18046: White: Re: 18012, 18014, 18015: (Chamberlain) Six shot? Not likely! (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Randall White <raw@haitiaction.org>

Been looking at this event-Jan 18-for a couple of
days and trying to corroborate the details-as
reported by AP and Reuters-of this event at TNH
on Sunday. As of about three hours ago I don't
have details of anyone being shot, let alone
killed...

>From 18012: << Chimera by Amy Bracken  [again...]

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 18 (Reuters) - One person was shot dead and five
were wounded on Sunday when gunmen took to the streets to break up an
anti-government demonstration in Haiti's capital.
      People hiding in allies and on rooftops threw rocks and bottles and
fired shots as thousands of anti-government demonstrators marched through
the streets of Port-au-Prince. The demonstrators were protected by dozens
of police officers, and most of the damage occurred before and after the
protest.
      Five people were shot in the street outside a state-owned television
station along the route of the marchers but before they had arrived on the
scene, according to witnesses. A local radio station said at least two of
the wounded were merchants.
      After the demonstration, groups of marchers retraced the route to
return to their homes and cars, while armed men in trucks drove around the
city, firing their weapons. One demonstrator was hit and killed by a
bullet, witnesses said.
      A local hospital confirmed that one person had been fatally shot and
three others were treated for gunshot wounds.>>

...of course in this disinformation campaign one
lie isn't enough, the following just seems too
incredible

<< One demonstrator, a student and off-duty police officer who feared the
consequences if his name was revealed, said he marched because "Aristide
leads a country in which impunity and criminality rule.">>

Actually, even though I include-the usually
unreliable-Michael Norton (in 18014 and 18015)
reports in this-breakdown of the usual
suspects-he actually comes up with a more
accurate picture for Sunday's events with
"plausible deniability" (meaning that-he's using
unreliable sources)  programmed into his account.
But I'm still not buying it (who cares wot I
think-being that I'm not a "corporate media star).

In any event, the real kicker here is where
Norton reveals his source: Radio Vision 2000.
Those jokers-along with Radio Métropole-can
always be counted on to fabricate the worst
mutilation of the actual events:

http://www.haitiprogres.com/eng01-13.html from
"This Week in Haiti" shows where they knowingly
fabricated stories about the Jan 1st
Bicentennial. also heard that day were reports
that two South African soldiers were killed and
that Mbeki's helicopter was shot down on the way
to Gonaïves. I could really go for some time
about these two stations alone.

In short, anyone who uses either of these Radio
stations as a "credible source" has shown
themselves to be unreliable altogether. That
attempt at "plausible deniability" has evaporated
for Mr. Norton. He's still a liar.

Numbers are always debated, but for the record,
let me show that I'll dispute the two intentional
distortions of Mr. Norton. in regards to the size
of opposition demonstrators. No way, were there
4,000 demonstrators on Sunday. His "tens of
thousands" for Jan 11 was probably something in
his dreams. Reliable sources show that the 4,000
figure was closer to the truth in this "largest
crowd ever" on Jan 11, the top end being
7,000-well short of the 20,000 minimum for Mr.
Norton to fly some semblance of credibility.

Amy Bracken and Michael Norton have continually
been shown to give a one-sided account. I can't
remember one story in the last six months where
they haven't had some spin in their stories that
came from the right-wing destabilization campaign.

What was the "biased" version of the other side?
>From the Secretary of State for Communications on
the events of Jan 18:

<< The culmination of the intolerable occurred on
Sunday, January 18, 2004.  As announced in
advance by the demonstrators, an attack of
extreme violence occurred and was directed at the
offices of the National Television of Haiti
(TNH): throwing rocks, bottles or cut glass and
the firing of automatic weapons at its offices.
The security guards at the station had to fire in
the air while awaiting the arrival of the Unit of
Intervention and Maintenance of Order (CIMO) to
prevent the offices of TNH from either being
burned down and at the same time to protect the
lives of journalists, employees and those invited
guests present inside at the time.

In the meantime, the demonstrators proceeded to
destroy the stalls in the public marketplace on
Delmas 32, destroying all of the small merchants'
products such as malta, coca, beer, etc.>>

If one assumes bias here, what is interesting to
note, is that over the course of the last few
months the AP, Reuters, BBC, and LA Times
stringers have almost always intentionally
avoided any report that reveals the "official"
version of the facts. The point here that any
"journalistic" pretense of "balance" has
disappeared with their credibility.

How long will it take before we get the real story from the People of Haiti?

RAW