{"id":9022,"date":"2018-07-03T09:15:03","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T16:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=9022"},"modified":"2018-07-03T09:15:03","modified_gmt":"2018-07-03T16:15:03","slug":"media-hits-north-korea-w-flurry-of-pro-war-articles-all-citing-shady-nbc-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2018\/07\/03\/media-hits-north-korea-w-flurry-of-pro-war-articles-all-citing-shady-nbc-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Hits North Korea w\/ Flurry of Pro-War Articles All Citing Shady NBC Report"},"content":{"rendered":"
July 2, 2018 (JohnLaurits.com)<\/div>\n
\n

\"NBC<\/p>\n

Today is July 2nd 2018 and Googling \u201cNorth Korea news\u201d is likely to bring up a heap of news stories with titles like The Guardian\u2019s\u00a0North Korea still secretly enriching uranium, say US officials<\/em>\u00a0and Reuters\u2019\u00a0US intelligence believes North Korea making more nuclear bomb fuel despite talks<\/em>. Most who see these headlines are likely to assume that, since it is being reported by so many respected publications, the story must be true \u2014 and, in this case, most people would be\u00a0wrong<\/em>. Anyone who bothers to check can verify that all of the articles trace back to\u00a0a single NBC report<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 presenting the unofficial remarks of 5 totally anonymous US officials, presumably coaxed from the augmented voices of 5 silhouetted figures during an interview in a clandestine basement.<\/p>\n

NBC\u2019s Report on North Korea\u2019s Nuclear Fuel:
\nAn Analysis of War-Propaganda in Action<\/em><\/h2>\n

All of the truth contained in\u00a0NBC\u2019s report<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0is contained in its opening sentence, which reads:<\/p>\n

\u201cU.S. intelligence agencies believe that North Korea has increased its production of fuel for nuclear weapons at multiple secret sites in recent months \u2014 and that Kim Jong Un may try to hide those facilities as he seeks more concessions in nuclear talks with the Trump administration, U.S. officials told NBC News\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

NBC goes on to clarify that the officials mentioned above are specifically 5 US officials out of \u201cmore than a dozen\u201d whom NBC spoke to \u201con the condition of anonymity.\u201d What the report actually says is that 5 of 13+ anonymous officials interviewed think that some intelligence analysts think the\u00a0Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea<\/em>\u00a0(better known in the US as\u00a0North Korea<\/em>) produced more nuclear fuel than usual during an unspecified number of recent months.<\/p>\n

At the big media-outlets like NBC, Washington Post, the Guardian, MSNBC, Fox, Reuters, and the rest, the analysis stops right there and \u2014 before you can blink \u2014 MSNBC\u2019s headline\u00a0U.S. officials say NK increased nuclear production at secret sites<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0is emblazoned on the front page of the Google.<\/p>\n

Context: Like Kryptonite to US-Media<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Apparently, not one reporter, fact-checker, or editor for these outlets thought readers should consider that Donald Trump\u2019s and Kim Jong-Un\u2019s historic meeting \u2014 the one where both nations committed to de-escalating a literal nuclear stand-off \u2014 only happened 20 days ago. But that would make the story less exciting. Why would readers (or anyone really) expect North Koreans to have started complying\u00a0months ago\u00a0<\/em>with the hypothetical terms of a future agreement that was promised by a meaningful yet still symbolic peace summit fewer than 3 weeks ago?<\/p>\n

NBC\u2019s Sources: Anonymous \u2018Officials,\u2019 Ex-CIA, & Koch-Funded Think-Tanks<\/em><\/h2>\n
\"Donald<\/a>
U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island Tuesday, June 12, 2018 in Singapore. (AP Photo\/Evan Vucci)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to omitting the basic context journalists are expected to provide, NBC\u2019s already-dubious report about rumors heard from (we can\u2019t tell you!<\/em>) is laced with misleading content. While the headline and introduction leads NBC\u2019s readers to think the views of US intel are being reported, commentary by several others is mixed in with that of the mystery-officials. No explanation is given for why their opinions are relevant \u2014 and, to be fair, it would be difficult for anyone to justify a decision to insert comments from an ex-CIA neocon on a Koch-funded think-tank\u2019s payroll and obvious imperialists. Whether it was an intentionally deceptive choice or just bad writing, the result is that the absurdly biased utterings can be mistaken for US intel by distracted, hurried, or uncritical readers \u2014 and, sadly, major media-outlets, as well.<\/p>\n

