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IP: What's New for Jun 14, 2002
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 19:41:10 -0400
------ Forwarded Message From: "What's New" <whatsnew () aps org> : What's New for Jun 14, 2002 2. DIRTY STORY: IF YOU CAN'T CLASSIFY IT, CREATE A NEW HEADLINE. On Sunday, FBI screw ups prior to 9/11 were on every talk show. By Monday, congressional committees were fighting over who would get to hear the first public testimony from FBI whistle-blower Coleen Rowley. The White House urgently needed an intelligence success. So what are news managers for? On Tuesday, it was announced that Abdullah al-Muhajir, described as the key figure in a plot to explode a dirty bomb in Washington, DC, had been arrested at O'Hare International Airport. Failures of the FBI vanished from the news. Lucky timing? Not exactly. Muhajir, a US citizen, had been arrested a month earlier, and was secretly held in a military prison, without charges, until he was needed. The media did the rest, feeding on the public's exaggerated fear of radiation even pictures of mushroom clouds. President Bush was shown on television explaining that "Padilla is a bad guy." It's probably true, but then, that's why we have trials isn't it? ------ End of Forwarded Message For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- IP: What's New for Jun 14, 2002 Dave Farber (Jun 14)