Should the mass media be held criminally liable for inciting riots/violence if they are intentionally misreporting world events?

[blueonblack22]

Just when the mass media could stoop any lower they managed to find a shovel and started digging again on this new monumental f*ck up: initially reporting that Israel bombed a hospital in Gaza which killed over 500 people.

This was later proven false by:

• US intelligence
• Radar proving Hamas misfired a rocket
• Intelligence recordings of Hamas militants admitting they misfired a missile
• Pictures showing the middle landed on a parking lot not a hospital. No way it claimed 500+ lives.

So why the f**k is mass media outlets like the NYT and Reuters taking Hamas’ word for face value and publishing headlines about it? Hamas is a proven terror organization that habitually lies to the citizens it oppresses and the outside world. How could the mass media use them as a “trusted” source. It’s beyond disgusting.

But their sickening malfeasance has real world consequences. This sparked outrage worldwide including riots which was all based on a lie. They have changed their headlines but have yet (or likely never will) own up to this atrocity.

It’s one thing if the media gets in wrong by conflicting sources. But trusting a terrorist organization is beyond negligent: it’s complicity.

When the media gets it this wrong they should held criminally accountable in my opinion.

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/brian-stelter-tears-into-medias-atrocious-series-of-mistakes-covering-gaza-hospital-bombing-they-actually-did-harm/amp/

Yes

No

Updates

6 mo

*missile landed in a parking lot.

Updates

6 mo

I have said this once and I will say it again I do NOT want innocent civilians getting killed in Gaza. An innocent Gazan’s life is worth no less than an innocent Israeli’s.

But verified FACTS and context matters here. It matters a whole hell of lot. Atrocious misreporting by the mass media has dire worldwide consequences. What’s even worse is the media refuses to own up to own to their mistakes. Intentional disinformation should be criminalized.

[DaisyM23]

israel themselves posted something on twitter before deleting it and various sources prove that israel was the highest likely attacker, of course no one will step forward to claim this attack so if i am wrong then i am wrong
but speaking of media bias, what of mass media outlets speaking of the 40 beheaded babies and Biden himself openly saying he saw pictures of this even when the White House took this statement back, the journalist who said that later took this back as well and there has been no evidence published of this to prove it, yet this has spurred islamophobia around the west, including the 6 year old and his mother who were stabbed in Chicago and further tensions everywhere - in my opinion western media have been biased towards Israel not Palestine, and everyone has been watching silently as Israel have committed crime after crime against innocent Palestinians for years now, yet the moment Palestine strike back once, Israel plays the victim card. Israel have blatantly been breaking international law, using white phosphorus, bombing borders and civilians, and cutting off food and electricity in Gaza, and all these world leaders and media outlets standing aside for Israel should all be on trial

[blueonblack22]

@DaisyM23 please keep talking. Please do. But before we go further do you still believe the IDF bombed the hospital and killed over 500 people? Before we talk about anything else above I want to exactly know what you believe on that. We can discuss your other points above but do NOT bring them up UNTIL you tell me if you still believe the IDF bombed that hospital.

I am trying to figure out if you are one of those people who argue to BE right vs trying to figure out WHAT is right. So far I believe the former but please prove me wrong and tell me the latter.

Also I would like to know which country you reside in. I’m American living the USA. White guy and I am NOT Jewish. I bring that up because I know people living in Islamic countries are likely to have a different mindset on this vs. people living in western countries. But young liberal white women living in the west who are supporting Hamas are on a whole different level of insanity in my opinion.

So please tell me what you believe about the hospital bombing and your background. Nothing more. Nothing less. I am sure you 100% believed that the IDF was responsible when the news first broke about that. But do you still believe that? Again we can discuss the other points you brought up after you answer that.

