On March 11, The New York Times published an emotional story on the front page with Ali Shalal Qaissi holding a picture of  himself being tortured by Americans in Abu Gharib.

 

 

Only problem is that it's not true.  The NY Times published a correction today and Michelle Malkin and Powerline have the details. 

 

Let's look at other recent media missteps:

 

HURRICANE KATRINA

 

Orignally the media reported that there were over 10,000 dead.  They were off by about 90% and much of the dealth toll can be attributed to nursing homes where hundreds were either euthanized or left behind to suffer by their caretakers.  Perhaps if the New Orleans Police wasn't in hiding or had Mayor Nagin mobilized buses for evacuation, many of the casualties could have possibly been avoided.  Yet when the Katrina death toll is mentioned it usually in a context critical to the Bush Administration.

 

The media created a hysteria a few weeks ago claiming that Bush was warned in advance that the levees might fail.  The AP published a correction on that too and the media never mentioned it, nor that Louisiana Governor Blanco told the Bush Administration that the levees were safe 3 hours after they had begun to fail.

 

IRAQ CIVIL WAR

 

Polls show that 70% of Americans feel that Iraq is headed for civil war.  Yet when you hear from Iraqi leaders, Iraqi bloggers and the US military they don't beleive Iraq is headed for civil war.  Why the disparity?

 

Unfortunately most Americans still depend on the MSM for their news and information.  Ever since the mosque bombing the media has played up stories and fear of sectarian violence.  The media's modus operandi is that when it comes to Iraq, if the story contributes to FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) then run with it and crank up the volume. 

 

Iraq is no paradise and many things have gone wrong.  But expecting any positive news in Iraq to be picked up by the MSM in IRaq is like expecting light to escape from a black hole.

 

Powerline has a few posts dispelling the Civil War hype here, here, here , here and here.

 

WHAT TERRORIST LINK?

 

The MSM is actually (yet quietly) reporting on some of the captured Iraqi documents that were released this week -- which could reveal demonstrable links between Iraq and Al Queda.

 

ABC News reported the story but added a disclaimer that "without further corroboration, this document is of limited evidentiary value".  That would be fair if the media used the same disclaimer everytime they publish an uncoorberated story about Americans torturing detainees.  They print the story on the front page and the corrections (when they are made) are burried in the last pages. 

 

Powerline recently observed that some of the documents suggest a terror link between Saddam and terror groups in the Phillipines.

 

STRANGE JUSTICE

 

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg made a speech arguing that foreign law should be considered in cases before the Supreme Court.  Paul Mirengoff says a case can be made that she should be impeached.  Indeed the Constitution makes no allowance for consideration of foreign law and certainly the Founders would find such arguments absurd. 

 

In recent years when conservatives challenged such statements, the media always suggested that they were "attacking judges" and the judicial system.  Justice Ginsburg follows in the MSM's footsteps and dismisses the criticisms against her from some in Congress as coming from the "irrational fringe".

 

In the caption, the WP article points out that the lives of Ginsburg and O'Connor have been threatened, as if to establish a link between the real fringe who would makde such threats, and legisitmate criticism of her refusal to uphold the Constitution of the United States in favor of the foreign law of her choice.

 

P FOR PROPOGANDA

 

Can we beleive anything we read in the MSM anymore?

 

With the constant propoganda about "illegal domestic spying" and Senators like Russ Fool's Gold who seeks to censure the President for the NSA intercept program.

 

On top of all this we now have a movie in which the hero is a terrorist who blows up Parliament which is being hailed as a "revloutionary call to arms".  The media convinces the populace that the administration is evil, and the movie suggests in Machiavellian tones that violence against such a government would be justified.

 

Such a state of affairs can not be healthy for any democracy.