Thursday, March 02, 2006

Bad reporting continued.

Powerline has this:

"...how much of that controversy (Dubai Ports) was due to lousy reporting?Two items from today's news raise that question. The first is a correction in the New York Times:

Two articles on Saturday about the management deal for six American ports and its political fallout referred incorrectly to the role to be played by Dubai Ports World. It would run some of the terminal operations; it would not own the ports or take over all operations.

How is it possible for reporters to make such an elementary mistake about the central fact on which they were reporting? At a newspaper that put priority on getting the facts straight, not advancing the interests of the Democratic Party, such reporters wouldn't have jobs. But the Times was only one of many newspapers that misreported the facts of the ports transaction."

The Fourth Rail tells us about an important arrest and how it was reported:

"Abdur Rahman, one of the original signatories of Osama bin Laden’s 1998 fatwa declaring war against the West, is arrested; CNN obscures his ties to al-Qaeda

CNN irresponsibly obscures Rahman’s ties to al-Qaeda, “According to the security official, Bangladeshi security forces have been searching for Rahman since August and believe that he has ties with al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.” The fact is Rahman is intricately tied to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, as reported here last January; “Abdur Rahman is not your run-of-the-mill local Islamist terrorist leader. Rahman is one of the select signatories to the 1998 fatwa that created the International Islamic Front, the umbrella group of Islamist terrorist groups that declared war on the West. The signatories include: Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri [amir of the Jihad Group in Egypt and second in command of al-Qaeda], Abu-Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha [amir of the Egyptian Islamic Group] and Mir Hamzah [secretary of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Pakistan].”

Notice the "believe" that he has "ties." Downplay what is really great news on the war on terror with word play. This is what has been happening. Word play. Why does it always have to be against us? Is there really a hidden agenda or is it just plain lousy reporting?