September 18, 2007

The Times spins for Nadia Abu al-Haj - my response

We wrote about the Nadia Abu al-Haj tenure case here. Solomonia has been following it more thoroughly, most recently here, and now the case has broken the surface of the mainstream media and been reported in the NY Times. I reposted a comprehensive fisking of that article here.

Solomonia also links to an excellent summary of the case which places it is the context of other troubling examples of - in the author's words - "the alarming downward spiral of intellectual integrity and academic standards at what was once considered an esteemed institution."

I just sent this email to the NY Times reporter, Karen Arenson:

Continue reading "The Times spins for Nadia Abu al-Haj - my response"

Judith | 09/18/07 at 01:37 PM | 4 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

The Times spins for Nadia al-Haj

We wrote about the Nadia Abu al-Haj tenure case here. Solomonia has been following it more thoroughly, most recently here. His commenter Joanne fisks the recent NY Times article:

This article in the Times is nothing but an accolade to Nadia Abu El-Haj.

It starts out by stating in a neutral manner that she “has critically examined the use of archaeology in Israel.”

Then it immediately goes into a description of her brilliant credentials: “The professor, Nadia Abu El-Haj, who is of Palestinian descent, has been at Barnard since 2002 and has won many awards and grants, including a Fulbright scholarship and fellowships at Harvard and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. Barnard has already approved her for tenure...”

Continue reading "The Times spins for Nadia al-Haj"

Judith | 09/18/07 at 12:45 PM | 3 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

September 10, 2007

Polling the Surge

Ben in NYC says:

What is the damned point of asking opinions as to how well the Surge is going? What good is the opinion of the average American?

Thank God we never saw...

As you may have heard, Patton's 3rd Army has made slow but steady progress breaking out of the Hedgerow country in northeast France during "Operation Cobra." Do you feel the advance has been:

1) Not fast enough?
2) About right?
3) So fast it threatens to outrun the supply chain?
4) Headed into a German trap?

Continue reading "Polling the Surge"

Judith | 09/10/07 at 10:02 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

July 22, 2007

Thomas Lipscomb - 0, milbloggers - 1

Like almost everyone associated with the military who has read it, professional journalist Thomas Lipscomb thinksthe TNR "Scott Thomas" story stinks to high heaven. But according to the Democracy Project, he also perceives

lack of depth in the Weekly Standard’s skepticism. Lipscomb wonders where are any military veterans among these titans of journalism, who could directly and immediately see through the absurdity of the TNR piece and provide immediate truth.

For that matter, why not let their fingers do the walking, right to the Pentagon, and ask the operator to connect them with someone with military experience. Instead, days pass, until a blogger -- a Marine Reservist and a student at Columbia University in New York City, presently in Iraq interviewing the troops -- gets a Public Affairs officer in Iraq to reply courteously that the TNR piece is BS.

As Lipscomb says, this isn’t about politics; it’s Journalism 101.

Neither Lipscomb nor the Democracy Project apparently considered that the voluminous response to Michael Goldfarb's Weekly Standard blog was worth investigating. They could have done their own investigative reporting to find out how Goldfarb solicited the opinions of soldiers in the field and how he ran five posts on the topic, each time asking for more information from those who would be in the best position to know, here, here, here, here, and here.

Want some military veterans? Goldfarb also links to the following group blogs which are clearing houses for opinions and cameraderie by actual military personnel, many of whom have served in Iraq. They also investigated the story:

Continue reading "Thomas Lipscomb - 0, milbloggers - 1"

Judith | 07/22/07 at 12:02 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

July 15, 2007

The Surge of Facts

The hawkish blognocenti have been grumbling since the 2004 election about the Administration’s lackadaisiacal approach to explaining and promoting the Iraq War. Yes, Bush has often been eloquent and passionate in laying out the reasons and rationale for deposing Saddam and replacing the typical Middle East strongman regime with a representative government. And it’s not his fault that huge chunks of the mainstream media have been systematically misrepresenting everything he says while giving him as little air time as possible.

