Friday, May 21, 2004
Lying With Headlines: The San Francisco Chronicle
The Thursday San Francisco Chronicle published a Washington Post account of the "Wedding Party" attack.
The lead paragraph acknowledges that the nature of the target was in some dispute by Thursday morning:
Baghdad -- U.S. ground forces and aircraft attacked a village in Iraq's western desert before dawn Wednesday, striking what Iraqi witnesses said was a wedding celebration but what U.S. officials called a way station for foreign infiltrators.
Yet given the facts available at the time, the Chronicle goes with a curious headline:
US Kills 40 Civilians In Village Attack
Just to be clear, it is not at all established that all 40-45 of the dead were civilians--in the sense of noncombatants.
In fact, US sources were saying quite the opposite:
The Chronicle not only chooses to use the most sensationalistic headline available, but one which cannot remotely be supported by the information available to us.
But let's not let the facts get in the way of a good headline, eh?
Guys, this is a mistake I wouldn't expect a high school newspaper to make.
Assuming, of course, that the headline was a mistake.
You can write the Chronicle at feedback@sfgate.com.
Splash, out
Jason
Hat tip: xrlq
Update: You think the Chronicle was bad? Check out the headline on this Toronto Star story!
Then look at the structure of the story. It doesn't even try to shoot down the middle. Hell, IraqNow is more down the middle than the AP here. And I'm a freakin' party to the conflict! (no pun intended).
What gives?
The lead paragraph acknowledges that the nature of the target was in some dispute by Thursday morning:
Baghdad -- U.S. ground forces and aircraft attacked a village in Iraq's western desert before dawn Wednesday, striking what Iraqi witnesses said was a wedding celebration but what U.S. officials called a way station for foreign infiltrators.
Yet given the facts available at the time, the Chronicle goes with a curious headline:
US Kills 40 Civilians In Village Attack
Just to be clear, it is not at all established that all 40-45 of the dead were civilians--in the sense of noncombatants.
In fact, US sources were saying quite the opposite:
In a statement concerning the disputed attack in western Iraq, the U.S. military said that U.S. forces came under hostile fire during an operation in the western desert before dawn. Ground troops moved against a suspected safe house used by foreign fighters when they were fired on, the statement said. A Pentagon official said U.S. warplanes provided close air support.
In the aftermath, U.S. soldiers found "numerous weapons," large amounts of Iraqi and Syrian currency, foreign passports and a two-way satellite radio, the military statement said.
U.S. officials suggested that the village, 16 miles east of the Syrian border, had been a focus of intelligence efforts for some time.
The Chronicle not only chooses to use the most sensationalistic headline available, but one which cannot remotely be supported by the information available to us.
But let's not let the facts get in the way of a good headline, eh?
Guys, this is a mistake I wouldn't expect a high school newspaper to make.
Assuming, of course, that the headline was a mistake.
You can write the Chronicle at feedback@sfgate.com.
Splash, out
Jason
Hat tip: xrlq
Update: You think the Chronicle was bad? Check out the headline on this Toronto Star story!
Then look at the structure of the story. It doesn't even try to shoot down the middle. Hell, IraqNow is more down the middle than the AP here. And I'm a freakin' party to the conflict! (no pun intended).
What gives?
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