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June 28, 2003
Who controls the press.
Now that the Internet is on computer, its amazing how much information is available to anyone who seeks it. What amazes me more is how much misinformation the mainstream media puts forth as news that any semi-intelligent person with access to a computer could find false. A great example happened during the IRAQ war where our current administration (Bush) said in his State of the Union address on January 28, 2003, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. ... Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide." Even before his speech, the CIA had determined the document was a forgery. We (America) continued to use it as a prime piece of evidence. When Powell mentioned the same document as evidence in front of the UN Jacques Baute the head of the IAEA 's Iraq inspections unit had his doubts and requested the documents. At first he wasn't given them, then finally he was. At the time he was given the document, he didn't know it was believed to be a forgery. Here's the funny part. He figured out it was a forgery in a couple hours using Google to find all the mistaken information in the document such as the incorrect date for Niger's constitution.I've talked before about how all of these commercials that make crazy claims can be debunked with the Internet. The same is true of the news. So here's my question. Commercials are one thing. How is it that the news consistently gives incorrect information that anyone with the time and/or knowhow can discover to be incorrect.
I've never been a big conspiracy buff. I don't believe in most conspiracy theories. I have a hard time believing THIS case is a result of a conspiracy. But I still don't understand it. During the IRAQ war, our news media was constantly reporting as news what our government told them was the truth, while almost all other countries were reporting the real news. Its not like you had to go to some guys website at AOL to find discrepancies. You could find them on BBC online, among other reputable news sources. Does anyone know how this happens? The people actually REPORTING the news have no idea what's going on I'm sure. They're given the news to report and they report is verbatim. I'm sure it doesn't hurt that there are really only 2 or 3 media organizations that run all the US news. But that can't be the CAUSE. In the UK, the BBC is the only game in town, and they seem to get it right more often than not. So I ask again. What's the deal?
Posted by wonko at June 28, 2003 06:25 PM
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Comments
Where else would the Internet be?
Posted by: useEvil at June 28, 2003 09:15 PM
On the Simpsons.
Posted by: Wonko at June 28, 2003 10:45 PM
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