Tag: media

Israel’s censorship of the AP is a cautionary tale for the US

Philosophers consider slippery slope arguments to be logical fallacies. But those philosophers haven’t met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government. 

It took Israel about three weeks after banning Al Jazeera — due to purported national security risks stemming from its Qatari funding — to use the same law as a pretext to censor the Associated Press, one of the world’s largest news agencies. 

Fortunately, Israel quickly reversed course after pressure from the U.S. and press organizations. But the ordeal should serve as a cautionary tale for President Biden and U.S. lawmakers and prosecutors. They keep empowering future administrations to harass the media — apparently trusting them, against all historical evidence, to use restraint.  

And if (more like when) the U.S. government does abuse its new powers against the press, the superpower is not likely to back off in response to international pushback like Israel did. Otherwise Julian Assange would be a free man. 

Israel’s justification for the raid was that the AP broke the law by providing images to Al Jazeera, which is among numerous clients worldwide that receive video feeds from the AP. There was no allegation that any image endangered national security, but officials nonetheless seized the AP’s equipment, killing its live feed and temporarily stripping millions of people of a view inside Gaza. 

Perhaps Israeli authorities saw transparency itself as a national security threat. The U.S. should be able to relate — officials who once sought to censor the Pentagon Papers on security grounds now acknowledge the government’s real concern was embarrassment. 

Israel has shut the international press out of Gaza (in addition to killing at least 100 journalists). Some even floated sanctioning the country’s oldest newspaper, Haaretz, for criticizing the current government. Biden’s administration is reportedly concerned about journalists turning public opinion against Israel by exposing the devastation the Israel-Gaza war has caused. 

With that backdrop, who could’ve predicted that Israel wouldn’t stop with Al Jazeera once it started censoring news outlets? Well, other than press freedom advocates everywhere. 

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Newsgate: Reporters Caught Coordinating With Political Hacks

In my last post, “When Beat Reporters Act Like They Work for the Agency They’re Supposed to Cover,” I outlined why some reporters, such as NBC Justice Reporter Ryan Reilly, seem to carry water for those they cover rather than act as independent journalists. 

And I promised this eye-opening follow on.

Inside documents and leaks have given us graphic glimpses into the transactional journalism practiced by reporters at prominent national news groups. It amounts to our own industry scandal: Our Newsgate.

Compromised reporting has always existed as a result of covert collaborations between reporters and political interests—Democrats and Republicans alike. Some of the most exemplary hard evidence available happens to be heavy on reporters with Democrat ties. Much of it came during the scandal-ridden 2016 presidential campaign when candidate Donald Trump upended politics and ran against Hillary Clinton, who was also running against Bernie Sanders for the Democrat nomination. As you’ll see, much of the political establishment and establishment media seemed to be working on Team Hillary.

It can be argued that some individual accounts provided here can be rationalized and are not serious breaches of ethics. But taken as a whole, it’s easy to see how we as journalists have done a poor job protecting ourselves from being co-opted by organized interests, often ones that are paid and politically-motivated. Whether we realize it or not, they’ve figured out how to exploit the media and use us to publish their propaganda. It implies a broad and growing trend that has seriously undermined the credibility of the news industry.

Opinion reporters and those who work for obviously ideological news groups are entitled to publish party propaganda. It’s one matter to provide viewpoint journalism. But it’s quite another for us to pretend to be independent journalists while acting as a tool of any interest, or publishing narratives or talking points upon suggestion or demand, without disclosing we’re doing just that.

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AP Admits Noncitizens Vote In U.S. Elections While Insisting It’s No Big Deal

In a hit piece skeptical of the Republican-led Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote, the Associated Press (AP) acknowledged that foreign nationals have been caught “illegally registering and even casting ballots.” But that fact doesn’t stop Democrats and their media allies from opposing safeguards like the SAVE Act that threaten the advantages Democrats gain from loose election laws.

“The specter of immigrants voting illegally in the U.S. has erupted into a leading election-year talking point for Republicans. They argue that legislation is necessary to protect the sanctity of the vote as the country faces unprecedented levels of illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border,” the AP’s Ali Swenson wrote.

