Sunday, February 20, 2005

'Baby 81' story is another New York Times fake

"If there is a Pulitzer award for embellishing, exaggerating, and outright lying and misleading in print," he wrote, "the coverage of 'Baby 81' would merit top billing."


MANY JOURNALISTS ARE WMD'S: 'WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION'

''Never check a story: you might loose it'' ?

'Baby 81' story a media beat up

"Invented almost completely by a New York Times reporter and a host of other ill-informed journalists following her lead."

Francis Till - National Bussiness Review - New Zealand

FPF-fwd. - Feb. 21 - 2005 - According to 'Lanka Business Online', one of the most publicised stories of the Boxing Day (Christmas) tsunami 'Baby 81' was invented almost completely by a New York Times reporter and a host of other ill-informed journalists following her lead.

Google "Baby 81" and the news search engine returns over 2600 stories filed in the last month, making it one of the most covered stories in the post-tsunami period.

[HR/Google: 803.000 x 'Baby 81' today - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/6edcm ]

The basics of the story are known to almost everyone: A miraculous survivor, an infant boy tagged 'baby 81' by the hospital that received him, was pursued by nine sets of parents. The dispute was resolved only last week when a court ordered DNA test established a young Sri Lankan couple as the infant's parents.

None of it, beyond the fact that the infant survived and has, at last, been reunited with his parents, is true, according to the LBO, which calls the New York Times journalist, Somini Sengupta -- and others who followed her intitial story - "journalists of the type of Jason Blair, the New York Times reporter who made up sensational stories and eventually was forced out of his job in 2003."

On 26 January, the NYT ran a story under Ms Sengupta's byline --For Tsunami Orphan, No Name but Many Parents -- that set of a coverage frenzy. In it, Ms. Sengupta made several claims that the LBO's Amal Jayasinghe refutes.

One thing appears clear: the media attention activated the social welfare and court bureaucracy, delaying the return of the infant to his parents and causing much unnecessary grief through uncertainty.

And, like with the reasons to go to an illegal war in Iraq - [BBC/UN-http://tinyurl.com/5pl2v] - all of us, readers, listeners and viewers have been lied to, and taken for a ride again.

Why not boycot their 'Master's Voices' with all their deceptive mainstream media lies? To make up your own mind it's much better to use Internet or read Blogs!

The Media fake: 'Baby 81' - full story (and more) at - Url.:

http://forpressfound.blogspot.com/

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Alternet - 'When the Media Fake It' - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/64mob

FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
http://tinyurl.com/4ar5e
Editor : Henk Ruyssenaars
http://tinyurl.com/5uvtv
The Netherlands
FPF@Chello.nl

The Dutch author this far has worked abroad 4 decades for international media as a foreign correspondent, of which 10 years - also during Gulf War I - in the Arab World and the Middle East. (At present 'Persona non Grata' in Holland :-) + Seeing worldwide that every bullet and every bomb breeds more terrorism! - US Senator Hollings agrees: 'We have caused more terrorism than we have gotten rid of' - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/2bqza

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VENEZUELA SUNRISE ? - Touching the Revolution...

A Tequila Sunrise cocktail is topped of
with red grenadine, the color of blood.

As a journalist and 'survivor' of the US coup against president Allende in Chile - 9/11 '73 - it's with fear in my heart - but still good to see - a friend's real journalism, and read Les Blough's article at the 'Axis
of Logic' web site. Confirming in many ways what most people probably are glad about, but what many also may fear to know - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/62vtv

Les Blough, who has just returned from his visit to Venezuela, reports on the latest developments in an oil rich, democratic - and therefore embattled and endangered - country:

Quote: 'Yesterday, I returned from my first visit to
"The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela"

TOUCHING THE REVOLUTION By Les Blough, Editor

"The voice of the people is the voice of God"

- Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias, President of
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela -


I touched the revolution and its current runs through the people with such vibrancy that one cannot escape the life that emanates from its center.

My observations and interviews of many people shall serve as a basis for this series on Venezuela: Touching the Revolution.

This article will be my first effort in describing the democratic government of Venezuela, the threats to their democracy, the glorious land and the beauty and power of the Venezuelan people.

At this juncture, allow me to only say that I was totally captivated by the warmth of these Latin American friends. I was centered by their humanity, deeply impressed with their intelligence and understanding of international relations, and overwhelmed by the magnificance that is Venezuela.

In the midst of these powerful dynamics, my visit informed me about US-Venezuelan relations in ways that reach far beneath and beyond my years of reading U.S. foreign policy in Latin America." [end quote]

Also published at APFN - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/5d3pl

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FPF: Please do read Les Blough's article at the Axis of Logic web site, Url.: http://tinyurl.com/62vtv

You can also get the latest and best concerning Venezuela - in English or Spanish - at VHeadline in Caracas/Venezuela - Url.: http://vheadline.com/main.asp

For instance: when and why Mr. Bush has decided to destroy Venezuela and its democratic government - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/6kols as Bob Chapman in his report on Venezuela so clearly describes.


FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
http://tinyurl.com/4ar5e
Editor : Henk Ruyssenaars
http://tinyurl.com/5uvtv
The Netherlands
FPF@Chello.nl

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