Will any journalist ever hold Arianna Huffington to account for her unending stream of massive public lies and hypocrisy --- particularly regarding her supposed prohibition of "inflammatory claims" and "conspiracy theories" at HuffPost?
Arianna Huffington, February 1, 2010:
"[At HuffPost] there are guidelines thathave to be followed -- and they include a prohibition on conspiracy theories or inflammatory claims...
"For context, it's good to remember that Glenn Beck didn't come out of nowhere. He's the latest example of what the great historian Richard Hofstadter called "the paranoid style in American politics," which he defined as angry minds that traffic in "heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy," and that see "the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms... always manning the barricades of civilization."
"Sound familiar? [Glenn] Beck preys on fear, political instability, and economic suffering, which, in turn, means that Fox News profits from fear, political instability, and economic suffering."
HuffPost, August 13, 2012: "Author" claims GOP are "racists":
Have you ever heard of George R.R. Martin? Neither had we --- nor, we suspect, about 99% of Americans. But that doesn't matter, apparently, because it was sufficient for one of HuffPost's screaming headlines:
HuffPost August 8, 2012: A "pack of Jews" chased Romney:
Would it surprise you to know that this was a massive lie?
HuffPost, August 1, 2009: Jews are murdering Palestinians to "harvest (their) organs"
The Reality: This "news" story was false on amultitude of levels.
Why HuffPost knew, or should have known the story was false/misleading: First, the story itself revealed that the "reporter" admitted he had "no idea, no clue" if the allegations in his "story" are true. Turns out the Palestinian family at the root of the story denied making these claims --- and basic fact-checking reveals that what is alleged is medically impossible. Did HuffPost's crack team of 53 "editors" fail to do any basic fact-checking into this age-old blood libel against Jews --- or did they ignore what they found? Whichever was the case, it didn't prevent them from matching this inflammatory claim with a picture of grinning Israeli soldiers, marching towards the photographer --- as if they're proud of committing the barbarity that the Swedish "article" (and HuffPost) accused them of.
This false "news" story incited a torrent of hate-filled user comments against Israel and Jews, which HuffPost reviewed, approved and decided to publish.
See complete documentation of this incident here.
HuffPost, June 3o, 2011: Israel "sabotaged" Irish "flotilla" ship:
Not only was the story false, what HuffPost repeatedly refused to acknowledge, as documented here, is that the "peace activists" aboard the ship were actually Hamas terrorists --- and even the radical leftists abandoned the ship once they found out who their compatriots actually were:
HuffPost, May 13, 2010: U.S. soldiers are systematically carrying out "battlefield executions" of Muslims whom they are not terrorists, in Afghanistan... because that's more convenient than letting them go
The Reality: There is not one shredof proof that these "executions" are occurring. Zero.
Why HuffPost knew, or should have known the story was false/misleading: First, a pretty big tip off that there's absolutely no substance to this story is Hersh's admission that he's basing his allegations entirely on his claim that he's "been told this anecdotally by five or six different people, battlefield executions are taking place." He has no proof whatsoever, other than anonymous sources that may or may not exist, and may or may not be credible. Second, at the time HuffPost decided to run this inflammatory claim, numerous accounts documented the fact that Hersh is "truth-challenged," especially when it comes to his conspiracy theories against the U.S. military.
This false "news" story incited a torrent of hate-filled user comments against the U.S. military, which HuffPost reviewed, approved and decided to publish.
See complete documentation of this incident here.
HuffPost, April 5, 2010: U.S. soldiers deliberately perpetrating "collateral murder" of Iraqi civilians
The Reality: This claim is, at aminimum, extremely misleading; at worst, it is an outright lie.
Why HuffPost knew, or should have known the story was false/misleading: First, HuffPost published this story as its screaming headline almost immediately after it was released by "WikiLeaks." It either didn't do any basic fact-checking, or it refused to let the reality of what it found affect its decision to position this inflammatory headline as "fact." Second, within 24 hours, numerous military-supporting bloggers did background research and documented how and why the story was both false and misleading. Third, even Stephen Colbert, whose "Colbert Report" HuffPost covered on a near-daily basis during this period, confronted the WikiLeaks video producer with the facts about how egregiously misleading it was. Yet HuffPost chose not to run a story on that particular episode of "The Colbert Report." HuffPost has yet to issue a retraction for this story.
This false "news" story incited a torrent of hate-filled user comments against the U.S. military, which HuffPost reviewed, approved and decided to publish.
See complete documentation of this incident here.
HuffPost, June 20, 2007: President Bush is more evil than Hitler; at least Hitler "meant well" by exterminating Jews
On June 20, 2007, as reported at the time by the Media Research Center and Little Green Footballs, HuffPost published an article by official blogger Peter Mehlman that included the following insane ad hominem attack on President Bush --- and a moral vindication of Adolf Hitler:
So now we’re six and a half years into Bush and everyone from Helen Thomas on down is declaring him the worst president ever. What no one is saying is the one overarching reason he’s the worst: the Bush administration is the first that doesn’t even mean well. [...]Surely, you say, given the tough blogger standards that Ruiz laid out, HuffPost instantly ejected Mehlman from its blogger ranks, right?
You could argue that even the world’s worst fascist dictators at least meant well. They honestly thought were doing good things for their countries by suppressing blacks/eliminating Jews/eradicating free enterprise/repressing individual thought/killing off rivals/invading neighbors, etc.
Wrong. Not only has HuffPost kept Mehlman as a blogger, and allowed him to post 18 additional articles since then, it never even removed that incendiary ad hominem attack on President Bush from the site (below screencap is from March 24, 2011):
In their own words: Arianna and her boss at AOL
"If you're going to produce great journalism, you haveto build a team of people who are working together and driving toward the same goals editorially.”
– Arianna Huffington, April 7, 2011 --- two months after being put in control of all of AOL's "news" and "content""AOL's acquisition of HuffPost has allowed us... to continue to change the culture here."
--- Tim Armstrong, Chairman, AOL, the genius who bought HuffPost and put Arianna in charge of all "news" and "content" --- May 14, 2011
“[T]oo many reporters have forgotten that the highest calling of journalists is to ferret out the truth, consequences be damned.”
- Arianna Huffington, July 29, 2008
“We are aiming to go beyond just facts, to create a narrative... [W]e think bringing journalism to a new level is exactly what people are looking for.”
- Arianna Huffington, October 20, 2009
ACTION ITEMS
If you believe HuffPost should stop posting inflammatory claims and conspiracy theories, especially against the U.S. military, Israel and Jews, we urge you to do three things:
(1) Make your voice known to HuffPost's senior management here.
(2) Consider writing or calling one or more of HuffPost's top advertisers, to let them know your thoughts on what their ad dollars are enabling.
An easy way to approach this is to scan our easy-to-use directory and find one or two corporations that you are a customer of, or have stock in. Your concerns will automatically be given considerably more weight. Also, request a follow-up after they've had a chance to review the evidence; don't let them off the hook, or sweep this under the rug.
(3) Forward the link to this story along to others who support Jews and Israel --- particularly journalists!!!
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