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ACCURACY AVOIDED

Newsweek retracted its Koran-flushing story several days ago. Yet Australia’s SBS news ran this headline yesterday:

BUSH UNDER ATTACK FROM MUSLIMS OVER KORAN DESECRATION SCANDAL

It’s a Koran non-desecration scandal, surely. Incidentally, try searching for “newsweek” and “koran” at Google News. You immediately hit a source-redirect that reports:

Your search - source:newsweek koran - did not match any documents.
Suggestions:

Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
Try different keywords.
Try more general keywords.

A search for “newsweek” and “Qur’an”, however, yields three matches. All from Newsweek. The “newsweek” + “koran” search at Altavista News turns up 1,402 results ...

Posted by Tim B. on 05/20/2005 at 11:35 AM
  1. If you’re so insecure about your religion that the mere mention of somebody somewhere disposing of printed paper drives you blood-crazy, then you aren’t ready to join the civilized world.

    Thing is, they know they aren’t.  But they aren’t ready to let anyone else to be civilized, either.

    /rant

    Posted by Rittenhouse on 2005 05 20 at 01:07 PM • permalink

  2. Jesus wept.

    Posted by Mike Jericho on 2005 05 20 at 01:12 PM • permalink

  3. “Newsweek riot”, however, turns up 104,000 hits.

    Heh.

    Posted by Rob Crawford on 2005 05 20 at 01:18 PM • permalink

  4. In Google’s defense, this seems to be because in searching for “newsweek koran” it assumes you’re looking for koran stories from Newsweek (observe: after searching, the text is “source:newsweek koran”).  If you search for “koran +newsweek”, it treats newsweek as a keyword, not a source, and turns up 2,290 hits.

    Posted by American Laura on 2005 05 20 at 02:43 PM • permalink

  5. In other news the Saddam in his Underpants features large in the BBC and subsidiaries. I just heard an interview with giovanni somebody saying how bad it is that this has happened and that if it happened to the Pope there would be an outcry. Right!
    Saddam now = Pope!
    There is some very curious ledger keeping going on in the world - on one side you have mass murder, subjugation of a nation by a psychopath who invades his neighbours. When he is dealt with, after many years of containment, the ledger keepers suddenly decide a few photos, undies on heads, korans in the can, are all worth much more in the heinous stakes.
    For all those among us who seek to undermine efforts to reform the Middle East, I say just this. If your wishes are granted, and the USA is weakened or simply became isolationist, your worst fears would become the madmen who would visit you with real terror. If you imagine some socialist nirvana run by people like George Galloway, you are truly certifiable.

    Posted by blogstrop on 2005 05 20 at 06:08 PM • permalink

  6. <i>“Newsweek riot”, however, turns up 104,000 hits.<>

    newsweek + shit = 102,000 hits

    Newsweek + crap = 200,000 hits

    Posted by Quentin George on 2005 05 20 at 06:34 PM • permalink

  7. koran + shit = 136,000 hits
    muslim + shit = 762,000 hits

    Posted by moghedien on 2005 05 20 at 07:19 PM • permalink

  8. Well, technically it’s correct.  Bush is under attack for a purported desecration of the Koran.  However, ethically SBS is required to report that Newsweek retracted the story.  If they didn’t include that, well, there would have to be wholesale firings at SBS.  Pronto.

    Further, Media Watch is required to jump on the story.  If they choose not to, well, there needs to be wholesale firings there as well.

    If it proves difficult to determine who should be fired, I and a few other commenters here would be happy to do it for $500 an hour or so.  SBS can pay us.  It’s negotiable of course. 

    Personally, I’m thinking Liz Jackson needs to get the boot, preferably my boot, for a start.  I want $500 to do it, but that’s negotiable too.

    Posted by wronwright on 2005 05 20 at 08:28 PM • permalink

  9. I’m asking for no less than 1k to kick Jackson out on her ass. I reckon Media Watch should be replaced or compete with something along the lines of Right Wing News (TM). We could put Blair up as the figurehead, and he throws to stories from the ‘right’ side of the picture.
    I’ll do the ‘how to beat hippies and influence idiots’ segment.

    Posted by CB on 2005 05 20 at 09:00 PM • permalink

  10. Why would SBS be accurate. Those trotskyites following their news would have ignored the newsweek retraction because it does not fit into their own little “America is bad” beliefs anyway.

    Posted by Hamish on 2005 05 20 at 09:27 PM • permalink

  11. In other news the Saddam in his Underpants features large in the BBC and subsidiaries.

    OK, who’s responsible for letting him have underpants?  I hope they were at least those itchy ones that ride up.