But instead of recognizing the necessity to go on the offensive, he has been content to defend his course as though there were no organized campaign to discredit it, and to let his advocates in the blogosphere take up the slack.

Some of us, watching the successful blitzkreig against the Administration’s immigration proposals, decided that the war deserved a similar effort, and it’s finally starting. Better late than never.

Tony Snow, on a conference call with bloggers right now:

We need a surge of facts. That’s one of the things we’re going to be working on. I’m going to be doing it from the podium.... So far we have had very few visuals to confirm what Americans want to believe. We have an amazing and heroic American military... The only way to change public opinion [on Iraq] is to present a fuller, more nuanced and more accurate picture.”

“We’re gonna present bad news too. You have to... But it’s a miracle anyone supports the war, based on the characterizations that have been painted.

Snow says he’s going to put up slides, video, and audio on new screens behind him during the daily press briefing. “We’re not gonna spin, but we’re going to provide real hard data.”

Tony, you guys have been doing that. The problem is not that you don’t do it. The problem is that you don’t do it repeatedly and pervasively. You put it out there and go on to the next bit of business, and while your attention is elsewhere, it gets buried under spin. You have to keep keep shoveling it out faster than they pile it up.

Meanwhile, a citizen-led effort akin to the immigration bill campaign is also getting underway, led by Vets for Freedom. This Tuesday July 17th, they launch the "Ten Weeks of Testimony" campaign, sending vets to lobby Congressmen in Washington DC. If you are not a vet and want to help, Call your senators! (If you are thinking of sending emails, the Win the War Campaign suggests using this article for talking points.)

If you are a vet and want to participate, read on. VfF will reimburse you for travel to Washington.

Continue reading "The Surge of Facts"

Judith | 07/15/07 at 06:40 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

Another journalist murdered in Iraq

Another Iraqi journalist is murdered by good squads.

The murderous turmoil in Baghdad has reached a point where many families never know the killers of their loved ones, or their motives. Sunni insurgents? Shiite militias? Killers who mimic one or the other, while pursuing more private motives of greed, spite or revenge? Or, in Mr. Hassan’s case, the nature of his employment, which placed him doubly at risk: as an Iraqi journalist, and as an Iraqi working for Americans?

. . . . Mr. Hassan was the second member of The Times’s Iraqi news staff — a group that includes more than 30 journalists in Baghdad and across the country — to be shot and killed. A journalist the newspaper relied on in Basra, Fakher Haider, was taken from his home and killed in the fall of 2005, a murder for which some local officials blamed Shiite militiamen angered by aspects of his work. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York, 110 journalists have been killed in Iraq since the American-led invasion in March 2003. The toll includes 88 Iraqis, including Mr. Hassan.

Last month CPJ held a panel discussion on this topic, which we recorded. It was co-sponsored by the Steven Vincent Foundation which donates funds to families of slain local journalists. (The Times says to send an email to foreign@nytimes.com with “fund for Khalid Hassan’s family” in the subject line, and the foreign desk will respond with more information.)

NYTimes correspondents reminisce about their young colleague. I was going to pull a few quotes but you have to read the whole thing - he sounds like a really neat guy. He loved American pop culture and Western technology. He had an expansive personality and a great sense of fun. He worked hard to support his mother and sisters. (Reading between the lines, it isn't hard to conclude that he saw the older correspondents he worked with as father figures.) And he exemplified the energy and loyalty and courage that characterizes so many of the stringers and fixers who work with our journalists, as shown in this anecdote:

Continue reading "Another journalist murdered in Iraq"

Judith | 07/15/07 at 09:59 AM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

July 09, 2007

Fixers on the Front Lines

Last week I attended a panel discussion (video below) on the accomplishments and plight of "fixers." These are natives of war-torn areas who help Western journalists by - in the words of one participant on the panel - finding hotel rooms, briefing them on the local customs, ethnic groups, and political situations, guiding them through unsafe neighborhoods, setting up interviews, translating during interviews, translating transcripts and articles, and much more. As George Packer said, "Without my fixer I would not have been able to get anything done in Iraq."

