FAZ's Dishonest Smear Targets Malkin - Bloggers

(By Ray D.)

Nina Rehfeld's Attempted Hit Job - Or How it Backfired

A small German blog recently chronicled a particularly suspect article authored by correspondent Nina Rehfeld for the FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - one of Germany's most respected daily papers). The piece, entitled "Debacle for the Online Sniper" can only be described as a hit job gone terribly wrong. The "online sniper" in question is none other than journalist and top blogger Michelle Malkin:

FAZ Caption: "Converted Blogger: Michelle Malkin"

The FAZ piece reads as follows (our translation - this is the entire article):

"Blogs
Debacle for the Online Sniper
By Nina Rehfeld, Phoenix

A few days ago a witch hunt called out by conservative bloggers in the United States against the news agency AP came to an end. The starting point for the hysteria was an AP report according to which six Iraqi Sunnis were doused with gasoline by Shiites in front of a mosque and burned alive as Iraqi soldiers looked on. As a source, AP named a Baghdad police captain by the name of Jamil Hussein, but the American military and Iraqi Ministry of Interior denied for a long time that there was a policeman by that name. No one else could confirm the report, yet the story went around the world.

In Internet forums doubts were quickly raised about the authenticity of the AP story and the reliability of sources in Iraq in general. But what should have been a debate about the pitfalls of reporting from war zones turned into a vanity fair. Led by the prominent conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, the AP story was presented as proof that the "liberal mainstream media" were intentionally distorting the situation in Iraq to turn people against the Bush government: "MSM credibility, R.I.P.," wrote Malkin.

The Outcry is Silenced

The talk quickly turned to "AP scandal"; All AP reporting on Iraq was brought into question. Liberal websites like Media Matters struck back at the "warbloggers." And because the mainstream media in America leaves the field of reporting on the background details to the bloggers, they were able to smash journalistic porcelain undisturbed. In the meantime, AP stuck with the story that its reporters had spoken with Jamil Hussein.

A few days ago the Iraqi Ministry of Interior confirmed the existence of Jamil Hussein and announced that he may be subject to a fine - because he spoke to journalists. The outcry is silenced. Michelle Malkin accepted a challenge to visit Iraq from CNN news boss Eason Jordan where she has meekly reported on danger, violence and corruption, but also on signs of hope in Iraq that the mainstream media is allegedly happy to overlook. Nobody is talking about the policeman Jamil Hussein anymore."

Memo to FAZ: The Outcry is Not Silenced

Rehfeld would be right if the only aspect of the AP story brought into question by bloggers was the existence of source Jamil Hussein. In reality, there are two elements of the original AP story that remain controversial: The first, Mr. Hussein's reported claim that four mosques were "destroyed" in sectarian violence, has been proven demonstrably false. The second, that six Iraqi Sunnis were burned alive as Iraqi soldiers looked on, remains uncorroborated and has been disputed by other sources. Bloggers continue to discuss both - Ms. Rehfeld completely fails to acknowledge the controversy surrounding either.

In other words, this is neither a witch hunt nor is it "case closed" as Ms. Rehfeld clearly implies. In fact, the bloggers' skepticism over the original AP piece has proven to be largely justified. Unfortunately, those inconvenient details are conspicuously omitted by FAZ.

Because Rehfeld and her FAZ editors are clearly aware of Michelle Malkin's blog (see caption above), it is hard to believe that they simply overlooked the two contested elements of the original AP story. This appears to be yet another case of a major German media outlet omitting and twisting facts to vilify those (conservatives - bloggers - Americans) it perceives as political enemies. The arrogant, frothing-at-the-mouth tone of the piece is, taken by itself, a clear sign of journalism gone bad. Beyond that, it is difficult to conclude that Rehfeld is anything more than a cynical liar. Her work is particularly disturbing because it is directed at a German audience that, with a language barrier and lack of alternative sources, will likely never know to what extent it has been defrauded and misled.

This much is clear: To avoid future "witch hunts" and journalistic "debacles", FAZ would be well advised to drop Ms. Rehfeld and her particularly destructive brand of character assassination. Instead of cutting Michelle Malkin down to size, Rehfeld has succeeded only in shooting herself and her publication's reputation in the foot.

