well its a bit overdue but this is a good insight: On Monday’s "Anderson Cooper 360," CNN’s Anderson Cooper related his visit to a Hezbollah-controlled section of Beirut where he was supposed to photograph certain damaged buildings, part of the terrorist group’s strategy of generating news stories about Lebanese civilian casualities caused by Israeli bombs. But instead of merely transmitting Hezbollah’s unverified and unverifiable claims to the outside world, Cooper — to his credit — exposed the efforts by Hezbollah to manipulate CNN and other Western reporters. It’s quite a contrast from the much more accommodating approach taken by his colleague, Nic Robertson, in a report that aired on a variety of CNN programs (including AC360) back on July 18, a report that Robertson himself has now conceded was put together under Hezbollah's control. Unlike Robertson, Cooper was explicit about how Hezbollah’s operatives had set all of the rules: “Young men on motor scooters followed our every movement. They only allowed us to videotape certain streets, certain buildings,” he explained. He countered Hezbollah claims that Israel targets civilians by pointing out that the group based itself in civilian areas and that Israel's air force drops leaflets warning of attacks. Cooper exposed for CNN viewers that the sight of speeding ambulances, sirens blaring, was just a phony play staged by Hezbollah: “One by one, they’ve been told to turn on their sirens and zoom off so that all the photographers here can get shots of ambulances rushing off to treat civilians....These ambulances aren’t responding to any new bombings. The sirens are strictly for effect.” CNN showed cameramen from other news organizations dutifully photographing the ambulances as they went by. Cooper had left Lebanon and was stationed in Haifa, Israel for Monday’s broadcast. His report on his trip “Inside Hezbollah” appeared at about 10:40pm EDT Monday (6:40am Tuesday, local time), the first hour of his two-hour program. “We'd come to get a look at the damage and had hoped to talk with a Hezbollah representative. Instead, we found ourselves with other foreign reporters taken on a guided tour by Hezbollah. Young men on motor scooters followed our every movement. They only allowed us to videotape certain streets, certain buildings. Once, when they thought we'd videotaped them, they asked us to erase the tape. These men are called al-Shabab, Hezbollah volunteers who are the organization's eyes and ears.” Gesturing to racks of music CDs in a building that had lost at least one of its walls, Cooper remarked, “You see their CDs on the wall still.” He continued: “Hezbollah representatives are with us now but don't want to be photographed. They'll point to something like that and they'll say, ‘Well, look, this is a store.’ The civilians lived in this building. This is a residential complex. “And while that may be true, what the Israelis will say is that Hezbollah has their offices, their leadership has offices and bunkers even in residential neighborhoods. And if you're trying to knock out the Hezbollah leadership with air strikes, it's very difficult to do that without killing civilians. “As bad as this damage is, it certainly could have been much worse in terms of civilian casualties. Before they started heavily bombing this area, Israeli warplanes did drop leaflets in this area, telling people to get out. The civilian death toll, though, has angered many Lebanese. Even those who do not support Hezbollah are outraged by the pictures they've seen on television of civilian casualties.” As the video showed a group reporters and photographers interviewing a single woman on a blanket, Cooper explained, “Civilian casualties are clearly what Hezbollah wants foreign reporters to focus on. It keeps the attention off them — and questions about why Hezbollah should still be allowed to have weapons when all the other militias in Lebanon have already disarmed. “After letting us take pictures of a few damaged buildings, they take us to another location, where there are ambulances waiting. “This is a heavily orchestrated Hezbollah media event. When we got here, all the ambulances were lined up. We were allowed a few minutes to talk to the ambulance drivers. Then one by one, they've been told to turn on their sirens and zoom off so that all the photographers here can get shots of ambulances rushing off to treat civilians. That's the story that Hezbollah wants people to know about. “These ambulances aren't responding to any new bombings. The sirens are strictly for effect.” Cooper concluded: “Hezbollah may not be terribly subtle about spinning a story, but it is telling perhaps that they try. Even after all this bombing, Hezbollah is still organized enough to have a public relations strategy, still in control enough to try and get its message out.” http://newsbusters.org/node/6574 why bring this up now you ask? Yielding Prisoners, Israel Receives 2 Dead Soldiers Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Samir Kuntar alive and well
So don't do that. After all, Hezbollah has the same problem trying to knock out the Israeli leadership with missile strikes, and everyone knows what the response to that BS excuse is - "so don't do that". As far as Hezbollah controlling the Western media - not to worry: in a media world in which the civilian costs of Israeli military occupation and invasion are routinely presented as legitimately incurred by the occupied and invaded, their own fault, that is not a problem.
though it could be fun discussing it, yuo missed my point. hezbullah controls the media, hezbullah used the media to make us look as the aggressors, so if we are the aggressors and the bad guys, why did we give them live prisoners for two dead ones? its bags the question dont you think?
