Totalitarian control penetrating journalism
Following the post from yesterday:
The state media (radio and TV) posted
Often the Danish media is quick to follow the British and American, in this case they followed those that are silent, and none went as far as The Times:
US bombed Nord Stream gas pipelines, claims investigative journalist Seymour Hersh
An article has appeared in Journalisten.dk published by the Danish Association of Journalists. It shows what kind of environment these people work in.
In this post, I use, besides the translated article and a TG post from Maria Zakharova, information already posted about the reaction from China and Russia to illustrate what the journalists don't wish to talk about.
DR regrets and deletes story about American sabotage on Nord Stream
The Nord Stream pipelines were sabotaged last year, and Russia has claimed that the West is behind it. Photo: Danish Defense Command/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix
The American journalist Seymour Hersh, on the basis of one anonymous source, has published a long report that the US was behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline
9 FEBRUARY 2023, 09:49
Anna Sol Jørgensen, journalist
The US should comment on the 'facts' that have been presented about the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
This is what it sounded like last night from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after the American journalist Seymour Hersh wrote in a blog post based on one anonymous source that the USA was behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline last September.
I don't know what they are referring to, but I did find a Telegram post by Maria Zakharova spokesperson for the Russian MFA:
Ну, что? Где натовские специалисты по новичкам и дохлым уткам, которые раз в год регулярно выдвигали абсурдные обвинения на пустом месте, заявляя, что у них хайли-лайкли есть факты? Они никогда никаких фактов никому не предъявляли. Тут фактов хоть отбавляй: взрыв трубопровода, наличие мотива...
t.me
"Well, what is it? Where are the NATO experts on novichok and dead ducks, who regularly made absurd accusations out of thin air once a year, claiming that they had high-like facts? They never presented any facts to anyone. There are plenty of facts here: the explosion of the pipeline, the presence of a motive, indirect evidence obtained by journalists. So when will an emergency NATO summit meet to review the situation?"
The facts about the explosion, the presence of motive and indirect evidence are not linked to in the article by Hersh, but they can be found, a couple even in news archives of the media denying the existence of facts.
The article continues:
The Russian reaction can be read, among other things, in a news update on dr.dk, which was published last night.
Then they insert a text box, as if to legitimize they even write about the issue:
It is completely false and complete fiction.
Adriene Watson, White House spokeswoman
The above point is later repeated twice. They continue:
But DR should not have brought that telegram at all, says Thomas Falbe, editor-in-chief at DR Nyheder.
'The basic rule is that we do not base our journalism on other people's anonymous sources. It is a mistake that it has been brought,' he says.
'This conspiracy has spread in certain circles for more than half a year without any kind of documentation. That is not the case in this case either. It is about one anonymous source on which Seymour Hersh bases a kilometer-long post,” he adds.
During the morning, the telegram was deleted and DR's apologized for it.
“Completely false and complete fiction”
Seymour Hersh's post was released yesterday at noon and was last night slammed by White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson.
'It is completely false and complete fiction,' she told Reuters.
Russia has also previously claimed that it is the West that is behind the sabotage.
Spokespersons from the intelligence service CIA and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also shoot down the story completely, according to Reuters.
85-year-old Seymour Hersh received the Pulitzer Prize in 1970 for his coverage and revelations during the Vietnam War, and for years he has been a recognized journalist specializing in military and foreign affairs.
Over the past 10 years, however, he has been behind several stories that are considered total misfires that have sparked accusations against Seymour Hersh that he is spreading conspiracy theories.
The following box in large types, is also later repeated in the tex:
If that story is true, it is truly sensational. Therefore, there is also the greater requirement for documentation that cannot rely on one anonymous source.
Thomas Falbe, editor-in-chief at DR Nyheder
Returning to defaming Hersh:
The controversies are, among other things, about a story that casts doubt on the United States' narrative about the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and a later story that it was supposed to be rebels and not President Bashar al-Assad's regime that was behind the poison gas attack in a Damascus suburb in 2013 where hundreds of civilians were killed by the nerve gas sarin.
Well, there are plenty of articles reposted on SOTT that go into great detail about the above events. The unpardonable offence is apparently to cast: "doubt on the United States' narrative"
It is not only American authorities who are highly critical of Seymour Hersh's post, which has not been published by any recognized American media. Among the critics is Eliot Higgins, director and founder of the Dutch-based media outlet Bellingcat, which specializes in fact-checking.
'Single Source Seymour (one-source Seymour, ed.) couldn't even get it published by an editor with star keys this time. The only people Hersh still impresses are the kind of people who carry water for Putin and Assad – or the terminally stupid,” writes Eliot Higgins on Twitter.
Eliot Higgens attacks the man rather than analyzing the subject. A SOTT search for Bellingcat reveals:
50 articles among which one finds:
In
these so far 89 articles, Bellingcat is found in the summary.
In
these 318 articles, Bellingcat is found in the text.
