[antimedia] antimedia: The media's hypocrisy....

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Posted by antimedia:
The media's hypocrisy....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1167620131.shtml


   ....Bill Roggio's [1]most recent post got me thinking about the
   hypocrisy of the media.

     The Christian Science Monitor's Dante Chinni writes about my
     current embed in Fallujah and the blog in general. Mr. Chinni does
     have some kind words to say, and does encourage people to read. I
     will state that Mr. Chinni should look at my full writings on
     Pakistan and Somalia and Afghanistan, and even Iraq, before stating
     my âposts can sound a lot like government talking points filtered
     through war stories.â I fail to see how saying we lost western
     Pakistan to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and Somalia to the Islamic
     Courts, and failed to subdue al-Qaeda in Ramadi and Muqtada
     al-Sadr, are government talking points. In fact, I've made some
     people in the government very uncomfortable.

   This whine about sounding "a lot like government talking points" is
   pure, unadulterated horse apples.
   Most recently the AP has been defending their use of Jamail Hussein,
   someone no one can seem to find, but whom the AP refers to as "a
   Police Captain" at "Yarmouk station". Words have meaning, and they are
   not chosen haphazardly. Why does the AP refer to Hussein this way?
   Because they believe that his position gives him credibilty. And they
   use him because the non-existent Hussein routinely reports graphic
   violent incidents that no one else is reporting. He is valuable to the
   AP in advancing their view of Iraq as a country torn by civil war and
   beyond our ability to help precisely because he is an "official"
   government spokesman.
   The media routinely claims that they won't use Centcom releases
   because they're "government talking points", yet they'll print
   "insurgent" talking points without so much as a comment. They tout
   Hussein as a government source whom they use routinely while they
   insist on not repeating "government talking points". So what's going
   on here?
   The truth is, the media isn't bothered in the least by quoting
   "government talking points" unless those talking points do not advance
   their world view. Think about the local police beat. The reporters get
   their news directly from police sources - official government
   spokespersons. They do this routinely and without ever complaining,
   because the local police beat doesn't advance or detract from their
   desired world view. No problems using government sources there.
   Lots of stories are based upon official government sources.
   Prosecutors routinely talk to the press about cases. Politicians are
   interviewed every day about legislation and policy. Local police
   spokespersons regularly provide information about crimes and
   incidents. The only time the media has a problem using official
   government sources is when the news they provide runs counter to the
   worldview the media wants to advance. Then, all of a sudden, we hear
   the bleating of hypocrites who claim they can't be "tainted" by
   government sources -- they can't be caught repeating "government
   talking points".
   It's the rankest hypocrisy of all, and they do it because they think
   their audience is too stupid to figure it out.

References

   1. http://billroggio.com/archives/2006/12/embed_update_csm_pak.php