I asked a dozen reporters and news outlets for the source of a statement they attributed to Hamas. None of them answered. This is a case study of the failure of journalistic standards.
Oct 28, 2023·edited Oct 28, 2023Liked by David Zweig
These reporters are, at best, stenographers of state propaganda serving an agenda they’re not even fully aware of.
For evidence, this WAPO hit piece of Twitter doesn’t even bother to mention The Twitter Files or Missouri V Biden, and there couldn’t be more important news about journalism to be covering at the moment.
The jingoistic reporting you describe should surprise no one, particularly after the last 3 years, but anyone not sleepwalking should’ve previously woken up at some other event overhyped by media to serve a statist agenda.
You must give them credit though. Even here in the birthplace of the free speech movement only about 1 in 100 people know of Missouri v Biden. When I introduce the topic to people most prefer not to learn about it. I can’t blame them. Sucking on that sweet blue pill teet yields a much happier existence.
I was quite surprised by the report by the WSJ on this. The NYT and the WaPo are nothing but propaganda organs for the progressive Left, with a lot of the other “news” sources right behind those two. But the WSJ? I actually expect that publication to have some level of journalistic integrity.
Anyway, great follow up on your side! And great follow through to make sure that you understood what was being reported. I especially like the touch of hiring TWO Arabic translators to check the source. Nice work! Thank you!
I used to think reporters were too focused on a certain point of view, but I'm starting to wonder if they're not just plain old lazy. Do reporters from the Associated Press have a larger responsibility since they're often considered the mother ship of news and are quoted by so many smaller media outlets?
Many in the upper circles are actually paid IC operatives funded through various opaque means. They don’t get paid enough to have nice homes in DC and NY, so they take in side payments from IC-fronting speaking events, honoraria, board appointments, etc. It’s all part of the elite credentialism that undergirds those urban societies. When influence is needed, journos are now open for slimy side gigs that obviously cross previously strict red lines of fairness and neutrality. They are intellectual prostitutes.
When I covered sports for a major metro, I learned how deep-pocketed alums went undetected while skirting every NCAA rule on paying star players. The local banker / booster would set up annuities for athletes and their families. Big post-university payouts would come your way if you played well and kept your yap shut.
Modern journos now easily succumb to financial pressures. They have no allegiance to Truth. So when they can’t match their Ivy League-promised goals on salaries sub $125K, it’s an easy step into the abyss.
Judging by the Al Jazeera English tweet appearing before the Al Jazeera Arabic tweet, it may be that an Al Jazeera employee in the U.S. with access to the Al Jazeera English account saw the video, used Google or other software to do a machine translation, and jumped the gun by making the tweet even before the Al Jazeera Arabic people had a chance to make a report using the Gaza health ministry's claim.
These reporters are, at best, stenographers of state propaganda serving an agenda they’re not even fully aware of.
For evidence, this WAPO hit piece of Twitter doesn’t even bother to mention The Twitter Files or Missouri V Biden, and there couldn’t be more important news about journalism to be covering at the moment.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/10/27/elon-musk-twitter-x-anniversary/
The jingoistic reporting you describe should surprise no one, particularly after the last 3 years, but anyone not sleepwalking should’ve previously woken up at some other event overhyped by media to serve a statist agenda.
You must give them credit though. Even here in the birthplace of the free speech movement only about 1 in 100 people know of Missouri v Biden. When I introduce the topic to people most prefer not to learn about it. I can’t blame them. Sucking on that sweet blue pill teet yields a much happier existence.
Im sending this article to my teenage son. Will learn more from this than an entire year of “social studies”. Thank you.
KellyKGA for the win (again).
Also thanks to David for watching the watchmen. They cannot be trusted.
I was quite surprised by the report by the WSJ on this. The NYT and the WaPo are nothing but propaganda organs for the progressive Left, with a lot of the other “news” sources right behind those two. But the WSJ? I actually expect that publication to have some level of journalistic integrity.
Anyway, great follow up on your side! And great follow through to make sure that you understood what was being reported. I especially like the touch of hiring TWO Arabic translators to check the source. Nice work! Thank you!
Only the WSJ editorialists are center right. Most of the other WSJ reporters are indistinguishable from those of the NYT.
I used to think reporters were too focused on a certain point of view, but I'm starting to wonder if they're not just plain old lazy. Do reporters from the Associated Press have a larger responsibility since they're often considered the mother ship of news and are quoted by so many smaller media outlets?
Many in the upper circles are actually paid IC operatives funded through various opaque means. They don’t get paid enough to have nice homes in DC and NY, so they take in side payments from IC-fronting speaking events, honoraria, board appointments, etc. It’s all part of the elite credentialism that undergirds those urban societies. When influence is needed, journos are now open for slimy side gigs that obviously cross previously strict red lines of fairness and neutrality. They are intellectual prostitutes.
When I covered sports for a major metro, I learned how deep-pocketed alums went undetected while skirting every NCAA rule on paying star players. The local banker / booster would set up annuities for athletes and their families. Big post-university payouts would come your way if you played well and kept your yap shut.
Modern journos now easily succumb to financial pressures. They have no allegiance to Truth. So when they can’t match their Ivy League-promised goals on salaries sub $125K, it’s an easy step into the abyss.
Judging by the Al Jazeera English tweet appearing before the Al Jazeera Arabic tweet, it may be that an Al Jazeera employee in the U.S. with access to the Al Jazeera English account saw the video, used Google or other software to do a machine translation, and jumped the gun by making the tweet even before the Al Jazeera Arabic people had a chance to make a report using the Gaza health ministry's claim.
https://www.economist.com/interactive/the-economist-explains/2023/10/30/how-many-people-have-died-in-gaza. The Economist managed to paraphrase the quote correctly.