Fixers and "stringers" are controversial. The purpose of the panel was to raise awareness of the danger Iraqi journalists face at home: militias and insurgents target the along with doctors, judges, publishers, and anyone who contributes to a stable civil society in Iraq (and their relatives). The vast majority of journalists killed in Iraq have been locals. Although they can make a case for refugee status, our government has allowed few of them to repatriate to the US. Does the US have an obligation to help people whose work with our journalists put them and their families at risk? Especially now, as the NYTimes blithely admits that its advocated troop withdrawal will probably result in a bloodbath, how does the plight of those who sided with us fit into our national debate about immigration?

At the same time there have been cases of local journalists fabricating stories for Western journalists, as part of disinformation campaigns intended to give advantage to terrorist movements. In light of these, and the insidious nature of terrorist infiltration in general, how do we tell who is an honest journalist?

The panel only addressed the political refugee problem, which is real and serious. Most readers of this blog spend their time in ideological neighborhoods where George Soros (whose Open Society Institute funded this event) and Middle Eastern fixers merit suspicion, but viewing this panel will introduce you to brave and conscientious war correspondents who have risked death and exile to report honestly. And you can help resettle more Iraqis to the US.

Continue reading "Fixers on the Front Lines"

Judith | 07/09/07 at 12:12 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

April 30, 2007

Lisa Vincent on PBS

From Lisa Vincent, widow of the first blogger-journalist from the Iraq War, and the first slain in action, Steven Vincent:

On friday, May 4, Steven's translator Nour and I are going to be on PBS' "Now with David Brancaccio", which will air from 8:30 - 9:00 pm on the east coast; Everyone else, please check your local listings for the time and channel if you want to see it.

The show sent a team to the middle east to interview Nour on location, and came to my house to talk to me, so I think it will be an interesting program.

Nour was kidnapped and shot along with Vincent, and almost killed herself. She received medical treatment and has been living in an undisclosed location. A radio interview with Lisa and Nour last month, here.

PS Lisa adds: "thanks for the mention; i heard from the producers and they have decided to give the entire program over to the story, rather than only half."

Judith | 04/30/07 at 07:47 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

April 02, 2007

Video shows Michael Ware didn't heckle McCain

Re: the lastest Michael Ware story. So far video shows, and Ware insists, that he didn't heckle McCain during the press conference. The source of this story was a quote on Drudge from "an official at the press conference." What raised the credibility of this anonymous source was Ware's history as a journalist in Baghdad, which Kesher Talk and some other blogs took the opportunity to revisit by linking to our previous posts. Those do have corroborating video and statements.

Even as Ware defends his behavior on air, he engages in editorial remarks which are consistent with his previous public appearances. So we know Ware has a point of view and we know he isn't shy about showing it, while he's covering the story. So now we can factor that in while evaluating whether to take his reporting at face value.

UPDATE: Hit & Run has more, including an example of how the rapid response of the blogosphere can correct falsehoods.

[The video] reveals that Ware didn't do anything until the end of the presser, when he raised his hand. But CNN didn't endeavor to release that video. It came from a Ware fan site. A few years ago CNN would have kept dithering as the story gathered momentum online, and then finally released the video as the story was dying out. Here's an example of a Web 2.0 technique - readers uploading short videos and sharing them at the speed of thought - defeating a Web 1.0-ish news site that posted a story and let the readers have at it.

However, a news report says:

Making a lightning trip to Iraq, McCain and three fellow Republican senators told slightly incredulous journalists about their "deeply moving" downtown walkabout, sipping tea and chewing the fat with welcoming Iraqis. . . .

"I studied warfare. I'm a student of history. If you control the capital city of a nation you have a significant advantage," countered McCain as one reporter giggled at the back. [my emphasis-JSW]

Ware was sitting at the back, and the report goes on to say that "journalists openly scoffed afterwards."

