Patterico's Pontifications

5/2/2005

The Sgrena Suppression: Due to Suspicion of CBS News?

Filed under: Dog Trainer,General,International — Patterico @ 6:44 pm



In the controversy over the L.A. Times‘s deletion of information about a satellite recording from two Reuters stories about the shooting of the car with Giuliana Sgrena, the Iron Teakettle says I am missing the forest for the trees:

He [Patterico] could have speculated whether CBS News is no longer credible as a source to other news organizations and whether the L.A. Times wanted to confirm the CBS story independently before citing it. Is there any editor who is not thanking his lucky stars that he did not follow CBS’s lead on the fake Bush National Guard memos?

Interesting angle. We know the deletion was not attributable to any general reluctance on the part of L.A. Times editors to republish allegations made by other news organizations’ anonymous sources. Recall that, when CBS News based a 60 Minutes story about President Bush’s TANG service upon documents obtained from an anonymous source, the L.A. Times splashed the story on its front page.

Maybe the L.A. Times is reluctant to repeat that mistake, now that the reputation of CBS News has been so badly damaged by the forged documents controversy.

Or maybe CBS’s anonymous sources are just considered more reliable by Times editors when they skewer President Bush than when they defend soldiers’ actions in Iraq.

Maybe we’ll find out the real reason when (if?) the editors respond to my recent query on the issue . . .

6 Responses to “The Sgrena Suppression: Due to Suspicion of CBS News?”

  1. […] s previously deleted from two Reuters stories. What’s the reason for the omission? Suspicion of CBS News? Appropriate journalistic skepti […]

    Patterico's Pontifications » Still Nothing on the Alleged Satellite Recording (0c6a63)

  2. […] on is CBS News. Response: You may have a point there. I didn’t initially consider that possible justification, which was later pointed ou […]

    Patterico's Pontifications » Responding to Howard Kurtz (0c6a63)

  3. 1. The full capabilities of satellite imaging technology are secret, and properly so. Those who know, do not say; those who say, do not know.

    2. If CBS makes a claim, a responsible newspaper will report that — and may want to express doubts, or simply use words like “alleged” to distance itself from the claim. Omitting the report altogether, especially when it is as significant as the satellite claim, is not ethical.

    3. Patterico, you have turned over a flat rock. The life forms you have exposed are a species that has left slime trails all over the media.

    L. Barnes (2419f3)

  4. Patterico,

    Bottom line, you kept the heat on and the whole thing crumbles at the source, in Italy

    reelcobra (607aad)

  5. Italians Still Want to Blame US for their Own Stupidity
    From ABCNews: Italian investigators blamed U.S. military authorities for failing to signal there was a checkpoint ahead on the Baghdad…

    JackLewis.net (807fbc)

  6. No new news about newzzzzz……
    I can’t think of a more perfect example of why the mainstream media hates bloggers than this: Los Angeles Times editors have edited a Reuters story to remove critical facts supporting the U.S. position on an important international issue. This…

    Classical Values (6ec4b2)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0689 secs.