Media
State media: Kim has plans to stabilize N. Korean economy
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presented economic plans to senior ruling party officials before an upcoming meeting to review efforts to overcome hardships brought about by the pandemic, state media said Tuesday.
The Korean Central News Agency said Kim held his consultations Monday in preparation for a meeting of the Workers’ Party’s powerful Central Committee at which they will discuss state affairs for the first half of 2021. The meeting was set for early June and could take place as early as this week.
Read:After Trump setbacks, Kim Jong Un starts over with Biden
Kim’s plans were not specified but were described as intending to bring “tangible change” to stabilizing the economy and people’s living conditions.
The North Korean economy has been crippled by decades of mismanagement, U.S.-led sanctions over Kim’s nuclear weapons program and the coronavirus pandemic. South Korean officials say there are no signs North Korea is easing the border controls it imposed at the start of the pandemic or importing more industrial and agricultural materials to boost production.
The Workers’ Party last held a plenary meeting of Central Committee members in February, when Kim ripped into state economic agencies for their “passive and self-protecting tendencies” in setting their annual goals.
Earlier in the year, at the party’s first congress since 2016, Kim urged his people to be resilient in the struggle for economic self-reliance and called for reasserting greater state control over the economy, boosting agricultural production and prioritizing the development of chemicals and metal industries. Those sectors have been critically depleted by sanctions and halted imports of factory materials amid the pandemic.
Read:North Korea holds huge military parade as Kim vows nuclear might
Kim has shown unusual candor in addressing the North’s economic problems in recent political speeches, saying that the country was facing its “worst ever” situation due to COVID-19, sanctions and heavy flooding last summer that decimated crops. He even called for his people to brace for another “arduous march,” a term that had been used to describe a 1990s famine that killed hundreds of thousands.
In a meeting of the Workers’ Party’s political bureau last week, Kim expressed appreciation that a lot of economic works were being sped up thanks to the “ideological enthusiasm and fighting spirit of self-reliance” demonstrated by the party and his people. But he also said there was a need to correct unspecified “deflective matters,” which he said would be discussed at Central Committee’s plenary meeting.
While North Korea monitoring groups have yet to detect signs of mass starvation or major instability, some analysts say conditions could be aligning for a perfect storm that undercuts food and exchange markets and triggers public panic.
The Geneva-based Assessment Capacities Project, a nonprofit that specializes in humanitarian needs assessment, said in May that it considers North Korea to be at high risk of a humanitarian crisis. It said poor economic governance, repressive political measures and an increasing dependence on internal production amid a cutback in imports have negatively impacted the country’s population.
“Chronic food insecurity and limited access to basic services, such as health care and clean water, have left more than 10 million people in need of humanitarian assistance,” the group said.
Read:North Korea’s Kim adds title: General secretary of ruling party
The economic setbacks have left Kim with nothing to show for his ambitious diplomacy with former President Donald Trump, which failed to bring the North sanctions relief, and the North has so far ignored the Biden administration’s calls to resume dialogue.
Some experts say Kim could use the upcoming Central Committee meeting to address the stalled diplomatic efforts.
Justice Dept. says it’ll no longer seize reporters’ records
The Justice Department said Saturday that it no longer will secretly obtain reporters’ records during leak investigations, a policy shift that abandons a practice decried by news organizations and press freedom groups.
The reversal follows a pledge last month by President Joe Biden, who said it was “simply, simply wrong” to seize journalists’ records and that he would not permit the Justice Department to continue the practice. Though Biden’s comments in an interview were not immediately accompanied by any change in policy, a pair of statements from the White House and Justice Department on Saturday signaled an official turnabout from an investigative tactic that has persisted for years.
Read:Facebook suspends Trump for 2 years, then will reassess
Democratic and Republican administrations alike have used subpoenas and court orders to obtain journalists’ records in an effort to identify sources who have revealed classified information. But the practice had received renewed scrutiny over the past month as Justice Department officials alerted reporters at three news organizations — The Washington Post, CNN and The New York Times — that their phone records had been obtained in the final year of the Trump administration.