[DaisyM23]

i do believe the idf is responsible, i believed it when the news broke out but now everyone is claiming proof of any and all sides and the more i see the more i'm unsure, until i see indisputable evidence that idf DIDN'T attack, then i will belive otherwise, and if i'm proven wrong then i'm proven wrong and i won't try and deny it in the face of cold hard fact - i've seen an apparent video of hamas rockets going in the opposite direction of the hospital and i have seen people debunk the apparent phone recording, israel posted something about how they bombed a hospital before deleting it, they had bombed the hospital days before as well and warned people inside to evacuate / but i have also seen people talk about israeli weapons, apparent video footage of a rocket fired from the ground failing and falling, how it hit the car park and how 500+ victims is impossible - it is hard to believe anything now as it's easy to fabricate evidence to fit your agenda and both sides have most likely done this
i'm from the uk, south Asian, not muslim or jewish

[blueonblack22]

Thank you for answering what I asked for. That’s a start. I actually had the perfect article link to address some of the points you made above. It’s not some far right conservative media outlet. The independent journalist really thought through both sides of the conflict.

For the life of me I can’t find it. Read it on Google two days ago but I tried to look it up yesterday to respond to you but it’s nowhere to be seen.

Anyway are you okay with debating (debating is not the same as arguing) each part of this conflict? I thought we could start from scratch about how leftist claim Israel is a “colony” despite Jews inhabiting Israel for a 1000 years before Islam even existed.

[blueonblack22]

Also for record I do NOT believe Israel is perfect, beyond reproach and without sin. There is never a 100% good vs. 100% bad in almost any military conflict. Even allied forces in WW2 killed civilians when they fought Nazi germany.

But in a nutshell I believe that Israel is MOSTLY right and Hamas is MOSTLY wrong. There is zero excuse for what Hamas did on Oct 7th. None whatsoever. But we can get to that part down the road after we address this conflict’s roots. It’s complicated but let’s start with the establishment of Israel as an official country in 1948. I notice leftists keep on calling it a “colony”. Again Jews inhabited Israel LONG before Islam even existed. I thought that would be common knowledge for people but I guess it isn’t. But I want your take on that.

[DaisyM23]

i'd be interested in reading those articles if you can find them sure

let me just start off by saying i do condemn hamas' actions in killing israeli civilians but i have to disagree with you about their excuse because palestine have been oppressed for decades and sooner or later it would've caused all out conflict again, except this time the ONE time palestine retaliate against israel, people claim israel is the victim - jewish people did live in israel thousands of years ago yes, but there is a massive difference because israeli jews NOW only have a thousand years old claim on the land, the majority of them can trace a few generations back to Europe not israel because jews had been expelled from the middle east and various european countries in the past thousand years until britain gave over palestinian lands to them - we can't back a two thousand year old claim because then anyone can lay claim to any land and the history of every single country has been a history full of war and conquest, i'm from the uk supposedly the original britons were the celtics before they were invaded by the romans, anglo-saxons, normans etc and apparently modern welsh people are closer to the original than modern English people yet england is bigger than wales and has much more political power now, by the logic of israel, wales had the right to claim britain at any time - and yes i do know that judaism came before both christianity and islam but that's no real excuse, maybe it's easy for me to say because i belong to neither religion so i don't fully understand the religious significance of jerusalem for example

[DaisyM23]

but there has been an attempt to try and say those lands were empty, that israelis didn't steal any homes but we know that's false because there was only a small minority of jewish people in palestine before the 20th century as many lived in Europe and america - i understand that they have religious connection to israel, but i am against their actions against palestine - everyone acts so surprised that palestine didn't take it laying down that their land, that their HOMES, were taken away from them in 1948, of course war happened, war will always happen when people of very different ethnic, national and religious backgrounds are forced to live together, especially when one group had their CURRENT land stolen from them and given to the other group - the nakba in 1948 and their displacement, and israeli laws immediately dismissing palestinian citizenship, and what i'm seeing now is exactly what jewish people had done to them for centuries of history and they've just turned it around onto palestinians (especially with genocidal rhetoric now) and i am againt zionism, and please don't try and say this is anti-semitism because anti-zionism does NOT equate to antisemitism - i have no hate towards jewish people, i think it's incredibly stupid to hate an entire group of people for something that 1) they can't choose and 2) has nothing to do with you, but i am against the state/government of israel because it is a settler colony - by definition, a settler colony is when the colonising power moves in to occupy already lived on territory and tries to get rid of the native population... i see no difference in what israel is doing to palestine now

[Anonymous]

Thanks for posting this. The liberals on this site have no clue of what you just said. That's because they get their news from MSNBC and CNN. Liberal "news" agencies will never show you video or pictures of the hospital that was never hit. They got their news from Hamas, and they ran with it.

