On Thu, 21 May 2009, Doug Henwood wrote:
> Corollary of Cockburn's law: never doubt anything until it's officially
> confirmed.
BTW, I've always loved this law, and was faintly unhappy to learn from Patrick Cockburn's memoir (_The Broken Boy_, which is very good) that this wasn't original with Claud Cockburn. He liked to say it a lot, but according to Patrick, it was a Irish saying of long standing that he picked up from the locals at their summer house. It seems it was originally not a communist reporter talking about the MSM but Irish townspeople talking about the British authorities.
Alex attributes it to his dad, and he is the older brother. But Patrick is the more reliable reporter.
Michael