The Marmot has linked to one of the funniest sites I seen in while. It is basically a site for white supremacists trying to preserve the European races from mixing with foreigners including Koreans. The reading through the comments was painful because it was like a bunch of Silly Sallys arguing against each other; than what do you know Silly Sally comments over there!
The Associated Press of course:
THE most powerful media institution in all of human history is the Associated Press. Its news feed is ubiquitous – used, directly or indirectly, by every U.S. newspaper and TV news program and a vast number of foreign ones, too. AP maintains the largest world-wide coverage, and its reader base is nearly immeasurable. Unfortunately, and repeatedly of late, this behemoth has not only been getting it wrong – but increasingly refuses to acknowledge any wrongdoing.
Instead, acting more like a politician or the mega-corporation that it is, the AP crew spins, obfuscates and attacks. Now they’re at it again in Iraq.
I have got direct experience of this – from challenging the AP’s seriously flawed 1999 “scoop” about the massacre near the South Korean village of No Gun Ri during the opening days of the Korean War.
Bad things did happen at No Gun Ri, of this there can be no doubt. My own research and other historians’, as well as the joint U.S.-Korean government investigation, confirms that a tragedy occurred – there were civilians who were killed there, by our side, and that was wrong.
But the AP’s sensationalistic story painted it as a deliberate massacre, done with machine guns at extremely close range.
The most sensational account started in the 57th paragraph of the 3,448-word story, sourced to one Edward Daily. As AP told it, Daily was the only soldier at No Gun Ri who directly received orders from his officers to turn his water-cooled .30 caliber machinegun on the civilians and shoot them down in cold blood at point-blank range.
Daily’s account was chilling. It was also – as AP should have known – a fantasy.
The AP story took at face value Daily’s claims that he was a combat infantryman who won a battlefield commission just a few days after the events at No Gun Ri, and had been awarded the Distinguished Cross and three Purple-Hearts.
In reality, he was an enlisted mechanic in an entirely different unit, nowhere near No Gun Ri. He had fabricated his biography and credentials as well as his entire account of the events at No Gun Ri.
When I later confronted AP editors with the facts and records that showed their source Daily to be a fraud, they blew me off. What would a historian know about this topic after all, or a soldier?
The AP didn’t issue a retraction, or even attempt to reinvestigate; and it certainly didn’t withdraw the story from the Pulitzer competition. Instead, it attacked the messenger.
Make sure you read the rest of the article.
Robert Bateman wrote the book, No Gun-ri: A Military History of the Korean War Incident, that exposed much of the sloppy reporting by the AP in their No Gun Ri story and lays out a very strong case of what happened at No Gun-ri based on physical evidence. Due to his efforts, Bateman had to withstand an AP attack on him for exposing their sloppy reporting.
I’m sure Bateman is looking on with some personal satisfaction as the AP has been caught yet again sensationalizing the news. If you haven’t read “Who is Jamil Hussein?” yet, than you have been missing out because you really should. The AP No Gun-ri reporting aided the North Korean enemy in a limited manner by helping to mobilize public opinion in South Korea against the US military, but the Jamil Hussein controversy is the AP directly taking news reports straight from the enemy and reporting it as fact for two years! This would be funny if it wasn’t so serious.
HT: MM
It is interesting to see the recent attention that K-Blogs have received the last couple of weeks. First of all you had the Newsweek article on Hines Ward that was largely sourced by members of the K-Blog community including this humble site. Then one the major Korean newspaper’s website the Joong Ang Ilbo is now running a series of articles covering the K-Blogosphere. Finally the king of K-Blogging the Marmot’s Hole has been featured, in the Korea Times. Here is some of what Robert the Marmot had to say in the article:
Although blogging for many English-speaking expatriates is an outlet to blow off steam, Korea blogs are essentially akin to blogs elsewhere, he said.
But he agreed that one could certainly get the opinion that English-language Korea blogs are simply a collection of Korea-hating rants by right-wing, white men.
According to him, people here began making blogs in earnest because a blog is a good place to jot down thoughts that might be used later. “Blogs are really an archive of thoughts.??
It is true that the majority of K-Blogs are white males, but I have to disagree that K-Blogs are dominated by conservatives. I think there is plenty of variety in fact. First of all you have probably the most well written K-Blog the Asia Pages which is written by Jodi a female blogger which I wouldn’t call a right wing conservative. Then you have the Oranckay who is kind of like the senior statesman of the K-Blog community who I would not classify as a conservative. Plus you have the well known commenter/blogger Kushibo who I think is safe to say has liberal views. Than you have old school K-Blogger Brian from Cathartidae who I’m sure would be offended to be considered part of the supposed “right wing, white men” blogging conspiracy.
I’m just saying that for every white male conservative out there, there is an alternate point of view which keeps the K-Blog scene interesting.
Now why do we “bitch” so much:
The bitching by Western bloggers in Korea is actually in keeping with what you could read on a lot of Korean blogs, he said. It is what everyone does in Korea. There was this poll reported in the Dong-a Ilbo that said some 40 percent of young people would emigrate given the chance.
“Bitching is in keeping with the local culture,?? he said.
I admit it, I “bitch” or to better define it, criticize certain things that I feel strongly about, like the violence from anti-US hate groups towards soldiers and the riot police, the treatment of North Korean refugees in Korea, President Roh’s governments ass kissing towards North Korea and their use of anti-US or anti-Japanese rhetoric to boost popularity, the treatment of mixed race children and orphans in Korea, the Dokto Riders, the media orgy over Hines Ward, among other things. No place is perfect and Korea has it’s issues just like anywhere else, but if people don’t point them out how are things going to get better?
With that in mind I think Korea has a lot going for it and I try to point that out to. Korea is a beautiful country with an under appreciated culture, interesting history, great food, and vibrant people which I have posted on plenty as well. All of this is what makes Korea the land of endless blogging. There is always something going on here. You have the anti-USFK protests, finger chopping madness over Dokto, endless articles about the wonders of kimchi and Korean superiority with chopsticks, people digging tunnels to smuggle beer out of Yongsan or better yet Yongsan burning down. Not to mention North Korea and their pigmy dictator who has threatened to turn Seoul into a sea fire. The list goes on and on, where else provides this much good blogging material?
Oh My News is running an interview of fellow K-Blogger Antti of Hunjangui Karuch’im fame. This is not the first profile that Oh My News has done on Korean K-Bloggers. There was this interview done with Jeff in Pusan and this interview with Kevin of the Big Hominid as well that are worth checking out.
As always make sure you check out this month’s Ulsan Pear. This is their best of Ulsan 2004 issue. Even if you are not from the Ulsan area this paper is still a good read. Makes me want to visit Ulsan sometime. Check it out.