“Voting by people who are not U.S. citizens already is illegal in federal elections and there is no indication it’s happening anywhere in significant numbers,” Swenson insisted. But nine paragraphs later, she conceded that “there have been cases over the years of noncitizens illegally registering and even casting ballots.”

Swenson suggested these instances aren’t a big deal because “states have mechanisms to catch” such illegal voting. But in fact, the federal government has prevented states from requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.

Federal voter registration forms do not require documentary proof of citizenship. Instead, each individual who registers to vote must simply check a box affirming he is a U.S. citizen. In other words, our elections hinge on the honor system.

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Media spreads false claim that Tucker Carlson launched a show on Russian TV

Multiple media outlets have been criticized after they spread a false claim that former Fox News host Tucker Carlson had launched a new show on Russian television. 

In response to a Newsweek article published on the topic, originally claiming that Carlson was working with Rossiya 24 on a show, Tucker Carlson Network investor Neil Patel wrote, “The Tucker Carlson Network has not done any deals with state media in any country.  Whoever is currently pretending to be the old Newsweek brand would know that if they had checked with us before printing like news companies are supposed to do.” 

The “show” in question is state-owned Rossiya 24 pulling footage from Carlson’s YouTube page and airing that on television translated to Russian. 

Newsweek originally wrote that a Russian paper “said that the show is part of a joint project with Carlson TV, in which he will interview figures and politicians who have “alternative views to the mainstream.”

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“Act of madness”: Israeli officials seize AP equipment, cut live feed of Gaza

Israeli officials seized broadcasting equipment belonging to the Associated Press on Tuesday, arguing it was used to provide images to Al Jazeera, whose Jerusalem bureau was shuttered earlier this month following the passage of a new foreign broadcast law.

Why it matters: Press advocates have warned that the law creates a dangerous precedent for censoring independent news outlets in the region amid the ongoing war with Hamas.

  • Israeli lawmakers passed the measure last month, empowering the country’s communications minister to take action against any foreign media network that it can prove poses a national security risk.
  • Tuesday’s seizure has already garnered sharp criticism, with Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid calling it “an act of madness.”

Driving the news: Officials seized AP’s equipment in the southern town of Sderot on Tuesday afternoon, arguing the global news agency had violated the new law by providing a live feed of northern Gaza to Qatar-based Al Jazeera, AP reported.

  • According to the Israeli Ministry of Communications, the confiscated equipment includes a camera, tripod, live modem and two microphones.

AP reported that it “complies with Israel’s military censorship rules, which prohibit broadcasts of details like troops movements that could endanger soldiers.”

  • “The live shot has generally shown smoke rising over the territory,” it reported.
  • “The Qatari satellite channel is among thousands of clients that receive live video feeds from the AP and other news organizations,” it added.
  • The seizure of the equipment followed a refusal by AP to adhere to an order from Israeli officials last week to cut the live feed.

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Dems CENSOR Viral Parody Music Video Exposing Joe Biden’s Cognitive Decline

Allies of Joe Biden appear to be attempting to scrub a viral parody music video highlighting Jee Biden’s cognitive decline.

Trump on Friday posted to Truth Social a parody music video of Tom Petty’s hit song “Free Falling” mocking Biden’s many gaffes.

The “Keeps Falling” video features Biden collapsing on stage, stumbling up the steps of Air Force One, aimlessly wandering around and creepily sniffing women and children.

But by Sunday, the video was removed across the X platform with a disclaimer that read, “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.”

The viral video was created by comedian and Fox News Saturday Night host Jimmy Failla, from his album “The More You Joe” produced by “C’Mon Man Records.”

It’s highly unlikely Failla would have made the copyright complaint given he shared the video on Thursday while boasting of “big accounts” that also shared it on social media.

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When Israel Bombed AP’s Gaza Office

On May 15, 2021, as part of its “Operation Guardian of the Walls” military campaign in Gaza, Israel bombed the Associated Press offices’ building, based on the still evidence-free claim that the AP headquarters “housed Hamas”. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the week prior, IDF bombed two other office buildings that “housed more than a dozen international and local media outlets.”

