Why I'm A Skeptic of Media

Right now, there's a tremendous amount of mis-information floating around about Egypt, and the meaning of the riots.  I'm highly suspicious that they have been "gotten up" by taking a legitimate grievance of the Egyptian people (high prices for food, lack of money to buy it), and using it as a wedge to bring down a government that, while by American standards, repressive, at least functions.  It keeps the peace with Israel, it manages to keep a relatively free society going (relatively free by the standards of the Mideast), and it manages to keep the Islamicists from imposing a theocracy of Sharia, which would have horrible repercussions for the Christians in Egypt.

Why am I so suspicious of media reports?  Because they can be go easily gulled, especially when they want to be.  Some examples:

• Bush lost explosives in Iraq - or DID he?  The man responsible for this LIE is Mohamed El Baradei, who, with the Muslim Brotherhood, is trying to take over Egypt right now.
• The Muhammed Al Durrah incident - which was a complete fake.  It is still referenced on Wikipedia (which should give you pause about using it as a source in school).  In recent time, Wikipedia has finally acknowledged that " several commentators questioned the accuracy of France 2's report. An IDF investigation in October 2000 concluded the IDF had probably not shot the al-Durrahs.^[4] Three senior French journalists who saw the raw footage in 2004 said it was not clear from the footage alone that the boy had died, and that France 2 cut a final few seconds in which he appeared to lift his hand from his face. France 2's news editor said in 2005 that no one could say for sure who fired the shots, but other commentators, including the director of the Israeli government press office, went further, saying the scene had been staged by Palestinian protesters. Philippe Karsenty, a French media commentator, was sued for libel by France 2 for suggesting this; a ruling against him was overturned by the Paris Court of Appeal in May 2008, a decision France 2 has appealed."  Some of the many who have proven that the incident was a FRAUD are here, here (Front Page Magazine, a well-respected online news source),  and here (which references the French court that looked into the incident).
• For the definitive word on media lies, click here.
• A site that fact-checks the Associated Press (AP).
• Lying to influence elections - caught on tape.

Folks, I'm all for picking a side, and promoting it.  What I'm against is journalists pretending that they're "on the fence" and "objective", but secretly working for one side.

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