Sunday, November 21, 2010

HuffPost subtly undermines the U.S. military through headline-manipulation

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In the past two years, HUFF-WATCH has documented case after case in which HuffPost has published inflammatory articles on its front page that maliciously libel U.S. soldiers --- up to and accusations of systematic murder, based on what HuffPost clearly knew was
zero evidence.
Examples here, here, here, here.


This week, however, something jumped off HuffPost's front page --- not because of its egregiousness, but rather, because of its
subtlety.

On November 16, HuffPost published this headline, directly beneath the top of the page splash:
U.S. Forces Demolishing Afghan Homes They Say Are Booby-Trapped

To the untrained eye, there might appear to be nothing wrong with this headline.

To HUFF-WATCH, however, those two words, "they say," was the giveaway that HuffPost was probably playing games with the truth, again.

How many mouse-clicks were required to determine that HuffPost had
deliberately manipulated this headline in a way that could only serve to (a) undermine the U.S. military, and (b) incite hate comments against our soldiers, from the legions of radical leftists and cyber-jihadis that flock to the site, and HuffPost protects to no end? Two.

(1) Clicking on the headline brought up this story page, which, again, claims "they say":
U.S. Forces Demolishing Afghan Homes They Say Are Booby-Trapped

(2) Clicking on the sub-link (red arrow), however, brings up the source article, from the New York Times, the headline of which reads:
To Save Lives, NATO Is Razing Booby-Trapped Afghan Homes


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Why did HuffPost manipulate this headline, by inserting "they say"?

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Only HuffPost can answer that question. We hope that someday, someone in a position of influence asks it to do so.

We contend that there is only one reason why HuffPost did this: to continue its pattern of
undermining and sliming the U.S. military and American soldiers on its front page, based on false and decontextualized claims.

One facet of this pattern is HuffPost's willingness to mimic the propaganda of radical Islamists and cyber-jihadis, who use phony claims of Muslim "victimhood" in order to recruit, train and motivate the very terrorists who are attacking our soldiers, and our fellow citizens. Their stock in trade is their allegations that they tell the truth, and that American soldiers are liars
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See our complete archive of such incidents here. Here are some recent "highlights":
HuffPost outdoes Al-Jazeera in smearing the U.S. military, incites user smear-fest (HuffPost: "Approved!!!")
(October 2010) Via one of its screaming top-of-the-page headlines, HuffPost falsely alleged that the October 2010 Wikileaks data dump showed the U.S. military was engaged in rampant "torture, abuse, and murder" in Iraq.

Every other major newspaper we checked, including even the terrorist-friendly, notorious Al-Jazeera, played the story straight, by showing that it was the Iraqi military and police that had engaged in this conduct, not the U.S. military (which was accused of failing to stop it).

Documented here.

HuffPost falsely smears the U.S. military, again; User hate-fest erupts (HuffPost: "Approved!!!")
(April 2010) HuffPost published an inflammatory splash headline on its front page, accusing the U.S. military of committing "collateral murder," without acknowledging that top conservative blogs had already thoroughly debunked this libel.

HuffPost then doubled-down on this deception, by ignoring one of the TV shows it religiously covers, "The Colbert Report," which obliterated the libels and propaganda behind this story.

Documented here.

HuffPost publishes another incendiary libel against the U.S. military (user hate-fest erupts: HuffPost: "Approved!!!")
(May 2010) HuffPost published a front-page headline accusing the U.S. military of conducting systematic battlefield executions. Specifically, the article accused our soldiers of executing individuals whom they knew or suspected are not terrorists, out of convenience.

So what proof did its source, a known liar, provide? Oh, a few nameless, anonymous people told him stories. Zero physical proof. Zero evidence of any kind.

Documented here.

Given its long-term, shameful
history of smearing the U.S. military (along with Israel, Jews and conservatives) on bogus allegations --- then failing to update stories when exonerating facts emerge --- HuffPost is in no position to be questioning the credibility of anyone --- least of all American soldiers.


