Mail Bag
Tom P writes:
The Berg family was sandbagged in their grief by an AP reporter who told them for the first time that their family member had been decapitated and the video of the murder was online. An AP photographer was on hand to record the family’s response. The father collapsed on the sidewalk in tears.
If you have any comments about the AP ambushing a grieving family in this way, and about their eagerness to print photos of humiliation inflicted on Iraqi POW’s but not the torture/murder of Americans, go to this link of the directors and board members of the AP.
http://www.apme.com/about/directors_rev.shtml
The CEO of AP is Tom Curley; you may need to drop him a note via snail mail.
The flack is Jack Stokes at 212-621-1720.
SEE ALSO: http://www.thatliberalmedia.com/archives/001984.html virge comments as reference….
ALSO: The Washington Post report, linked below, fails even to mention the fact that Berg, like Daniel Pearl, was Jewish. Can this really be irrelevant? Can they really believe this is irrelevant?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19048-2004May11.html
Do with all that contact info what you will. . .
Mandatory
So look: How would you like it if your daughter or son were beheaded by militant Islamic freaks who videotaped the atrocity and posted it online . . . AND THE FIRST YOU LEARNED OF IT WAS WHEN SOME REPORTER…
Go For It !!
Here’s one way to fight back against that sick, sick bunch of sadistical perverts who claim to be “journalists” !! Use this info and then see if you can find more to fight in similar fashion….
Pass It On
Read this and then send a nice letter to the folks at the AP Wire telling them what screwed-up peckersnots they are. Though your letter would probably be more effective if you didn’t actually use the word “pecker” and everything….
Not objecting to the intent in the slightest, but I think we really need a link to the original story that portrays the “sandbagging.”
Otherwise, our letters will essentially say, “I heard from Stephen Green that this guy Tom said that Jack Stokes…” etc.
Best way to get their attention is to contact the advertisers and tell them you and everyone you know will boycott their products. I haven’t watched the networks in years, so I don’t who or what advertises, but if someone posts them here, I’ll write to them too.
My sympathy for the poor grieving Dad died when he started blaming the FBI and George Bush for his son’s murder. If someone sawed my head off, my old man would be demanding the immediate firebombing of those responsible. Nick Berg was a good man, but his pop is a moral coward and frankly, his very existence disgusts me.
More “Love” and “Journalism” From the Press
If you don’t already know, then perhaps this link will explain to you why I respect “journalists” less than I…
Rob,
I understand your attitude toward’s Michael Berg. I feel the same way at times. At risk of sounding like a liberal *spit*, you need to understand this man’s pain. He’s in shock and looking for someone, anyone to blame. He knows deep down it’s not anyone’s fault but the terrorist scum who did this. Just mark it up to the helpless rage af a grieving father. Understand and forgive. That being said, if he doesn’t come to his senses and shut the fuck up about his country being at fault, all bets are off.
But there’s a special place in hell for the reporter and photographer
Send email to apme@ap.org.
What I would like to see is a reporter asking the scum who released the pictures ( to create enough turmoil to cover his son) how he feels to be the one responsible for providing the excuse for young Mr.Berg’s execution. And any subsequent atrocities against US personnel.
Following that, an explanation on how the judicial process works in the military. Protecting the ability of the military to perform their duty to the Constitution comes before guilt or innocence. Given the current furor, it is likely that capital charges might be brought against the son the scumbag was trying to protect.
Rob and Quadratic,
If I had been in Nick Berg’s shoes my father WOULD NOT, off the top of his head mind you, blame the FBI or Bush. He would be asking that the administration ‘bump up’ it’s efforts to get rid of these people.
Oh, yeah, he probably would’ve dropped the reporter and camerman for effect.
