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ABC news is trying to pass gun range videos as combat footage from Syria

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Re: ABC news is trying to pass gun range videos as combat footage from Syria

#51

Post by canadacorner »

IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #42
canadacorner wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect someone sold them the altered footage and they rushed to get it on the air. Either for a financial benefit, or to specifically get them to air falsified footage. (Project Veritas?) Responsibility still lies with ABC to verify.

TV news stations will almost never pay for just anybody's footage. At the very least, they will work with locals that have some track record. They might sometimes take youtube footage, foreign broadcasts, or material provided to them by parties to the conflict. But those tend to carry prominent labels and aren't paid for.

This is not true. If you have newsworthy footage, they'll pay. The problem is that you're usually not the only one with the footage, and a lot of people like to see their name on the news!

Re: ABC news is trying to pass gun range videos as combat footage from Syria

#52

Post by [deleted] »

EastLondonCoder wrote: post #41
thanatropism wrote: post #3

There are more instances of credible or plausible media manipulation specifically regarding Syria, e.g. the story of gas attacks in Douma: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/syria-chemical-attack-g... Edit: This, attributed to the same author, is even clearer: https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/05/27/the-evidence-we-were... ---- "For in the last few days, there has emerged disturbing evidence that in its final repor…

I like Robert Fisk, he is hell of a solid correspondent but on this case he is absolutely wrong. The Douma gas attack has been investigated not only by the OPCW, but by organisations such as the UN, the Red Cross and pretty much all serious journalism from the BBC, NYTimes to The Times and Wall Street Journal. They all agree that the Syrian Governmant gassed its own people i Douma. The consensus is overwhelming, the…

[deleted]

Re: ABC news is trying to pass gun range videos as combat footage from Syria

#53

Post by [deleted] »

nyczomg wrote: post #48
Erwin wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not relevant to the HN guidelines and so most people will flag it: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Is it interesting that some news org is passing stock footage? Is that in any way new? Maybe if they were using "deepfakes" to generate fake news videos it would be interesting, but it's not like the Turkish attack is in any way disputed. Is reddit a good "detective"? Well,: https://knowyourmeme.co…

Those guidelines are fairly subjective when it comes to something like this. They don't say "most stories about politics..." rather than "all stories about politics..." for a reason. I think you could effectively argue either that this is on-topic or off-topic... That said, then why not err on the side of leaving this up? I like HN because there are usually insightful, level-headed discussions about a wide variety of…

[deleted]

Re: ABC news is trying to pass gun range videos as combat footage from Syria

#54

Post by cptskippy »

beerandt wrote: post #46
cptskippy wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> instead find indie youtube channels. Like Infowars?

If you're watching any news source, and think it's not biased, you need to stop and figure out what their angle is, and why you're allowing them to fool you. The easiest way to do this is usually listen to the other side. I'll skeptically take self-admitted bias over subversive "neutral" any day. The danger is limiting yourself only to sources of similar bias.

> I'll skeptically take self-admitted bias over subversive "neutral" any day.

The trick is to read about the same event from all sides.

Self-admitted bias will gladly skip, ignore, distort, and excuse elements of stories they think reflect poorly on their side. With out other perspectives you'll never know and end up with a warped sense of reality.

Re: ABC news is trying to pass gun range videos as combat footage from Syria

#55

Post by beerandt »

cptskippy wrote: post #54
beerandt wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're watching any news source, and think it's not biased, you need to stop and figure out what their angle is, and why you're allowing them to fool you. The easiest way to do this is usually listen to the other side. I'll skeptically take self-admitted bias over subversive "neutral" any day. The danger is limiting yourself only to sources of similar bias.

> I'll skeptically take self-admitted bias over subversive "neutral" any day. The trick is to read about the same event from all sides. Self-admitted bias will gladly skip, ignore, distort, and excuse elements of stories they think reflect poorly on their side. With out other perspectives you'll never know and end up with a warped sense of reality.

That's basically what I was trying to get at with the last sentence. In hindsight, it's confusing.

