Hold the Presses
Washington Post Actually Concerned About Accuracy
By streiff Posted in War — Comments (6) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
I've said it before many times over the past couple of years but I'll say it again. Thomas Ricks is probably the least knowledgeable military correspondent frequenting the pages of any major newspaper. His knowledge of the military is negligible , his understanding of military history nonexistent, and without anonymous sources he really wouldn't have any.
Finally, finally, he crossed a line that even the Post's Managing Editor Len Downie couldn't accept.
Read on.
On the August 6 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources featuring Howie Kurtz (isn't it something of a conflict, BTW, when the Washington Post's media writer covers the media for CNN, but I digress) Ricks claimed that Israel was deliberately bypassing Hezbollah pockets in Southern Lebanon so Hezbollah could continue rocketing Israeli cities thereby, as Ricks, silver-tongued devil that he is, says "because as long as they're being rocketed, they can continue to have a sort of moral equivalency in their operations in Lebanon."
After Kurtz reinserted his dentures he asked a clarifying question. Are you, he asks, "suggesting that Israel has deliberately allowed Hezbollah to retain some of its firepower, essentially for PR purposes, because having Israeli civilians killed helps them in the public relations war here."
Yup, avers Ricks, some "military analysts" told him so.
Enough heat has been brought to bear on Downie that he has made Ricks issue sort of a half-***ed non-apology:
The comments were accurate: that I said I had been told this by people. I wish I hadn't said them, and I intend from now on to keep my mouth shut about it."
Ricks seems to be blissfully ignorant that his obligation to try to report something vaguely resembling the truth. The issue is not whether on not unnamed analysts who may, or may not, exist told him this crock. The issue is whether of not what they told him is true. For anyone who has followed Ricks' reportage in Iraq, this is par for the course.
The second part of this story which will undoubtedly feed into the Jews-rule-the-world meme that characterizes the Buchananite right and increasingly the mainstream left is that Ricks was only called on the carpet for his libel against Israel.
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Hold the Presses 6 Comments (0 topical, 6 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
Hate conservatives, hate Neocons = Hate Jews. The odd thing is that this is not limited to non jews on the left. I don't know if Ricks is an old school anti semite or just someone who has let bush derangement syndrome consume his life, He is what the left is going to be about for a very long time. This does represent an opportunity for the right as the jewish community is one that should be voting its interest by voting republican but instead votes its guilt and votes democrat. This is the type of thing that can pry them out of the grip of the democrats.
and similar magazines.
No longer do journalists actually check the facts against what they have been told, or try to get to the truth, they just spout whatever crap comes their way in the hopes that it will either make a sensational story or in hopes that the mud will stick somewhere.
I am starting to think I will trust used car salesmen more than the front page of most major newspapers and news programs.
I don't think it is always a deliberate bias at work, sometimes I think it is just laziness or a desire to be first with the story.
I can't agree more. These days you have to rely on bloggers to verify the facts of a story. The major news agencies all appear to have an agenda, ither to the left or the right.
As far as I can tell Journalism™, rather than reporting, has always been a fraud. Journalists trace their heritage back to the muckrakers, rather than the honorable beat writers who aggregate acts and keep people informed.
Fake but accurate is just fine if you're a Journalist seeking to Change the World, after all.
--
"In this day and age, you're not going to get a fair shake in the media" -- Lance Armstrong
We being the conservative blogosphere, that is.
I suspect Ricks cares more about
- Approval from the NYT and New Yorker
- Choice interview spots on Hardball and Charlie Rose
- Invitations to A-list parties.
- A nod from the Pulitzer committee.
He'll get that simply by writing Fiasco . And, I suspect Ricks has little fear of getting any probing/embarassing questions in any of these venues.
I also suspect that Mr. Downie doesn't care much either about what Mr. Ricks really knows. As long as he keeps up appearences, that is.
"Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?" (Macaulay)
I see you got my spoof copy of the WaPo that I had delivered to your house.
Happy August Fool Day!
John
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Why would God invent a thing like whiskey? To keep the Irish from ruling the world of course.