Media giants apologize for remarks about Israel
New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, Reuters apologize for “drunken tirade against Israel” and blame BD Syndrome.
Several media giants issued a lengthy apology Sunday for “despicable” coverage of the Israeli-Hesbollah war. The New York Times and Washington Post newspapers, and the Reuters and Associated Press news wires, claimed to suffer from “Bush Derangement Syndrome”.
The media apology comes after Internet bloggers criticized their remarks about Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah rocket launchers in Qana. Bloggers argued that media reports about the Qana bombing hid or misrepresented the facts, and that this encouraged terrorism and the use of human shields.
The following is the complete text of the media group’s statement regarding their writing about Israel while under the influence of BDS:
After drinking alcohol on Friday night, we wrote a number of things that were very wrong and for which we are ashamed. We wrote news stories when we shouldn’t have, and were confronted by Internet bloggers. The bloggers were just doing their jobs and we feel fortunate that we were confronted before we further encouraged terrorists to use human shields.
We acted like a media completely out of control when we wrote about Qana, and said things that we do not believe to be truthy and which are despicable. We are deeply ashamed of everything we wrote and we apologize to anyone who we have offended.
Also, we take this opportunity to apologize to Israel for our belligerent behavior. Rich Jewish bankers and zionist elders have always been there for us in our business and indeed probably saved us from bankruptcy. We disgraced ourselves and our reporters with our behavior and for that we are truly sorry.
We have battled Bush Derangement Syndrome for all of the past 10 years and profoundly regret our horrific relapse. We apologize for any behavior unbecoming of us in our deranged state and have already taken necessary steps to ensure our return to truthiness.
New York Times publicist A. Nail Boner declined to elaborate beyond the prepared media statement, and pro-Zionist bloggers declined to respond, saying the case was still under investigation.
- Qana
- “You have to read Western media accounts of the bombing of Qana, such as this account in the New York Times, very carefully to get any hint of the underlying facts. This Reuters story by Hussein Saad is worse; the reporter's glee at the presumed refutation of United States policy is palpable.”
- Jewish conspiracy theory: the satire
- “If the Jews control the media, why don’t we give ourselves better press?” Jon Stewart quipped recently on The Daily Show.
- Party of God Using Human Shields in a Christian Neighborhood
- “Those who reflexively condemn Israel when the Party of God’s strategy works (and Israel inadvertantly kills civilians) are being worse than naive; they are encouraging not just the Party of God, but other terrorist groups, to use human shields in the future, as it proves to be an effective strategy.”
- Deadly Israeli airstrike sparks fury
- “An Israeli airstrike Sunday killed at least 56 Lebanese, mostly women and children, when it leveled a building where they had taken shelter. The deadliest attack in nearly three weeks of warfare forced Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to cut short a Mideast mission and increased world pressure on the United States to back an end to the fighting.”
- Rice Abandons Middle East Negotiations
- “Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was forced to cancel a trip to Beirut Sunday after an Israeli airstrike killed more than 50 people, mostly women and children, in the southern Lebanese town of Qana in the bloodiest attack since the hostilities began between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia.”
- Deadly Israeli Attack Escalates Conflict
- “An Israeli air raid on the southern Lebanese town of Qana killed dozens of civilians today, many of them children, marking the bloodiest day of this conflict and putting enormous pressure on Israel and the United States to move rapidly toward a cease-fire.”
- Israel air strike kills 60 civilians
- “An Israeli air strike killed more than 60 Lebanese civilians, including at least 37 children, on Sunday, fuelling world pressure for a ceasefire.”
- Dozens killed in Lebanon air raid
- “More than 54 civilians, at least 34 of them children, have been killed in a town in south Lebanon in the deadliest Israeli strike of the conflict so far.”
- Mel Gibson’s statement on his DUI arrest
- The complete text of Mel Gibson’s statement regarding his arrest for investigation of driving under the influence of alcohol.
- Mel Gibson apologizes for DUI arrest
- “Mel Gibson issued a lengthy statement Saturday apologizing for his drunk driving arrest and saying he has battled alcoholism throughout his life.”