Where Lies Truth in the Land of Lies?
Rowan Wolf
I receive news updates from the UN news wire. Yesterday a headline read "U.S. thwarts cease-fire endorsement ." A pretty damning headline indeed. With the wire information was links to two articles that supposedly published the press release. One was to an AP article at TheStar.com. The other was to a Reuters article The Globe and Mail.
The UN press release posted at SmartBrief reads as follows:
UN Wire | 01/05/2009While Arab, European and United Nations leaders have put their weight behind calls for a cease-fire in Gaza, the U.S. has blocked a Security Council statement to that effect. Globe and Mail (Toronto), The (01/03) Toronto Star, The (01/03)
Following the links, the Reuters report at Globe and Mail is titled "U.S. thwarts Libya at UN." The slant of the article implies that Libya's proposal went too far and that the U.S. refusal was not really out of line with the rest of the Security Council. Clearly not what is implied by the UN Wire release.
The AP report at The Star is titled "Arabs pressure UN on Gaza." Takes largely the same tack and spin as Reuters. Namely stating that the "Arab" countries were pushing the Security Council for a cease fire. It never even mentions that it is the U.S. that refused to vote for a cease fire.
This is a clear example of the "invisible hand" influencing what actually comes to the public eye.
It is clear from the UN Wire press release that all of the Security Council except the United States supported the cease fire proposal. In that statement, it does not frame it as "Arab" nations pushing and the Security Council refusing to be persuaded. Why then do two major news services (which are picked up by multiple major news papers as well as broadcast and cable news networks) totally reframe the events?
Welcome to freedom of the press and an informed public.
www/uncommonthought.com/mtblog/