Journalists you trust/admire/respect etc
- Thread starter luka
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- craner for fisk sake
Leo
Well-known member
yeah, plenty of them. a newspaper like the ny times tends to be left-leaning on the opinion pages and with some of their feature coverage but the hard news reporters are straight shooters, as much as humanly possible. I know a few of them personally. it's easy to sit back and take shots at the media in broad strokes, and don't get me wrong, some of them truly are corrupted, biased or just lazy. but important work is still being done.
the paper has a few two-minute videos under their branding campaign "the truth is worth it" on different investigative stories they've broken in the recent past, thankful someone is still making this sort of effort.
the paper has a few two-minute videos under their branding campaign "the truth is worth it" on different investigative stories they've broken in the recent past, thankful someone is still making this sort of effort.
version
Well-known member
Anyone have any thoughts on this? @DannyL ?
www.counterpunch.org
The Smearing of Robert Fisk...Now That He Can't Defend Himself
Something remarkable even by the usually dismal standards of the stenographic media blue-tick brigade has been happening in the past few days. Leading journalists in the corporate media have suddenly felt the urgent need not only to criticise the late, much-respected foreign correspondent Robert...
www.counterpunch.org
Are they smears if they're true though? There are lots of people saying he couldn't speak Arabic as he claimed, and that he made up lots of his stories. For me, I've been hugely disappointed to see him basically put out Assad regime propaganda with regard to Syria. I had a big argument on here about that with Droid - after the Douma gassing, Fisk penned a story claiming it was a dust cloud. if you read it closely, you can see he only has one witness, a local doctor. Seems absolutely cast iron to me that this was a story pushed by the regime that he chose to push, idk why.
Anyone who says anything positive or contributes to the propaganda efforts of that regime is fucked. It's an active fascist regime, waist deep in bloody.
More neutrally, I used to like him bitd, read his huge book. But reflecting on it, there's a bit of a problem with that model - the Western interpreter with the magisterial gaze. I think it's better to read a lot of local voices if you want to understand what's going on in any specific country.
Anyone who says anything positive or contributes to the propaganda efforts of that regime is fucked. It's an active fascist regime, waist deep in bloody.
More neutrally, I used to like him bitd, read his huge book. But reflecting on it, there's a bit of a problem with that model - the Western interpreter with the magisterial gaze. I think it's better to read a lot of local voices if you want to understand what's going on in any specific country.
version
Well-known member
No, that's why I said "apparent" smears. I don't know enough about him to say either way.
linebaugh
Well-known member
articles to get me clued in on syria?
This was written a few years ago: https://pulsemedia.org/2016/12/03/robert-fisks-crimes-against-journalism/
Oz Kateri has written a piece since his passing: https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/december-2020/fabricator-fraudster/
Oz Kateri has written a piece since his passing: https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/december-2020/fabricator-fraudster/
Do you want books instead? I can suggest Twitter people to follow also.
Huge subject and I've not been keeping up myself.
Sorry, missed that.
I mean, I cannot express my contempt strongly enough for anyone who propagandizes for Assad. It's like doing PR for Pol Pot.
linebaugh
Well-known member
fire away
Okay:
Robin Yassin-Kassab & Lelia Al-Shami "Burning Country" - really deep well researched one volume study that's been updated to about 2018 (I think - haven't seen the new edition). Gives a lot of background detail on the regime and the country. You should have a look at this essay, The Anti-Imperialism of Fools by LAS which goes some way to explain how deluded a lot of the Western Left are about the ME.
We Crossed A Bridge and It Trembled - Wendy Pearlman - a collection of interviews with Syrian expats, dealing the regime, the revolution, the war. The early chapters are very inspirational, which makes what follows even more heartbreaking. One of the main things to bear in mind is that this was genuinely a huge revolution from below, which led to a huge outpouring of creativity and optimism which the regime has set about murdering. The country will never really get back on its feet IMO as they've effectively murdered or sent into exile an entire generation.
You can see a first hand account of all this in "For Sama" (Waad Al-Kateab/Edward Watts) which is absolutely essential viewing. Waed shot footage throughout the revolution and its suppression, working in a hospital regularly targeted by bombing (a war crime btw - targeting of vital infrastructure has been a regular thing in the war, denied by regime propagandists but well, here it is, on film). Interview here.
