There is a similar discussion going on over at Dean’s World. Excerpt I posted over there:

The MSM no longer is a trusted source to report objectively the news of the day without spinning it to it’s own political agenda. They probably have done this all along I guess. It’s just more blatant nowadays:

[...]

Here’s a story that deserves an airing in the open but the MSM is too timid to break the story. They’re all waiting on the edge of the pool for some other sucker to jump in first. This is one hell of a story. This is a medical mystery detective thriller with “All the President’s Men” all rolled into one screenplay.

[...]

Here’s something you can do right from your own keyboard. Support this Spirit of America project now raising funds:

[...]

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I should have linked to this one too. Now have you seen this one in the MSN over here yet?

Link Here

Ron Wright, Moderator

HSPIG Forums Site

http://www.hspig.org

On Belmont Club, Enigma asked, “…now that we’ve identified that we’re in a propaganda war, how do we fight and win it?”

My answer was: BLOGSTORMS. The prototype is what happened to CBS and Dan Rather. “The distributed intelligence of the internet” can be directed at the unmasking of MSM propaganda which serves the strategic interests of the enemy.

Heather has done some excellent work wrt AP bigwigs.

Major thanks to Roger for bringing the issue up and linking to Wretchard.

I would ask, first: access to what, propaganda? This event would not be militarily significant unless it was photographed and disseminated to the West, and the murderers and the AP knew that, I would bet.

Secondly, no one asked for names. Just tell us, AP, how it was arranged.

who else but the blogoshere will challenge the dishonest reporting of embedded Journalists working for those who create the news?

Are we witnessing the results of the ‘Swedish effect’ the sympathy which evolves over time between kidnappers and their victims ?

Looks like AP has much to answer for.

People who say Bush doesn’t know what he’s doing are either politically inclined to say so, have not bother finding out or both.

From Disinpopidia.org

“For the most part Barnett (an admitedly democrat) praises the Bush administration for realizing that a new strategic vision was necessary, including formally adopting the policy of preemptive war. He does, however, find fault in the administration for failing to explain clearly to both Americans and their nation’s allies how this new strategic vision will work.

‘It may seem facile to say that this administration has made the right strategic moves only to tell its story poorly to the world, but perceptions matter plenty in this highly charged period of world history.’ Given the strained relationship between the U.S. and its allies, it’s clearly not enough simply to do the right thing; you have to convince people you’re doing the right thing.’

“Eschewing the gloomy predictions of a world in constant chaos, Barnett instead offers an optimistic view of a future that many of us will be alive to see. We will have to pay a price to see this future, both in blood and money, but if we do nothing we’ll have to pay and receive nothing for our troubles but more strife.”

Click Lem

If indeed the photographer took pictures ìfor a fairly long period of timeî—the odds dramatically increase that the murderers made sure that he had ample opportunity to record their monstrous actions. To be blunt, he probably knew that he had nothing to worry about. Might the man be very brave or foolhardy? Yes, that is still possible. But would you bet in Las Vegas on this being the likelihood? I wouldnít.

(and after taking a look at the article’s host website, oh, what irony).

An excerpt:

“Because they are wanted men, none of these fighters appear publicly. Their videotapes and statements outline their goals and brag about their accomplishments.

“The interview was arranged after four days of persuasion, through go-betweens, that it was safe to come to Baghdad.”

(emphasis added)

The AP apparently arranged to have smuggled an American-killing terrorist into Baghdad just to get an interview. I guess ‘the fisherman’ smuggled himself out.

Of course, this being an AP article, it is certainly possible that the whole thing was spun out of whole cloth.

I’m trying to do that here but it’s very difficult, if not totally absurd. To look at it another way: if this was *not* a setup, what kind of photo would be expected? I use the singular “photo” on purpose–the series of pics published by the AP doesn’t strike me as just lucky happenstance for an otherwise life-endangered journalist, even one innocently invited to a “demonstration.”

The images are disturbingly static, close-range, sequenced and focused. War photographers do sometimes capture a telling moment, one moment, out of tens of thousands of tries. But this… it just reeks of pre-production somehow. The stench of collusion permeates.

I’d like to be wrong about this but I’m afraid I may not be.

Didn’t you post an interesting connection between Neuharth and Curley in relation to USATODAY?