    Posted by Craig Mc on 2005 05 20 at 09:38 PM • permalink

  12. Blogstrop: “If your wishes are granted, and the USA is weakened or simply became isolationist, your worst fears would become the madmen who would visit you with real terror”.

    You’re talking about the Sith Lords aren’t you?  I think we’ll be able to convince even Australian immigration personnel that luminous yellow eyes and lightning leaking out of their shorts indicates a visitor who ought be forwarded on to New Zealand.  After all, they’re already switched onto the dangers of yellow skin.

    Is there any chance we could arrange a vote of world citizens “Would you like the USA to pull its head in for a while?”  Democracy in action, wouldn’t it be great?

    Posted by WomBatHed on 2005 05 20 at 10:05 PM • permalink

  13. SBS runs a morning long series of disclaimers anyhow which basically states that they do not approve of or endorse anything that they present.They just present it so it can be seen anyway.Funny way to run a media outlet but you can’t pin anything on them,the taxpayers subsidise it.
    Most of it, unless you speak upper swahili or sanskrit you can’t understand but you get the message alright from the inflammatory footage. ALLLLLLL morning.

    Posted by crash on 2005 05 20 at 10:17 PM • permalink

  14. Off topic . . . . get a load of this arsehole!

    Posted by steve68 on 2005 05 20 at 10:19 PM • permalink

  15. p.s.“democracy in action” is happening right here MoonBatHed- we’re looking at your view on the world.

    Posted by crash on 2005 05 20 at 10:20 PM • permalink

  16. WombBat, if the USA ever did what you wanted, you and your little friends would immediately commence complaining like babies who’ve had their teething rings taken away, as the most cursory glance at literature current to those times that we were isolationist will tell you. The cry would switch from “imperialistic US out of Ickystan!” to “why don’t the Americans do something, the selfish jerks!” in record time. So blow smoke up someone else’s ass.

    Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2005 05 20 at 11:05 PM • permalink

  17. Yay, Andrea! 

    WackBat, if you’re going to sneer at America, stick to the food value of Big Mac hamburgers being sold to unsuspected furriners to further the cause of Crass Capitalism.  That’s about your level.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 05 21 at 01:21 AM • permalink

  18. One flushed copy of the koran, I call it a good start.

    Posted by raider580 on 2005 05 21 at 02:42 AM • permalink

  19. Here’s the SBS headline for its coverage of the NYT Afghanistan abuse article:

    REPORT FINDS ‘RAMPANT’ TORTURE

    Posted by J F Beck on 2005 05 21 at 06:04 AM • permalink

  20. Oh come on people, lay off of WomBatHed, he’s one of those “special” types.  The type who’s learned everything he knows about the world from the Star Wars series.

    After all, he wrote:

    You’re talking about the Sith Lords aren’t you?

    I’m pretty sure he stood in line for a couple of days waiting for the first showing of “Revenge of the Siths”.  And I’m sure he, and his Star Wars action figures, are a formidable army, at least in his mind.

    And, we shouldn’t ever ridicule a boy and his obsesion.  Never mind that the boy is 29 years-old, and still living at home with his mother.

    Posted by David Crawford on 2005 05 21 at 06:12 AM • permalink

  21. Is there any chance we could arrange a vote of world citizens “Would you like WomBint to pull its head out of its ass for a while?”

    Posted by guinsPen on 2005 05 21 at 09:22 AM • permalink

  22. I’m pretty sure he stood in line for a couple of days

    My money says it was one of the dopes in line for two months.

    Posted by guinsPen on 2005 05 21 at 09:25 AM • permalink

  23. Steve68,

    Oh man! That guy Micheal Crook has got to take the cake for the biggest arsehole of all time.
    Tim. I suggest a new topic be devoted for this prick.

    Posted by Hank Reardon on 2005 05 21 at 09:55 AM • permalink

  24. # 19 link stopped working when updated.

    REPORT FINDS ‘RAMPANT’ TORTURE

    It now works.

    Posted by J F Beck on 2005 05 21 at 10:08 AM • permalink

  25. For something to be desecrated, it has to be sacred in the first place. The arabic “Mein Kampf” hardly falls into that category.

    Posted by Jim Geones on 2005 05 21 at 11:24 AM • permalink

  26. Rampant torture?  In that humidity? You won’t half get a rash…

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 05 21 at 07:56 PM • permalink

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