And Now, a Story about the Media that has nothing to do with Rupert Murdoch
I was intrigued a short while ago when I came across the following news headline from the Associated Press:
“Iran denies shooting down US spy plane”
Had I missed something? Did the U.S. accuse Iran of shooting down a U.S. spy plane? Was the U.S. pounding the table and threatening harsh retaliation for this act of aggression by Iran?
Of course not. Nothing of the sort happened. In fact, the only reason that Iran’s denial is “news” is because two days ago AP and others of its ilk reported propaganda appearing in the Iranian media (which, as we all know is world renowned for its independence and accuracy) as “news”. The following report by the Associated Press, reprinted by MSNBC, is typical:
A U.S. drone was shot down while flying over a nuclear facility in Iran, according to reports in the Iranian media.
Iran’s Fars news agency reported that lawmaker Ali Aqazadeh Dafsari, a member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, had confirmed the unmanned spy plane was flying near the Fordo nuclear enrichment plant in Qom province when it was brought down by Revolutionary Guard soldiers.It did not say when the alleged incident happened.
Dafsari told Fars that the drone was trying to gather information about the nuclear facility for the CIA.
Fars also said Iranian military officials had claimed to have shot down “several enemy drones” in January.
“We have experienced similar incidents many times in the past and there have even been drones belonging to the occupying Zionist regime (Israel), the United States and Britain which have been shot down in the Persian Gulf during the past 7 years,” Fars quoted a senior military official as saying at the time.
Other Iranian media reported the same story, including Hamsayeh.net.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
Note the language I highlighted, which AP reported in order to create the illusion that the propaganda appearing in Iranian media was fact. Needless to say, this is not the first time that Iran has falsely claimed to have shot down U.S. spy drones. (See, e.g., “Revolutionary Guard: Iran shoots down 2 western drones: [jpost.com]).
The only “news” is that the so-called “news” reported and disseminated by AP on Wednesday was IRGC propaganda and not news. Of course, there is nothing new about that. Nor is there anything new about the AP and other Western media outlets blindly reporting our adversaries’ propaganda as though it were fact. At least when the Jerusalem Post reported on the IRGC’s similar claim in January, they pointed out that FARS is a semi-official organ of the Iranian government. You will find nothing similiar in the AP/MSNBC report quoted above.
As I have commented many times before, until the media begins to be more discerning in their reporting and to take care to report facts rather than what the media wishes the facts to be, they continue to do a grave disservice to their readership and trust in the fifth estate will continue to erode.