(Hattip: Joerg)

Comments

[Motorhead]

Michelle Malkin is probably better looking than Nina Rehfeld.

[playertwo]

she hears footsteps and it amazes me that they put a picture of her blog out for chermns to see. what were they thinking?!!

i guess they think that deutschers are so bought that they would never think of ACTUALLY READING THE BLOG FOR THEMSELVES?!!!!

that would make them burn in liberal hell right?

the news media thinks that it is inextricably linked to hollywood or cannes as they both work in pictures. they think that the freedom bush is pushing for will crowd them out and they are right. the days ar over when they could send a cronkite over with a tape recorder and a typewriter to learn "the way it is" and that means they dont get a straight shot at being in "the mooovies". darn, the good old days seem so much farther away, dont they...

great job dmk, youre a hoot.

[Pamela]

Maybe it's a translation thing but what smacked me across the face was this phrase:

Michelle Malkin accepted a challenge to visit Iraq from CNN news boss Eason Jordan where she has meekly reported on danger,

What an odd word to use about the reportage of a woman who, not working for any news organization with or without a presence in Iraq, chooses to leave her husband and two children to go to a war zone. And not just the war zone. She went to the battlefield. No keeping her head down in the Green Zone.

And she did it for one reason.

Because she believes journalism without integrity is propaganda.

She put her life in danger for that belief.

I wonder if Rehfeld does not in some way sense that and feels - quite rightly - diminished by it.

[Pamela]

How did I forget to post this?

Eason Jordon resigned from CNN under quite the cloud. After he admitted CNN had chosen not to tell the truth about Iraq under Sadam because they did not want to lose access - or jeopardize - their sources.

Then he went to Davos and accused the American military of deliberately targeting journalists.

Eason Jordon hasn't been with CNN in quite awhile.

[Thomass]

wow, going on and on about Malkin and 'warbloggers' but then quoting Media Matters as if it is a reliable source.

[Pamela]

Here's another Rehfeld lie.
The outcry is silenced. Michelle Malkin accepted a challenge to visit Iraq from CNN news boss Eason Jordan

It was not a challenge. It was an invitation. Jordan offered to pay for her trip and she accepted. Here is Jordan issuing the invation via his blog Iraqslogger as quoted by Michelle.
So the search for Jamil Hussein is on, and rightly so. IraqSlogger's team in Baghdad is working to track him down. If we find him, we'll get back to you with details. If we can't find him, we'll report that, too. If Michelle Malkin wants to join the search in Baghdad, IraqSlogger will pay for her trip, and I'd even be willing to accompany her. Stay tuned.
I e-mailed my acceptance of Jordan's invitation this morning.

And Michelle has all the timely links when Jordan resigned from CNN here.

Almost exactly one year ago.

[Thomass]

First it was the poor German CEOs being picked on by Bush using economic pressure in the service of human rights and backing up UN non proliferation agreements (who would use such a policy! Outrageous)..

Now the spotless blameless AP is being picked on by a meanie blogger because they want them to back up claims??? The press muzzled…

Brutal... you can literally feel the jackboot to the throat of freedom [eyeroll]....

[blue]

@ Pamela
"Meekly" as translation for "kleinlaut". Submissive may have been better, but I think it is difficult to translate.

Rehberg uses the word to imply that
a) Malkin was found out not telling the truth
(either because she lied or was misinformed)
b) Malkin is aware of a) and therefore
c) is treading lightly whereas being loudmouthed before.
At least, these are the implications I as a native speaker read into that usage.

All these implications in just a single word. The power of language.

[Pamela]

Thank you blue. The power of language indeed.

[Pamela]

'kleinlaut'?! Even in all the German I've forgotten I should have known that one.

Ich bin ein dumpkopf.

'small noise'.

'subdued' would probably have been a better choice.

Not that I would agree with the characterization in any event.

[helian]

“Her work is particularly disturbing because it is directed at a German audience that, with a language barrier and lack of alternative sources, will likely never know to what extent it has been defrauded and misled.”

