1. The Associated Press (AP) puts online a video clip in which an al-Qaida spokesman issues 6 demands, the first two of which are:
"First, you must pull every last one of your soldiers, spies, security advisers...... and all other American personnel, ships and aircraft out of every Muslim land from Afghanistan to Zanzibar," the spokesman, Adam Gadahn, said.
"First, you must pull every last one of your soldiers, spies, security advisers...... and all other American personnel, ships and aircraft out of every Muslim land from Afghanistan to Zanzibar," the spokesman, Adam Gadahn, said.
"Second, you must end all support, both moral and material for Israel."
2. The AP reports the above as follows: Adam Gadahn set out al-Qaida's conditions for peace with the U.S., including cutting support for Israel and withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g_JBe70QtSzgxcmZWYlmjV7luvsgD9GF4GT00
So, the AP cuts the 6 demands to two. It places, first, the demand that the U.S. cut support for Israel -- boosting its relative importance -- and reduces al-qaida's demand that the U.S. remove all personnel from every Muslim land to the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. This is bad and manipulative reporting.
3. The local newspapers, such as ours in Des Moines, reprint the AP report, including the news that
Is it true that al-Qaida's conditions for peace with the U.S. included cutting support for Israel? Yes. Was it the most important item listed by the al-Qaida spokesman? No.
What impact is made on readers when they see that demand listed first?
Who bears primary responsibility for the inaccurate report? The AP
The local newspapers that reprint the AP report depend on the AP for accurate reporting. The local papers are not going to take responsibility for the content of the AP. Yet the local newspapers are complicit in publishing inaccurate and damaging material, when they publish such demonstrably inaccurate work by the AP as exemplified here.
//Mark Finkelstein jcrc@dmjfed.org