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Examples of how HuffPost blindly accepts inflammatory Muslim allegations as gospel truth --- without inserting "they say"

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Of further interest is how, while HuffPost inserts "they say" into a headline to undermine the U.S. military, it does not do that when the accusations are made by Muslims --- even when the content of the article indicates that the accusation is fraudulent. Here are but a few examples of HuffPost's egregious double-standard:

HuffPost published a Muslim blood libel against Jews --- even though its story acknowledged there was no factual basis for it
On its front page, HuffPost published a story containing an accusation that Israeli Jews murder Palestinian Muslims to "harvest their organs." The story itself revealed that the reporter had "no idea, no clue" if the allegations are true. Turns out the Palestinian family denied making them --- and it's medically impossible, anyway. Documented here.

HuffPost blindly accepted Lebanon's and Hezbollah's description of their killing of an IDF officer --- then buried, then quickly removed the story, once it was determined they were lying.
During the notorious "tree-trimming" incident, Lebanon, with Hezbollah's assistance, ambushed an IDF unit, and murdered a senior officer, Lt. Col. Dov Harari. HuffPost put the story on its front page with Lebanon's claim that the IDF crossed the border. Yet when even the notoriously anti-Israel U.N. began indicating that the IDF was on its own territory, it moved the story to a secondary page, then quickly replaced it with junk stories.
Documented here.

HuffPost's fawning interview with a Hamas leader

HuffPost's Middle East correspondent conducted a one-on-one, three hour interview with a leader of Hamas --- and didn't question a single one of his venomous accusations against the U.S. military or Jews. In fact, she actually echoed some of his terminology, and even attacked a user who questioned why she asked him not a single tough question.
Documented here, here.



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So what kinds of user comments were incited by this "red meat" --- which HuffPost reviewed, approved and decided to publish? Need you ask?



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HuffPost reviewed, approved and decided to publish every one of the following hate-filled comments, in response to its incitement. This is but a sampling of the comments that appeared on the thread.

As you review these comments, ask yourself two questions:
(1) Could some of these "approved" users be cyber-jihadis, among the 350,000+ of HuffPost's unique monthly visitors originate in Muslim-majority nations --- including Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia?f
(2) How do their hate-filled comments fundamentally differ from those one would find at al-Jazeera, or Al Qaeda's hate site?

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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
evekendall
556 Fans
And some people wonder why they h@te us.
Permalink

jonester
113 Fans
Now who are the "terrorists"?
Permalink

Labyrinth666
39 Fans
How about we stop terrorizing these people, give them some apology money, and leave?
Permalink

PresidentRobertBooth
721 Fans
Don't be surprised if all these "booby trapped" demolished houses lay in the path of a planned pipeline.
Permalink

And of course, what would one of HuffPost's anti-U.S. military threads be, without its willingness to allow users to overlap into Israel-hatred?
xilduq
49 Fans
demolishing homes israeli-style, aka "how to win friends and influence people"
Permalink

PalmReader
13 Fans
Ahh, so the U.S. has finanlly arrived at the Israel way of occupation: destroy the homes of anybody opposing you, destroy their fields (okay, poppies, but nevertheless), drive them out of the country (or in one corner thereof), then get settlers to build "western" houses, schools, shopping malls, churches. I wonder which biblethumbing redneck will be the first to claim that his settlement there is to promote christianity to save the "heathens" from hellfire...
Permalink


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ACTION ITEMS

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Are you outraged at HuffPost's inflammatory, malicious libels against the U.S. military --- especially as it has repeatedly claimed to be a nonpartisan "newspaper"? If so, we urge you to do three things:
(1) Make your voice known to HuffPost's senior management (politely, please), here.

(2) Consider writing to one or more of HuffPost's top advertisers, to let them know your thoughts on what they're enabling with their ad dollars.

(3) Forward the link to this story along to others who support our soldiers.

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