The dk article continues:
TV 2 has also brought a story about Seymour Hersh's story. It has not been possible to get a comment from TV 2 about their considerations in bringing it.
Reactions cannot justify follow-ups
According to Thomas Falbe, DR should not follow up on the story at all, as long as it is based on anonymous sources from other media. Not even if there are international reactions to it.
'It is dangerous to lull yourself into the notion that it is legitimate to bring, because there will be reactions to it. Journalism must stop there and look at what is actually up and down.”
'A very predictable reaction from a Russian foreign minister or ambassador does not justify a story with us, and it neither makes the story more right nor more wrong,' says Thomas Falbe.
They wash their hands, rather than trying to find out more, it was a multi-billion dollar sabotage crime, and they don't care about what happened.
According to Thomas Falbe, there is 'a huge risk of spreading a false narrative' in a case that is internationally politically inflamed, and that false information can be used to create discord and doubt.
Which is what they have done since 2014 to lead the Western populations to root for a war against Russia.
“If that story is true, it is truly sensational. Therefore, there is also the greater requirement for documentation that cannot rely on one anonymous source,' he says.
Updated at 1.17pm with information that it is not possible to get a comment from TV 2.
Well, these journalists could do a lot of dot connecting themselves if they were interested, but apparently they aren't. Instead, Danish media can publish one story after another from Kiev or the White House that later is shown to be false or misleading.
More on the Russian reaction to the article by Hersh
This has already been mentioned somewhere, but for the present context, here is an RT article about what the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Maria Zakharova told reporters:
US ‘lying’ about Nord Stream expose – Moscow
Attempts by the US State Department to brush off Seymour Hersh’s article about the sabotage of Nord Stream pipelines as
“nonsense” are overt lies that display shocking ignorance of American history, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Friday.
The veteran investigative journalist
reported on Wednesday that the US was behind the destruction of the Baltic Sea pipelines in September 2022. American divers planted charges under the cover of a NATO exercise, and a Norwegian airplane detonated them remotely when the time came, Hersh wrote.
“It would not be typical for us to engage allies and partners on something that is utter and complete nonsense,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday, answering a question about Hersh’s article.
Zakharova said she was astonished by Price’s audacity to call
“nonsense” what US President
Joe Biden and Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland
openly described as their preferred outcome.
“The US is once again lying live on air, openly mocking journalists who asked fully justified questions,” Zakharova said.
The Russians are not saying that the article is the last word, but it raises questions, questions Danish journalists apparently should not ask or try to answer:
Explosions that damaged both Nord Stream pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm cut off the flow of Russian natural gas to Germany. US officials tried to blame Russia for the blasts, while expressing delight at the destruction and
calling it an
“opportunity” for Europe. The White House has
denounced Hersh’s report as
“utterly false and complete fiction.”
Zakharova noted that Denmark and Sweden had refused Russian offers to assist with the investigation, while Norway declined to provide aid citing EU sanctions, adding that this shows the three governments were not interested in finding out the truth, but rather covering it up.
And the Danish journalists would also not dare to look to what China thinks:
China comments on bombshell Nord Stream report
10 Feb, 2023 17:04
The US owes the world an explanation on the sabotage of the Russian gas pipelines, Beijing’s Foreign Ministry says
The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Friday that Washington owed the world an explanation, following the publication of journalist Seymour Hersh’s report, claiming the US was behind the September 2022 attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
“We have noted the reports,” Mao Ning said, responding to a question from Dragon TV. She added that the two Nord Stream pipelines were
“vital transnational infrastructure” and that their destruction caused a serious economic and environmental impact.
“If Hersh is telling the truth, what he revealed is clearly unacceptable and must be answered for. The US owes the world a responsible explanation,” Mao stated.
Again, China is not saying the story is the last word, but asking for more information.
"some media outlets care little about the truth" - Mao Ning
In the article about the Chinese stance, the next statement from Mao Ning describes the situation in a number of Western media very well, and might also be revealing about what the Chinese consider is true about the Nord Stream bombing:
A follow-up question from the Beijing Youth Daily pointed out the sparse coverage of Hersh’s report by the “free, professional and impartial” US outlets. Mao responded:
It only proves that some media outlets care little about the truth. They pretend not to see the truth that really matters and, more often than not, try to sell false narratives rather than the truth.
[...]
See also the SOTT comment to the article by Seymour Hersh:
Means And Motive: How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline
So the Norwegians and the Danes were in on it, but it's also likely the Israelis, Brits and Germans were too. NATO is far more than a military alliance - almost all its member states are fully integrated components in a globalist franken-country we might term NATOstan or Westernia.
See also:
In this post, I have attempted to exemplify how a topic like the Nord Stream sabotage is evaded. The Danish media communicate, as if they operate from a position that effectively has declared war on another country and are obliged to abide by military and governmental directives, as if from the White House National Security Council. In the case of Nord Stream, we certainly wonder why they stick to their lines so anxiously?
SABOTAGE. SEYMOUR HERSH IS PROBABLY RIGHT.