The latest revelation came Friday night when the Times reported the existence of a gag order that had barred the newspaper from revealing a secret court fight over efforts to obtain the email records of four reporters. That tussle had begun during the Trump administration but had persisted under the Biden Justice Department, which ultimately moved to withdraw the gag order.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Saturday that no one at the White House was aware of the gag order until Friday night, but that more broadly, “the issuing of subpoenas for the records of reporters in leak investigations is not consistent with the President’s policy direction to the Department.”
In a separate statement, Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said that “in a change to its longstanding practice,” the department “will not seek compulsory legal process in leak investigations to obtain source information from members of the news media doing their jobs.”
He added: “The department strongly values a free press, protecting First Amendment values, and is committed to taking all appropriate steps to ensure the independence of journalists.”
In ruling out “compulsory legal process” for reporters in leak investigations, the department also appeared to say that it would not force journalists to reveal in court the identity of their sources.
Bruce D. Brown, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said he welcomed the Justice Department’s policy change but that serious unanswered questions remain about what happened in each of these cases.
Read:US to swiftly boost global vaccine sharing, Biden announces
“To ensure it does not happen again, we look forward to pursuing additional policy reforms with the Biden administration to further safeguard these essential rights,” he said in a statement.
The two newspapers whose reporters’ phone records had been secretly obtained also said more needed to be done.
“This is a welcome step to protecting the ability of the press to provide the public with essential information about what their government is doing,” New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger said in a statement. “However, there is significantly more that needs to be done and we are still awaiting an explanation on why the Department of Justice moved so aggressively to seize journalists’ records.”
Washington Post executive editor Sally Buzbee said the newspaper was calling on the Biden administration and Justice Department “to provide a full accounting of the chain of events in both administrations and to implement enduring protections to prevent any future recurrence.”
The Justice Department statement did not say whether it would still conduct aggressive leak investigations without obtaining reporters’ records. It also did not define who exactly would be counted as a member of the media for the purposes of the policy and how broadly the protection would apply.
Even so, it marked a startling reversal concerning a practice that has persisted across multiple presidential administrations. The Obama Justice Department, under then-Attorney General Eric Holder, alerted The Associated Press in 2013 that it had secretly obtained two months of phone records of reporters and editors in what the news cooperative’s top executive called a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into newsgathering activities.
After blowback, Holder announced a revised set of guidelines for leak investigations, including requiring the authorization of the highest levels of the department before subpoenas for news media records could be issued.
But the department preserved its prerogative to seize journalists’ records, and the recent disclosures to the news media organizations show that the practice continued in the Trump Justice Department as part of multiple investigations.
Separately on Saturday, the Justice Department said it was withdrawing its subpoena that demanded USA Today provide information to identify readers of a story about a suspect in a child pornography case who fatally shot two FBI agents in February.
The subpoena was issued in April but came to light this past week when USA Today and its parent company Gannett filed documents in federal court asking a judge to quash it. The subpoena sought the IP addresses and mobile phone identification information of readers who clicked on the article for a period of about 35 minutes on the day after the shooting.
Read:US to impose tariffs over digital taxes, but action on hold for now
The government hadn’t provided details about the case or why it was specifically interested in the readers who clicked on the USA Today story during that brief period. Officials had only said the subpoena was connected to an ongoing federal criminal investigation.
But a federal prosecutor notified lawyers for USA Today on Saturday that the FBI was withdrawing its subpoena because authorities had been able to identify the subject of their investigation — described in an email as a “child sexual exploitation offender” — by “other means.” The prosecutor’s email was included in a court filing by Gannett.
Facebook to end rule exemptions for politicians
Facebook plans to end a contentious policy championed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg that exempted politicians from certain moderation rules on its site, according to several news reports.
Read: Facebook won’t remove posts claiming COVID-19 is human-made
The company’s rationale for that policy held that the speech of political leaders is inherently newsworthy and in the public interest even if it is offensive, bullying or otherwise controversial. The social media giant is currently mulling over what to do with the account of former President Donald Trump, which it “indefinitely” suspended Jan. 6, leaving it in Facebook limbo with its owners unable to post.
