False massacre report puts media on firing line

[uppityperson]

Looks like the 18 kids killed in Ramadi by soccer field didn't happen, more chaos confusion coupled with media hype? So should the message be darn that librul media, don't react to news until it is backed up by several sources, war is hell, time to come home, or a combination?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003594564_iraqnobomb01.html

The report sounded horrific. A suicide truck bomb set off in Ramadi, a Sunni Muslim stronghold, targeted children on a soccer field, killing at least 15. The story was repeated by wire services, newspapers and television newscasts. Political figures and humanitarian groups alike condemned the attack.

The only problem: it didn't happen, a senior U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday.

"There were no children killed," said Rear Adm. Mark Fox, spokesman for the multinational forces in Iraq. "The allegation was false."

The reports highlight how difficult it can be for media to get fast, accurate information in a country where rumors quickly take on the appearance of truth and where deadly violence often occurs in areas where Western journalists would themselves be targeted by killers or kidnappers if they tried to report from the scene.,,(more)

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. Weren't their sources from Iraqi officials?

Those reports were 'conflicting' from the start.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. I guess we get to pick which story is the correct one. Yesterday the Washington Post

ran this: Local Sheik In Ramadi Adds Detail On Attack

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/28/AR2007022801051.html?nav=rss_nation

[rodeodance]

6. ah-----he blames the Sunni.

Local Sheik In Ramadi Adds Detail On Attack
U.S. Military Says There Was No Blast That Killed Children

By Ernesto Londoño and Naseer Mehdawi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, March 1, 2007; Page A13

BAGHDAD, Feb. 28 -- A community leader in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi provided additional information Wednesday about a deadly car bombing earlier this week that U.S. officials said did not occur.

Raad Sabah al-Mukeilef, a sheik who said he lives about 500 yards from where the bomb exploded Monday, said in a telephone interview Wednesday that he believes members of the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq set off the bomb near a playground after being unable to get past a checkpoint that leads to his house, which is near a government building.



Children, ages 4 to 17, were playing soccer when a man at the wheel of a small truck pulled up next to the checkpoint, he said.

"He came in a pickup," Mukeilef said. "Instead of coming in my street, he did it in a small park for children." Mukeilef said he has participated in a U.S.-backed group of sheiks opposed to Sunni insurgents.

Mukeilef's account corroborated information provided Tuesday by Col. Tariq al-Alwani, the security supervisor in Anbar province in western Iraq. Both men said the blast killed 16 children and three women, one of whom died Wednesday from her wounds. Ramadi is the provincial capital..........

[sinkingfeeling]

2. And you're willing to believe the US military over eye witness reports?

[uppityperson]

4. I don't believe anyone, or would it be distrust all.

Tinfoily perhaps, but do not trust any reports. Were the eye witness ones reported by the news media? Who is to say that it wasn't planted? Was the US military reported by the news media? Who is to say that it wasn't planted? Either way, the media suffers, which in some ways it should since sexing up the awful news really isn't necessary (meaning "Coming up NEXT! Right after this commercial break! ALL the IMPORTANT news!! cue music" type news media crap.

Problem with any of it is it can be manipulated several places. There is so much awful crap that I know has proven true, why make it worse? Naw, I believe things when shown real by several independent sources or when I experience it and even then I wonder.

1 wonder coming out of this for me is is this incident (it did happen, it didn't) being pushed to make people trust reports less?

[genie_weenie]

3. "Don't react until one has several sources" is

always the prudent manuever, but the true message is get out and work on aiding at least 1-2 generations to repair the damage.

The reason propaganda is so insidious is that many believe that lies aid the cause of truth.

[uppityperson]

8. True. Very true.

[spanone]

7. Who's lying, Isn't our news 'vetted' thru the Pentagon? I smell many rats.

[Swede]

9. The killing actually did happen.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003592877_iraq28.html

[uppityperson]

10. Tried to edit my OP since I wasn't clear but too late. Sorry.

I was trying to ask wtf is going on and who can we trust to say what. Sorry. I think it happened also, but also realize that IF it didn't it doesn't matter (except to those killed, injured, families, friends, etc) because propaganda continues to harm. OK, that wasn't clear either.

I think it happened. Now the military is putting out propaganda that it didn't, and blaming the librul media. The media has its own problems of trying to sexy up the news so people will watch. There is also the problem that propaganda works, especially in chaotic situations because people just don'e know and believing the worst comes easy since the Powers that Be have been shown to be distrustworthy.

So, is this a case of trying to undercut the media? Make people distrust it more, done by military? And wtf did happen?