Qualifying for a job as a CNN journalist requires a good set of teeth and little else. Lying through those teeth is a skill they teach in special classes in Atlanta conducted by trainers well versed in the art of Mossad double talk.
In reporting on the escalating Israeli-Palestinian strife, CNN management has apparently laid down firm ground rules to assure compliance with Sharon’s mandates. These rules are strictly enforced by the Likudnik extremists under the leadership of Walter Isaccson. Here is a sample of CNN’s internal ‘guidance’ on reporting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
1. There is no such thing as an Israeli settler. Instead, CNN reports on Palestinian attacks against ‘civilian convoys’ near an ‘Israeli village’ that is ‘north of Gaza.’ The village was actually an illegal Israeli settlement in Gaza near Gush Katif.
2. There can be no mention of brutal Israeli occupation thugs or the year-long siege or the political assassinations or collective punishment or economic strangulation or torture or home demolitions. Israelis must always be portrayed as ‘retaliating’ for the latest ‘Palestinian violence.’ There is never any ‘Israeli violence’ worth reporting. Just F16 airstrikes against a densely populated Gaza. If innocent Palestinians perish, CNN personnel are to phrase it in a way to show that ‘they had it coming.’
3. According to CNN rules, reporters must be very careful in identifying the location of ‘Palestinian violence.’ A recent attack was reported in a West Bank ‘Mall.’ Another was located ‘near Jerusalem.’ The intent of such ‘Mossad’ spin is to assure that CNN follows the Likud party line and covers up the institutional violence of the Israeli military occupation. Both attacks were against illegal Jewish settlements, which are virtual Israeli military garrisons.
4. CNN has recently agreed to follow the new IDF rules to identify every Palestinian attack as the work of ‘suicide bombers’. If the Israeli Army press office issues a boastful claim that they prevented ‘five suicide bombers on Sunday,’ it is aired unedited on CNN, 24/7. If you depend on CNN news, you can count on a permanent detachment from reality.
5. Ariel Sharon is a deity at CNN. First thing in the morning, last thing at night, CNN anchors must pledge allegiance to their beloved war criminal or risk getting their front teeth badly damaged by the supervising Mossad officer. No teeth, no career at CNN.
6. The right wing Likudnik Yiddish supremacists at CNN are especially irate at the Israeli peace movement for daring to challenge Ariel Sharon’s failed ‘military solution’ to the Palestinians struggle for liberty. As CNN itself acknowledges they take ‘risks’ when reporting a story. Some stories are too high risk to be reported at all. A march by 20,000 Israelis demanding an end to the occupation was considered ‘unworthy’ of CNN’s attention. Israelis who challenge their war criminal leadership are considered crazy dissidents.
7. CNN has to balance its Yiddish supremacist agenda by making a lame effort to appear like patriotic Americans, if only to maintain market share against their racist competitors at FOX who have wrapped themselves very tightly in the American flag. This ‘American jingoism’ is a difficult task and a foreign sentiment at CNN, where jingoism is strictly reserved for the Israeli flag. If Bush is on the good side of Sharon, they will put in a plug for the administration. If Sharon is having a temper tantrum, they will suddenly assume an ‘international’ tone and bring in an ‘expert’ from the Israeli lobby to challenge the wisdom of American foreign policy and demand an immediate invasion of Iraq or Iran.
8. A concerted effort is made by CNN to defame Arabs and Muslims, malign the French, ignore the Canadians, dismiss European public opinion, never mention Latin America unless there is a riot, avoid Asia and Africa as distant planets and generally focus on ‘global events as seen through Yiddish eyes’. Thus, CNN’s world view is focused on America, Israel and ‘terrorists’. As part of the Israeli lobby, the management at CNN strives to be more Israeli than those who daily spill the blood of innocent Palestinians. After all, they reason, CNN management is in air-conditioned offices in Atlanta; while their Israeli cousins have to do the daily brutal task of tormenting and humiliating the Palestinians. That is how they talk amongst themselves at the very Yiddish CNN. And Sharon will be the first to slap them down if they sway from the party line. One of the ways Sharon handles CNN management is to remind them that, no matter how Yiddish they think they are, they do not sent their kids to the Israeli army.
9. CNN adheres to the New York Times standard of publishing outright lies in enough volume to drown out any possible encounter with the truth. Deception is an essential skill in the craft of journalism as practiced at these two mass media outlets. If the media consumer has a problem with CNN’s canards, they are advised by CNN management to imitate Rupert Murdoch who established his own network and manufactures his very own tabloid version of Mossad canards.
10. Truth is an optional ingredient when fabricating CNN news. As a general rule, the CNN agenda takes precedence over any worries about veracity. And the CNN agenda is Israel First, Israel Second, America Third and the rest of the world can go to hell.
This is how Phil Reeves of the Independent of London, an internationally recognized British journalist, reported the very same Palestinian attack on what CNN described as an “Israeli Village north of Gaza”: Three Israelis were killed and four soldiers were reportedly injured when a gunman ambushed a convoy on an Israeli-controlled road inside Gaza near Gush Katif, a block of 18 Israeli settlements mid-way down the strip. Initial reports said the guerrilla was also killed.
Either The Independent or CNN is telling the truth. You need to decide. Someone is obviously lying. Someone is being deceptive, unethical, misleading, disseminating propaganda for a foreign entity, adhering to a political agenda, grinding an ax. Methinks it is CNN and I can prove it.
Reeves says it was a ‘settlement near Gush Katif’ in Gaza. CNN, with its abundant resources, reported an unnamed ‘Israeli village north of Gaza’. CNN said it was a suicide bomber, to get a ‘911’ spin on the story. Reeves identifies the assailant as a guerrilla with an assault weapon, a gunman who was killed by Israeli soldiers. The ‘civilian convoy’ reported by CNN certainly differs from the convoy accompanied by the Israeli military which Reeves describes. Oh, yes, and that incident ‘near Jerusalem’ that was reported on CNN, took place at the largest Israeli settlement in the West Bank.
It is not clear from the Phil Reeves account whether he has a set of teeth to match Rudy Bakhtiar’s, the CNN ancor who repeatedly aired the same false account and flashed her obnoxious ‘know it all’ smile at the viewers.
Why does CNN believe it can get away with this kind of nonsense? Because it is the only kind of journalism they practice in Atlanta. Is there a secret pact between CNN and the Israeli government or is it there just an unofficial agreement between ideologically compatible propagandists? Is Walter Isaccson a Mossad operative or an independent Yiddish supremacist doing his part to vilify the Palestinians and squash their struggle for liberty? If Rudy Bakhtiar had no teeth, could she still lie through her gums? When a media company as large as CNN/AOL/Time Warner is willing to be a conduit for IDF spin, should you worry even if you don’t care about Israelis or Palestinians? Yes, indeed. What lies would they tell to cover up accounting scandals that might effect the value of their stock or the political intrigue that accompanied the merger of AOL and Time Warner? Would they lie about Enron and GE and IBM? Would they cut deals with the Bush administration to protect Israel Firsters who served under Clinton? Is CNN a place you should go to for news? Just as well to get it straight at the source, from the IDF press release.
Mr. Ahmed Amr is Editor of NileMedia.com in Seattle and a regular contributor to Media Monitors Network (MMN).
