http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110505/ts_yblog_thelookout/debate-confusion-on-bin-laden-photos
Quote:
Meanwhile, three Republican senators yesterday said they'd seen the pictures--before walking back on those claims later in the day, raising the possibility that they had been duped by fake images on the Internet.
Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts told the cable station NECN: "I have seen the photos." But later he told the station that he now understood the photos weren't authentic.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence committee, also claimed to reporters that he had seen the photos, before backing off in an email to The Ticket. A spokeswoman blamed the slip on a "miscommunication."
And Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire told reporters: "I saw a photo of him deceased, the head area." But later she said in an email to The Ticket: "While I was shown a photo by another senator of what appeared to be a deceased Osama bin Laden, I do not know if it was authentic."
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This is how so many various versions of "facts" come about; the press, in its fever to get the "scoop", seek comments from people who have marginal to no connection to those who really know what is going on and the broadcast the comments as reliable "fact". The "source close to the administration", the "government offical who asked to be unnamed", the "Pentagon official speaking on condition of anonimity", all contribute to the ongoing game of 'Telephone' where something is said and warped, transformed, and mutated to fill the purpose of whoever is reporting. Then, when the Administration tries to clarify or correct the "reports", they are accused of trying to coverup or backtrack. This is not a defense of the Obama White House; this has been going on with a vengeance since probably the Nixon Administration, if not longer. A probable good rule of thum is to regard initial reports in the media with large and several grains of salt. Here, in Los Angeles, a local radio station, when informed of a major coming announcement from the White House, spent the hour or so leading up to the actual announcement wildly speculating on the possible subject matter. The gamut of possible subjects was mind-boggling. The situation got so frenzied, the station was actually reporting Twitter tweets as if they were reports from wire services, press secretaries, or government spokespersons.