“What’s Your Problem with that?”: Enderlin and the Intellectual Corruption of the MSM

(This article has been published at Pajamas Media, June 23, 2009)

The startling footage of Neda, the 27-year old woman shot to death in the streets of Tehran recently has reminded some of the image of 12-year old Muhammad al Durah (HT Tom Gross):

The footage of a Palestinian man [sic] being shot dead [sic] next to his 12-year-old son, Muhammad Jamal al-Durrah, by Israeli forces in Gaza in 2000 has been etched in the minds of many Iranians, ...

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Memes of Lethal Journalism: We Didn’t Get it Wrong, You’re a Conspiracist! (Larry Derfner version)

profile_larry

Really didn’t want to do this. Have responded thrice in the Spring of 2008 to Dernfer’s rattling his cage about Al Durah – here, here, and here – and I probably should leave him to rattle in peace. But there’s something about his tone which I think is particularly revealing, and that readers should be aware of when they hear ...

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Memes of Lethal Journalism: You’re Smearing Us (Reporters without Borders version)

Reporters without borders

Among the defenses of Enderlin’s Al Durah story comes from an organization that considers itself “Reporters without Borders,” a variant of “Doctors without Borders,” and a “Human Rights” NGO that shares much of the agenda of the other global, progressive organizations of this kind. (When Reporters without Borders first launched it’s annual report on press freedom, it gave Israel a lower rating than the West Bank, a rating that ...

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Memes of Lethal Journalism: Would They Lie to Us?!? (Rachel Shabi version)

When the Guardian came out with their first article on the Israeli report on Al Durah, I thought that even though it was done by Harriet Sherwood, it was fairly neutral. I should have known that CiF would deliver the goods. Below the reaction of Rachel Shabi, with fisking.

Rachel Shabi

Muhammad al-Dura and Israel’s obsession with the propaganda war

A report suggesting the death of the ...

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23-May-13: If we knew then what we discovered today about how France2’s correspondent decided the IDF killed a child in Gaza 13 years ago

failureArnold Roth

Originally published at http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/2013/05/23-may-13-if-we-knew-then-what-we.html

In “22-May-13: The post-Al Durah period: the challenges are starting to become sharper“, we quoted Israeli journalist Ben Caspit’s valuable analysis of the Al Durah Affair and of the role and responsibilities of the news-reporting media.

Here’s a key quote:

The truth is a vital commodity, especially where we are. If we didn’t kill Muhammad al-Durrah, then I want ...

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Welcome, Refugee from rekaB Street: Shmuel Rosner’s Mea Culpa on Al Durah in the NYT

This post has been published at the Algemeiner.
In the flood of commentary and analysis of the Al Durah controversy, I’ve tried to fisk the most important typical responses. And of course, I have a backlog of articles to fisk. But this one by Shmuel Rosner jumped to the top of the pile because of its honest reappraisal. It helps to understand some of the factors that played at the time the story broke, and answer Vic Rosenthal’s question:
Why ...
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Memes of Lethal Journalism: “So What if it’s Fake, It Bespeaks a Higher Truth” (Adam Rose version)

Among the most common memes with which lethal journalists respond to evidence that they’ve been circulating false stories, is to argue that it’s symbolic of an actual truth.

The most chilling expression of that attitude came from a PA TV official who was responsible for inserting into the footage of the original footage a picture of an Israeli soldier firing (rubber bullets at a riot in Nazereth  caused by the airing of Abu Rahma’s footage and his narrative) in such a ...

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Memes of Lethal Journalism: “What does it matter who Killed the Boy?” (Arad Nir version)

One of the patterns of lethal journalism as practiced by Western journalists is first to inject the public sphere with a lethal narrative as news, engendering hatred and violence against the target of that narrative, and then, when it turns out to be false, say, “What does it matter?”  This has come up recently since the Kuperwasser Report, which, since it’s a meme, is not surprising. Here is an earlier example, with my comments. It’s a good insight into the ...

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Principled Dupedom: On the Moral Imperative to be Stupid

I place this post in the Al Durah Journalist category because although it belongs also in Evidence, it’s most important contribution is an analysis of what’s going on with the lethal journalists who got caught up in the hysterical credulity among journalists in the wake of Al Durah.

Principled Dupedom: On the Moral Imperative to be Stupid, Augean Stables, April 18, 2013

One of the major weaknesses of Westerners in the current cognitive war with Islamic imperialism is a seemingly boundless ...

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Enderlin: “What would they say in Gaza if I didn’t report that the Israelis killed him?” (from The Augean Stables)

enderlin schwartz quote

One of the more scandalous episodes of the Al Durah Affair came about after the judges saw the rushes and Karsenty won his appeal, much to the astonishment of the journalistic community who, under the aegis of Jean Daniel of Le Nouvel Observateur, put together a petition in his support. Below is a discussion of this development from an earlier post on Public Secrets (“they stage stuff all ...

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