You can say that again. “Shocking” is an overused word, but it really applies here. The FAZ, often cited by the defenders of the German media on this blog as a paragon of balanced reporting, is deliberately and cynically lying to its readers. You can’t rationalize this article away. It’s simply not credible that Rehfeld is so incompetent and stupid that she doesn’t realize that what she’s written is bad propaganda of the crudest sort, and that the editors at FAZ don’t worry about content, but limit themselves to insuring that the articles are written in German that is high falutin’ enough to impress the boobs. This article is an outrageous insult to the intelligence of every one of the FAZ’s readers. It assumes that they are almost incredibly ill-informed, not to mention downright dumb.

[helian]

How does this article mislead? Let me count the ways. To begin, AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll released a glib, laughably disingenuous statement regarding the Jamil Hussein matter on January 5, some time after AP had finally “proven” their source was real. Presumably Rehfeld was referring to the time after the release of this AP “bombshell when she informed her German readers that, “Das Geschrei ist verstummt.” (The screaming has been silenced.) Any German reader above the sheep level could have easily demolished that claim by simply checking any of the many blogs in question. For example, LGF (beware chaste German readers!! Be warned before you enter the sulfurous blogospheric abode of the devil incarnate! Click at your own risk!) was hardly silent about the affair in articles posted long after the AP announcement, as can be seen, for example, here.

[helian]

here

here

[helian]

here

and here.

[helian]

Michelle Malkin herself, far from being “silenced,” slam dunks Carroll’s caricature of injured innocence here (How could you have missed it, Ms. Rehfeld?) and the New York Post piles on here. All these articles appeared on January 21 or later, long after the blogosphere was, supposedly, “verstummt. Many more articles just like these appeared in thousands of blogs throughout the US long after, according to Ms Rehfeld, “Das Geschrei” was “verstummt.” Rather a loud form of “Verstummung,” don’t you think, Ms. Rehfeld?

When it comes to the reliability of the AP articles that the blogosphere was so “hysterical” about that it went on a “witch hunt,” just look at the images in the links above. Mosques that AP claimed, unequivocably, without qualification, and on records that can be checked by anyone with Google, were “destroyed,” seem to have been “rebuilt” with remarkable speed.

What can you say? It’s saddening, really. Public education and freedom of speech were supposed to insure that the more stupid forms of propaganda lies, at least, would have very short legs. Obviously, that’s not the case in Germany. The editors of FAZ certainly seem confident that it’s not, at any rate.

(Sorry for the "umstaendliche" post. Typepad wanted to play games with me.)

[FranzisM]

Weird. Frau Rehfeld is trying to teach us that the American military was to mosques the same that Associated Press is to facts.

[cris]

David, David, David.

Why am I not suprised. Now you are hyping fringe rightwing US columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin as "Top Blogger" ? Malkin, who maintains close ties to white supremacy site VDARE, who vehemently argued for large scale race based internment in camps of citizens (which doesn't get a tad better because she is ethnically Filipina herself), Malkin, who is one of the prime exponents of right wind noise machine on the internet and supports about any reactionary politics the current government managed to think up, including organized torture and unilateral wars of aggression, who is an enthusiastic friend of racial profiling and generally can be counted on to support about anything too smelly to support for decent men.

In the US, all that may pass as borderline ultraconservative, on the fringes of politically acceptable discourse.

But in this country, it doesn't. We call it what it is - Gedankengut der Neonazi-Szene. You know it and I know it.

You support it.

The main critique of the critique of "political correctness" is, that more often than not, "politically incorrect" is a code word for right wing extremism.

You managed to prove the point.

[WhatDoIKnow]

Well, who else is best at exposing a troll than the troll's own words? What would be the internet without moonbats?

[disillusioned_german]

Germany's got "better" moonbats than the US, WhatDoIKnow... They're real pros.

Socialism / Communism is a German invention, remember? Sounds like cris is one of the stone-throwers of days gone by. On a positive note: They don't get many children because they're too busy with other stuff (like demonstrations or waving red flags) so consequently they're a dying breed.

Is Michelle Malkin ultra-conservative? Well, I'm not sure but if she is I'm ultra-conservative too (and proud of it). I should probably change my nick to ashamed_german. "Disillusioned" doesn't quite cover it anymore.

