October 14, 2001

11:31 AM

Now that American media have shifted its focus on the bombings in Afghanistan with their objectivity being molded by federal 'requests,' some of the more mundane information may never get any airtime or ink here in the U.S. Panorama, a German TV service, have broadcast a wide angle video of the 'jubilant Palestinians' that support articles published in Spiegel and Stern magazines stating that the clip was staged. The news of FBI lying to the media to justify detaining a Saudi man for three weeks was buried in a blurb in page B-4 in Thursday's Times.

[Notes: [1] Stern.de article was referenced in The Inquirer. These two links are courtesy of Steven's USS Clueless. [2] The video link is to a 10 minute, 3.3 MB Real Media file. Jump to 7:45 and view to end. Alternative links: 1, 2, 3, 4. [3] Original German: Panorama TV, Spiegel Magazine.]
posted by tamim (13 comments total)

Does anyone have a link to something other than realmedia? I still don't believe this, and I'd like to see it myself.
posted by phatboy at 12:25 PM on October 14, 2001

for those who don't speak german: click on the "video" link. the part of the staged footage is at 3/4 of the clip. the old lady later said she was promised cake if she celebrates and the man in the white shirt was apparently motivating people to cheer. as the camera pans across the street you can see that there were just these 10 or 20 people in front of the camera jubilant.
posted by arf at 12:32 PM on October 14, 2001

There is no such thing as "objectivity."
posted by mrbula at 1:11 PM on October 14, 2001

I read the Stern article. The link in the Enquirer is broken, but if you search Der stern's site for "Jubel" it's the first article returned. Reading the whole article there, it seems to me that you left out an important part.

In the last couple of paragraphs it goes on to say:"Auch wenn sich auf der Sultan-Suleiman-Straße vor dem Süßwarenladen "Eiffel" ganz andere Ereignisse abgespielt haben, als man es uns im Fernsehen und in Zeitungen und Zeitschriften berichtet hat - es gab sie, die spontanen Jubelfeiern an jenem blutigen 11. September. Nicht in Ost-Jerusalem, sondern in Westbank-Städten wie Tulkarem, Hebron und Ramallah. Allein in Nablus hatten sich, wie Augenzeugen bestätigen, in den Straßen 4000 Menschen versammelt. "

"Even if the events in front of the Eiffel sweetshop on King Solomon Street were quite different from those reported on TV, by newspapers and in magazines - there were those who spontaneously celebrated on that bloody 11th of September. Not in East Jerusalem, but in West Bank cities such as Tulkarem, Hebron and Ramallah. In Nablus alone, as confirmed by eye-witnesses, 4000 people gathered in the streets." (my possible crappy translation).

It goes on to explain how Arafat tried to prevent pictures of these genuine celebrations being transmitted. I presume people who find Der Stern authoritative in the firsst case must fin it authoritative in the second. ("Wer A sagt müß auch B sagen").

So the manipulation goes both ways. Worse, Tamim's report is missing this interesting counterweight because the Inquirer article that quotes Stern doesn't include it.

Selective omission is a pervasive problem, I'm afraid.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 1:15 PM on October 14, 2001

There are, no doubt, many who would love to believe there was no jubilation over the WTC attack by the terrorist. However, was the Arafat (published) threat to seize cameras from any photgrapher taking shots of joyous Palestinians also faked. And the photos I had seen in Cairo of jubilation also faked. And the poll I had seen from the Palestinian universsity (West Bank) that showed overwhelming support for Bin Laden also faked?
In fact there were very many Palestinians who were filled with sorrow because of the terror attack. But they can not be filmed as easily.
posted by Postroad at 1:48 PM on October 14, 2001

It's "Wer A sagt muss auch B sagen."

And while I'll take the Stern's word for it that there were 4000 people gathered in Nablus, it is not responsible journalism to fake a news report because something similar supposedly happened elsewhere and you didn't get it on tape.
posted by muckster at 1:58 PM on October 14, 2001

Oops. It was before my first coffee of the day :( I never could get the hang of modal verbs....

And yes, I agree with you about responsible journalism. I'd love to know who that camera team were working for.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 2:10 PM on October 14, 2001

I have a guess.
posted by dong_resin at 3:07 PM on October 14, 2001

Ohhh, now it's old, recycled CNN footage from the early 90's AND a staged event.

That video doesn't do much to support either accusation.
posted by yupislyr at 3:35 PM on October 14, 2001

Speaking of forgeries, someone should remind Stern how that whole
Hitler Diaries thing worked out.
posted by gimonca at 4:14 PM on October 14, 2001

Good point, gimonca. There's a great movie about that whole mess.
posted by muckster at 5:33 PM on October 14, 2001

I was involved in the original thread, but I can't seem to view the movie well at all (choppy sound, more freeze frames than video). Does anybody know where and mpeg, Quicktime movie or WMP movie can be found. Realplayer blows.
posted by boaz at 6:24 PM on October 14, 2001

For anyone who wants to waste a minimum of time with this: the relevant footage is from 8:20 to 9:15 (assuming it is the 10:02 clip to which at least two of the links go).
posted by Zurishaddai at 1:42 AM on October 15, 2001