Read Everything, Research Everything


This news saddened me.  I have always admired Nicholas Kristoff for his passion.  

https://freebeacon.com/media/new-blow-to-new-york-times-gaza-rape-report-key-source-gets-caught-quietly-removing-terrorists-names-from-list-of-slain-palestinian-journalists/

That being said: Read everything and research everything to the best of your ability. This reminder is also for me.   If I peddle disinformation or misinformation (which is a cross-pollinating process and not necessarily done with deliberation)  let me know.  I will set the record straight. I will apologize.

As for my journalism - the biggest stories never make the page.  They involve confidentiality.  And if it involves national security - I will enter chain of command to report the narrative. That is understood at the beginning point of any dialogue. 

If it involves a man seated across from me offering granular details of the successful assassination of a Chechen president (Dzhokhar Dudayev),  and that information is finally located on the web buried in obscure form - it will still never make the page.   There was a reasonable delay in report out for confidential source safety regarding this particular story due to the nature of what was shared with me.  But the story did involve  a material support platform for Chechnya based on U.S. soil.  Putin steadily assassinated and neutered additional leadership. So it is archived information now. 

Sources must know they can implicitly trust the journalist with their information. Conversely, journalists must explicitly doubt their sources.   To trust a source without question can lead to perfidious and perhaps mercenary journalism.

Regarding Nicholas Kristoff and his report: 

Rape between captor and captive?  It is all too common.  So it does not receive undue attention on my blog.  Not because it is not sufficiently hideous. But because it is common.  We know it happens. But public outrage does not always result in institutional change. We should report - if consideration is given that our journalism will channel into sufficient impact to enter policy corridors where the real changes occur. Otherwise, back channels are preferable. 

But I also have doubts regarding the New York Times expose; because quite a few of the Gaza "journalists" I profiled after they popped up post-October 7th had no prior digital footprint, nor were they supported by credible journalism platforms. They were part of a massive propaganda front to deflect attention from the very monstrous carnage visited on innocent civilians.  I also doubt Israel has a policy of raping prisoners in their custody.  They recently jailed a soldier for desecrating a religious emblem of the Christian faith while he was in Lebanon.

So read everything: Left, center and middle. Search for that one important truth buried in an article which may primarily be composed of flotsam. More importantly - if a journalist - listen for the silence between the words.  It also delivers a story. And then sit back and reflect. Do your own research. Form conclusions. But do not allow anything to immediately set your hair on fire.  Outrage is over-rated in 24/7 news cycles.

swoffordwrites@gmail.com

Prior platform:

https://thelastenglishprince.wordpress.com/



 

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