The change in policy was first reported by the tech site The Verge and later confirmed by the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Read: Online speech shield under fire as Trump Facebook ban stays
Facebook has had a general “newsworthiness exemption” since 2016. But it garnered attention in 2019 when Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs and communications, announced that speech from politicians will be treated as “newsworthy content that should, as a general rule, be seen and heard.”
The newsworthiness exemption, he explained in a blog post at the time, meant that if “someone makes a statement or shares a post which breaks our community standards we will still allow it on our platform if we believe the public interest in seeing it outweighs the risk of harm.”
Read: Facebook board’s Trump decision could have wider impacts
This hasn’t given politicians unlimited license, however. When Facebook suspended Trump in January, it cited “the risk of further incitement of violence” following the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol as the reason. The company says it has never used the newsworthiness exemption for any of Trump’s posts.
Facebook declined to comment.
AL general secretary seeks cordial relation with the media
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Tuesday said he does not want to see any hostility between the government and the media.
“I don’t want any confrontation and I want to see a cordial relations with the media," Quader said in reply to a question after a meeting with a group of journalist leaders at the Secretariat.
Quader, who doubles as Road Transport and Bridges Minister, said he met the leaders in his capacity as the general secretary of the ruling party.
He said the leaders raised with him some issues regarding the newspaper industry, withdrawal of a case against journalist Rozina Islam, media rights and some other demands.
Talking about Rozina’s case and other demands Quader, said “A ministry concerned is there to settle the issue. Besides, Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Home Ministry and Law Ministry are there and some special things related to the issues have to be informed to the Prime Minister.”
“They have raised the problems and I will place these to the prime minister,” he said.
Replying to a question whether the case filed against Rozina should be withdrawn; the Minister said “The case is now in the court. We have to discuss the matter with Law minister and others and after an overall consideration and discussion with all I can tell about this.”
Prothom Alo senior reporter Rozina Islam was sent to jail on May 18 in a case filed under the Official Secrets Act and the Penal Code by the Health Ministry.
She was freed from Kashimpur Women's Central Jail on May 23 after a Dhaka court granted her an ad-interim bail until July 15.
Oprah and CNN: AT&T is merging media business with Discovery
The merger of Discovery and AT&T’s WarnerMedia operations, marrying the likes of HBO and CNN with HGTV and Oprah Winfrey, is another illustration of the head-spinning speed in which streaming has transformed the media world.
The companies are essentially placing a $43 billion bet that they’ll still be in the mix when consumers decide how to spend their monthly entertainment budgets.
The agreement was announced Monday after AT&T CEO John Stankey and his Discovery counterpart, David Zaslav, worked out the details in Zaslav’s Manhattan brownstone over the past two months.
“I think, together, the combination makes us the best media company in the world,” said Zaslav, who will run the new company if approvals are granted, probably sometime next year.
Read:Asian stocks follow Wall St lower as inflation worries mount
The deal also represents a strategic retreat for AT&T.
The hope for the newly merged company is that, with a wider array of material than either can offer on its own, it can join Netflix, Amazon and Disney in the widely acknowledged top tier of streamers.
Analysts say it also makes it imperative that services below that tier — think Paramount+ or Peacock — find some way to ramp up or risk being left behind.
WarnerMedia and Discovery both launched their own streaming services, HBO Max and Discovery+, within the past two years. It’s still not clear whether the merger will result in a single streaming service or several bundled together, but it will have a vast array of content to offer: scripted and reality TV, movies, sports including the NBA and NCAA men’s basketball tournament, and news with CNN.
With consumers figuring out which streaming services they use regularly and which they can give up, that depth means a better chance they will use this new one regularly, said Raj Venkatesan, professor of business administration at the University of Virginia. The average U.S. household spends $40 a month on streaming services.
“It either has something for everyone in the family, or is so diverse that it is hard to explain,” said Jim Nail, an analyst for Forrester Research.
David Schweidel, a business professor at Emory University, questioned whether consumers will be better off with the deal.
“If I do decide to cut the cord and I need three to five services to get what I had before, that bill could easily approach what I was paying for cable before,” Schweidel said. “This may end up hurting consumers.”
Read:Amazon’s profit more than triples as pandemic boom continues
HBO Max and HBO have a combined global subscriber base of about 63.9 million, and Discovery+ has about 15 million subscribers. That compares with Netflix, which has more than 200 million subscribers worldwide, and Disney+, which counts over 100 million.