Judith | 04/02/07 at 02:32 PM | 6 Comments | 1 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

April 01, 2007

Psychology Today Prints Asher Abrams' Letter

Late last year, I was interviewed for a Psychology Today article on political ideology and transformation titled "The Ideological Animal," which appeared in the January/February issue.

While I felt that the article treated my story of post-9/11 left-to-right political transformation fairly, I disagreed strongly with the author, Jay Dixit's, take on what inspires such political shifts. In short, Dixit implied that they are motivated purely by "irrational fears," including a fear of death, and he cited several highly suspect and blogosphere-debunked studies to make his point. I blogged about my concerns here, as well as linking to the many other bloggers (and one Pajamas Media "Sanity Squad" podcast) that covered the subject here.

Continue reading "Psychology Today Prints Asher Abrams' Letter"

Cinnamon | 04/01/07 at 11:12 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

CNN Correspondent Michael Ware continues to drink heavily on camera

[ UPDATE: Ware claims and video shows that he did not heckle McCain. ]

Michael Ware has been Exhibit A in the controversy over unprofessional partisan journalism in the Iraq War. Make that inebriated unprofessional partisan journalism. (And unlike Christopher Hitchens, he isn't an eloquent principled dignified drunk, but a sloppy one.)

Last year Ware made unsubstantiated accusations about sexual abuse by US troops, to Bill Maher's TV audience, live and defiantly drunk in Baghdad. (Video here. YouTube now has the videos, so I added them to the end of this post.)

Following that spectacle, Hugh Hewitt interviewed Ware and bloggers commented on the interview. (Links here.) Then Hewitt played the interview back to both Hitchens and Victor Davis Hanson, who respond to Ware's ravings.

As a result of that controversy, Ware went from being the Time Bureau Chief to "a CNN correspondent." But he's still drunkenly flaunting his partisan persona, and I guess CNN is okay with that; disgracing the journalism profession on network news brings in more viewers. And in Michael Ware, CNN has a direct conduit to terrorist snuff videos, always a money-maker.

Someone on the Powerline Forum says Ware is indeed like that all the time:

Continue reading "CNN Correspondent Michael Ware continues to drink heavily on camera"

Judith | 04/01/07 at 08:33 PM | 13 Comments | 2 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

March 31, 2007

If the Passover Story Were Reported by The NY Times

I got the following via email a few years ago. Although a few of the names have changed, unfortunately it hasn't aged much. And the ending hasn't aged at all.

The cycle of violence between the Jews and the Egyptians continues with no end in sight in Egypt. After eight previous plagues that have destroyed the Egyptian infrastructure and disrupted the lives of ordinary Egyptian citizens, the Jews launched a new offensive this week in the form of the plague of darkness.

Western journalists were particularly enraged by this plague. "It is simply impossible to report when you can't see an inch in front of you," complained a frustrated Andrea Koppel of CNN. "I have heard from my reliable Egyptian contacts that in the midst of the blanket of blackness, the Jews were annihilating thousands of Egyptians. Their word is solid enough evidence for me."

Continue reading "If the Passover Story Were Reported by The NY Times"

Judith | 03/31/07 at 10:16 PM | 0 Comments | 2 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

March 23, 2007

Irony Alert

How amusing!

Former President Bill Clinton yesterday complained that “it’s just not fair” the way his wife, presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), is being depicted for her controversial Iraq war vote.

Speaking to hundreds of supporters on conference call, the former president said, “I don’t have a problem with anything Barack Obama [has] said on this,” but “to characterize Hillary and Obama’s positions on the war as polar opposites is ludicrous.

“This dichotomy that’s been set up to allow him to become the raging hero of the anti-war crowd on the Internet is just factually inaccurate.”

How ironic. Hillary has become a victim of media spin.

