AUTHOR SPEAKS: Story of Iran tagging Jews was "opinion piece"

[Harper_is_Bush]

***IRAN WAR AGI-PROP ALERT***

Most have heard that the National Post - the flagship daily of an international media conglomerate - ran a frontpage story on Friday claiming that Iran had passed a law requring Jews to wear yellow arm bands.
It was accompanied by pictures of Jews during Nazi reign with the Nazi insignia.

The story was shown to be completely false before 5pm the day it ran, but not before several world leaders and internet blogs had bashed Iran and made comparisons to Nazi Germany. Many other news organizations picked up the story and many outraged editorials appeared in Saturday editions.

The National Post (being a rightwing neo-con POS) of course blamed the Author of the story.

Now the author is blaming the post.

From Wikipedia:

Amir Taheri made a statement on May 22 saying the National Post story he authored was used by "a number of reports that somehow jumped the gun" and that he stands by the article. Amir states he raised the issue "not as a news story" but rather "as an opinion column ("PRESS RELEASE: AMIR TAHERI ADDRESSES QUERIES ABOUT DRESS CODE STORY").<3>.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Iranian_sumptuary_law_controversy

Track back that Wiki entry to learn about the National Post.

This is your enemy.

[babylonsister]

1. No shit. Drop it. It is worth less than nothing. nt

[Name removed]

3. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. What do you bet that rw pundits repeat this down the road

as fact.

[Nevernose]

6. I heard one of those pundits TODAY on the Hannity radio show

I was switching between my CD, my FM, and AM, and the AM station has on some psycho ranting about this very issue.

It's like a car wreck. I don't want to hear this shit, but every so often I'm exposed to it, and I can't help but pay attention. Funny, though -- I go out of my way not to look at car wrecks.

[Harper_is_Bush]

12. That's interesting. I've been pushing this for a couple days now

and had a couple answers of "Who's the National Post? Never heard of them or this story".

Well, folks better pay attention because this story is going to be referenced more and more in all the typical rightwing blogs and media sources that influence Americans unless it's loudly denounced.

So far the denouncing has been pretty quiet.

[Nevernose]

13. It might of been Friday, to be honest

But let's face it: I'm a liberal, and therefore used to take a lot drugs :).

The senitment's still the same, though, and I'm sure the more times it's repeated on RW radio, the more "truthiness" it will receive.

[tuvor]

4. Op-eds don't get the front page headline. n/t

[Harper_is_Bush]

9. No shit, eh?

The National Post is respected MSM, even though they are openly known as Conservative.

This was shitty, but the fact that they're basically ignoring it (no apology or REAL retraction) is worse.

Now they've blamed the author, and the author has blamed them.

:popcorn:

[Harper_is_Bush]

5. If you read the Wiki link in the OP, be aware of this:

It says:
"The National Post later retracted Wattie's original article "
but they have not.

All they did was print a follow up story titled "Iranian embassy denies dress code" which basically blamed this author, even though THEY are the ones who decided to turn it into a front page breaking news item that reverberated around the world.

Here's the pathetic so-called "retraction":
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=38b84a95-622e-4830-9a57-ed004fe805ec&k=31543
someone tell me, which part of that is a retraction?

[Jazz2006]

10. It doesn't actually seem to blame the author...

and it does set out a pretty robust rebuttal to the original article.

But I agree that it does not amount to a "retraction".

[Harper_is_Bush]

11. Yes it does. You must have missed this part:

"A news story and column by Iranian-born analyst Amir Taheri "

They refer to the story in their own paper in the first sentence as "reports", making it sound like more than one agency was reporting it. Then they squarely give ownership to BOTH stories in their paper to Amir Taheri, even though the front page news item was their decision.

And although they go on to present the contrary reports, at no point do they ever say they were wrong (or even that Amir was wrong). They present it only as if there is controversy over the issue.

You have been beat by the black op apparently!

[Monk06]

14. I sent a comment about the original story to the NP editor.......

I told them the story was a hoax and they were
either dupes or were channeling Doctor Zin
from Regime Change Iran Dot Com.

I also asked when they would be publishing stories
by Ahmed Chalabi.

In summery I mentioned that I was a free lance business
writer and if I couldn't trust the NP with political
reporting I could not trust the FP with business reporting.

They also solicit corrections to their stories from their
READERS !!! There were 18 reader submitted corrections to
various stories on their corrections page !!!

What are they paying their editors for? They're
obviously tabloid whores or grossly incompetent.

[Jazz2006]

15. Oh, please.

I've "been beat by the black op"???

What the hell are you on about?

They acknowledge front and centre that they published it, for crying out loud.

And they are solely responsible for what they publish, obviously.

I think you're reading far more into it than what it actually there.

And I reiterate that I agree that it's less than a retraction, which it should have been.

If you want to keep slagging me, even though I'm on your side, for expressing my take on it which doesn't mesh 100% with yours, well, knock yourself out.

But don't ask me for help next time, if what you really want is nothing less than sycophantic agreement with everything you say. I don't do sycophant. For anyone. Ever.

[Harper_is_Bush]

18. Very sorry.

Didn't mean to insult you. It is clear to me that they're laying the article at the doorstep of the author.

I never asked you for anything in regards to this topic and I think it's pretty classless to bring up that I did in any event. Don't worry I won't ask you for anything again. Ever.

[Jazz2006]

20. Me, too.

My apologies for over-reacting to the "black op" bit in my last post.

Sorry about that ~ I must have thought I was in the 9/11 forum for a moment :D

[JVS]

7. I look forward to the creation of a third category

Then we will have News, opinion, and speculation!

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dipsydoodle]

16. Politely put it's like mud -

crap like that sticks and the residue will re-appear at a later date as though it were true.
Another false urban legend has been born unfortunately.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

17. Stupidity of the first order on the part of the Post

Firstly, it would have been easy to check, and it's the kind of too-bad-to-be-true story that especially merits checking.

Secondly, printing lies like this will stir up support for the Iranian government, and make people less inclined to pay heed to the many genuine reasons it's so awful.

Always check your facts, and *always* give the Devil his due.

[Harper_is_Bush]

19. St. Petersburg Times prints a correction for it's editorial:

Correction: Iran story discredited
By Times editorial
Published May 23, 2006

A Saturday editorial condemning Iran was based on a report in a Canadian newspaper that has since been discredited.

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/05/23/Opinion/Correction__Iran_stor.shtml

That's more than the National Disgrace...er..Post has done.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

21. Didn'tcha Know? Opinion Peices Are Always On The Front Page.

That's how it works right? No? It doesn't? Oh. My bad.