Showing posts with label AP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AP. Show all posts

Monday, December 8, 2008

AP: 'All decorated military veterans who have served in some of the world's most dangerous places'

A change of tone from the Associated Press duo covering the Blackwater Nisoor Square issue.

Matt Apuzzo and Lara Jakes Jordan report in what AP calls a "breaking news update":
  • "The five Blackwater Worldwide guards indicted for a deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting are all decorated military veterans who have served in some of the world's most dangerous places."

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Lawyers Accuse Blackwater - But their Cop-Killer and Al Qaeda Ties Taint Allegations

Trial lawyers suing Blackwater Worldwide on behalf of Iraqis allegedly suffering from the September 16 Nisoor Square incident in Baghdad are accusing the company of covering up evidence.

But the trial lawyers' documented ties to terrorist groups and activists causes undermine the credibility of the accusations. And the propagandistic reporting of the Associated Press undermines the credibility of the news organization.

For months, the Associated Press has avoided identifying the trial lawyers by name andtheir terrorist connections in its reporting on the issue. In a display of the wire service's increasingly sloppy journalism, the AP's April 25 headline reads, "Iraqis Accuse Blackwater of Shredding Documents." The article identifies none of the accusers and carries no byline, raising questions about accountability within AP's editorial offices.

As this blog has documented, members of the legal team suing Blackwater in this case include Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who has spent the better part of 40 years defending terrorists and cop-killers as part of his self-described professional mission; and Shereef Hadi Akeel, who represents a group the US says is an al Qaeda organization.

For more of AP's propagandistic reporting of this lawsuit, see our December 19 posting.

Friday, November 2, 2007

AP says it didn't fall for hoax

The Associated Press has contacted this blog to say that it did not fall for the phony Code Pink news release purporting to be from Blackwater.

Paul Colford, AP's Director of Media Relations, writes to Standish, "Please be advised that the Associated Press did not fall for the bogus press release, as your Nov. 1 post claims. Moreover, the Editor & Publisher article linked within your story makes no assertion about the AP.The AP checked out the group that issued the news release and determined it was fake. A correction is in order. Paul Colford, Director of Media Relations, The Associated Press."

The Editor & Publisher article says that The Politico first surfaced the phony release and that CBS News picked it up. We got the information that AP had also reported it from FrontPageMag.com. A click on the FrontPageMag link referencing AP leads us to a Fox News page containing a story by a Fox News combined with material from AP.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

CBS falls for Code Pink hoax

Some media outlets are out to get Blackwater so badly that they'll believe anything negative about the company and report it as "news."

CBS was one of several news organizations, including the Associated Press, that fell for a phony Blackwater press release. The militant group Code Pink reportedly had written the release as a spoof.

The sloppy reporting first surfaced in the website of a throw-away Washington, DC paper called the Politico.

According to Editor & Publisher magazine, "With all of the news about Blackwater USA's problems, it wasn't a surprise that a fake story about the company creating a 'Department of Corporate Integrity' would make it on to several valid news sites. CBS News and Politico.com were among the victims of the fraud, reportedly perpetuated by Code Pink, according to Politico, which posted a correction today. CBS reprinted a Politico story on its site.

Politico issued a correction: "Code Pink today pulled off a hoax that pulled in Politico and a number of other news outlets when it ginned up a fake release, saying that Blackwater USA was creating a new 'Department of Corporate Integrity' that would put the 'mercy back in mercenary.' That should have been a tip off."

Monday, September 24, 2007

AP: Blackwater 'has never failed in its primary mission in Iraq'

Say what you will about Blackwater USA, but the company "has never failed at its primary mission in Iraq: Protecting State Department diplomats."

That's what Associated Press correspondent Mike Baker reports from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Few other companies can claim such a record. "Not one diplomat has died" under Blackwater's protection.

While earning criticism for its guards' tough, aggressive, "cowboy" appearance, Blackwater wins admiration from some of its competitors.

"You can argue about the methodology and say it's negatively impacting relationships between the Iraqi government and citizens and the U.S. But if you get right down to the terms of the contract, they're tasked with protecting U.S. diplomatic personnel. They've done that," Scott Traudt of competitor Cohort International tells AP.