You should also watch Syria's Disappeared: the Case Against Assad. - but you'll need a strong stomach. This is an account of the "Caesar photographs" - 6000 photos of victims of torture and murder smuggled out of Syria, that provide first hand evidence of how barbaric the regime is. Shocking stuff. It's lead to in absentia prosecutions of regime officials that are ongoing in Spain and Germany IIRC. - https://www.dw.com/en/german-joins-lawsuits-against-syrian-torture-regime-in-legal-first/a-55558227
Mazan Al-Hameda, one of the protagonists of that documentary who gives his testimony and account of torture has returned to Syria and since disappeared.
The site is a pretty good news aggregator of the latest stories: https://notris.blogspot.com/
It's a huge topic and there's lots of different angles - you almost have to select an angle of approach - propaganda/counter-propaganda, ISIS and their defeat/pushback, war crimes and denial, (most notably the ongoing war over the gassing in Douma that I mentioned re. Fisk above). Russian imperialism, bombing, mercenaries etc. . One of the aspects that most interests me is the actual revolution itself and how people slipped outside the grasp of the state and lived independently for a good few years, under the harshest of conditions (starvation sieges etc)
Let me know if you have any questions.
Robin Yassin-Kassab & Lelia Al-Shami "Burning Country" - really deep well researched one volume study that's been updated to about 2018 (I think - haven't seen the new edition). Gives a lot of background detail on the regime and the country. You should have a look at this essay, The Anti-Imperialism of Fools by LAS which goes some way to explain how deluded a lot of the Western Left are about the ME.
We Crossed A Bridge and It Trembled - Wendy Pearlman - a collection of interviews with Syrian expats, dealing the regime, the revolution, the war. The early chapters are very inspirational, which makes what follows even more heartbreaking. One of the main things to bear in mind is that this was genuinely a huge revolution from below, which led to a huge outpouring of creativity and optimism which the regime has set about murdering. The country will never really get back on its feet IMO as they've effectively murdered or sent into exile an entire generation.
You can see a first hand account of all this in "For Sama" (Waad Al-Kateab/Edward Watts) which is absolutely essential viewing. Waed shot footage throughout the revolution and its suppression, working in a hospital regularly targeted by bombing (a war crime btw - targeting of vital infrastructure has been a regular thing in the war, denied by regime propagandists but well, here it is, on film). Interview here.
You should also watch Syria's Disappeared: the Case Against Assad. - but you'll need a strong stomach. This is an account of the "Caesar photographs" - 6000 photos of victims of torture and murder smuggled out of Syria, that provide first hand evidence of how barbaric the regime is. Shocking stuff. It's lead to in absentia prosecutions of regime officials that are ongoing in Spain and Germany IIRC. - https://www.dw.com/en/german-joins-lawsuits-against-syrian-torture-regime-in-legal-first/a-55558227
Mazan Al-Hameda, one of the protagonists of that documentary who gives his testimony and account of torture has returned to Syria and since disappeared.
The site is a pretty good news aggregator of the latest stories: https://notris.blogspot.com/
It's a huge topic and there's lots of different angles - you almost have to select an angle of approach - propaganda/counter-propaganda, ISIS and their defeat/pushback, war crimes and denial, (most notably the ongoing war over the gassing in Douma that I mentioned re. Fisk above). Russian imperialism, bombing, mercenaries etc. . One of the aspects that most interests me is the actual revolution itself and how people slipped outside the grasp of the state and lived independently for a good few years, under the harshest of conditions (starvation sieges etc)
Let me know if you have any questions.
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It's probably worth mentioning a few specific areas - the Kurdish area of Rojava has been lionised by the Western left as a kind of anarchist republic. It's had a fair few Westerners turn up their to fight, though I'm not sure what the latest news is. Opposed by Erdogan obvs.
Rukban refugee camp is an ongoing human rights open sore. Would be delighted but v surprsied if the incoming Biden administration took an interest.
Rukban refugee camp is an ongoing human rights open sore. Would be delighted but v surprsied if the incoming Biden administration took an interest.
Corbyn was on Zoom this week, waving his big book around, said he was his go to first reference on the Middle East.
Another piece on Syria for Linebaugh: No, the War in Syria is not over (this piece mentions Raed Fares - he's worth looking up. Something of a hero of mine);
Another piece on Syria for Linebaugh: No, the War in Syria is not over (this piece mentions Raed Fares - he's worth looking up. Something of a hero of mine);
luka
Well-known member
He said droid still likes Robert Frisk
craner
Beast of Burden
What, as in you like him now?