Thursday, October 15, 2009
This is just a quick link to follow -- an "aside." These are links to interesting things that, for one reason or another, I didn't place into a full posting. Click the link to visit the full article. Go to the blog index for a regular listing of posts.
CAMERA: Sweden's Aftonbladet Spreads Libels, Bigotry - 'No recent media infraction captures the dangers of abandoning any semblance of journalistic standards as vividly as the August 17, 2009 Aftonbladet story alleging Israel plunders and trafficks Palestinian organs. Appearing in its Culture section, the account was a concoction of baseless charges, false statements and guilt-by-association conspiracy theory, weaving disconnected events from past and present. Within weeks, the claims metastisized in Middle East media into lurid variations on the old blood libel of Jews plundering organs and drinking the blood of non-Jews. Incendiary cartoons and fantastic stories of Jewish child-snatching appeared. CAMERA had Fedexed and emailed a formal letter (reproduced below) detailing ten of the major errors and omissions in reporter Donald Bostrom's article to editor Jan Helin urging corrections to set the record straight and halt the spread of the libelous charges. Helin, however, failed to respond to the letter and to calls inquiring about the status of the communication...' [The Blood Libel has always been profitable for someone.]
