UPDATED - ColdType

EMBEDDED: WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION
Breaking news is hard to believe
FOX is not the only offender of journalistic practice,
as FAIR points out in a dissection of one
incident in which subsequent accounts in newspapers
that I cited in an earier column contradicted
the initial TV report and the impression it
fostered.
“A recent Washington Post article describing
the killing of civilians by U.S. soldiers at a checkpoint
outside the Iraqi town of Najaf proved that
‘embedded’ journalists do have the ability to
report on war in all its horror. But the rejection
by some U.S. outlets of Post correspondent
William Branigin’s eyewitness account in favor
of the Pentagon’s sanitized version suggests that
some journalists prefer not to report the harsh
reality of war.
“The Pentagon version was the one first
reported in U.S. media sometimes in terms that
assumed that the official account was factual.
‘What happened there, the van with a number of
individuals in it . . . approached the checkpoint,’
reported MSNBC’s Carl Rochelle (3/31/03). ‘They
were told to stop by the members of the 3rd
Infantry Division. They did not stop, warning
shots were fired. Still they came on. They fired
into the engine of the van. Still it came on, so
they began opening fire on the van itself.’
“Fox’s John Gibson (3/31/03) presented the
story in similar terms: ‘We warn these cars to
stop. If they don’t stop, fire warning shots. If they
don’t stop then, fire into the engine. If they don’t
stop then, fire into the cab. And today some guys
killed some civilians after going through all
those steps.’ But later on the night of March 31,
the Post released its story on the shooting that
would appear in the April 1 edition of the paper.
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Branigin’s report described U.S. Army Capt.
Ronny Johnson’s attempts to avoid the incident
as he directed his troops via radio from the
checkpoint:
“‘Fire a warning shot,’ he ordered as the vehicle
kept coming. Then, with increasing urgency,
he told the platoon to shoot a 7.62mm machinegun
round into its radiator. ‘Stop [messing]
around!’ Johnson yelled into the company radio
network when he still saw no action being taken.
Finally, he shouted at the top of his voice, ‘Stop
him, Red 1, stop him!’”
In short what happened, according to close
observers is not quite what was first reported
and rationalized.
Clear Channel has no agenda.
Repeat, none
MEANWHILE on the radio front, Clear Channel
Communications continues to organize rallies to
support the troops. I went to the ABC news website
and did a search “Pro troop rally” and got
the link about who is organizing this, Clear
Channel Radio stations, across the country. Keep
in mind that our local peace rallies are not sponsored
or paid for by anyone. My understanding is
the various local peace rallies (which also support
the troops) are a grassroots movement rising
directly from the people, church groups, veterans
for peace, and various groups interested in
social justice such as United Voices for Peace . . .
A reader sends this from an unidentified local
newspaper:
“Clear Channel has a reporter embedded with
a Marine unit in Iraq, leading one expert to question
whether the company’s support for the rallies
creates at least the perception that its news