In a call with investors, Zaslav said he believes that the standalone company could garner “200, 300, 400 million” subscribers at some point in the future, but there were no details regarding a timeline.
The deal is a stark reminder of how much the entertainment world has changed, said Tim Hanlon, CEO of the media consultants Vertere Group.
“I think most consumers now look at live television as being something of an anachronism,” he said.
While it increases the pressure on smaller streaming services like Peacock or Paramount+ to find partners, those two are affiliated with the NBC and CBS television networks — so doing so would require a rethinking of the broadcast industry regulatory process, Hanlon said.
It’s the second time this year that AT&T has calved off a major acquisition as it navigates a rapidly evolving media landscape. In February, the company spun off satellite TV service DirecTV for a fraction of the $48.5 billion it paid in 2015.
Dallas-based AT&T acquired the former company Time Warner for more than $80 billion less than five years ago in a bid to control both sides of the entertainment process: the broadband and wireless services that help deliver entertainment to homes, and the entertainment itself. But the costs involved in trying to do both became a burden.
“That vision clearly has not panned out,” said CFRA analyst Tuna Amobi.
The new company will be able to cut costs by $3 billion annually, the companies said, money that could go toward original streaming content. It will house almost 200,000 hours of programming and bring together more than 100 brands under one global portfolio, including DC Comics, Cartoon Network, Eurosport, Magnolia, TLC and Animal Planet.
Read:Facing $11B tax bill, Samsung heirs donate mass art trove
That likely means layoffs as the companies consolidate.
The deal is also likely to force major decisions on familiar brands. For instance, CNN Chief Executive Jeff Zucker said he expected to leave at the end of the year. But with the new company being led by Zaslav — who worked with Zucker at NBC in the 1990s — that equation could change.
Zaslav called Zucker an extraordinary talent. “It’s all about the talent, and so we’ll be figuring out how do we get the best people to stay,” he said.
Shares of Discovery Inc., which is based in Silver Spring, Maryland, fell $1.80, or 5%, to close Monday at $33.85 after initially jumping to $39.70. AT&T’s shares finished the day down 87 cents, or 2.7%, at $31.37, down from a session high of $33.88.
Media demand Israel explain destruction of news offices
News organizations demanded an explanation Saturday for an Israeli airstrike that targeted and destroyed a Gaza City building housing the offices of The Associated Press, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media outlets.
AP journalists and other tenants were safely evacuated from the 12-story al-Jalaa tower after the Israeli military warned of an imminent strike. Three heavy missiles hit the building within the hour, disrupting coverage of the ongoing conflict between’ Gaza’s Hamas rulers and Israel. At least 145 people in Gaza and eight in Israel have been killed since the fighting erupted on Monday night.
“The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today,” AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said. He said the American news agency was seeking information from the Israeli government and engaging with the U.S. State Department to learn more.
Read:AP’s top editor calls for probe into Israeli airstrike
Mostefa Souag, acting director-general of Al-Jazeera Media Network, called the strike a “war crime” and a “clear act” to stop journalists from reporting on the conflict. Kuwait state television also had office space in the now-collapsed Gaza City building.
“The targeting of news organizations is completely unacceptable, even during an armed conflict. It represents a gross violation of human rights and internationally agreed norms,” Barbara Trionfi, the executive director of the International Press Institute, said.
In a standard Israeli response, the military said that Hamas was operating inside the building, and it accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields. But it provided no evidence to back up the claims.
Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus claimed that Hamas used the building for a military intelligence office and weapons development. He alleged “a highly advanced technological tool” that the militant group used in the fighting was “within or on the building.”
But Conricus said he could not provide evidence to back up the claims without “compromising” intelligence efforts. He added, however: “I think it’s a legitimate request to see more information, and I will try to provide it.”
Pruitt, the AP’s CEO, said the news agency had been in the building for 15 years and “we have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building.”
“We have called on the Israeli government to put forward the evidence,” he said. “This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.”
Some press freedom advocates said the strike raised suspicions that Israel was trying to hinder coverage of the conflict. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists demanded Israel “provide a detailed and documented justification” for the strike.
