They Think Readers are Stupid
Dear editor,
It’s not often that I write a letter to your paper but this occasion is so compelling I can’t help it. Your article with the blazing headline "A New Face of Jihad Vows Attacks" is- I say with regret- a complete farce. In the email the paper issues to loyal readers- you enlarge on the headline by warning us as follows, "A New Face of Jihad Vows Attacks on the U.S." 
After clicking on the email heading, we find that the article itself proceeds to create an instant reputation for the so-called leader of this "new group" …the 50-year-old Shakir al Abssi. It is breathlessly reported that Abssi was sentenced to death in absentia for his alleged role in the assassination of the American diplomat, Laurence Foley, in Jordan in 2002.
The article makes extensive use of quotations from unnamed "intelligence officials", who seem to know how many followers this man has, how many weapons he posseses and the precise location of his "training camp". You even provide a map!!
The article says that a Times reporter managed with difficulty to obtain an interview with the man, but apparently the "intelligence officials"- who alerted the Times to this threat- can’t stop him from carrying out his planned "attacks on the U.S."
This story carries the imprint of "reporting" by Judith Miller- in her hyping of the Cheney-Bush agenda in Iraq, taking the genre to new heights. It’s as if Miller gets fired for hyping Iraq’s WMD and she is almost instantly replaced by others, who go about hyping the "new al Qaeda" and the new "attacks on the U.S.
The article reports that, "American and Middle Eastern intelligence officials say Abssi is viewed as a dangerous militant who can assemble small teams of operatives with acute military skill."
Amazing isn’t it, that The New York Times can track down this man, interview him, chat with his media advisor, (a journalism dropout), assess his military capability, locate his training center, make an inventory of his weaponry, including his "anti-aircraft gun"…and yet the "intelligence officials" who are quoted, seem helpless to stop him".
This article is a tragic example of the mainstream news media attempting to continue the Cheney-Bush fear campaign by reporting on pathetic little "terrorist" groups in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, where people are struggling to find money for food just to survive.
The journalism dropout who led your reporter to the "training camp" is the one who needs investigating. As soon as the investigation of your "reporter" is completed.
Please, editors…take a closer look at what your people are doing.
to read the piece click nytimes
The mainstream media, and the New York Times is certainly mainstream, relies more and more on hyped headlines to grab readers. I seriously doubt that the majority of people read past the headlines.
Your points, the a reporter manages to find the camp etc but that intelligence officials can no nothing, are so glaringly obvious. It begs the question ‘what were they trying to accomplish publishing fear mongering drivel like this?’
Where is the reasoned analysis? Where is the reporting? It’s absolute crap.
I know I’m getting old because I yearn for the good old days in New Brunswick when K.C. Irving controlled all the news outlets and we knew exactly how to read or listen to or watch the news. At the time it horrified me. Now it seems quite benign.
Keep giving them hell!
Sam…it simply shows how careful readers need to be on the one hand…and on the other, how useful the blogosphere can be. Thanks for pointing me in this direction.