Thursday, July 22, 2010
This is just a quick link to follow -- an "aside." These are links to interesting things that, for one reason or another, I didn't place into a full posting. Click the link to visit the full article. Go to the blog index for a regular listing of posts.
CAMERA: Bias by CNN Correspondent Ben Wedeman More than Just a Tweet - '...We might never know exactly whether or how Octavia Nasr's views contributed to skewing CNN's Mideast coverage, since her work was mostly behind the scenes. Not so with CNN's Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman. As with Nasr, a post on the Cairo-based correspondent's Twitter page raises serious questions about his objectivity. But in this case, the journalist's contributions to CNN seem to answer those questions in a way that should deeply trouble the network, as they suggest that his biases excessively influence his reporting...'
Be careful what you call an "aside." CAMERA is a right-wing Israeli political group posing as an objective news source. They are now targeting Ben Wedeman, attempting to discredit someone who has literally put his life on the line, for 20 years, to bring us the news. If you don't like what happened to Shirley Sherrod, then don't let CAMERA do to Ben Wedeman what Breitbart, Glenn Beck, and others did to her.
Glenn Beck didn't do anything to Shirley Sherrod. Get your facts straight.
CAMERA is an excellent resource that provides irreplaceable fact-based analysis. If they say Wedeman has issues, he has issues.
Sol,
You should be used to it by now.
Anything that puts Israel in a favourable light is right wing, extremist etc., etc.
What was most amusing at the time Wafa Sultan appeared on al Jazeerah, and in Arabic criticized Islam which MEMRI translated, was the instant trashing of MEMRI by those who could not understand the Arabic to compare with the English sub titles.
Just looking at the Journolist bunch and wondering about the group posing as an objective news source boggles the mind.
I beg to differ. First, you should address me with respect, as you should anyone who takes the time to visit your blog and explore its content. That CAMERA thinks Wedeman has issues has no bearing on the question of whether he has issues. CAMERA is an organization, not a person. I would hope its staff doesn't inhabit some kind of hive mind. That would be really scary.
You are aware, I hope, that Wedeman merely recommended an entire book. He did not quote any passage, nor did he say with what he agreed or what, exactly, led him to recommend it. Nobody can know what was inside his head: not you, not CAMERA, not any member of the politically motivated "gotcha" press--or anyone other that Wedeman himself.
This is not an "issue." It is a manufactured tempest in a teapot. None other than "Veterans Today: Military Veterans and Foreign Affairs Journal" (US) published an article denouncing this sort of "press coverage" as a threat to democracy. See: http://bit.ly/cPH11E.
Before you start swallowing whole the 'talking points' of any organization, you owe it to yourself, your readers, and the targets of the smears, to educate yourself. Journalists have increasingly become targets of politically-motivated assassination attempts from all quarters of the spectrum. Reporters are unarmed. Wedeman himself was shot, in 2000, at the Karni crossing in Gaza. Why would you foment the kind of talk that leads to this sort of thing?! Check your facts, check your conscience, then check yourself.
anonymous, I note that you have a blind spot for respect for REAL journalists like
Daniel Pearl.
Or the kidnapping of british journalist alan johnston by hamass.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/world/2007/alan_johnston/default.stm
And how can YOU forget the death fatwas issued against Salman Rushdie for writing a book of fiction.
If anyone needs to assess their conscience is is YOU anonymous.
P.S. I recommend you read this...
http://www.boycottscotland.com
Gee, thanks for the blogging advice. Here's a clue: I owe you nothing.
You showed up here smearing Glenn Beck and CAMERA (an American, not Israeli group). And CAMERA's item includes more than just Wedeman's recommendation of an "entire book." Again, get your facts straight.
And your Veteran's Today link is just a c/p from Juan Cole which starts by quoting anti-Zionist Phil Weiss. The comment thread has quotes from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and links to conspiracy/Holocaust denial site Rense. Nice.
Better yet, just go away.