[Helian]

"Is Michelle Malkin ultra-conservative?"

They can't debate, so they demonize. So what? Michelle Malkin isn't going anywhere.

[cris]

@disillusioned German:

Why don't you try argumenting ? I've provided a number of solid points why I consider Malkin a rightwing extremist. When you fall back to name calling you are just embarassing yourself. Stone throwing ?? I spent my free time at university working for the RCDS and for my catholic fraternity, and while I've had a few items hurled at me on various occasions (thankfully, no stones), I certainly never resorted to throwing anything myself.

Maybe you are right and I am wrong. But if you fall into the standard mode of US right wing blogs, where moderate and left wing ideas aren't even debated any more but people resort to hateful spews of smear words ("Moonbats", "Traitors", "DemocRats" etc), you will not advance your point a bit.

[Helian]

"Now you are hyping fringe rightwing US columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin as "Top Blogger" ? Malkin, who maintains close ties to white supremacy site VDARE,...and generally can be counted on to support about anything too smelly to support for decent men...We call it what it is - Gedankengut der Neonazi-Szene."

and

"But if you fall into the standard mode of US right wing blogs, where moderate and left wing ideas aren't even debated any more but people resort to hateful spews of smear words ("Moonbats", "Traitors", "DemocRats" etc), you will not advance your point a bit."

A hypocrite, you say? No, not a bit of it! People like this have so thoroughly convinced themselves of their own vast moral superiority that they no longer have the capacity to notice their own ludicrous inconsistencies.

Remember the words from Benjamin's recent post, "It’s something they cannot defend because it’s indefensible. So rather than defending it, they try to prove that others have done the same or even worse."

You can see the same tactic here. The same pattern repeats itself over and over again. This thread is about Rehfeld's article and the credibility of AP and FAZ. Cris knows he can't defend the indefensible. He doesn't even try. But instead of having the common decency to admit that, yes, the German media have once again been caught spouting whopping propaganda lies, he tries the usual hackneyed diversion. In the style of Monty Python he suggests, "now for something completely different," and tries to turn this into a debate about Malkin.

Sorry, cris, but I'm not really interested in your personal decision that Malkin does not meet your high moral standards, and must, therefore, be deprived of her freedom of speech in a public forum. In this case, she happens to be right, and the fact that black is black and not white remains a fact, even if that fact is pointed out by the evil Michelle Malkin. It's also a fact that Rehfeld and FAZ are full of crap. They have tried to foist an outrageous and ludicrous propaganda lie on the German public. That, and not Malkin, is the point of this thread. You've demonstrated that you know that Medienkritik is right about Rehfeld and FAZ by not even attempting to defend them. Instead, you try the usual shabby diversion.

Allow me to suggest that you stop defending liars and simply admit that, yes, in this instance, Medienkritik has a point. You never know, it might do you good to admit the truth for once.

[disillusioned_german]

There are two groups I am not going to discuss with: Lefties and Islamists (as well as Neo-Nazis but I consider them to be covered by the two aforementioned groups). You have to recognise your enemy and you don't talk with them (i.e. Iran). Thankfully I'm neither the UN nor the EU so I can afford to be somewhat more "radical" in my approach. Actions speak louder than words... I enjoy listening to Michelle Malkin whenever I see her on Fow News. If she's a "right-wing extremist" in the eyes of a German moonbat so be it. But then we all know where the cradle of extremism (left and right) stands, don't we?

[Helian]

@disillusioned German

"If she's a "right-wing extremist" in the eyes of a German moonbat so be it. But then we all know where the cradle of extremism (left and right) stands, don't we?"

Credit where credit is due! He's a great straight man. He can call a Philippina a white supremacist neo-Nazi without even cracking a smile. Anyone who can do that definitely needs to consider starting a career in stand-up comedy.

[FranzisM]

@disillusioned German -

Germany's got "better" moonbats than the US, WhatDoIKnow... They're real pros.

What moonbats? That´s how the Americans call their krauts.

[FranzisM]

@cris -

We call it what it is - Gedankengut der Neonazi-Szene. You know it and I know it.

Can you please provide examples where this American blogger agrees with their view of Israel?