“This latest attack on a building long known by Israel to house international media raises the specter that the Israel Defense Forces is deliberately targeting media facilities in order to disrupt coverage of the human suffering in Gaza,” the group’s executive director, Joel Simon, said in a statement.
Read: AP 'horrified' by Israeli attack on its office
The Washington-based National Press Club called the strike “part of a pattern this week of Israeli forces destroying buildings in Gaza that house media organizations” and also questioned whether the assaults seek to “impair independent and accurate coverage of the conflict.”
“We call upon Israeli authorities to halt strikes on facilities known to house press,” the National Press Club said. “Reliable media organizations are the best sources of accurate information about events in Gaza, and they must not be prevented from doing their vital job.”
The bombing followed media consternation over an Israeli military statement that prompted some news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, to erroneously report early Friday that Israel had launched a ground invasion of Gaza.
Israeli military commentators said the media had been used in a ruse to lure Hamas militants into a deadly trap. Conricus denied that the military engaged in a deliberate deception when it tweeted falsely Friday that ground forces were engaging in Gaza, calling it “an honest mistake.”
The AP, based on its analysis of the army’s statement, phone calls to military officials and on the ground reporting in Gaza, concluded there was no ground incursion and did not report there was one.
The strike on a building known to have the offices of international media outlets came as a shock to reporters who had felt relatively protected there.
“Now, one can understand the feeling of the people whose homes have been destroyed by such kind of air attacks,” Al-Jazeera producer Safwat al-Kahlout, who was at the bureau in Gaza when the evacuation warning came, told the broadcaster Saturday. “It’s really difficult to wake up one day and then you realize that your office is not there with all the career experiences, memories that you’ve had.”
AP’s top floor offices and roof terrace on the now-destroyed building had provided a prime location for covering fighting in Gaza. The news agency’s camera offered 24-hour live shots this week as Hamas rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city.
Just a day before the bombing, AP correspondent Fares Akram wrote in a personal story that the AP office was the only place in Gaza were he felt “somewhat safe.”
Read:AP statement on Israeli attack on building housing AP office
“The Israeli military has the coordinates of the high-rise, so it’s less likely a bomb will bring it crashing down,” Akram wrote.
The next day, Akram tweeted about running from the building and watching its destruction from afar.
The New York Times joined other news organizations in expressing alarm about the targeting of al-Jalaa tower.
“The ability of the press to report on the ground is a profoundly important issue that has an impact on everyone.” the newspaper’s vice president of communications, Danielle Rhoades Ha, said. “A free and independent press is essential to helping to inform people, bridge differences and end the conflict.”
Tahsan-Mithila’s joint pledge against cyberbullying creates buzz on social media
Harmonizing unity against cyberbullying, former celebrity couple Tahsan Rahman Khan and Rafiath Rashid Mithila appeared on a Facebook live show together on Saturday after four years of their divorce, marking the festive occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.Organized by leading e-commerce site Evaly on its Facebook page, the former couple expressed their feelings on the burning issue while urging their fans and followers to stop the cruelty and badmouthing on the internet, and also called for spreading healthy and positive mentality.Hosted by Naveed Mahbub, celebrated comedian and CEO at Naveed's Comedy Club and titled ‘Evaly Eid Live – Saturday Night Surprise, Tahsan vs Mithila’, the two-parts live programme has already become one of the most highlighted programmes on this Eid-ul-Fitr. Within 24 hours of the live show went on-air, the first half garnered over 922K Views, 57K comments and 32K reactions while the second half garnered over 1.1M Views, 46K comments and 33K reactions.Actress Mithila, who was introduced as the brand ambassador of Evaly lifestyle, said, “We are not just here as the brand ambassadors of Evaly, but to spread positivity on the internet. We all are facing crucial times, so we should not say bad things and listen to bad things, Let's spread positivity. This is our main goal in connecting with Evaly and coming live together on this occasion today.”Tahsan, who has been appointed as the Chief Goodness Officer of Evaly, harmonized his parts of speeches with Mithila's words, saying, "I am lucky that my fans have always behaved well on my posts, however, there are some people who constantly love to spread negativity and unnecessary hatred. Furthermore, Mithila has been constantly targetted and bullied in her social media accounts since we had been mutually separated, and sometimes I also get tagged on those hateful posts, which is disheartening.”“I think there is an opportunity today through this live as people did not expect us to be together, and we came to this live session together today because many people will watch this out of their curiosity. From here, the next generation can learn that even if you do not agree with someone, even if there are differences in your ideologies - you can always sit and talk with respect for each other,” Tahsan added.