Now because of that fake news, embassies all over the world are evacuating. "Palestinian" students who are in America on student visas, are changing death to Israel, and death to America. Nice. Palestinians that are guests in America, are breaking the law, and I doubt they will be deported. A couple of congressmen are asking that they be deported, but nothing will happen. That Democrat that pulled the fire alarm, committed a federal crime, but nothing happened. Jewish students in America are afraid for their lives, and I doubt anything will happen to the left-wing news organization that incited violence all over the world.

Trump told people to march peacefully and patriotically to the Capitol, and there were hearings about an insurrection.

[Opinion Owner]

chanting, not changing.

[blueonblack22]

This isn’t just stupid anymore it’s dangerous and horrifying. And open support for Hamas is going on in the WEST.

Liberal anti-semitism has been going on for a LONG time now but it was always swept under the rug by the media. You only heard about when a far right activist does something atrocious (as you should).

But the number one ethnicity who has been targeted by hate crimes in America isn’t Asian, African-Americans, etc. According to FBI statistics it’s the Jews. And this was a known fact well before the Hamas situation blew up.

Isn’t it funny how liberals love to go around calling people “Nazis” when it they are behaving like TRUE Nazis with all this anti-Semitic hatred. And they use all sorts of bullshit euphemisms like “anti Zionism” when Hamas explicitly states they want to annihilate all Jews. They cover for them.

And above all you just have to love young liberal white women who support Islamic jihadism (cough). Do you they have any f*cking idea how Islam treats women (enslaves them) and how they treat gay/trans people (they throw them off roof tops). Were these women born missing a chromosome or something? How is it even possible to be that retarded to support a cause like that?

[Opinion Owner]

I'll do you one better. I saw a clip of a trans "woman" (man in a dress) show his support for not only Palestinians, but Hamas! I learned today that if he even got caught in Gaza, he would get 10 years in prison. And if he tried to protest, he'd be killed. (of course he was on a college campus in America)
I think he should go to Gaza and show his support.

[blueonblack22]

I believe what you said above. People should do a fundraiser to fly him to Gaza. See how long he lasts out there.

[Opinion Owner]

GoFundMe

LOL

[blueonblack22]

Send me the link when it’s up lol. I will help him (or excuse me “her”) pack. Plant a body cam on “her” to see how she’s warmly greeted over there. Enjoy the one way trip.

I hope she’s ready to go base jumping without a parachute.

[Dargil]

They live on feelz.

[madhatters4]

CNN and MSNBC did report that the attack was from Hamas. Biden is a liberal and he's the one who disclosed the intelligence report.

come on. be republican. be conservative. but you are shooting your arguments in the heels

[Opinion Owner]

They first reported that it was Israel that attacked.

[madhatters4]

they weren't first... many many outlets speculated this. the news agencies cited different reports before the media agencies did. there was the tweet from a person close to the israeli military and a former colleague of Netanyahu that said the IDF was responsible. then it was deleted. it's all very shady right? it's not a liberal or conservative matter. it's a casualty of war. reporting is often scant, details are often delayed.

if it were some liberal thing why would a liberal president before the first to give the most concrete info that it was Hamas?

it's war.

[Opinion Owner]

Thanks for the MHO

[lightbulb27]

I've seen this... the problem is what do people believe. There's no source for truth... one trusts what they trust.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/yyNLvL_8SeY

We are in a dangerous time of where "fact" and truth are at risk. Whom does one trust? You can be certain that the rage some feel is very different than the "justice" others feel.

I think yes, we need to upgrade our media and fast to be factual, backed up, truth with references, corrections to stories. media should be about truth, accuracy, not just inciting emotions to get clicks.

