Tuesday, January 09, 2007
What's it All About, Jamil?
This guy's name has been published in papers around the world for months. His title and location were given by the AP in the stories as the source for the information. The man has been working in the same location probably traveling to/from work by the same route every day for the last year plus. If his remarks were an issue, I'm sure someone would have killed him by now. It's not like he has ever had a paid security contingent to see him safely about his duties. And it's not like they would have helped much if he were in danger. Men of much higher distinction than he is are gunned down every day in Baghdad. Did the AP put him in danger by not using a pseudonym in their reports and id'ing him as such? Or is he really in no more danger than the average Iraqi cop? Malkin knew less about him than the AP did, and reported no more than they (how could she), or are you claiming she is more widely read than the AP; therefore, Jamil is more widely known after her reportage than the APs? That is the only way her reporting could have “put his life in danger.”
The initial problem with the stories was not the mouthpiece. It was the verbage flowing forth. No other news sites reported the carnage that he claimed. The Iraqi government denied the claims of carnage that he reported and several of the AP’s own "corroborating sources" denied having talked to the AP or having sourced these stories. It was logical to question whether the Jamil source would also deny either sourcing the stories or the contents of the stories themselves. Every one of the “sources” seems to have gone on record one way or the other except Jamil. To date, the damage at the mosques has not been confirmed and the alleged victim's families have not aired the usual grievances against either the Iraqis or the US. This is pretty unusual for a potentially incendiary incident in the mid east. How do they expect to be compensated for their losses by the government as is middle-eastern custom, if they haven’t come forward?
The wire services usually all report on the same incidents and stories each day in multiple releases, so why are the stories by Jamil only covered by the AP? Surely the sources for other news outlets heard about the incidents, yet no reports surfaced that weren't referenced back to the original reportage by the AP. Why did they allow the AP to scoop all of the Jamil stories? Why did the AP stories change from release to release and why are the releases still being "tweaked" to this day? Did the AP rush rumors and gossip to press as news just for the scoop value? Is that the new standard for wire stories?
The initial problem with the stories was not the mouthpiece. It was the verbage flowing forth. No other news sites reported the carnage that he claimed. The Iraqi government denied the claims of carnage that he reported and several of the AP’s own "corroborating sources" denied having talked to the AP or having sourced these stories. It was logical to question whether the Jamil source would also deny either sourcing the stories or the contents of the stories themselves. Every one of the “sources” seems to have gone on record one way or the other except Jamil. To date, the damage at the mosques has not been confirmed and the alleged victim's families have not aired the usual grievances against either the Iraqis or the US. This is pretty unusual for a potentially incendiary incident in the mid east. How do they expect to be compensated for their losses by the government as is middle-eastern custom, if they haven’t come forward?
The wire services usually all report on the same incidents and stories each day in multiple releases, so why are the stories by Jamil only covered by the AP? Surely the sources for other news outlets heard about the incidents, yet no reports surfaced that weren't referenced back to the original reportage by the AP. Why did they allow the AP to scoop all of the Jamil stories? Why did the AP stories change from release to release and why are the releases still being "tweaked" to this day? Did the AP rush rumors and gossip to press as news just for the scoop value? Is that the new standard for wire stories?
Labels: reporting
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