snapped shot

Whenever they're in a pinch, the Party of God never fails to ratchet up God's Propaganda. The United ... make that Useless Nations does nothing to stop it. How else will they live up to their name and reputation, after all?



I will say, what's really disgusting is the obviously-photoshopped scowl on Ehud Olmert's face. I mean, it's not like there are any pictures showing him in full scowl in real life or anything, right? Continue reading »

Chris Anderson isn't going to like this report from Harvard (PDF, h/t LGF):

An open society becomes the victim of its own openness. During the war, no Hezbollah secrets were disclosed, but in Israel secrets were leaked, rumors spread like wildfire, leaders felt obliged to issue hortatory appeals often based on incomplete knowledge, and journalists were driven by the fire of competition to publish and broadcast unsubstantiated information. A closed society conveys the impression of order and discipline; an open society, buffeted by the crosswinds of reality and rumor, criticism and revelation, conveys the impression of disorder, chaos and uncertainty, but this impression can be misleading.

Charles points out, as I have on previous occasions, that the press felt no need to question Hezbullah's statements and public presentation. The very same press that accepted Nasrallah's talking points verbatim could be found questioning every statement released by Israel, and reporting every rumour about the IDF as fact.

How's that for "fair and balanced" coverage?

The press failed miserably in the Israel/Lebanon war. Instead of acting as the arbiters of debate, and trying to provide a factual pictures of events on the ground, they allowed themselves to be used as propagandists.

Chris likes to counter that the U.S. Army puts the same restrictions on reporters that Hezbullah did. If that's the case, Chris, then how do you explain this story getting out into the general public? If our Army were as censored as you like to suggest that it was, wouldn't stuff like that never hit the news?

If the press were interested in the "truth," I think we would've seen more skeptical coverage of Hezbullah in last summer's war. Like, for starters, perhaps asking them why they insist on hiding behind civilians.

See also: Hyscience, The Jawa Report, Ace of Spades HQ, EU Referendum, Michelle Malkin.

True art? Sounds vaguely familiar...

To nobody's surprise, the U.S. Treasury Department has designated the Hezbullah-affiliated group Jihad al-Binaa as a terrorist-supporting organization (h/t MEMRI). Snapped Shot readers may recall that "Construction Jihad" was pegged early on as a propaganda effort at best, something which has been reinforced more recently by complaints from local residents.

Terror-supporting organizations, setting up front groups to bolster their support and launder their cash? The shock!

I'm happy to see a delightful little bout of commonsense from our Government on this occasion.

Here's an enlightening look behind the curtain over at Reuters' Middle-East department.

When he was called from holiday to the Lebanon war he learned that several stringers on the front line in the south did not have Reuters cameras. Two office computers had viruses and were infecting others. No FTP server was available for accessing pictures for editing, so photographers were filing to the private email of the Beirut chief photographer. He didn't have the password so he couldn't access pictures directly. Add to that the fact that no one in the Beirut photo operation could write acceptable captions, and that he found someone unqualified and unauthorised in the office accessing the pictures, and the nature of the task he faced in the middle of a war begins to emerge.
...
Outgunned, beset by equipment problems and technical difficulties, swamped by the flow of pictures—many gory to the extreme—he worked all day and into the nights to select, edit, caption and file. Was it possible to have complete oversight in such conditions? Is it surprising two tampered pictures got through? He accepts responsibility for not spotting them, but could he not have expected backup from the Singapore photo desk? And if he didn't give the right answer at first when the questions began, was he protecting himself or someone else in the bureau?

Blaming the institution for the problems isn't exactly a new thing, but there's probably quite a bit of validity to what John's saying. To me, though, the issue now becomes one of identifying where the buck stops best. Are senior Reuters managers merely incompetent with financial planning? Or are they so institutionally biased against Israel that they don't recognize obvious propaganda when they see it?

Don't miss out on the comments, though. Eyal says it best: In some places people know how to manipulate the media – they know how to act and what is expected from them so that the photographer will get a good shot.

Update: Well shiver me timbers! It doesn't happen often, but I definitely celebrate when it does. Many thanks to the all-knowing AllahPundit for the generous hat tip and the kind words!

Chad at Freedom Zone has an excellent writeup on the myths surrounding Hezbullah's past charity drive that is well worth reading. Specifically,

The second myth this destroys is how Hezbollah intends to fight its war against both Israel/Infidels and the Lebanese government. The myth is that Hezbollah cares for the Shia in Lebanon and has the interest of all of Lebanon in their sights. The reality is far more mundane. They are camera prostitutes, selling their bodies for photos and television reports to confuse the world as to their intentions. Stick a camera in their faces in any of the rather obvious staged photo shoots, they greet you with open arms. Catch them off guard and they will forcefully tell you to cease with the photography. When all cameras are gone, they get back to what they do best, sowing seeds of hatred by mass deception.

Thank you for the very insightful article, Chad! You've masterfully put to words something I've only been thinking for a while.

... when the press attention starts to fade, we learn that Hezbullah's intentions were less than pure? The shock!! (h/t LGF). Mental note to you Leftists for your future reference: Charity done for the sake of attention is never genuine! It certainly never benefits the citizens it's intended to help.

Charity for the sake of the camera.

This Hezbollah stronghold would soon rise again, the leaders of both the town and the militant group's building arm, Construction Jihad, said defiantly.

More than five months later, however, with winter here and Lebanon's government enmeshed in political crisis, the tractors are gone, the army of men has disappeared and Bint Jbail's town center still resembles Dresden after World War II.

"They told us everything was going to be rebuilt soon," Mr. Seyed said Tuesday, speaking of town leaders. "They're not doing anything now. We want to build but they won't let us. They promise to pay us, but they don't. All we want is our homes back and they won't even let us have them!"