A Bit More About Berg
VodkaPundit alerts us to an issue that I hadn’t previously thought of when he quotes an email: The Berg family was sandbagged in their grief by an AP reporter who told them for the first time that their family member…
I worked for many years for a man who had been involved in sports car racing. He was justifiably proud of having once decked a reporter from Wide World of Sports for trying to get a sound bite from the wife of a driver who had just died in a horrible accident.
Hey Steve, i’m willing to help promote this too but Ian’s right, we need a source, “Steve Green says Tom P. says” isn’t solid enough.
I emailed using the link you provided, and believe me, there are ways to express your outrage at the way the news media handles things without making sound like you’re on the tail end of a long trail of gossip. They’ve been a major blip on my disgust meter for a long, long time. So thanks for the link. I bookmarked it.
These people don’t give a shit. They would sell their first born to get a shot at some stupid story. They are souless shells of a human.
I can’t imagine what it was like to hear that bit of news, but if that was me on the other end, I would have shoved that camera so far up that AP reporters arse, he’d have been taking pictures of his teeth.
A crack whore could lecture AP on ethics and maintain the high moral ground.
Here is a story showing the AP reporter’s involvment in breaking the news of the video:
WEST CHESTER, Pennsylvania (AP) — The family of a businessman who was beheaded after he was captured in Iraq cried Tuesday when they learned details of his videotaped death.
A video posted Tuesday on an al Qaeda-linked Web site showed the beheading of Nick Berg, 26, of West Chester, Pennsylvania, whose family last heard from him April 9. It said the execution was carried out by an al Qaeda-affiliated group to avenge the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers.
Berg’s family said earlier Tuesday that they were told by the U.S. State Department that Berg was found dead near a highway overpass in Baghdad on Saturday.
When told of the video by an Associated Press reporter, Berg’s father, Michael, and his two siblings hugged and cried. They knew he had been decapitated, but didn’t know the details of the killing.
“I knew he was decapitated before. That manner is preferable to a long and torturous death. But I didn’t want it to become public,” Michael Berg said.
–snip–
that story is at CNN
http://us.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/11/berg.family.ap/
HEY some of my best friends are crack whores… no wait I was thinking of reporters.
Same thing.
Though it pains me to know that Nick’s father did not want the video viewed; I also believe it is important for Americans and our Alies to see just how tortuous these extremeist terrorists truly are.
The fact that the terrorists only report what is beneficial to them is of greater repremand than the fact that AP reporters are trying to report “everything”. It still does not excuse the inhumane way in which the AP reporter got his story. And then to minimize the families angusish with the comment, “When told of the video by an Associated Press reporter, Berg’s father, Michael, and his two siblings hugged and cried.” This makes it sound like they had were crying over the passing of an old friend, showing polite bits of emotion when in truth they sobbed in agony.
Come on AP reporters. If you are going to catch a story use the english language to report the story correctly!
With that said, my condolences and prayers go out to the family, frineds and co-workers of Nick Berg.
i kep reading on other blogs that nick berg’s father gave money to a.n.s.w.e.r. , before his son left. and it should be noted that it is being said , he is a retired teacher.
as to his blaming gwb ???????
I followed the link and complained. Politely. Here’s what I got back:
“Thank you for your e-mail regarding the Berg family. Allow me to clear
up some misconceptions.
The family had already been notified about their son’s death by the
State Department (and also were told privately he’d been decapitated.)
Our reporter spent 45 minutes interviewing the father Tuesday morning at
his house, hearing reminiscences about the son. As he was headed back,
he learned about the breaking story of the
video. The reporter went back to the house and told the father (now
joined by a son and daughter) that he had disturbing news for them. He
then shared with them word about the video and Web site.
They of course became distraught because they had hoped to keep the
awful details private. Our reporter was able to relay more information
to them from AP’s story as it moved on the wire. At the end of the
visit, the father thanked our reporter for how he had handled it.
Finally, Jack Stokes was not the reporter involved in covering this
story. Jack works in our Corporate Communications department here in New
York.
Sincerely,
Mike Silverman
Managing Editor”
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