Wired: -- Debka: Conflict's Drudge Report?

Steve Schear s.schear at comcast.net
Thu Dec 18 17:11:53 PST 2003


Debka: Conflict's Drudge Report?

By Noah Shachtman

Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47325,00.html

02:00 AM Oct. 05, 2001 PT

The Iraqis are training Osama bin Laden's troops in chemical and biological 
weapons; Russian commando units packing newly acquired American arms are 
poised to storm Afghanistan; Israel is about to be charged with damaging 
the mosques on Jerusalem's contested Temple Mount.

Stories like these- are making the free-wheeling Israeli news site 
Debkafile an increasingly popular destination for Americans looking for the 
inside scoop on the conflict with terrorism.

<snip>

John Ghazivinian, an editor at news professionals' site Mediabistro, added, 
"There's a real strong sense that the mainstream media have scaled back 
their operations so much that they're basically incapable of covering this 
from the ground."

Debkafile -- based in the Jerusalem neighborhood of French Hill, 
equidistant from both Palestinian villages and the walls of the Old City -- 
has shown an ability to get that kind of coverage. USA Today, CNN and NBC 
all reported last Friday that American and British forces were in 
Afghanistan scouting out terrorist hiding places; Debkafile had the same 
story days earlier, and included details about Russian intelligence 
officers and German commandos joining in the incursions.

On the Saturday before, Debkafile ran a story that Saudi Arabia had refused 
to let the U.S. use its air bases to stage attacks on Afghanistan; it took 
The New York Times another two days to report this information.

Like the Drudge Report, which it resembles, Debkafile clearly reports with 
a point of view; the site is unabashedly in the hawkish camp of Israeli 
politics and has partnered with the far-right news site WorldNetDaily for a 
weekly, $120 subscription product.

<snip>

"Not everything Debka says is going to be confirmed, but I guarantee you 
three days later you'll find at least one item in The New York Times," said 
Greg Clayman, a New York City Internet marketing executive. "When (White 
House press secretary) Ari Fleischer tells the mainstream media, 'Watch 
what you say,' you've got to look for other sources."


A foolish Constitutional inconsistency is the hobgoblin of freedom, adored 
by judges and demagogue statesmen.
- Steve Schear 





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