Truth In Advertising

Bad reporting from the Middle East has become too common to ignore.  Jason has noted the Associated Press reliance on a bogus source in Iraq (see here and here). The LA Times seems to have been duped into running a phony story about civilian deaths (see here).  You might remember the doctored and staged photos from the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon earlier this year.  These faked photos of supposed Israeli atrocities were run in newspapers all over the world.  The pattern here is that media outlets are relying on local stringers for their news, and many of these stringers have ties to terrorist groups.  I don't think revelations of bad reporting  should change anyone's mind about what is occurring in the Middle East in general or Iraq in particular, but it should disturb us all that our enemies find it so easy to place their propaganda in American newspapers.  There is little doubt that Americans have received a view of the Middle East that has serious deviations from the truth.