Opuscula Media giants invited To assign reporters To Hamas target areas

THIS IS A SPECIAL INVITATION to reporters and photographers employed by The Major Media Outlets, e.g.,

ABC

BBC

CBS

CNN

LA Times

MSNBC

NY Times

The Guardian

Washington Post

to name but a few of the purveyors of half truths and outright lies to come to Israel and set up shop close to the Gaza border.

 

If that is too close for comfort, let them rent quarters in Ashkelon, Ashdod, Holon, even Tel Aviv.

I might even be willing to let a reporter stay in our guest room in Yavne, but he — or she — will not have safe room privileges.

The reporter then can get a feel for what Israelis already know.

The sirens.

The booms.

The falling debris if the Iron Dome takes out a missile, or the explosion as a missile hits if the Iron Dome somehow misses its target.

The terrified children and pets.

The traumatized adults.

The reporter can sit on the balcony and watch for unguided missiles from Gaza.

Perhaps the reporter’s credentials and PRESS vest will offer all needed protection.

An aside.

When I was in elementary school, we had bomb drills because “The Russians are coming” with atomic weapons.

In Indiana, we raced — I tumbled — down flights of stairs to the basement.

In Florida, we hid under our desks, as if THAT would do any good.

We built and stocked bomb shelters where we could.

Later, in Israel I learned that my new pals from the Ukraine were doing basically the same thing because “The Americans are coming.”

In America I was a reporter and editor. When something happened, good or bad, I had to be in the thick of things. Foolish? Perhaps.

But I reported from “Ground Zero.”

That’s all I am asking of the reporters and photographers covering Gaza’s terror attacks.

Censorship

It is my understanding that reporters and photographers in Gaza have their work heavily censored. If they displease the powers that be, they will be prevented from transmitting their copy to “the world.”

I have no doubt that Israeli censors can be as severe, but Israel is not known for abusing media people, even those biased against Israel.

Moreover, a reporter or photographer can trot his or her stuff to an embassy or consulate representing the employer’s country and file from there.

Few countries have a diplomatic presence in Gaza.

Hamas and “friends” have reporters who see Hamas (and Islamic Jihad and …) in action.

They might even see missiles being removed from UN schools and hospitals and fired from heavily populated civilian areas.

They might even report on these things assuming they get out of Gaza with their stories and photos and assuming they won’t have to go back into Gaza.

It is bad enough when people who never have BEEN to Israel repeat lies about the country, but when reporters and photographers fail to report accurately what is transpiring — they may as well be on Hamas’ payroll.

Some reporters and photographers try to be fair, but editorial boards often demand that material be slanted to suit management’s political point of view.

Hitler (left) and Goebbels (right): infamous liars

 

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

 

 

 

Comment on Media invitation

Opuscula It never could Happen back when I was a stoneman

ONE OF MY FAVORITE SOURCES of risk-related information, Advisen FPN, ran a teaser about “cyber attack on Tribune newspapers.”

ACCORDING TO THE Washington Post (http://tinyurl.com/y8eq4u2d) — I couldn’t read the LA Times article about its parent company as it requires a subscription — News operations are returning to normal for the Los Angeles Times and outlets owned by Tribune Publishing, but significant questions remain about a cyberattack that disrupted computer systems for a host of publications around the country and hampered newspaper deliveries over the weekend.

When the U.S. Air Force and I parted company c 1962, I found a job with the Orlando (FL) Sentinel-Star. At the time, the Sentinel was a 7-day morning paper and the Star was a 6-day evening paper.

My first job at the S-S was as a “bank boy,” pulling galley proofs from lead (led) type from Linotype^™ typesetting machines.

I graduated rather quickly from the “bank” to making up pages as a “stoneman.” I also set big headlines with a Ludlow machine, pulling characters from a California job case (even though the newspaper as in central Florida).

About the only “technology” at the S-S at the time was the wire machines — AP, UP, INS. (United Press [UP] and International News Service [INS] joined forces to become UPI.)

I confess I enjoyed the work, but I also felt frustrated; I thought I could write better than the guys in editorial (the newsroom). Never mind that I can’t spel^cq.

Down on the composing room floor, the main concern was water backing up from the storm sewer system when a heavy rain soaked the city. We had a table saw sitting much to close to a drain which worked in reverse when the streets flooded. (Fortunately there were more saws.)

 

I HAD TO LAUGH

 

I was amused by the Tribune Publishing’s woes. It never could have happened back when I worked in Orlando and later for Gannett’s first Today newspaper in Cocoa FL.

Cold type, a/k/a off-set printing, was making inroads into the newspaper publishing business, but large circulation papers depended on hot type (literally; 475^oF) and Letter press with 50-pound plates.

What happened to the Tribune Publishing’s publications simply was not possible when I carried a pica stick.

The most sophisticated device was the wire service machine that provided both punched tape (to be fed into a “Lino”) as well has a readable hard copy.

If the phone lines got messed up, that was a problem, but it was a rare problem that resulted in garbled text.

Local reporters wrote their copy using typewriters. (I had an old stand-up Underwood in Ely NV. Wonderful machine.)

By the way, I finally got my chance to see if I could write. I guess I did OK as I worked in editorial — as a reporter, reporter-photographer, and editor) for several newspapers around the country before becoming a technical writer (who still couldn’t spell) and later, by way of tech writing, business continuity and risk management.

In the latter role I could have warned the Tribune Publishing that dependence on technology was a risk than needed to be mitigated.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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