Wednesday, June 18, 2008

They just can't resist reaching for the sensational

Further to Mark's post below, I've come to the frustrated conclusion that all too many of our supposedly sober and professional press in this country are so desperate for The! Big! Story! that they can't resist sensationalizing to get it.

Exhibit A, from the Globe and bloody Mail - here's the text:

Tuesday, the Taliban moved into villages just outside Kandahar city, as Canadian officials played down suggestions that combat was imminent between the insurgents and NATO troops.

Reports that the Taliban took over villages are greatly exaggerated, officials say.

The officials do not dispute reports of an increased insurgent presence in the Arghandab region, or reports of bombed-out culverts and planted land mines.

But they say a more accurate description of the situation in Arghandab is that the Taliban have entered a handful of villages to make their presence felt.


But look, just look at the graphic they put up beside it!



"Heavily armed Taliban fighters drove trucks, motorbikes, and other vehicles into Arghandab district, taking control of the lush valley after only minor skirmishes" (my emphasis) the header says, and a shaded section of the map says "Taliban-controlled area."

Are you f-ing kidding me?

If the Talibs have "control" of the valley, how is it that LCol Dave Corbould, CO of the 2PPCLI Battle Group in Kandahar was able to personally go in and out of Arghandab and live to tell reporters about it?

Coalition troops on Tuesday were increasing their presence in Arghandab, according to Lt.-Col. Dave Corbould, commanding officer of the battle group of 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

"It is clear that Kandahar City remains firmly under the control of the Afghan government and its people," he said.

"Indeed, having just returned from the Arghandab district centre, I can tell you that there were no obvious signs of insurgent activity," Corbould said.

"While this does not mean the Taliban are not there, they just do not appear to have the foothold that they have apparently claimed."


The gleeful exaggeration at the G&M continued with the bloviating Jeffrey Simpson stuffing both feet in his mouth at once:

In Kandahar, a brilliantly executed attack on Sarpoza Provincial Prison liberated hundreds of Taliban fighters and common criminals. A few former prisoners were later rounded up, but most now are safely scattered around the province. Subsequently, the Taliban and its supporters captured whole villages near Kandahar. [my emphasis]


Whole villages, eh, Jeffrey? Care to tell us which ones? Come on: you're asserting it as a fact, right? In direct contradiction to a light colonel who's actually on the ground, going into Arghandab himself.

I won't hold my breath waiting for the retraction.

You want to know what responsible reporting reads like? Try Rosie DiManno on for size:

One local tribal elder reported that the Taliban had taken control of 18 villages northwest of the Arghandab River and had started digging trenches for combat cover.

Certainly, the Taliban's ubiquitous spokespeople have been saying quite a lot, claiming 450 Taliban were among the fugitives who escaped from Sarposa and that nearly all have joined up with Taliban units to engage anew in jihad.

...

Although insurgents have infiltrated – rather than seized – villages in the Arghandab valley before, as recently as a year ago, they've always been repelled by ISAF and Afghan troops rumbling to the rescue.


And the National Post puts up a far more honest graphic:



So to the idiots at the Globe & Mail: show me where exactly Canadian and Afghan troops can't go in Arghandab. Because the Taliban can't be said to control a damned thing otherwise...

...except maybe a Toronto newsroom.

8 Comments:

Blogger Raphael Alexander said...

I noticed the same graphic in the Globe article, and before I wrote something about it I noted the Torch had already responded to it. The Canadian media is doing their absolute "bravest" face to pretend this war is some kind of evenly matched set, instead of the craven cowardice of the Taliban, aided and abetted by a willing media who now respond to "spokesmen". Well, there's one thing we can say about that: there sure won't be any spokeswomen any time soon.

11:08 p.m., June 18, 2008  
Blogger Jay Crawford said...

When the PPCLI (and others!) move in and KILL the Taliban stalwarts, causing the in-it-for-the-money majority to run, hide,and try sneaking back to Pakistan, how will the G & M report it?

"Taliban Deprive NATO Forces Of Tons Of Ammunition, Fuel, And Opportunity To Determine Motivation"

11:56 p.m., June 18, 2008  
Blogger Dave in Pa. said...

"Because the Taliban can't be said to control a damned thing otherwise...
...except maybe a Toronto newsroom.
"

I wouldn't say the Taliban control the Globe & Mail newsroom, or their executive offices that permit this writing. The Globe & Mail are voluntarily writing this. And IMO, it's beyond journalistic incompetence. Like their spiritual cousins at the New York Times, their pattern of willful antagonistic lies is too well established to call it that.

What do you call it when a newspaper writes columns so antagonistic to their own Country's soldiers at war and willfully make it look like the enemy is defeating them?

In a Democracy, every freedom comes paired with a duty. Freedom of the Press comes with the heavy duties of honesty, professional integrity and competence. To willfully ignore those duties is to abuse the freedom, damaging society in multiple ways.

Considering all this, the word I came up with to describe the Globe & Mail's column is "perfidy".

From the dictionary, perfidy is defined as "violation of a trust reposed", "from phrase per fidem decipere 'to deceive through trustingness'", "calculated violation of trust; treachery". I think that's pretty accurate and not hyperbole.

12:18 a.m., June 19, 2008  
Blogger Brett said...

I'd like to hear the source for the reports of 'hundreds of Taliban' in the area. I'd bet it's an Afghan source.

A good rule of thumb that I learned there: When an Afghan tells you a number of Taliban, dividing by 10 will be closer to the truth.

So in reality there's probably around 50 or so Taliban in the Arghandab.

1:48 a.m., June 19, 2008  
Blogger Nomennovum said...

Why is anyone surprised by this? The Left really does want us to lose.

It's as simple as that. Employing Occam's Razor to explain such constant casual repetition of enemy propaganda and the highlighting and exaggeration of every Western setback, large or small, can give you no other answer.

9:11 a.m., June 19, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The media, a brief lesson.

Monday’s weather . . . clouds building on the horizon, chance of rain.

Monday’s Headlines: STORM THREATENS CITY !!

Tuesday’s weather . . . scattered clods, a few sunny breaks.

Tuesday’s Headlines: CITY SAVED FROM STORM !!

With apologies to “Shipping News”

10:44 a.m., June 19, 2008  
Blogger Positroll said...

Seems like the good guys are winning without too much sweat (or allied blood):
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=599192

12:47 p.m., June 19, 2008  
Blogger Dave in Pa. said...

An update from the very latest newes, from Agence France Presse on Yahoo News:

Afghan district cleared, hundreds of Taliban casualties: governor

The article quotes the Provincial Governor as saying, "All the area is cleared of Taliban. There are hundreds of Taliban killed and wounded, the wounded are captured," Kandahar governor Asadullah Khaled told a news conference a day after an operation began in Arghandab district.

"The dead are mostly Pakistanis," he said, adding that remaining militants had fled to two nearby districts."

At the Taliban's so-quick defeat and destruction in this "offensive", the Taliban's surprise and dismay will be shared by their sympathizers at the Globe & Mail.

1:34 p.m., June 19, 2008  

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