If we fail to do that, you and I can expect violent deaths, if not for us, then for some unfortunate people.

All of these... are emotional problems... not just logical fact issues.

[madhatters4]

i guess. but i suppose then we have to define what the penalties are. and international laws like this are pretty much non-existent.

i'm all for holding the media to standards. but it is a he said she said sort of thing. all signs pointed to Israel being behind the attack. even israeli government posts initially sort of suggested they were behind it. so i think the media acted on the info they had. if their sources tell them something then they have an out in terms of culpability. the reality was no one seemed to own up to it until US intelligence came out with their evidence

[madhatters4]

but i am all for responsible reporting and holding the media to standards

[XingQi]

Yes, it is time we hold news outlets accountable for their social engineering. We as the people are sick of riots, chaos, and political division coming into our lives every day. We just want to live our lives and be happy. That is all.

I am not going to sit back and smile at anyone that thinks looting stores, forcing everyone into a religion of climate change (just as they got global cooling and warming, and ozone layers wrong for decades), gives criminals a voice, and promotes terrorism. They all must be stopped.

[provokeesmokee]

I don't know how feasible criminal liability is, but certainly journalism as a whole needs a full redesign and more regulation on a global scale.

This goes for more than just regurgitating misinformation. It also has to go for the consolidation of journalistic and media companies under large oligarchs - both in America and beyond.

With the advent of the internet and social media, we're seeing terrorist and extremist groups (both religious and political) adapt and weaponise those platforms better than our current media organizations are able to identify disinformation.

So, criminal liability? Maybe, especially if, like the CBC, they are large corporations that refuse to retract disinformation. But for sure retraining and adapting quickly is needed.

It isn't grandpa's newsroom anymore.

[blueonblack22]

I agree with what you are saying about corporations/oligarchs However the internet/social media is more debatable if it’s good or bad. It’s true that terrorist extremists can use it for recruitment and propaganda. But it also allows independent journalists to have an audience and increased reach.

Now the mass media is trying to work hand in glove with social media networks to censor news they don’t like. There is a difference between “disinformation” and “misinformation”’ as well. They are not the same thing. Misinformation is ignorance, unverified sources and false rumors. Disinformation is propaganda and malicious.

Bottom line I have a hard time believing the mass media made a “honest” mistake with reporting that the IDF bombed a hospital and killed over 500 people. At best they took a very unverified source and ran with it because it was what they wanted to hear.

Given they are supposed to be educated and “disciplined” journalists whose stories can directly impact politics (including military responses) they are teetering more in the “dis” information than “mis” here. I argue that’s criminality giving the worldwide that has resulted from that.

[blueonblack22]

*worldwide damage

[provokeesmokee]

That's all very good and fair points. I agree.

Internet and social media for sure have good and bad. I think where current journalism fails is there's many news rooms that have simply chased the dollar and the click, instead of making sure they stick to proper journalistic rigor.

It's a new environment to them still, and while successful good old names can start independent sites and still reach many, the companies that run today often push diligence to the wayside to get clicks and ad revenue.

I agree - the mass media took Hamas propaganda and spread it, encouraging if not inciting protests and calls for violence in many countries.

I agree It'd be great to criminalize spreading disinformation - you're right, this was disinformation- in this instance. But it's almost too impossibly large to successfully enforce. And not enough to name it criminal but not reform and redesign how the news handles these sorts of cases.

I think it would be realistic, however, to criminalize and charge media companies that continue to run the original wording and who don't retract their original articles.

Question becomes: who charges who and how?

[blueonblack22]

Well in the USA we have the freedom of press/speech. But I use this analogy: both you and I would be prosecuted if we intentionally yelled “fire!” in a crowded movie theater. But the mass media is yelling “fire!” on a much grander scale and not only walks away scott free but refuses to acknowledge their gross mishandling of information.

As for who gets charged and how I think it needs to start with criminal indictment to see how the reporters gathered their sources and how editors reported on it. If they don’t have the a disciplined system to prove they made an honest mistake then they should be held criminally liable. It will slow them down on reporting news but it’s time to have that level of accountability given that lives worldwide are at stake.

