The AP has decided to try to sneak an effort to pass off Jemil Hussein as legitimate while everyone is fighting over funding for the troops. Curt at Flopping Aces and the blogger Confederate Yankee caught them, though.
I'm still standing by my assessment of the situation, both at Strategypage and here. Again, for the straight scoop, one can turn to Central Command's website (http://www.centcom.mil) or Multi-National Force-Iraq's website (http://www.mnf-iraq.com).
Showing posts with label AP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AP. Show all posts
Friday, February 16, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
More on Jamil...
Flopping Aces and Austin Bay both discuss the case of Jamil Hussein. Austin Bay is promising another column on this.
Short version: The reporting doesn't check out. Not by a long shot. The AP has a lot of explaining to do. Even the alleged source remains open to question, as Confederate Yankee explains. The AP is still dodging, though. The long-term pattern by the AP is not encouraging. There was an air strike that came out of nowhere that MNF-I says never happened.
Austin Bay says:
Worse, how does one maintain objectivity on this sort of thing? There will be pressures on them to see things a certain way - from employers, from the news outlets themselves. Is there anyone who believes that the instant they side against the media in favor of someone who is one of their designated bad guys, that the media will not turn on them? And then, will these folks atnd up and stick to their guns, or will they fold like cheap suits, and the news council will end up a rubber stamp?
Short version: The reporting doesn't check out. Not by a long shot. The AP has a lot of explaining to do. Even the alleged source remains open to question, as Confederate Yankee explains. The AP is still dodging, though. The long-term pattern by the AP is not encouraging. There was an air strike that came out of nowhere that MNF-I says never happened.
Austin Bay says:
Some bloggers and at least one AP editor personalized the debate over this story, attributing dark motives. That’s too bad, but it’s also the long term trend line. I think that’s why a news council of some type would be useful.It's an idea that sounds good in theory, but there are problems with it in the long term. How will this new council operate? Will they have any teeth in terms of what they can do in a situation like this, where the news organization stonewalls?
Worse, how does one maintain objectivity on this sort of thing? There will be pressures on them to see things a certain way - from employers, from the news outlets themselves. Is there anyone who believes that the instant they side against the media in favor of someone who is one of their designated bad guys, that the media will not turn on them? And then, will these folks atnd up and stick to their guns, or will they fold like cheap suits, and the news council will end up a rubber stamp?
Monday, January 08, 2007
Jamil update...
Flopping Aces has more on Jamil. Seems he denies ever speaking to the AP. Oh, and he goes by Jamil Gulaim, not Jamil Hussein.
Add this to the air strike that the AP reported but MNF-I denied happening, it's obvious that there is something going on with their Baghdad bureau that needs to be dealt with.
Every answer leads to more questions.
Add this to the air strike that the AP reported but MNF-I denied happening, it's obvious that there is something going on with their Baghdad bureau that needs to be dealt with.
Every answer leads to more questions.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Don't exonerate the AP yet...
So Jamil Hussein has been found - at least, we have the AP's word for it. That is it, the AP (whose veracity is under scrutiny) saying that the Iraqi MOI had found him and has issued an arrest warrant.
Austin Bay is ready to exonerate the AP. With all due respect, I have to say, "Not so fast." There are still problems with the AP's story that go beyond whether or not Captain Jamil Hussein exists.
Confederate Yankee reports that MNF-I cannot confirm this report. Curt from Flopping Aces also explains why the AP remains on the hook even if Jamil Hussein exists. For one thing, how do we know he isn't on the run? He's turned his cell phone off.
Not only that, we have a new AP story which has a discrepancy that needs to be explained. To wit, the AP claimed an airstrike occured in an incident discussed by MNF-I in a January 1 press release. There's just one problem: MNF-I is reported that six terrorists were killed. AP claims that the dead include four members of a family. Maybe four were in the same family, but there's that minor discrepancy.
The second discrepancy is the big one. I have asked MNF-I about the incident in question, specifically if any air strikes occured. The answer from their press desk was as follows:
What does Editor and Publisher have to say about this? I'd like to know how they explain this one away.
Umm... Kathleen Carroll, how do you explain those discrepancies?
Austin Bay is ready to exonerate the AP. With all due respect, I have to say, "Not so fast." There are still problems with the AP's story that go beyond whether or not Captain Jamil Hussein exists.
Confederate Yankee reports that MNF-I cannot confirm this report. Curt from Flopping Aces also explains why the AP remains on the hook even if Jamil Hussein exists. For one thing, how do we know he isn't on the run? He's turned his cell phone off.
Not only that, we have a new AP story which has a discrepancy that needs to be explained. To wit, the AP claimed an airstrike occured in an incident discussed by MNF-I in a January 1 press release. There's just one problem: MNF-I is reported that six terrorists were killed. AP claims that the dead include four members of a family. Maybe four were in the same family, but there's that minor discrepancy.
The second discrepancy is the big one. I have asked MNF-I about the incident in question, specifically if any air strikes occured. The answer from their press desk was as follows:
No air strikes. I have the e-mail on file. I have also forwarded it to a couple of people following the Jamil Hussein story.Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Sir,
No, there were no air strikes.
What does Editor and Publisher have to say about this? I'd like to know how they explain this one away.
Umm... Kathleen Carroll, how do you explain those discrepancies?
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Check Strategypage today...
I discussed the Jemil Hussein situation at Strategypage today.
This is not the first time (see the Strategypage article for more discussion), but it is perhaps the most blatant example of how the mainstream media has been making a royal mess of things. At best, there is extreme sloppiness in the MSM's coverage of the war on terror.
At worst, there has been a deliberate decision by at least some media outlets to mislead the American people about the war. When heroes have been shortchanged by the MSM, and when stories get totally rewritten because they make American troops appear "too heroic", when false claims of Koran desecration and torture are repeated without question - and the record is never corrected outside a small "correction" buried where few will ever read it, something is seriously wrong.
There are two places you can get the straight story.
Central Command's newsroom:
http://www.centcom.mil/sites/uscentcom1/Shared%20Documents/newsroom.aspx
The Department of Defense's website:
http://www.defenselink.mil/
The Associated Press, on the other hand, cannot be trusted.
This is not the first time (see the Strategypage article for more discussion), but it is perhaps the most blatant example of how the mainstream media has been making a royal mess of things. At best, there is extreme sloppiness in the MSM's coverage of the war on terror.
At worst, there has been a deliberate decision by at least some media outlets to mislead the American people about the war. When heroes have been shortchanged by the MSM, and when stories get totally rewritten because they make American troops appear "too heroic", when false claims of Koran desecration and torture are repeated without question - and the record is never corrected outside a small "correction" buried where few will ever read it, something is seriously wrong.
There are two places you can get the straight story.
Central Command's newsroom:
http://www.centcom.mil/sites/uscentcom1/Shared%20Documents/newsroom.aspx
The Department of Defense's website:
http://www.defenselink.mil/
The Associated Press, on the other hand, cannot be trusted.
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