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) gave the tenants of the al-Jalaa Building in Gaza—which included AP, other news agencies including Al-Jazeera, and residential homes—a stern warning. IDF informed them they had one hour to evacuate their homes before the building would be bombed by Israeli missiles. Sixty minutes and three Israeli missiles later, the 12-story building was leveled to the ground.

The IDF posted a short vague statement that provided no evidence for their claim the building was being used by terrorists but made sure to repeat the term “Hamas terror organization” four times, in just four sentences—five times if you count “Hamas military intelligence” in the headline.

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Mrs. Alito and the Bad Flag

The New York Times apoplectic over basically nothing: “At Justice Alito’s House, a ‘Stop the Steal’ Symbol on Display,” reads a New York Times headline from yesterday.

According to the Times, an upside-down American flag was flown at Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s house for a few days in January 2021—between the January 6 Capitol riot and President Joe Biden’s inauguration. The nation’s esteemed paper of record suggests this action indicates that Alito thinks the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

There is very little evidence available to make this case. People fly upside-down flags for all kinds of reasons; it typically signals “SOS” or a sense that the country is horribly off course. People have historically flown flags in this manner out of protest for the Vietnam War, out of protest for the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, to contest election results (believing the election was stolen or that voter fraud was rampant), or—and don’t get the two confused—to signal displeasure with the election results.

Alito reports that his wife was the one who flew the flag in this manner and that it concerned a dispute with a neighbor who posted an anti-Trump sign in their yard, following the election, that used expletives. Mrs. Alito was reportedly angered by this, and flew her flag upside-down in response. It is very hard to tell what intentions were behind one single gesture, reportedly not even done by the justice himself, and no account from neighbors or friends of the Alito family has bolstered the idea that Mrs. Alito is a “Stop the Steal” type.

This reminds me of when media outlets and the Anti-Defamation League claimed the “OK” symbol was actually a white supremacist gesture. If you look hard enough, you can find disturbing symbols anywhere you look, but you must sometimes suspend logic and reason in order to do so. This does not seem like a situation where a sitting Supreme Court justice is supporting overthrowing election results; it looks like a situation where The New York Times is straining to make that the narrative.

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NBC Animal Documentary Claims “This is a Queer Planet”

A documentary set to be broadcast by NBC asserts that we live on a “queer planet,” in which homosexuality is widespread in the animal kingdom and there are more than two genders.

Yes, really.

The documentary, set to be aired on June 6, features one “expert” stating, “Everything you were taught as a kid is wrong.”

“Gay penguins, bisexual lions, sex changing clown fish,” the narration, voiced by gay actor Andrew Rannells, claims are all evidence that “this is a queer planet.”

The trailer then shows two women, one with blue hair, asserting that “Queerness has always existed” and that “It’s only in humans that we have such a stigma about it.”

Apparently, this “stigma” revolves around having it shoved in your face 24/7 on television, TV commercials, within the education system, and publicly shaming or even arresting and prosecuting anyone who doesn’t embrace it.

“The idea of just having two fixed sexes is clearly out of style,” the narration continues, with another short haired woman with tattoos claiming, “Mother nature is pretty open minded.”

Nature is apparently “full of queer surprises,” according to the documentary.

I’m not sure that aspiring to behave like animals is quite the win that LGBT activists think it is.

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Stephanopoulos: ‘Deep State Is Packed with Patriots’

ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos said Tuesday on “The View” that he believed the so-called deep state was “packed with patriots.”

Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said, “The book is so good. My favorite thing is you interviewed Situation Room staff. I have always said it’s White House staff whose names you’ll never know are the writers of history. They will tell us so many details.”

Stephanopoulos said, “That was my favorite part about doing the book. I interviewed about a hundred duty officers from the White House and these are people who come, they are relatively young people who come from all over the government, the CIA, the DIA, the Defense Department, military.”

He continued, “Some people like to call those people the deep state. Well, the big thing I learned doing this book is that the deep state is packed with patriots, people who go to work every single day and are on the frontlines of the most intense crises the country faces and do it to serve their country and to serve the presidency, not the president. They don’t care about political parties. They’re there to serve the presidency and the institution.”

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