Oh Brother… "Reporters Without Borders" Gets Pwned By Baathists

Western Journalism Hits a New Low…
You would think that “Reporters Without Borders“, of all organizations, would do a better job at fact checking their Baathist Party propaganda stories before they go global with them?
You would think?

But, sadly that isn’t how things are done by today’s Reporters Without Borders (and email and phones).
Reporters Without Borders played the fool for the Iraqi Baathists today:

Call for probe into murder of 11 close relatives of online newspaper editor

Reporters Without Borders is shocked by the murders of 11 close relatives of Dia al-Kawwaz, the Amman-based editor of the online newspaper Shabeqat Akhbar al-Iraq, in an attack on his family home yesterday in Baghdad. Kawwaz recently received telephone threats from Iraqi militia members.

“We call on the government to order an investigation to identify those responsible for this carnage and to bring them to justice,” the press freedom organisation said. “The impunity reigning in Baghdad for the past five years encourages attacks on journalists and their families. It is even more disturbing when security forces see what is happening and yet take no action. Police at a security checkpoint near the Kawwaz family home failed to intervene or give chase.”

Reporters Without Borders added: “Iraqi journalists are defenceless and powerless in the face of the militias operating in the capital. Like Kawwaz, hundreds of them have sought refuge abroad but the relatives who have remained in Iraq are exposed to reprisals.”

According to a report posted on the Shabeqat Akhbar al-Iraq website, around five gunmen entered the Kawwaz family home in the northeast Baghdad neighbourhood of Al-Shaab shortly after 7 a.m. yesterday and shot dead two of Kawwaz’s sisters, their husbands and their seven children, aged 5 to 10. They then blew up the house before leaving in a vehicle with no licence plates. Neighbours said police at a nearby post did not intervene.

This is just bad journalism.
First of all- Kawwaz has lived abroad for 20 years so he didn’t just seek refuge because of the violence.

And, about that horrible slaughter…
It didn’t happen.
Too bad the reporters without borders (and email and phones) couldn’t check into it before they went global.

** The Iraqi Interior Ministry emphatically said, “Kawwaz is lying.”
** The police in Baghdad have not confirmed the attack.
** Talisman Gate reported that Al-Iraqiyya TV has “categorically dismissed reports over the murder of Dhia al-Kawwaz’s family in Sha’ab City.” (Thanks, BG!)
** The Multi-National Force Iraq has found no evidence to back up the fantastic story:
From an earlier email:

Jim,

We continue to check into this, but we have not received any reports of
this incident.

V/R,
MNF-I Press Desk

Dia al-Kawwaz said this about the attack:

According to the report on his news website, which is known for its strong stance against the US military occupation of Iraq, the gunmen bombed the house after killing the family members.

But, neither Iraqi nor American officials have found any evidence of a bombed house that fits the description in the area.
Reporters Without Borders got pwned.
How sad.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

You can email Jim Hoft here, and read more of Jim Hoft's articles here.

 

Thanks for sharing!