?

[elhombrelibre]

Great post!

[rwfromkansas]

I saw this on a blog and thought the guy looked odd.

But, I didn't realize it was a doll until now. Geez.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Omigod, you're the worst kind of evil. They don't have a level of hell built yet for perpetrators of your kind.:)

[Howlin]

To: 1LongTimeLurker

"Our mujahideen ... have managed to capture the American soldier John Adam after killing a number of his colleagues," said the Mujahideen Squadrons in the undated statement.

I guess I'm the only one here with a working B.S. detector.

13 posted on 02/01/2005 1:13:58 PM EST by A Balrog of Morgoth (With fire, sword, and stinging whip I drive the Rats in terror before me.)

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To: 1LongTimeLurker

"Our mujahadeen heroes of Iraq's Jihadi Battalion were able to capture American military man John Adam after killing a number of his comrades and capturing the rest," said the statement, signed by the "Mujahedeen Brigades."

This is from

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050201/D87VRVG00.html

It doesn't ring true based upon the above quote. That means they have more than one; I bet they're playacting.

14 posted on 02/01/2005 1:14:07 PM EST by HipShot ("Remember the first rule of gunfighting... have a gun." --Colonel Jeff Cooper)

[A Balrog of Morgoth]

"Our mujahideen ... have managed to capture the American soldier John Adam after killing a number of his colleagues," said the Mujahideen Squadrons in the undated statement.

I guess I'm the only one here with a working B.S. detector.

[HipShot]

"Our mujahadeen heroes of Iraq's Jihadi Battalion were able to capture American military man John Adam after killing a number of his comrades and capturing the rest," said the statement, signed by the "Mujahedeen Brigades."

This is from

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050201/D87VRVG00.html

It doesn't ring true based upon the above quote. That means they have more than one; I bet they're playacting.

[philo]

I'm curious...Who was first to figure this out.

It appears by the time stamps on the posts that we figured it out about noon where as the other sites look to be about 2 PM.

[womcg]

Only if you were screaming "Death to Zionist American Dogs" when you did it.

[Howlin]

To: Republican Red

Here is "photo"


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050201/481/lon12802011747

36 posted on 02/01/2005 1:38:05 PM EST by Snakeyes2

To: Blood of Tyrants

It looks fakey, to me. The head looks out of place. Photoshopped on. No neck.

52 posted on 02/01/2005 2:01:50 PM EST by monkeywrench

[Snakeyes2]

Here is "photo"


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050201/481/lon12802011747

[Steel Wolf]

It's real bad when even the DUmmies pick up on the hoax befroe the MSM does.

Man, if that's not a reason to turn off your cable TV, I don't know what is. Even the DUmmies are more on the ball then the MSM.

Ah, the internet. Ain't science grand? Guys in pajamas looking at toys online, and making the news.

[Zeppelin]

***Only if you were screaming "Death to Zionist American Dogs" when you did it.***

WHEW! I just did it to piss off my little sister. I guess I'm NOT evil after all! =P

[rwfromkansas]

I didn't even pay attention to the story until I saw the pic on a blog, so I did not read the statements or anything.

When I saw the pic, I thought it sure looked odd, almost fake and the guy seemed to have no emotion or normal body movements, but it never occurred to me they would put a doll up until now. A doll for crying out loud. Man.

[Howlin]

[hattend]

My daughter's Barbie is still under sedation.

We hope to rescue her soon

[Seeking the truth]

Pajama Patrol Strikes Again!

Pajama Patrol 18K Gold Badges & Pins

[wimpycat]

This R. Lee Ermey action figure was recently rescued from terrorists threatening to behead him.