The “Axis of Bias”
Posted by MichaelW on 22 Jun 2007 at 3:54 pm | Tagged as: Notes on the war, Military Matters, Media, MichaelW's Page, Foreign affairs
I think the trio of Hersh, Fisk and Crooke might best be termed an axis of bias.
– Stephen Pollard, The Spectator Blog
I’ve never been a fan of Seymour Hersh, and am somewhat mystified as to why he’s considered such a great reporter. Sure he uncovered the My Lai massacre and cover-up, but he’s been resting on his laurels since then. Many consider him to be an authoritative source for matters military and covert. I basically consider him a sensationalist. Stephen Pollard reveals why he thinks Hersh and his ideological brethren should be deemed the “axis of bias” (HT: Sully):
Emmanuel Sivan (professor of Islamic History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem) has an analysis in Haaretz of the origins of Hersh’s ludicrous allegation that the Bush administration, “embracing realpolitik, was siding with the Sunnis in their conflict with the Shi’ites. This led the administration to cooperate even with those who are hostile toward the United States, including groups linked to Al-Qaida. To back up his claim, Hersh wrote that the United States was transferring funds to the government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, even though it knew some of the money was going to the Palestinian group Fatah al-Islam in the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon.”
According to Sivan, “sharp-eyed reporters in Lebanon were quite shocked at Hersh’s revelations so they started checking it out. What did they discover? Sivan again:
Hersh said he heard the story from Robert Fisk, the bureau chief of The Independent’s Beirut office. But Hersh did not check out the story himself. For his part, Fisk said he heard the unconfirmed report from Alastair Crooke, a former British intelligence agent and the founding director and Middle East representative of the Conflicts Forum, a non-profit organization that aims to build a new relationship between the West and the Muslim world. Crooke, who gained his reputation through his involvement in the conflict in northern Ireland, does not know Arabic. When Lebanese journalists spoke to Crooke about the report, they said he told them only that he had heard it “from all kinds of people.”
Again, why anyone listens to Hersh is beyond me.
Technorati Tags: Seymour Hersh, Robert Fisk, Alastair Crooke, Lebanon, Iraq, Middle East politics, Sunni Shi’ite tensions, media bias, unsourced reporting
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3 Responses to “The “Axis of Bias””
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His reporting has been particularly bad the last few years, with numerous claims about plans afoot that have never materialized. Fisk? Well, what can one say that hasn’t been said before.
Lance - right on. The other day, someone I know mentioned a Hersh piece, and I was like, “eww, you still read Hard Copy?” He thought I meant “hard copy,” like physical paper, when I was really comparing Hersh to that terrible tabloid telemag. I’ve come to distrust people who try to predict the future (thanks Nassim Taleb!), but Hersh has a particularly bad record. I think the Bush administration realized the guy thinks he’s an insider so they feed him news through anonymous leaks for amusement.
Then again, I could just be a Sy Hersh Truther.
Heh, well, I am inclined to agree that he is easy to manipulate if you know what he is dying to hear. Always looking for the next My Lai, Watergate or Pentagon Papers. Whether it is the administration or not, plenty of people are willing to make him their toy.