Re: ABC news is trying to pass gun range videos as combat footage from Syria

#56

Post by equalunique »

equalunique wrote: post #18
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #2

I really hope there's an incompetence (as opposed to just not caring about doing their job right) based explanation for this otherwise it calls all of ABC's other reporting into question as well as that of every similiar media company. Edit: I'm genuinely curious why this getting down-voted?

>“This video right here appearing to show the Turkish military bombing Kurd civilians in a Syrian border town,” Muir said. “The Kurds, who fought alongside the US against ISIS now horrific reports of atrocities, committed by Turkish-backed fighters on those very allies.” One possibility is that it was Kurdish sources who supplied the video to ABC, falsely claiming that it was a fight against them in Syria. If that tu…

Are the downvotes against me for suggesting that entities claiming to represent Kurdish militias are capable of spreading propaganda based on false media? They are clearly doing it today. Look at the comments here: https://twitter.com/PYD_Rojava/status/1182939359999332355?s=...

Re: ABC news is trying to pass gun range videos as combat footage from Syria

#57

Post by equalunique »

beerandt wrote: post #19
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #2

I really hope there's an incompetence (as opposed to just not caring about doing their job right) based explanation for this otherwise it calls all of ABC's other reporting into question as well as that of every similiar media company. Edit: I'm genuinely curious why this getting down-voted?

Even if it's incompetence, I suspect it will still be based on some element of media bias. It's just a matter of who will get blamed. Like if the film editor (or librarian or intern) that filed the original footage thought it would be funny to label a bunch of gun-loving Kentuckians as terrorists. Video gets tagged "Terrorists waging jihad on Americans. Automatic gunfire and explosions at night" A few days/hours late…

So far you are looking at this as though ABC perpetrated this.

One unexplored possibility is that the footage was provided by some Kurdish group.

Kurdish militias are capable of spreading propaganda based on false media. They are clearly doing it today. Look at the comments here: https://twitter.com/PYD_Rojava/status/1182939359999332355?s=...

Re: ABC news is trying to pass gun range videos as combat footage from Syria

#58

Post by thanatropism »

EastLondonCoder wrote: post #41
thanatropism wrote: post #3

There are more instances of credible or plausible media manipulation specifically regarding Syria, e.g. the story of gas attacks in Douma: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/syria-chemical-attack-g... Edit: This, attributed to the same author, is even clearer: https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/05/27/the-evidence-we-were... ---- "For in the last few days, there has emerged disturbing evidence that in its final repor…

I like Robert Fisk, he is hell of a solid correspondent but on this case he is absolutely wrong. The Douma gas attack has been investigated not only by the OPCW, but by organisations such as the UN, the Red Cross and pretty much all serious journalism from the BBC, NYTimes to The Times and Wall Street Journal. They all agree that the Syrian Governmant gassed its own people i Douma. The consensus is overwhelming, the…

Do any of these sources address the specific concerns raised by Robert Fisk?

I understand that journalism can't be all about debunking conspiracy theories, but Fisk does seem to have some clout.

Re: ABC news is trying to pass gun range videos as combat footage from Syria

#59

Post by equalunique »

EastLondonCoder wrote: post #41
thanatropism wrote: post #3

There are more instances of credible or plausible media manipulation specifically regarding Syria, e.g. the story of gas attacks in Douma: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/syria-chemical-attack-g... Edit: This, attributed to the same author, is even clearer: https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/05/27/the-evidence-we-were... ---- "For in the last few days, there has emerged disturbing evidence that in its final repor…

I like Robert Fisk, he is hell of a solid correspondent but on this case he is absolutely wrong. The Douma gas attack has been investigated not only by the OPCW, but by organisations such as the UN, the Red Cross and pretty much all serious journalism from the BBC, NYTimes to The Times and Wall Street Journal. They all agree that the Syrian Governmant gassed its own people i Douma. The consensus is overwhelming, the…

The consensus became less overwhelming since you commented this. See:

“Expert Panel Finds Gaping Plot Holes In OPCW Report On Alleged Syrian Chemical Attack” by Caitlin Johnstone https://link.medium.com/7qYYVU2Z40

Back in 2012, when ISIS beheading videos where showing up on my Facebook newsfeed every week, I recall it was Syrian rebels who were brandishing chemical weapons - but the MSM never mentions it: https://youtu.be/TpIRRRuCEyg

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