Deja Vu All Over Again
Some thoughts from Wil Wirtanen:
Journalistic Déjà vu
I have been reading Triumph Forsaken, written by Mark Moyar. Being billed as a revisionist history of the Vietnam War, Mr. Moyar tells the story of journalists Halberstam, Sheehan, et. all and their duplicity of lies about Vietnam.
What strikes me like a 2X4 between the eyes is the similarity with our current situation in Iraq. It also strikes me that this has been going on for about a century.
The New York Times and their ilk have had a long history of distortion.
Start with the Five Year Plan and the Ukrainian non-famine reported on by Walter Duranty, in 1932. He managed to miss an estimated 20 million dead to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Then you have journalists of the ‘40’s who were so entranced with Mao that they thought he was a great man and above all a humane person.
Moving forward some years we have New York Time’s journalist Herbert Matthews’ idealization and infatuation of Fidel.
Of course, we have Halberstam and Sheenan, who Mr. Moyar states and presents the case that they were probably fed news by a covert communist agent. Sounds eerily similar to AP’s foreign stringers of late. Or CBS using Al-Qaeda video.
The book goes on to tell of the dislike of these two journalists for Diem and how their coverage reflected their bias. Most stories were negative and exaggerated the problems of our ally. Déjà vu all over again.
One of the incidents is the raid on the Hue pagoda. Halberstam reported for many years that at least thirty died and at least seventy were wounded in Hue. By the time the UN commission investigated, two months later, the number had dropped to four, which they promptly met and interviewed.
The previous incident brought to mind the 6 Iraqis burnt in front of a Mosque. No one seems to know the whereabouts of the AP’s source reporting the incident.
Our military has learned the lesson of Vietnam the hard way. It is too bad the US has not learned the lesson of a duplicitous press at home. We have to fear the press more than we do the enemy’s bullets.
Almost makes you want to support Kookcinich and the fairness doctrine.
Journalistic Déjà vu
I have been reading Triumph Forsaken, written by Mark Moyar. Being billed as a revisionist history of the Vietnam War, Mr. Moyar tells the story of journalists Halberstam, Sheehan, et. all and their duplicity of lies about Vietnam.
What strikes me like a 2X4 between the eyes is the similarity with our current situation in Iraq. It also strikes me that this has been going on for about a century.
The New York Times and their ilk have had a long history of distortion.
Start with the Five Year Plan and the Ukrainian non-famine reported on by Walter Duranty, in 1932. He managed to miss an estimated 20 million dead to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Then you have journalists of the ‘40’s who were so entranced with Mao that they thought he was a great man and above all a humane person.
Moving forward some years we have New York Time’s journalist Herbert Matthews’ idealization and infatuation of Fidel.
Of course, we have Halberstam and Sheenan, who Mr. Moyar states and presents the case that they were probably fed news by a covert communist agent. Sounds eerily similar to AP’s foreign stringers of late. Or CBS using Al-Qaeda video.
The book goes on to tell of the dislike of these two journalists for Diem and how their coverage reflected their bias. Most stories were negative and exaggerated the problems of our ally. Déjà vu all over again.
One of the incidents is the raid on the Hue pagoda. Halberstam reported for many years that at least thirty died and at least seventy were wounded in Hue. By the time the UN commission investigated, two months later, the number had dropped to four, which they promptly met and interviewed.
The previous incident brought to mind the 6 Iraqis burnt in front of a Mosque. No one seems to know the whereabouts of the AP’s source reporting the incident.
Our military has learned the lesson of Vietnam the hard way. It is too bad the US has not learned the lesson of a duplicitous press at home. We have to fear the press more than we do the enemy’s bullets.
Almost makes you want to support Kookcinich and the fairness doctrine.
posted by Timothy Birdnow | 8:56 AM
1 Comments:
The good stories out of Iraq are found but not at MSM. There are reporters who are putting their lives on the line with our troops but MSM wont tell their stories because it doesnt fit their defeatist agenda. Here are 2 sites that I have found with real stories to tell:
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/the-hands-of-god.htm
http://www.indcjournal.com/
I trust these people who arent hiding in the green zone getting stories from agents purposely distorting the truth.
Post a Comment
<< Home