FBI announces American media in US and abroad now targeted by terrorists

Logo of the Society of Professional Journalists

The FBI has announced that Muslim-led terrorist groups have singled out journalists as special targets no matter where they live in the world, not just those who cover the news directly on the ground in the Middle East. As terrorism grows, the radical groups recognize that the media is the first line of communication and defense against misinformation.  But in targeting journalists, what individuals or groups are included in the extremist manifesto?

The Society of Professional Journalists sent information that was disseminated to media organization in the United States that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) members and supporters have called for retaliation against US interests abroad, and to those conveying information regarding those interests by way of media accounts,

The extremist groups are using social media sites as the mechanism for communicating with their members throughout the world, asking those members to join in actions of retaliation against the United States and its interests abroad.

According to the FBI, a posting on an ISIL-dominated forum is entitled "A Message to 2.6 million Muslims in the United States: This is How to Respond to Obama's War on Islam."  It goes on to suggest that media personnel, that include anchors at various radio and television stations, field reporters, and talk show hosts to be the priority targets for execution, in response to the US-led airstrikes on Syria and Iraq.  This post, along with a video of the execution of an American journalist, are the tools used to announce that members of the media are to be hunted down and killed.  The FBI has detailed the information that the ISIL-affiliated group is the one charged with kidnapping journalists and is considered a threat, to the extent that American journalists are being notified of it.

The Society of Professional Journalists is a principal journalist organization, with extensive contact information that serves as a major mouthpiece for interaction with journalists across the United States.  It provides information on resources, meetings, forums, education and other topics.  In some cases, warnings like those regarding terrorist threats specifically regarding journalists are sent through email contacts.

This follows a significant uptick in the killing and brutalization of journalists everywhere.  In Nigeria journalists are caught in the middle of the two sides struggling for power in the West African country.  Boko Haram has particularly cited the need to kill journalists unfavorable to their cause.  Members of the government forces have also threatened, harrassed and detained journalists.

In Afghanistan the press is again the target of terrorism, as it has been reported there that 2014 has been the bloodiest year for journalists. Some of the top journalists who have been covering the news in Afghanistan have been killed.  One of them was Sardar Ahmad, a journalist who had been working with the French news agency at the time he was killed in March 2014.  But it is not just the reporter or media representative included in the terrorist threat.  Members of their families have also suffered at the hands of extremists.

Now, however, as ISIS and other groups sympathetic to their cause of deliberate and graphic torture and killings of random citizens, or media representatives, have indicated they will take their operations to American soil, or areas of known American interests, the threat to the media has widened,   This offers a new dimension of fear to journalists who seek to bring education and information to the public that might save lives.

In defense of the American sex scandal and gossip press

[caption id="attachment_5711" align="alignleft" width="245" caption=" Anthonyweiner.jpg Anthony Weiner, member of the United States House of Representatives."][/caption]

Michael Cosgrove - Events on both sides of the Atlantic show that it’s time to acknowledge the essential part that tabloids play in ensuring that wrongdoing is brought to the attention of justice and the public.

The Weiner story has been keeping America and even Europe amused, bewildered or outraged for days now. That average Joe sinning Americans expect their politicians to behave better than they do and lead lives akin to those of monks or nuns is no secret in Europe, where people find it to be a bit holier-than-thou. We may not be quite as radical in our approach on this side of the Atlantic, but, as the French say, “vive la difference.”

On the other hand, we of course have had our own issues to deal with, and one of them - the rape allegations against Dominique Strauss-Kahn - is all over the papers right now. You may be thinking that this story is not comparable to Anthony Weiner’s – after all one is about allegations of rape and sexual assault and the other concerns a photo of a guy in his underpants – but you’d be wrong.

The French press has been in anguish since the DSK story broke because of allegations that it knew about his sexual misdeeds before but didn’t publish anything because of its collusion with politicians which meant that protecting their private lives from public scrutiny also meant covering up their sexual crimes (read more on this here on Green Heritage News.)

Philosopher Luc Ferry used the occasion presented to him by the DSK affair to go on a live TV show recently to claim that everyone on that TV set (they were all journalists) as well as the political classes and a prime minister were aware of serious allegations that a minister had indulged in a pedophile orgy in Morocco.

He has been vilified by press and public alike since because he is held to have broken a sacrosanct and universal belief here in France – a belief moreover which is backed up by laws and harsh penalties for offenders – that nobody should utter accusations of crime in the media unless they have proof that what they were alleging is true. France loves the motto ‘innocent until proven guilty.’

That explains why there are no gossip tabloids in France and no sex scandals. It is illegal to publish anything without having the proof that someone has done something. Sounds tempting, doesn’t it? Just think about it. No more ruined reputations and scurrilously false accusations, no more gutter press, no more shock-horror headlines. A perfect world.
Until you consider things in more detail and ask yourself what the word ‘proof’ means.

Luc Ferry came bounding back to defend himself today with a defiant and spirited exposé of his thoughts in an article for Le Figaro. And here are a few of the words he said about why the press in France refuses to reveal details of sex crimes (my translation.)

“The classic response, which the piously righteous repeat over and over again, is no more than a lazy excuse. They say ‘Either we have proof and we publish or we don’t so we keep our mouths shut.’ That is laughable.”

He is right. Because what exactly is ‘proof’ in France that someone has done something when it comes to the press being able to report it? The answer is that proof exists when someone is found guilty in a court of law. In other words, unless someone denounces a crime directly to the police, who then take it up and decide that it’s worth investigating and refer it to a judge who may or may not hold a trial, it can’t be reported. You can’t report the proof you have, you have to prove you have proof. In other words, it’s impossible, because if it involved a politician, they’d squeeze the case before it reached court. Net result – it is impossible for the press to print any allegations of sexual assault.

Kafka would have loved the awful irony and so would Joseph Heller.

So if you are American, the next time you are raging about your favorite politician or entertainer being caught up in a sex scandal that you think was concocted by his political or business enemies, and even if it turns out that you were right, stop and think about France for a minute.

Okay, it might not be possible for the French press to publish details of private lives, but that same mentality means that it isn't possible to expose a pedophile either….

Long live the gossip and scandal press, for it is a necessary evil.