Alcibiades | 03/23/07 at 12:10 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

March 20, 2007

Erlanger vs Landes on media manipulation

Tune in to ZOA internet radio here tomorrow (Wednesday March 21) at noon:

Steve Erlanger, NYT Jerusalem Bureau chief, will join us as we question him about his coverage of the Middle East, and particularly his "news" story that ran in the NYT on March 12th: A GENERATION LOST: The Second Intifada; Years of Strife and Lost Hope Scar Young Palestinian Lives.

Following the interview with Erlanger, we will be joined by Richard Landes, BU History Professor and an expert on media manipulation. Landes will discuss the various levels of dangers presented by the mainstream media's portrayal of Israel - and the NYT is the Mother of all Mainstream Media!

We will also have the opportunity to chat with H. Patrick Swygert, president of Howard University. Swygert swiftly and courageously nullified a decision by a rogue portion of the Howard University faculty to force the university to divest its holdings from Israel.

Our friend Landes fisked Erlanger's latest piece and has said unkind things about him in the past (not on record) so this should be fun.

At a media conference in Israel (not the one I was at) Erlanger confirmed all the worst stereotypes about the MSM:

Continue reading "Erlanger vs Landes on media manipulation"

Judith | 03/20/07 at 07:24 PM | 5 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

March 15, 2007

Serious Questions for Henry Waxman's Show Trial

By Rick Ballard, reposted with permission:

House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman will continue his show trials masquerading as Congressional hearings tomorrow with a focus on the purported outing of CIA celebrity agent Valerie Plame by the White House and Office of the Vice-President. Apparently Waxman has limited access to simple facts. If Waxman had even a minimal desire to determine the truth, Joe Wilson would have been called to sit beside his wife and testify to their joint decision to go into electoral politics.

The primary responsibility for the protection of agents’ identities rests with the agents themselves. That is a fact hammered into all CIA employees from the moment they are hired. Valerie Plame Wilson initiated her own ‘outing’ by participating in her husband’s successful effort to become an advisor to the Kerry campaign. The precise moment in which she abandoned any pretense of being ‘undercover’ is difficult to determine, but it is safe to presume it occurred prior to May 2, 2003.

On that day, during a meeting of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, the Wilsons succeeded in inserting Joe Wilson into the electoral political process. They also made contact with New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof.

From Vanity Fair:

“In early May, Wilson and Plame attended a conference sponsored by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, at which Wilson spoke about Iraq; one of the other panelists was the New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof. Over breakfast the next morning with Kristof and his wife, Wilson told about his trip to Niger and said Kristof could write about it, but not name him.”

Continue reading "Serious Questions for Henry Waxman's Show Trial"

Alcibiades | 03/15/07 at 01:44 AM | 2 Comments | 1 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

March 11, 2007

Moments of truth in Mainstream Media

[ UPDATE: Video of Ted Koppel interview referenced below. ] Journalist Pamela Hess caused a stir this week when she argued passionately and eloquently on C-SPAN for staying the course in Iraq. What is heartbreaking about this video is her . . . more »

Judith | 03/11/07 at 11:23 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

More on the Secular Islam Summit from Phyllis Chesler

Phyllis Chesler continues her three-part article series on the Secular Islam Summit. Here's Part II: An Islamic Enlightenment . . . more »

Cinnamon | 03/11/07 at 01:25 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

March 10, 2007

More Wisdom from the Sage at MSNBC

Chris Matthew's blathers his pearls into the microphone: The liberals will talk about poverty, injustice, and racism, and nuclear war, and pick that part of the Christian message from Jesus, and the conservatives will find the evils of sodomy, the . . . more »

Alcibiades | 03/10/07 at 09:08 AM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

March 09, 2007

Disappearing a Man's Freedom: Smoke and Mirrors

In a column today, Charles Krauthammer points out the very thing that NBC does not want the public to know: Everyone agrees that Fitzgerald's perjury case against Libby hung on the testimony of NBC's Tim Russert. Libby said that he . . . more »

Alcibiades | 03/09/07 at 04:31 PM | 4 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