Also read: Mithila, Srijit tie the knot
Mithila said, “We have been separated for the last four years but we are co-parenting our daughter. Here we are giving surprise gifts to our fans who are spreading positivity on the comment thread of this quiz show, and I think another surprise of this Eid special programme is that the two of us may be separated, but we can respectfully sit next to each other and talk, without insulting each other.”Pointing towards the recent negativities on social media, Tahsan said, “These type of behaviours are on the rise because we don't really talk about these things. We saw last week that Chanchal Chowdhury, one of the most talented artists in Bangladesh, got bullied for absolutely no reason at all on his Facebook post where he posted a picture of his mother. It's not just me, Mithila or Chanchal Chowdhury who get to be bullied - but it has turned into a mental disorder in general.”“If we, especially the public figures, do not speak or raise voice against this harsh notion - the next generation will not understand that there is no heroism in speaking harshly to someone. It belittles not only one’s own but the person’s family and education. We need to be compassionate towards each other on the internet, and we thank Evaly for bringing us to raise awareness and surprising our fans with gifts for spreading positivity at the same time,” both Tahsan and Mithila said at the programme.
Israeli military accused of using media to trick Hamas
Early Friday, just after midnight, the Israeli military put out an ominous statement to the media: “IDF air and ground troops are currently attacking in the Gaza Strip.”
The terse statement set off frenzied speculation that Israel had launched a ground invasion of Gaza -- a much-feared scenario that would mark a bloody escalation of this week’s operation against Hamas militants. Some reporters were even told outright the incursion had begun.
Hours later, the military issued a “clarification.” There were no troops inside Gaza. But by then, several major news outlets had erroneously reported the ground offensive was under way.
While the army attempted to play down the incident as a misunderstanding, well-placed Israeli military commentators said the media had been used as part of an elaborate ruse to lure Hamas militants into a deadly trap that may have killed dozens of fighters.
Read:West Bank erupts in protest amid more Israel-Hamas fighting
“They didn’t lie,” said Or Heller, a veteran military correspondent on Israel’s Channel 13 TV. “It was a manipulation. It was smart and it was successful.”
This is how it unfolded:
Late Thursday, after days of airstrikes, Israel announced it was calling up thousands of reservists and amassing troops along the border ahead of a possible ground invasion. In another sign of escalation, Israeli tanks stationed along the border opened fire at targets inside Gaza.
In previous rounds of fighting, ground incursions have resulted in widespread destruction in Gaza and heavy casualties on both sides.
That set the stage for the late-night deception. According to Heller, Israel began scrambling forces along the border in what appeared to be final preparations for an invasion. Then came the announcement to the media, issued simultaneously in Hebrew and Arabic on Twitter. There followed alerts in major outlets that the invasion was under way.
The Israeli moves sent Hamas fighters rushing into defensive positions in an underground network of tunnels known as the Metro, according to Heller and other Israeli reports.
Israel called in 160 warplanes and bombarded the tunnels for 40 minutes, the military said. Heller said it was his understanding that scores of militants had been killed, though he said it was impossible to say.
“What we saw tonight was a very sophisticated operation that had a media aspect to it,” Heller said.
Read:Israeli tanks pound Gaza ahead of possible ground incursion
Hamas has not commented on the incident, and it was impossible to confirm the Israeli reports.
Heller said veteran Israeli correspondents, who have close ties to the military and in many cases have served themselves, knew that there was no way Israel was sending troops across enemy lines at this stage. Heller and other military correspondents even put out statements on Twitter assuring the jittery public that there was no ground operation.
The Associated Press, based on its analysis of the army’s statement, phone calls to military officials and on the ground reporting in Gaza, concluded there was no ground incursion and did not report there was one.
