We showed you the wonderful work and followup that Bob Owens from Confederate Yankee did, in relation to the supposed 20 headless bodies found, you know, the bodies that didn't exist?
Bob Owens via Pajamas Media has an update showing that without the same fanfare that they reported the rumors that turned out to be false, they finally issued their not so noticed correction.
Ultimately, the Associated Press and Reuters published stories —far less prominently than the initial beheading stories— admitting that their prior claims of a mass beheading were without merit, with Reuters adding:
Verifying reports in Iraq is very hard for journalists, who have been systematically targeted by different militant groups and rely extensively on local sources for information.
Paris-based press freedom advocates Reporters Without Borders estimate that over 180 journalists and media assistants have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, making Iraq the most dangerous place in the world to report.
Reuters is absolutely correct: reporting in Iraq is very dangerous work, and insurgent groups and terrorists do target journalists for assassination.
But it is equally true that insurgent groups and terrorists also use the media to plant false stories, and that media organizations consistently fail to find credible, independent sources to verify alleged atrocities and attacks before presenting an alleged story as fact.
Further, it appears that some news organizations, through a combination of questionable news-gathering techniques, insufficient editorial practices and indifferent -perhaps intractable- management, are more susceptible to running false and fabricated stories than others, with the Associated Press and Reuters being among the worst offenders.
Throughout the Iraq War, and with seemingly increasing frequency over the past year, these media outlets have become increasingly reliant upon anonymous sources and questionable sources hiding behind pseudonyms to deliver “news” with no apparent basis in fact.
In some of these instances, these wire services have been forced to retract days later, as they have with the false Um al-Abeed beheading story. Sadly, the international and national news outlets that often carry the initial claims as “page one” material fail to do so with the refutations, leaving most media consumers with the impression that the original account was accurate.
Remarkably, these news organizations continue to employ the same reporters and editors that have published multiple erroneous or highly suspect claims, or who have consistently cited discredited or disreputable sources.
Further, these wire services continue to employ newsgathering techniques that rely upon anonymous sources with little or no direct involvement with the story being reported, and often publish these claims as absolute fact, without any indication they are publishing what is often, at best, hearsay.
The MNF-I refutation of the Um al-Abeed decapitation story states that the claim was “completely false and fabricated by unknown sources.”
That isn’t exactly true. Both Reuters and the Associated Press presumably know precisely who their sources were for this story, as they know who their sources were for other discredited stories.
Read the whole thing, it is simply amazing how often a "blogger" can manage to get the truth when the supposed "profession journalists" can only get rumor that ends up being false.
We quote these people why again in our posts?
I wonder if all the blogs that reported on these beaheaded bodies found, using the AP and Reuters blantant lies, actually bothered to inform their readers of the truth once it became apparant that the stories were false?
[Update] Michael Yon has some very interesting questions about the MSM completely ignoring actual horrendous murders in favor of reporting on rumors that have turned out to be complete falsehoods.
My guess is that those murders don't fit the AP's political agenda which is why they falsely reported 20 beheadings and continue to avoid the truth as told in "Bless The Beasts and Children".
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