March 07, 2007

Speaking About Exploiting Jury Duty

Denis Collins is a juror on the Scooter Libby trial, somewhat discussed during the course of the trial because he had worked for Bob Woodward, who testified, and was a neighbor of Tim Russert, who also testified. Since unlike Russert, . . . more »

Alcibiades | 03/07/07 at 11:03 AM | 2 Comments | 1 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

March 02, 2007

Seven Words You Can Never Say in the Media

Taking off from the famous George Carlin bit, Zombie conducted an informal straw poll on LGF - Seven words you can never say in the media: 1. Terrorist 2. Dhimmi 3. Treason 4. Caliphate 5. Victory 6. Jihadi 7. Patriot . . . more »

Judith | 03/02/07 at 02:35 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

February 19, 2007

Nashville Cab Jihad

Here we go again: Muslim cabbie tries to kill 2 students with stolen cab Since the whole incident revolved around his religion, the article really couldn't avoid mentioning it. But that's Fox News. Wonder how the rest of the media . . . more »

Cinnamon | 02/19/07 at 09:15 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

February 14, 2007

Utah Shooter a Bosnian Muslim

The question I posed yesterday (updated by Judith) about the Utah mall shooter has been answered and sure enough, he's a Bosnian Muslim. About halfway down in a report from KLS.com is this little factoid (hat tip Sweetness & Light . . . more »

Cinnamon | 02/14/07 at 06:18 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

February 13, 2007

Utah Shooter: Religion of Peace?

Killer identified as 18-year-old Sulejmen Talovic "Police have no motive in the killing." Does that mean he's Muslim? UPDATE from Judith: Via LGF, FWIW: . . . more »

Cinnamon | 02/13/07 at 06:57 PM | 6 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

February 12, 2007

NYTimes gets the kaffiyeh kraze wrong too

Speaking of people who think Israel is an "apartheid state" . . . . you might assume a scruffy youngster with a kaffiyeh around his/her neck would be booking it down to the Judson Church for some (self) righteous Palestinian . . . more »

Judith | 02/12/07 at 12:26 AM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

February 11, 2007

Media Blackout on a Few Essential Points: Libby Trial

A Few Facts You May Not Know About the Libby/Plame Investigation Because of the Media Blackout lack of discussion: The major witness the prosecution has called to impeach Libby's veracity is Tim Russert. Before Tim Russert remembered journalistic privilege, he . . . more »

Alcibiades | 02/11/07 at 12:20 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

February 08, 2007

Russert the Hypocrite

In a previous post, I produced Russert's testimony showing that privately he spoke to an FBI agent about his call with Libby, the same call that later on, publicly, he fought against "being forced to reveal" because, as a member . . . more »

Alcibiades | 02/08/07 at 11:28 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

Tim Russert - Boldly Lying on the Stand

A report on the Morning's testimony: Libby's defense attorney, Wells, continues to grill Russert. To recap, Russert, being a god, unlike you and me, got special treatment for his "grand jury" testimony. He got to testify in his office, with . . . more »

Alcibiades | 02/08/07 at 12:13 PM | 4 Comments | 1 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

February 07, 2007

Grilling Russert to a Fine Turn

For those of you who are not Plamiacs - all Plame, all the time! now that the Libby trial is going on - there was a delicious moment in the court today. Tim Russert walked into court today, a commanding . . . more »

Alcibiades | 02/07/07 at 07:27 PM | 2 Comments | 1 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

February 03, 2007

Positive Stories From Afghanistan

In the spirit of continuing to post items regarding Aghanistan that shed light on the complexity of the situation, rather than the MSM's steady diet of doom and gloom, I ran across two inspiring stories. One is on the man . . . more »

Cinnamon | 02/03/07 at 11:08 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

February 02, 2007

Obama

Dick Morris brilliantly sums up Obama: “Obama is like a stem cell. He can become any part of the body he wants to be!” Or that the media wants him to be! In reality, he's an unleavened liberal. But the . . . more »

Alcibiades | 02/02/07 at 11:50 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

February 01, 2007

Want to Know What's Really Going on in Afghanistan? Listen to the Military, Not the Media