They could have least headlines the hospital bombing as “Hospital reportedly bombed in Gaza. Culprit still unverified” but they didn’t even f*cking do that. A headline like that would have gotten Israel blamed anyway but at least it’s honest. But instead they ran with “hospital bombed by IDF strike”.

Also I know the headline about babies being beheaded was “misinformation” too. From what I’ve read the only part that is proven false so far is that the babies weren’t beheaded. Just murdered in their cribs by other means. I guess that makes everything okay now considering what Hamas did (cough).

[whirled_up_girl]

Yes, I think there should be some accountability for misreporting facts. When I first heard the news the sources that I read were not saying which side was responsible and indicated that it could have been a misfired of a rocket in Gaza so I didn't jump to any conclusions. However, other media clearly misreported the facts and that is terrible for sure.

[Anonymous]

If the 'Main Stream Media' cannot report news truthfully, showing every-side of it without Bias, then they should criminally responsible, Its not just the recent Hamas/Israel conflict where their bias has been on show. It could be argued that if they had reported truthfully about the circumstances around the arrest/death of George Floyd, even today when the the full circumstances are know and if you presented those facts to someone who'd had never heard of him (there are people who have never heard of him despite media coverage) they'd come to a conclusion at odds with what the Media presented. If the Media had been truthful then the riots over that summer probably would not have occurred.

[blueonblack22]

We have freedom of speech and press in the United States. But the media gets to yell “fire!” in a crowded movie theater while a private citizen would be prosecuted.

There might be one silver lining in all of this (just as long WW3 doesn’t start). This is finally going to open the eyes to the masses about how dangerous and disgusting the mass media is. Even moderate liberals are pissed off about this.

[strateguy632]

definitely. news companies should need to pay HUGE fines to deter them from using unverified propaganda for sensation.

obviously not only "pre-approved by government" but verified not propaganda, in general and especially such news items that are triggering.

[Avicenna]

Yeah, they should be. In the case of the fake news hospital, simply parroting propaganda claims of a terror group that just massacred over 1000 people without even bothering to fact check it in the least was malicious and total journalistic malpractice that will get people killed.

[AviatorTom]

Yes, the media should be held accountable for misreporting, failing to confirm their stories before releasing them. But they will claim Freedom of the Press, and the public's desire for instant news. That's bullshit... I'm perfectly happy waiting for the true story to be told.

[RedInnocent68]

You do the best with what you have. No one is going to give a detailed press conference providing forensic investigation or intelligence information during a war, and each side is so polarized they will refuse to believe anything different mo matter what information is given. It’s no different than domestically in the US with the election and Jan 6.

[blueonblack22]

Yes but the media took one side of the story and ran with it. They initially published headlines along the lines of “Hospital in Gaza bombed by IDF strike”. They could have at least said “Hospital bombed in Gaza. Unclear who is responsible for the strike”.

But they didn’t take that precaution did they? Reason being it is clear where their allegiances lie and fake news that egregious can get people killed in times like now.

Negligence is not an excuse in a war like this. Especially when it’s coming from major outlets like NYT, NBC, CNN, etc.

[RedInnocent68]

While IDF was actively bombing sites in Gaza… What were the odds? Or that Hamas accidentally fired a rocket at it? Or that Hamas deliberately fired a rocket at it? Or that IDF deliberately fired a rocket at it to blame Hamas. Or that IDF wanted to start riots to justify a ground invasion. Or that IDF let Hamas attack in the first place because a war is good for their support. The possibilities are endless. The only certainties are that it’s messed up, and that Middle East politics is brutal.

[blueonblack22]

Hamas has had SEVERAL rocket misfires that killed its own civilians. These things were built cheap (some from pipes that were meant to deliver water to Gaza citizens).

But WHY did the media have to run with “IDF middle strike” in all the headlines without verifying and confirming. Why? They could of even left it open ended like I mentioned earlier. But they didn’t. Why?

