BobD
05-19-2005, 10:43 AM
http://therant.us/images/newsweek_and_the_unrung_bel.jpg
Newsweek and the Unrung Bell
Lee Ellis
May 19, 2005 - Newsweek magazine and reporter-writers, Mark Isikoff and John Barry forgot the most important and one of the oldest clichés in the business, “You can’t unring a bell.” They also forgot one of the most memorable slogans in WW II, “Loose Lips Sink Ships.” As a result, over 15 people are dead in Afghanistan and many hurt. Riots continue in Muslim countries. All this is due to that fact that Newsweek had reported that U.S. investigators found evidence that interrogators had flushed a copy of Muslim's holy book down a toilet in an attempt to rattle detainees. Just the thought that it is impossible for a book to be flushed down a toilet, without tearing it into shreds first, apparently did not give its editors pause for thought.
When a country is in a war and our troops are risking their lives, media should know that one does not give the enemy any information that it can use to kill Americans or slow down the chance for our troops to finish the job so they can come home! Even if they protest that their readers have a right to know, we have a right to ask, “Know what?” The media was generally on our side during WW II, unwilling to help the enemy. Now, many times, we read or view, days in advance, what may be advance plans or strategies of our military. While we do not want government censorship, it should be, in time of war, a self-imposed policy for all media.
Sure, we need to know those things that affect us personally in our homes and at work. This is called “information value.” The space or time in media devoted to “news” is determined by importance and value to the readers or viewers. Rumors, gossip and alleged information from an unidentified source do not meet this criterion.
This war is different from any that we have ever faced. Not just because this is a war of terrorism rather than one between nations, but because this is the first war where we have had so many anti-Americans living among us. Many are scouring our media daily to find anything that can be used to slow us down in the Middle East. Once found, it takes only minutes before it is spread world-wide on the Internet and broadcast over Al-Jazeera.
Dan Feder, a syndicated columnist and a former Op-Ed writer for nineteen years with the Boston Herald, wrote last month, “A random survey of a dozen mosques in six states and DC (undertaken by Arabic speakers) found 57 documents promoting hatred of Christians and Jews, as well as explaining the imperative to subvert the United States and other Western societies. An article in The Wall Street Journal reported: “The documents stress that when Muslims are in the lands of the unbelievers, they must behave as if on a mission behind enemy lines. Either they are there to acquire new knowledge and make money to be later employed in the jihad against infidels, or they are there to proselytize the infidels until at least some convert to Islam.”
While Newsweek has retracted its story, the Arabs are already calling it a cover-up! In an apology in this week’s issue of Newsweek, its editor wrote “But we regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst.”
And yet, the “unrung bell” is still heard throughout the Middle East and the world by both mourners and Muslims alike.
Newsweek and the Unrung Bell
Lee Ellis
May 19, 2005 - Newsweek magazine and reporter-writers, Mark Isikoff and John Barry forgot the most important and one of the oldest clichés in the business, “You can’t unring a bell.” They also forgot one of the most memorable slogans in WW II, “Loose Lips Sink Ships.” As a result, over 15 people are dead in Afghanistan and many hurt. Riots continue in Muslim countries. All this is due to that fact that Newsweek had reported that U.S. investigators found evidence that interrogators had flushed a copy of Muslim's holy book down a toilet in an attempt to rattle detainees. Just the thought that it is impossible for a book to be flushed down a toilet, without tearing it into shreds first, apparently did not give its editors pause for thought.
When a country is in a war and our troops are risking their lives, media should know that one does not give the enemy any information that it can use to kill Americans or slow down the chance for our troops to finish the job so they can come home! Even if they protest that their readers have a right to know, we have a right to ask, “Know what?” The media was generally on our side during WW II, unwilling to help the enemy. Now, many times, we read or view, days in advance, what may be advance plans or strategies of our military. While we do not want government censorship, it should be, in time of war, a self-imposed policy for all media.
Sure, we need to know those things that affect us personally in our homes and at work. This is called “information value.” The space or time in media devoted to “news” is determined by importance and value to the readers or viewers. Rumors, gossip and alleged information from an unidentified source do not meet this criterion.
This war is different from any that we have ever faced. Not just because this is a war of terrorism rather than one between nations, but because this is the first war where we have had so many anti-Americans living among us. Many are scouring our media daily to find anything that can be used to slow us down in the Middle East. Once found, it takes only minutes before it is spread world-wide on the Internet and broadcast over Al-Jazeera.
Dan Feder, a syndicated columnist and a former Op-Ed writer for nineteen years with the Boston Herald, wrote last month, “A random survey of a dozen mosques in six states and DC (undertaken by Arabic speakers) found 57 documents promoting hatred of Christians and Jews, as well as explaining the imperative to subvert the United States and other Western societies. An article in The Wall Street Journal reported: “The documents stress that when Muslims are in the lands of the unbelievers, they must behave as if on a mission behind enemy lines. Either they are there to acquire new knowledge and make money to be later employed in the jihad against infidels, or they are there to proselytize the infidels until at least some convert to Islam.”
While Newsweek has retracted its story, the Arabs are already calling it a cover-up! In an apology in this week’s issue of Newsweek, its editor wrote “But we regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst.”
And yet, the “unrung bell” is still heard throughout the Middle East and the world by both mourners and Muslims alike.