Re: R. Eliyahu calls for carpet bombing of Gaza

Joel Shurkin <jshurkin@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
kahn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (James Kahn) said:
Joel Shurkin <jshurkin@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
moshes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx said:
Joel Shurkin <jshurkin@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
moshes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx said:
flaviaR@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Shurkin <jshurkin@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

By shear coincidence I read a CBC report on the fighting in Gaza this
morning and came upon this paragraph:

That should have been "sheer". Unless you mean you cut it out of the
paper. :-)

"Media quoted witnesses as saying some captured=CAFatah fighters were
dragged from the installation and executed on the street, but their
accounts could not be confirmed."
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/06/14/palestinians.html
That's the way it is supposed to be handled, and usually is.

Of course. It was the _Palestinians_ who were being portrayed in a
bad light, so naturally they had to "qualify" the report.

Because they are not to be trusted, exactly what you are talking about.
You seem to be spinning in circles. You say the media doesn't do
something, I come up with a perfect example of their doing it and you
say that proves your point. Huh?

C'mon, Joel. His point was that your example is one in which Palestinians
were made to look bad, so the source was distrusted. A more effective
example would be one in which an untrustworthy source tries to make
the Israelis look bad, and the source is disregarded or "qualified."
That's the whole point here: Anti-Israel sources seem to get more benefit
of the doubt than anti-Arab sources. Your example doesn't address
that issue. If you can show that in the coverage of the Jenin "massacre",
for example, that similar skepticism was expressed (as opposed to running
with the story and then retracting it on p. 6 a few days later), your
case would be more compelling.

Thanks James, but Joel is not listening. <sigh>

My point, clearly stated, was that the source was distrusted and the
reporter was not prepared to make a statement of fact based on what he
was told. Reporters have been known to do the same thing with Israeli
sources because they too are sometimes unreliable, see last summer's
war. The point is not what was said or who was made to look bad, Moshe
was talking about how to handle unreliable sources and I just gave a
classic example.

I do not have time to go through the archives on the Jenin story. If
you do, be my guest. I'll bet those facts were attributed.

And will those to whom the lies were "attributed" be distrusted in
the future? Not on your life!

Moshe Schorr
It is a tremendous Mitzvah to always be happy! - Reb Nachman of Breslov
The home and family are the center of Judaism, *not* the synagogue.
Disclaimer: Nothing here necessarily reflects the opinion of Hebrew University
.

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