I think it's time to have an annual Duranty Award to the news outlet which has done the most to cover up for thuggish rulers while undermining those who fight to protect Western civilization and its values. It's a hard call this year, but for chutzpah alone, Reuters gets my nomination this year.

Not cowed by the  Lebanese photoshop scandal or the staging at Qana so well detailed by EU Referendum, it has tried to pull yet another propaganda trick. Little Green Footballs writes:

As noted in our first post about the Reuters vehicle purportedly hit by an Israeli missile (or two Israeli missiles, depending on which news service you read), the wire services were playing games with the identity of the в£њnews agencyв£ќ that employed Sabbah Hmaida, injured in the incident along with Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana.

Hmaida (alternate spelling: Sabah Hemeida) was reported to be working for: 1) a local news web site, 2) an Arabic network, 3) Palestinian Media Group, and 4) Dubai TV.

I wrote at the time, I detect the scent of fish.

LGF quotes Caroline Glick's followup:

Conveniently, the same day the PA released the men who its own forces had kidnapped, Reuters reported that the IDF had shot a missile at its press vehicle and wounded two cameramen — one from Reuters and one from Iranian World TV network — while they were en route to a battle taking place between IDF forces and Palestinian terrorists. Reuters, which is demanding an independent investigation into the attack, is portraying its cameraman Fadel Shada as an embattled hero who would do anything to bring the truth to the world.

Yet it is unclear why anyone should believe either Shana or Reuters. Shana told Reuters that as he was driving to the battle scene, "I suddenly saw fire and the doors of the jeep flew open." He claims to have been wounded by shrapnel in his hand and leg. These are minor injuries for someone whose vehicle was just hit by a missile.

But then, the photographs taken of his vehicle after the purported missile attack give no indication that the car was hit by anything. There is a gash on the roof. The hood is bent out of shape. But nothing seems to have been burned. Cars hit by missiles do not look like they have just been in a nasty accident. Cars hit by missiles are destroyed.

Yet the glass on the windshield and the windows of Shana's vehicle isn't even shattered. In the photographs taken of Shana on the way to the hospital in Gaza, he lies on a stretcher, eyes closed, arm extended in full pieta mode. He is not visibly bleeding although there are some blood stains on his shirt, but then his undershirt is completely white.

I did not see these pictures in the media coverage of the purported IDF attack on the Reuters and Iranian cameramen. I saw them on Powerlineblog Web site. I did not see any questions raised from either the Israeli or the international media on the veracity of Shana's tale, which of course, provides a nice balance to the Centanni—Wiig hostage story.

 AS IS the case with the Palestinian war against Israel, one of the most notable aspects of Hizbullah's latest campaign against Israel has been the active collaboration of news organizations and international NGO's in Hizbullah's information war against Israel. Like their rogue state sponsors, subversive sub—national groups like Hizbullah, Fatah and Hamas, see information operations as an integral part of their war for the annihilation of Israel and defeat of the West. And their information operations are more advanced than any the world has seen. As becomes more evident with each passing day, they have successfully corrupted both the world media and the community of NGOs that purportedly operate in a neutral manner in war zones. 

Who needs armed forces when you can win with lying press reportage?
 
Clarice Feldman   8 28 06