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May 19, 2005 Newsweek made a journalistic mistake, it seems, and a bunch of loons took it the wrong way and folks died as a result. So, can we say, honestly, that Newsweek was responsible for those deaths? Hardly. What if the story had been right, and people still died? Would that be ok? I rather think that if this were the case, that Religious Conservatives would pile on the “crazy Muslims” like they so often do, and use this example for years to come to show why Christians are “better”. Instead, they piled on and used this as an attack on “Liberal media”. They'll use any bit of ammunition they can – they see a hand grenade, pick it up, wait to see which way the wind blows, pull the pin and then throw at whichever group suffers the most political damage. Clever, but not quite moral – not what would I call an ethical way of reacting. All news outlets make mistakes, and usually, they correct them, though not in a very public manner. Check your local newspaper for corrections – you will find them. I rather think the “mistakes” that FOX “News” makes are much more damaging to the notion of a free and accurate press. They take “real” stories, and subtly twist them to “balance” out the news. FOX is the only news channel which admits its own bias. They do this by assuming everyone else is slanted left, so they artificially slant right – FOX knowingly admits, therefore, to adjusting its news content. There are many specific examples, one that comes to mind is when Brit Hume suggested early on in the war that it's safer driving through Iraq than it is NY (or something similar). He gave statistics to back up his “claim”, and he was in his news-anchor role, not an op-ed role. Al Franken called him on it, and Brit's answer wasn't a retraction or an apology or a correction, but rather, he said, “I'm not a statistician”. Doh! It's ok, Hume, if anyone enlisted after hearing your propaganda and then died, I won't hold you responsible. I forgive you. Of course, no riots broke out as a result, so it went largely unnoticed except to those Liberals [like me] that try to pay close attention. Long before I'd agree that Newsweek “caused” deaths, I would submit that Bush caused deaths by withholding aid money to African family-planning outfits which mention abortion. The number of women dead from back-alley abortions is horrible. Is that a weak link? Is Bush really responsible for those women's deaths [or is the Religious Right that's responsible]? Well, there is certainly more causality there, I would argue, than the Newsweek deal; Bush, after all, was warned in advance that this might happen. What about Reagan and his, “I don't recall” syndrome (I am not referring to his disease) about Iran Contra? People died as a direct result of his actions. Conservatives have a very funny view of life and it's value - how overjoyed they must be that they can found a “Liberal” outfit that's “caused” death. It's the irony of ironies or something... And of course the only thing worse than death is sex out of wed-lock, which is why Clinton will be remembered as immoral by Religious Conservatives for generations, while Oliver North works for FOX “News”. ------------ About the author Frederick Smith: I enjoy writing about the positive virtues of humanism - humanists are the good guys. Email: dahlek65@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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