It’s because one of Hamas’ greatest assets is the western liberal media and they know it. Why else use civilians as human shields? Because Hamas knows Israel will always be attacked and vilified every chance the media gets. That’s why Hamas inflates casualty numbers.

For the record I do not claim Israel is perfect and without sin. But there is no moral equivalence in this war considering what Hamas is doing. What even more terrifying is how many western liberal morons are supporting them.

[blueonblack22]

“IDF missile strike”.

[DARKCLOUD1945X]

The short answer to your question is that they are beholding to THE DEMOCRATIC COMMUNIST PARTY OF AMERICA to basically outright lie in hopes of turning this country socialist which is the of their grand plan for. The truth does not work for them so they or just not report on a story or problem only that which benefits their propaganda.

[blueonblack22]

The silver lining on this one if they finally went to far. Universities are taking a lot of heat and more importantly losing MONEY because of this bullshit. Finally some people are drawing the line on this bs.

[BoopBoopBeep]

There's a rush to get news out fast while it's still relevant. If you had to take a week to research everything then the news would lose most of its real-world value. The Arab Spring would never have happened without real time updates.

[blueonblack22]

Yes bur when covering war timer it’s like a doctor making a diagnosis. A wrong diagnosis can be fatal.

The media has blood on their hands for getting those one wrong.

[BoopBoopBeep]

Yes, and your doctor giving no diagnosis and saying I'll get back to you next month is worse.

[DrJinPenn]

If they are not following news/press journialist standards, they should not have freedom of the press protection. The press has an ethical duty to report actual events and not opinion or entertainment. The later is an editorial opinion and is are clearly marked as such by an ethical news source.

[blueonblack22]

The Gaza hospital was an extremely dangerous story to misreport on. The mass media could have been more careful using “journalist standards” but they weren’t.

[exitseven]

nobody believes anything the fake news says. Its not even good for a laugh anymore.

[blueonblack22]

Millions of people worldwide believed the IDF bombed a hospital in Gaza and killed over 500 people.

Some issues get more wiggle room than others. But there is zero room for egregious “errors” on this one. That’s considering if it even was a mistake to begin with.

[exitseven]

Liberals are the only ones who believe the fake news. It is because they want to believe it so badly that any third hand lie thst somebody makes up about Trump is taken as the word of God. Then when the story turns out to be fake they all cry, Biut then they believe the next lie.

[blueonblack22]

Still though media has a duty to report news accurately. Of course that’s a joke nowadays but when in world conflict situations it’s on a whole different level. They got blood on their hands because of this.

[exitseven]

Ever since the networks do not have to worry about the FCC it has been a free for all. There is no journalistic integrity. They don't even bother to hide their bias. Sometimes they all repeat the same phrase like "threat to democracy" or " Worst attack on democracy since the Civil War" It is just like they got their briefing directly from the democrat party. Just like they do in Russia.

[BoopBoopBeep]

@blueonblack22 Millions of people worldwide believe jews sneak into homes at night and steal arab babies. That there's a bunch of imbeciles in the world isn't a compelling reason for anything. @exitseven nailed it, if you just blanket believe the news and don't engage in any critical thinking, i can't hep you

[BoopBoopBeep]

*help

[Billlewis]

They should be, but it will never happen, because they've gotten too powerful, and they're in bed with the Dems and Rinos.

[jshm2]

Don't be a fucking ass.

If politicians and invading armies can't. Then you can bet your yellow ass, the media can't.

[Jackblue]

I think that governments should be able to sue them for riot damage in some circumstances.

[JesseP1nk]

You think news are to keep you informed? 🤣🤣🤣 Mass media is a tool to push goverments propaganda

https://www.youtube.com/embed/rXX8BBI3zF4

[Siri137]

"Proven false by US intelligence"!

Aaaaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Surely you jest! :D

[DarkLegacy]

They are usually to blame, because people just follow what the media says. They make them seem bigger then what they are

[blueonblack22]

This misreporting was on another level.

[Unit1]

And who do you think controls and pays the mass media?

[Texaskid1]

They should but it will not happen.