But others said the military had misled them or even lied when asked to clarify, turning the foreign media into an accessory of sorts.
Felicia Schwartz, correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, said she alerted news of a ground offensive after receiving explicit confirmation from Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman.
In a statement posted on Twitter, she said Conricus “told me directly, `There are ground troops in Gaza.’ That was the basis for a first story saying so. He retracted that statement two hours later and I changed the story to reflect that, and that is noted in the text and will be corrected.”
Speaking to reporters on Friday morning, Conricus blamed an “internal miscommunication.”
“These things can sometimes happen in the midst of a complex operation with many moving parts and with an unclear picture of what was happening,” he said. “As soon as I understood that I had the wrong information, I updated the relevant people with a clarification.”
Militaries around the world have long used deception and trickery against their enemies. Two years ago, the Israeli military reportedly faked the injuries of soldiers at the scene of a Hezbollah missile strike, going so far as to evacuate them to a hospital in a helicopter.
According to reports at the time, the army staged the injuries to trick Hezbollah into thinking it had inflicted casualties and therefore would agree to a cease-fire.
Read:Israel threatens Gaza ground invasion despite truce efforts
Friday’s misleading statement further strained what has often been a rocky relationship between the IDF and the foreign media.
Peter Lerner, a former military spokesman to the foreign media, said the Israeli public in general has long felt the international media focus too heavily on the Palestinian side of the story while minimizing Israeli concerns and suffering -- and the army is similarly inclined.
Lerner said he felt it was unlikely the military intentionally lied, but damage was done regardless.
“Your currency is credibility,” he said. “I think this is a crisis of that credibility in the way it’s being portrayed.”
‘Independent media’ spreading lies against govt: Quader
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Tuesday said that media in Bangladesh can spread lies against the government as those are ‘independent’.
“If the government has any control over the media, then how is it criticising the government and spreading lies about it daily?” the ruling party’s number two man asked, referring to a comment of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul.
At a regular briefing, the Road Transport and Bridges Minister said the BNP was still alive after drubbing in polls and failing to launch street protests thanks to the ‘independent media’.
Also read: Bangladesh drops one notch in World Press Freedom Index
Bangladesh was ranked 152 in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index (https://rsf.org/en/bangladesh), slipping one notch.
Tackling pandemic
Quader said cash and food assistance are being provided to 36.5 million helpless, unemployed and low-income families and warned against irregularities in the distribution process.
Mentioning that the government is working tirelessly to help the people during the pandemic, Quader said that it is providing financial and food assistance to protect the unemployed.
OCAB forms new convening committee
A new convening committee of the Overseas Correspondents Association Bangladesh (OCAB), a platform of Dhaka-based journalists working for foreign media outlets, was announced on Saturday (April 24, 2021).
The nine-member committee, headed by BBC’s Correspondent Qadir Kallol, will be working to hold a new election within six months (minimum). Germany’s news agency DPA’s Nazrul Islam Mithu has been made Member Secretary of the committee said a press release.
The convening committee will also conduct regular activities of the prestigious organisation before holding a new election.
The committee was formed at a virtual meeting of OCAB presided over by senior member Farid Hossain.
Read Rajshahi University journalists’ body gets new executive committee
The other members of the newly formed committee are: Zahiduzzaman Faruque, Farid Hossain, Rafiqur Rahman, Bashudeb Dhar, Shafiqul Alam, Julhas Alam and Harunur Rashid.
At the meeting, the OCAB members adopted a condolence motion on the deaths of some members of the organisation.
They extended their sympathy to the families of Hassan Shahriar, Jaglul Ahmed Chowdhury, Zahurul Haque, AZM Anas and others.
Read Commerce minister asks journalists to bring up development challenges accurately
The meeting also congratulated OCAB member Pavel Rahman on being awarded with Ekushey Padak this year.
The meeting also provided membership to 11 Dhaka-based journalists working for foreign media.
OCAB members Zahiduzzman Faruque, Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, Pavel Rahman, Amir Khasru, Nizamuddin Ahmed, Bashudeb Dhar, Waliur Rahman Miraj and Anisur Rahman, among others, attended the meeting.
Read Efforts to be accelerated to support journalists: Planning Minister