[IMC-Editorial] RE: "honestreporting" correction

Fri Nov 1 17:43:11 PST 2002

Well, A. Thomas, as an honestreporting.com subscriber, all i can say is;

*	I suppose mistakes happen

*	and,  if you sup with the Devil, use a long spoon.

Perhaps you should post prominent disclaimers on your web pages. I went to
you web site and to me, too, it just looked like some frothing anti-Semitic
creep doing a bit of opportunistic Jew-baiting in cyber-space. Not an on
line libertarian committed to free (if somewhat naive) speech.

Suppose you were a victim of the baddies, too

Chris parsons

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	A. Thomas [SMTP:akt256 at yahoo.com]
> Sent:	Thursday, 24 October 2002 9:02 AM
> To:	action at honestreporting.com
> Cc:	honestreporting at tifl.com; levine at tifl.com;
> imc-editorial at lists.indymedia.org; imc-legal at lists.indymedia.org
> Subject:	"honestreporting" correction
> 
> How does it reflect on self-appointed "media monitors" when one of their
> reports misrepresents a posting on a message board as indicative of the
> service provider? This kind of misrepresentation borders on the libelous.
> 
> ***
> In your October 15 "communique", you state that "one media org blames
> Israel for everything from the DC sniper to the Bali bombings.
> 
> The report states :
> 
> At the risk of giving publicity to a web-rag, here's something so wacko
> that we can't let it pass. Indymedia.org reports that the Israeli Mossad
> is a prime suspect behind the string of sniper killings in the Washington,
> D.C. area.
> <http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=208531>
> Another "report" on Indymedia.org claims that the bombing of the Bali
> nightclub was "a Mossad terror operation."
> 
> Indymedia describes itself as "a network of collectively run media outlets
> for the creation of radical, objective, and passionate tellings of the
> truth." 
> 
> Perhaps the consumer public could be a better judge of that.
> 
> Comments to:
> imc-editorial at lists.indymedia.org
> <mailto:imc-editorial at lists.indymedia.org>
> IndyMedia400 at hotmail.com <mailto:IndyMedia400 at hotmail.com>
> 
> ***
> 
> This is of course incorrect to anybody who bothered to pay a little bit of
> attention to the website.   The posting cited, #208531 was "published" on
> the site's "open publishing newswire", which is open for anybody on the
> internet to place something. This "open newswire" is essentially an open
> format message board that anybody can post to in the hopes of generating
> original news and commentary.   As with anything on the internet, this
> will result in a lot of spam/garbage - like the "article" you
> misrepresented. 
> 
> Honestreporting.com stated that "Indymedia.org reports..." - Indymedia
> does not "report" anything.   There is no staff, no permanent
> organization, and no specific "Indymedia" content.   Saying that something
> put on an open message board is "reported" by that website (especially
> when it is not linked to in the center column of the site) is hardly
> *honest*, and severely calls into question Honestreporting.org's
> committment to factual representation.   Likewise, stating that "one media
> org blam es..." is as every bit a misrepresentation.
> 
> The only report regarding the Bali bombing that was worked on at all by
> Indymedia volunteers is the center column story ("feature") that is from
> the Melbourne Indymedia and was published on the global site on October
> 20. 
> 
> That "feature" is available at 
> 
> <http://www.indymedia.org/archive/features/2002/10/2002-10.html#5557>
> 
> People have every right to be angry over the obviously false content in
> the posting regarding Mossad.   Your claims and representation of the
> posting, however, are as every bit as false. Even the slightest bit of
> critical scrutiny showed that the posting was ridiculous.   The "author"
> was posted as one Philip Agee.   There is an actual person with that name
> who is a former CIA agent (read the Playboy interview at
> http://www.connix.com/~harry/ag ee.htm
> <http://www.connix.com/~harry/agee.htm>) who is critical of U.S. foreign
> policy.   The name was a tip-off enough for anybody the least bit familiar
> with recent history that the posting was a sick joke.
> 
> Moreover, you take advantage of your readers ignorance of the internet and
> the varying types of posted formats (e.g. "open publishing" message board
> format) through such misrepresentation, directing their understandable
> anger and energy in no direction.   You may as well send a "communique" on
> the latest crap people spew on the yahoo message boards - they are all the
> same in terms of hate spam. Then again, when some of the comments from
> your readers include such equivalent hate like "fuck you arab m onkeys",
> it makes me fear for all of humanity.
> 
> You also betray your readers trust in your promises that "HonestReporting
> will never share your e-mail address with anyone" though the email address
> you directed them to, imc-editorial at lists.indymedia.org
> <mailto:imc-editorial at lists.indymedia.org>, is a publicly archived email
> list available at
> <http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-editorial/2002-October/date
> .html> which is acknowledged as pub lic by the Indymedia organization at
> <http://lists.indymedia.org/>.
> 
> More information is available below.
> 
> Indymedia FAQ
> 
> <http://process.indymedia.org/faq.php3>
> 
> Description of open publishing:
> 
> <http://www.cat.org.au/maffew/cat/openpub.html>
> 
> Investigative report on "pro-Israel" hard-right PR foundations
> 
> <http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=13804>
> 
> I believe you owe an apology both to your readers and suscribers, and to
> the Indymedia network as well. There is also an Israel IMC (
> <http://indymedia.org.il>) for those who are interested.
> 
> Thank you very much.
> 
> A. Tarmon
> 
> 
> 
> 
>   _____  
> 
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> web site

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