The caption for the first photo reads-Reuters - Wed Mar 22, 5:45 AM ET
Iraqi government supporters raise their weapons as they stop traffic near the Iraqi town of Samarra, 96 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad March 21, 2006. REUTERS/Stringer
The caption for the second photo reads-Reuters - Tue Mar 21, 1:43 PM ET
Iraqi insurgents raise their weapons as they stop traffic near the Iraqi town of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad March 21, 2006. (Stringer/Reuters)
Some people ask me why I distrust the media and think I am over the top for doing so. Well these pictures are the perfect example of why I have no faith in the MSM. As you can see they are the same picture but with completely different captions. Why is that you may be asking? Well my answer is that there is no accountability for media coverage about Iraq outside of the bloggers who happen upon these things like I did today. How can we believe anything the media says after they have proven time and time again in the past 5 years that they cannot be trusted? They cannot accurately label photographs and they cannot leave their hotels in Iraq to find out what is going on for themselves. Could these two captions, describing the same photograph, be any more different?
I found these photos on Yahoo.com as part of a photomontage about Iraq and all things anti-war. Most of the pictures are of the "Christian" Peacemaker Team people and the rest seem to be of dead Iraqis with no explanation as to what happened to them. For all we may know they were killed by terrorists, but the collection of photos would lead you to believe they were killed by evil American soldiers.
If anyone knows the policy about posting AP or Reuters photos please let me know.
*UPDATE* Well so I had a bit of a time deciding whether or not to actually post the photos here but then due to DSOTW, commenting on the post I decided to go ahead and put the pictures up. Well when I went back to Yahoo to make sure I had the photo captions right the photos had been switched from their original spot and the captions had been changed to both say the same thing. I would probably be naive to believe that I had something to do with it but in the back of my head I will go around believing that I affected the media for the better today.
15 comments:
Thanks Sgt. Boggs for this one example of an untrustworthy MSM. When they comment on a speech you have just heard you think they must have seen a different speech than you saw. Their polls are all fixed and they want Americas to believe that those of us who think we are winning and support this war are in a minority when in reality we are many and are growing. Trying to get our voices heard, we have turned to the internet. We are on to them though, and it is just one more major battle we have to fight, unfortunately. Here is where we civilians become warriors, Boggs. keep up the great work you are doing over there and many of us know what a great job you are doing and the successes you are having in spite of the MSM and appreciate you all. Faithfull readers, A&N
Great blog! Please tell your next interviewee to go to North Korea...I have a bad feeling about that Kim! and then there is a dude in S. America, oh and then there is a dude in Africa...well there are more than one! Oh yeah and there a few in east asia...they are real assholes...move them to the top of the list please! wait I have a list of dictators here somewhere...oh man there are hundreds around the world, but we can handle it, easy!
Hey al-sarcasty,
What's with the plural pronoun "we"? Is that like "we" won the big game? Seriously, when civilians who wouldn't know an MP5 from an MP3 are more anti-war than the soldiers are, something is definitely wrong.
Stop pretending to give a damn about the world when you're not man enough to leave your cush little existence to do anything about it. Leave the grown-up issues to the big kids like Boggsy, whose cajones alone probably cast a shadown large enough to blot out your whole damn body.
How bout this: We'll agree to walk away from Iraq tomorrow when 25 million anti-war volunteers step forward in a one-for-one exchange with the Iraqi people.
I think that'd be a fair trade.
Oh, and you forgot about that old dude in Cuba. Hell, we could knock him off during a 2-hour layover on the flight home.
Go Buck! We are just civilian women but we have a big stake in this war and know who is and who is not a part of the "we". Unfortunately you are fighting to save our way of life even for the ostriches and the willingly blind.
Thank you Tim for doing your job everyday. It must be awful hard to get up and try to save both Iraq and protect the USA while only hearing about how abusive the US troops are and how the insurgents are winning, etc. You guys all rock!
We are so fortunate to have the armed forces so capable that they can do any job anywhere.
OK, I wanna know who told you what about copyrights? The two pictures you posted were perfect, and they were just links to someone else's pictures -- all perfectly legal as fair use.