Much as they do with the so-called insurgency in Iraq, the mainstream media (MSM) is constantly telling us that the Taliban and al-Qaeda are "winning" in Afghanistan. To hear the MSM tell it, vastly outnumbered Taliban forces are about to . . . more »

Cinnamon | 02/01/07 at 06:11 PM | 7 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

January 29, 2007

Wall Street Journal's John Fund Raises Questions About Sandy Berger

Fresh on the heels of my recent post on the subject, John Fund of the Wall Street Journal is raising questions about the Sandy Berger affair: Paper Chase: Did investigators turn a blind eye to the seriousness of the Sandy . . . more »

Cinnamon | 01/29/07 at 01:18 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

January 26, 2007

Sandy Berger: The "Watergate" No One Wants To Talks About

Former Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein, who, along with colleague Bob Woodward, exposed the Watergate affair, has been grumbling that the Bush administration has done "far greater damage" than President Nixon. But perhaps the intrepid reporters of "All the President's . . . more »

Cinnamon | 01/26/07 at 04:29 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

January 17, 2007

The Saudis Finally Got the Damned Memo

Bush must feel relieved. Remember when the Democrat talking points told us that in the fall, just before the 2004 elections, Bush was going to whisper in Saudi ears to increase oil production and the price of a barrel of . . . more »

Alcibiades | 01/17/07 at 03:13 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

January 04, 2007

Fact-checking is for guys blogging in their parents' basement in their pajamas

There's sloppy reporting, biased reporting, biased sloppy reporting. And then there's the New York Times, whose official policy is, seemingly, that fact-checking is for lesser beings. Once a process whose rigor a media leader would showcase with pride, fact-checking is . . . more »

Judith | 01/04/07 at 02:44 AM | 8 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

December 31, 2006

Conference on Media as Theater of War: collected links

Hertzliya, Israel, December 17-18, 2006. This is the home page for my blogging about the conference on Media as Theater of War, the Blogosphere, and the Global Battle for Civil Society, Hertzliya, Israel, December 17-18, 2006. UPDATE: More links . . . more »

Judith | 12/31/06 at 11:47 AM | 10 Comments | 1 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

December 28, 2006

The MTW Conference: in the audience

Hertzliya, Israel, December 17-18, 2006. All my posts about the conference are collected here, also links to other blogs writing about the conference. Richard Landes gazes upon his creation. Brett Schorr, conference manager extraordinaire, unflappable, and a really nice . . . more »

Judith | 12/28/06 at 02:20 PM | 2 Comments | 1 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

December 25, 2006

Fantastic Discussion in the Comments

Following from the recent conference in Israel on Israel and media, there is a fantastic conversation going on in the comments on a post by Liza, particularly between Richard Landes and Don Radlauer on the problem of Israel and Israel's . . . more »

Alcibiades | 12/25/06 at 09:12 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

December 03, 2006

The Shoddy Game of Political Telephone

In his new book, Bush's War: Media Bias and Justifications for War in a Terrorist Age Professor Jim A. Kuypers precisely articulates my experience of what has gone on in the months and years following 9/11 with regard to the . . . more »

Alcibiades | 12/03/06 at 03:12 PM | 3 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

November 20, 2006

"A combination of blurring and smearing"

Greyhawk takes us step-by-step through the events surrounding the scandal at Abu Ghraib, demonstrating how the shadow of its prolonged exposure influenced the battle of Fallujah and the growth of Sadr's power, and made security for Iraq harder to achieve. . . . more »

Judith | 11/20/06 at 08:14 AM | 5 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

October 26, 2006

Press Release from Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Here's the press release about the posthumous award to Steven Vincent which I wrote about here. Fifth Annual Kurt Schork Awards in International Journalism go to Steven Vincent and Massoud Ansari Awards Honour US Freelancer Murdered in Iraq for Uncovering . . . more »

Judith | 10/26/06 at 11:33 PM | 0 Comments | 1 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