Uh, what exactly do you expect to look like when you invade another country and bomb the shit out of it like that. You were the aggressors, and if you hadn't had as much experience in manipulating the Western media as you have (far more, and more effective, than Hezbollah) you'd have looked a great deal worse than you did. Count your blessings.
you see what im talking about. they invaded us. they attacked one of our patrols on the border and fired rockets on our civilians. you remember the first days of the war? then the criticism was an unproportionate response, now we are the ones who invaded and attacked, i mean, in the real world no one care for facts. once people see an image on TV thats it, no matter what the facts are you are not going to convince them otherwise. you are a victim of manipulation.
Somewhat. One of the things I recall pretty well, because I followed it and wrote down what I saw at the time, was how the initial reports of the soldiers' kidnapping were replaced, within hours, by different versions. The replacement versions all came from Israeli PR sources, essentially one interview with some Israeli official military spokesman that was repeated and spread, and not from reporters' investigations at the scene or background checking of the original stories. And that replacement version has stood to this day, regardless of the occasional doubts cast by new circumstances or details that have emerged from time to time. It was a remarkable accomplishment of media manipulation by the Israeli PR folks.
um. Hezbullah cannot invade another nation it has no borders. now if it was the lebonese army that did you would have a case. Also your point of the israeli not intentionally going after civilian infastructure in lebonon is bullshit the beiriut international airport was bombed a target that had no value if you were going after hexbullah. They don't have any planes. The main thing the airport was going to be used for was getting foriegn nationals out of the country.
Yea, right, all those missles Hezbollah randomly toss over the boarder were meant to hit the Israeli leadership.....pleaseeeeee. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
sources changed beacuse it was in the middle of the event you moron. where you in the middle of such an event? you have any idea what mess it is in the start especially when you get bombarded in the same time? every dude will give you a different version, but the important thing was, it was a routine patrol, and to ambush a routine patrol you need a plan, and to execute a plan you need preparation, month of preparations. now thats the REAL manipulation, invade and bomb another country and then blame it for retaliation. i cant beileve the world is full of morons who buy this shit.
Mr.Spock: "now thats the REAL manipulation, invade and bomb another country and then blame it for retaliation. i cant beileve the world is full of morons who buy this shit." Well said, Spock. Please ponder that some more. That thought is so brilliant and shiny, you should be able to make out your own reflection in it. Also (and as usual) your posts have been well-put here, iceaura. You often save my emotions from boiling over, by calmly saying a lot of what I'm thinking. I can get more worked up than I like to be, discussing the lop-sided civilian casualties, lop-sided coverage of the same, and incredible hypocrisy displayed in every bloody episode when Israel tangles with a weaker neighbor. Never has anyone visited on Israeli civilians the scale of slaughter of innocent people that Israel has repeatedly wreaked upon Beirut (not that bloody Israeli overkill has been confined to Beirut). I hope and trust that they never will, as the imperative for coexistence supplants this insanity.
i think you didnt fully understood my point. but never mind, i read all your post, youre one of those guys who automatically favor the weaker side, even if the weaker side started the war. there you have it, another way to manipulate the media as most favor the weaker side.
Hezbollah fired the 1st shots, on Israeli soil; even Nasrallah has said so. I don't care if Hezbollah is a country or what happened afterwards, they initiated the 2006 war, plain and simple, by their own admission. You'd have to be an acid tripping ignoramus to believe otherwise.
Nasrallah has done a lot of bragging, but claiming to have launched an invasion of Israel is beyond even his usual style -do you have a link ?
careful what you say by that logic Israel started the 6 day war. Something i am sure you don't believe is the case.
Yes, in your world the Israels started it, Eore is real, and the Play Mate of the Year, sleeps with you in your bed every night. Paper Cuts are a bitch.
Do you have sources that shows Lebanon can't control Hezbullah? Hezbullah kidnapped and killed a Israel patrol for its own purposes, and Lebanon couldn't stop Hezbullahs actions. Lebanon still can't control Hezbullah, and Hezbullah is steadily infiltrating the Lebanese Government, taking control of it. Recipe for another war, and this time the Israelis will be prepared.
That's not exactly true. The airport was used to ferry Hezbollah supplies during the war. The IDF bombed the airport, but made sure to bomb only the runways (which are less costly and time consuming to rebuild) and not the terminal.