Whatever someone told you, it's bullship -- and regardless, there's not a jury in the land that would find linking to two contrary captions and the same picture tortuous. Please advise what was told to you and by whom -- it's crap.
Thank you for doing what you do -- especially bringing credibility to the whole point of your post. ;)
You just can't trust the media on anything!!
Keep up the good work Sgt. Boggs
Oh God, this kind of thing is what REALLY makes my blood boil! The MSM has proven time and again that they are not to be trusted. It has taken some time, but as A&N have written, we are on to them and seek out the truth in the blogs of the men and women serving.
How frustrating it must be to be doing your job and then have to spend your free time proving that the MSM is not doing thiers. But thank goodness you and others do take the time.
I come from a family of ignoramuses--all buy into what they see on TV. I have battled it out with my own father over this. I have argued with my 92-year-old grandmother until I could no longer speak from frustration. It is about time the MSM is forced to release its strangle-hold on Americans at large. A small victory for our side the other night on CNN. It was a lame attempt to show that they are paying attention the the criticsm of the press, but it a least shows that they are feeling some pressure. Gotta love it.
So, Sgt Boggs, you may be right. You may have caused someone to change those captions. I think if we keep squeezing, something's gotta give. Keep exposing their lies and B.S. I know I'll be squeezing on my end.
Buck Sargent--Rock on!!!
Sgt, keep fightin' the good fight!
Dear Timmy,
i agree that the media does nothing but try to sell newspapers and get people to watch their programs. I was wondering if you have a girlfriend back home, and if you do, how hard is it to keep in touch with her, cause i am willing to try it.
waiting for you.....Brianna
Amen tanksis! When we are all busy seeing that the truth gets out and busy exposeing the lies like Boggs is doing,we won't get so frustrated. CNN exposed themselves the other night, thanks to a couple good men telling the truth. We need to support people like Yon and Hewitt in every way we can if we are in ernest about winning this war on terrorism. They definitely are looking out for our Military guys as well as getting us the truth of this war along with the Military Bloggers like Sgt.T.F.Boggs and Buck Sargent. You rock yourself, sis. A&N
Someone on another blog renamed the MSM to the LSM (Lame Stream Media). I like it!
t.f. you should know more and more folks I talk to daily are really disgusted with LSM and their obvious attempt to sway public opinion. There is a scathing hatred for the Administration by so many of them and it shows in how they "report" be it the tone, verbiage etc.
I am just so glad there are folks like you, Buck Sargent, Michael Yon etc who bring reason and truth to us in the form of your blogs. Thank you for that!
Always grateful to you all...we've got your back.
Hey Brianna - -You will have to mud wrestle us for Boggs attention. Hope you are tough as we break horses for a living! Boggs - -Brianna has chin hairs and big ugly feet!!! And hairy legs. A&N
I'm glad you posted them again.
I will, over the weekend, try to find some links on Fair Use copyright law. There's basically nothing wrong with you linking (with attribution) the works of others -- ie. if you put a link to what they are saying, it's fair game. Drudge does it all the time -- believe me, he has a battery of lawyers who defend him all the time (I've done work for some of them) and if he wasn't allowed to do it, he wouldn't.
Thanks for reposting this stuff -- it's so obvious that someone has screwed up at the feed there -- cracks me up. Or it would, if it wasn't so sad that some people will draw the wrong conclusions from the photos. If they were actually terrorists (insurgents is exactly the wrong term for the bad guys -- and it pisses me off that the so-called reporters use it -- after all, Washington was an insurgent; it's hardly accurate to put Zarqawi in the same class) anyhow, if they were actually terrorists, they would hardly have tolerated having Western "journalists" taking their pictures.
Keep up the good work, man. I am so glad that you guys and gals are there doing what you do -- anything I can do to make your burden easier, please let me know.
tim! how goes things?! it has been a while since i last talked to you, but it's good to see you're still doing what you do best. keep raising hell and ill keep reading your blog. have as good an easter celebration as you can. praying for you.
I guess it's odd to post this, but I wanted to "touch base" with you. Your father was my babysitter, or that's what I have been told. My parents, and a whole lot of other people are so proud of you. We talk about it a lot...I'm not sure how to say "thank you", but I hope you know that we consider the things that you are doing as not only incredible, but necessary.
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