A Closer Look at NBC\u2019s Dishonest Mash-Up Tactics<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Between the shadowy officials\u2019 musings, NBC grafts a few sentence fragments alluding to a general suspicion that at least one nuclear-research facility\u2019s whereabouts is kept secret. This bombshell revelation comes not from NBC\u2019s officials but Joel Wit, a former bureaucrat in Bill Clinton\u2019s state department and founder of the Stimson Center\u2019s\u00a038north.org<\/i><\/strong><\/a>. How Wit\u2019s comments relate to the rumored increase in fuel-output ostensibly being reported is unclear but including them leaves readers feeling that something secretive, even sinister, went down in the DPRK in \u2018recent months.\u2019<\/p>\n

While 38 North\u2019s analysis is definitely more nuanced than the garden-variety orientalist tabloid-journalism that passes for news in US, Wit\u2019s views on how the US should \u201cdeal with\u201d the DPRK\u00a0 reliably echo the status quo of US Empire.\u00a0It is important to note that, as a scholar, Wit is definitely qualified to comment on the topic and that he played a part in negotiating the US-DPRK Agreed Framework in \u201994. The problem is how NBC interspersed his remarks \u2014\u00a0which reflect the US interests Wit pushed for a career<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 with US intel\u2019s chit-chat so that a rumored increase in fuel-output starts sounding like the DPRK was just caught explaining its diabolical plan to f*** the US\u200b over.<\/p>\n

The Heritage Foundation<\/strong><\/em>:<\/strong><\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/em>Credible Source\u2026\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>or<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0Military-Industrial Orgy?<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n
\"Bruce<\/a>
Bruce Klingner, the Heritage Foundation\u2019s North Korea \u2018Expert\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Near the report\u2019s end, NBC also chose to inject the venom of Bruce Klingner, a 20-year veteran of the CIA who is currently on\u00a0the Heritage Foundation\u2019s<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0payroll, one of the biggest conservative think-tanks around. Klingner\u2019s remarks add nothing but his paternalistic opinion that North Koreans must be plotting something (because they\u2019re evil, ya know?). By shoe-horning such reactionary trash into a report assumed by many to be a credible US intelligence assessment, NBC acts as product-placement for the military-industrial complex.<\/p>\n

The inclusion of the Heritage Foundation\u2019s \u2018expert\u2019 is particularly egregious considering that NBC leaves out the fact the think-tank is known to accept huge sums of money\u00a0from South Korea\u2019s central intelligence agency<\/strong><\/a>, KCIA. The South Korean National Assembly even discovered\u00a0documents revealing the KCIA had funneled millions<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to the Heritage Foundation in the \u201980s in exchange for Heritage establishing the \u201cAsian Studies Center\u201d \u2014 which, incidentally, is where\u00a0Klingner<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0is now employed as a senior research fellow.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Almost as if US-Media Is Trying to Demonize the DPRK\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

How NBC (or any journalist or news organization) could possibly run such a misleading report is a disheartening question to need to ask \u2014 but ask it, we must. However, an even more important question is \u2014 how did the combined editorial boards of most US-based, English-speaking media-outlets unilaterally accept and re-broadcast NBC\u2019s absurd vilification of North Korea under their own names?\u00a0Why did hundreds of articles spring up over the weekend echoing NBC\u2019s elevation of a well-known reactionary think-tank\u2019s warmongering as if it were news\u00a0and not the racist, imperialist, exceptionalist, dangerous war-propaganda that it is?\u00a0<\/em>What purpose is served by demonstrably mistaken headlines like Gizmodo\u2019s \u201cUS Intel Officials Allege North Korea Is Still Enriching Uranium After Trump-Kim Summit<\/a><\/strong>\u201c? Or the Washington Post:\u00a0\u201cNorth Korea working to conceal key aspects of its nuclear program, U.S. officials say\u201d<\/strong><\/a>?<\/p>\n

In solidarity,
\nJohn Laurits<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

July 2, 2018 (JohnLaurits.com) Today is July 2nd 2018 and Googling \u201cNorth Korea news\u201d is likely to bring up a heap of news stories with titles like The Guardian\u2019s\u00a0North Korea still secretly enriching uranium, say US officials\u00a0and Reuters\u2019\u00a0US intelligence believes North Korea making more nuclear bomb fuel despite talks. Most… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9022"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9022"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9023,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9022\/revisions\/9023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}