Tipping the balance West
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Saturday September 22, 2007 14:16
by David Manning & Miriam Cotton - MediaBite
mcotton at mediabite dot org
RTE's attitude towards Iraqi eyewitnesses
In any other circumstance an eyewitness would be regarded by journalists as a reliable source of information.
But when the eyewitness is an Iraqi whose street has just been bombed and attacked by US forces that person becomes an 'angry resident' whose evidence is of little worth - especially when compared to the evidence of the people responsible for the bombing. Time and again RTE relies unquestioningly on US military sources without making the least effort to verify what they are told. Time and again they ignore the possibility of checking the Iraqi perspective. In our latest Media Shot an exchange between David Manning and RTE's senior journalist, Ray Donoghue, is revealing.
http://www.mediabite.org/
Comments (1 of 1)
Jump To Comment: 1Below is another example of a stunningly dutiful piece of RTE reporting. Quoting General Petraeus on what he claims is the success of 'the surge', not a single attempt is made to verify his claims. There is no critical analysis of any sort - no alternative view is given bar a single line at the foot of the report which says that an unnamed Democrat has asked for the Petraeus' resignation. That person's reasons are not given and the clearly intended effect is that what the General has said is authoritative and incontrovertible.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0910/iraq.html?rss
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