October 24, 2006

2nd Al Durah Trial Starts Today

Neo Neocon is in Paris to cover the second Al Durah Trial with an explanation of who France2 is suing for libel. And why it is bound to strike Americans, used to freedom of speech, as absurdist right off the . . . more »

Alcibiades | 10/24/06 at 09:10 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

Steven Vincent honored by Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Longtime readers of this blog know that we are big fans of Steven Vincent, and his widow Lisa is a big fan of the bloggers who appreciated and publicized his reporting from Iraq in 2003 and 2004, and remembered . . . more »

Judith | 10/24/06 at 07:18 AM | 1 Comments | 5 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

October 22, 2006

Spooking the Spooks: More on the BBC

Anyone out there ever seen the BBC series Spooks? Also known, in the US, as MI5? I quite liked it in the first two seasons, although I had to spend an unreasonable amount of time filtering out its annoying BBC™ . . . more »

Alcibiades | 10/22/06 at 07:17 PM | 4 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

October 20, 2006

CNN: The Al-Jazeera of the West?

CNN's airing of portions of the latest Iraqi "insurgency" (as the MSM labels it) propaganda videotapes this past week put them in the realm of Al-Jazeera, the mouthpiece for al-Qaeda and Islamic terrorists all over the world. The fact that . . . more »

Cinnamon | 10/20/06 at 04:15 PM | 3 Comments | 1 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

October 19, 2006

Clumsy GOP ad

I think this could backfire. Bush is already accused of exaggerating terrorism as a fear tactic to gain more power (by the conspiracy-mongering Left, it's true, but that mindset has deeply infiltrated the Democratic Party). This ad is a blatant . . . more »

Judith | 10/19/06 at 09:58 PM | 5 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

Fauxtography Rules!

[With UPDATES at the bottom] Apparently it does in France where news suppression and journalism as propaganda has just won a victory. In appalling news from unfree France, on the first of the Al Dura trials currently ongoing in France, . . . more »

Alcibiades | 10/19/06 at 11:50 AM | 6 Comments | 1 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

October 17, 2006

More Objective Reporting From Reuters

On Tuesday, a Reuters cameraman, working in the West Bank, was remanded into custody by the Judea-area military court. What were the charges, you ask? Nothing special. Just the usual kind of objective methodology we've now grown accustomed to seeing . . . more »

Alcibiades | 10/17/06 at 03:57 PM | 2 Comments | 1 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

October 16, 2006

It’s time to have a passive voice watch

Michael Rubin: A writer with whom I spoke about two weeks ago pointed out a very interesting trend in the press reporting and political commentary about the war on terrorism. All too often, reporters and politicians use the passive voice. . . . more »

Judith | 10/16/06 at 07:23 AM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

October 05, 2006

Happy 10th anniversary to alt TV

Jeff Jarvis - media maven that he is - notes that Fox, Al jazeera, and the Daily Show all turn 10 this year. It'll take a while for me to digest that . . . . . . . . more »

Judith | 10/05/06 at 10:39 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

September 28, 2006

Hamid Karzai explains it all to you

Hamid Karzai schools a White House reporter. I'm sure they will all scurry around calling him a puppet. This dignified thoughtful leader who should get a Nobel prize if there is any justice. I was at a dinner the second . . . more »

Judith | 09/28/06 at 11:02 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

September 26, 2006

Hugo Chavez, Noam Chomsky, and the New York Times All Say Stupid Things

Apparently, while I was on my two week trip to the States, Noam Chomsky died and was resurrected, prompting a grateful puff piece from the New York Times, which appears to have forgiven Chomsky his innumerable slanders against it over . . . more »

Benjamin | 09/26/06 at 03:05 AM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - The Fourth Estate

September 15, 2006

Hope in Europe?

A French high court gives a sympathetic hearing to media critics fighting for their right to call BS on propaganda ... and politicians across Europe stand up for Israel. Finally, don't call Nicaolas Sarkozy a cheese-eating surrender monkey. Neo brings . . .