[lbo-talk] my note to howard kurtz on robert fisk

[steve philion]

Mr. Kurtz,
I find your criticisms of Fisk pretty weak. He took up the offer to go and
check the airport at a time when the US media was already reporting that the
airport had been taken. In fact, what he did as a journalist, unlike
American reporters, was to not take the pentagon's word for it and to check
the story. And later he reported when the Americans had actually taken the
airport.
He also is a reporter who went to the marketplace that the Americans bombed
(unless you believe American psyops that it was Iraqis bombing themselves)
and found the serial # of the bomb that landed in the marketplace killing
dozens of civilians and injuring many more.
And his reports on the looting of the library and museum have been
outstanding, far more in depth than what you find in the American media.
Granted, there are occasional exceptions to the trend in the US media, like
Richburg's corrections of the media promoted myths about a 'heroic' rescue
of Jessica Lynch or the lies about 'human shields' being used by Iraqis that
the military put out and the media reproduced unquestioningly...but these
are exceptions.  And of course too little too late.
Your references to Fisk are basically cheap shots as far as I can tell.

Stephen Philion
MPLS, MN