NPR and WikiLies

NPR apologizes for letting its hosts and guests spread the untruth that WikiLeaks has published a quarter of a million classified diplomatic cables, when the truth is fewer than 2,000 so far in the latest dump, an untruth said so frequently in so many places it has become for many of the public one of those "agreed-upon truths" that everyone knows but ain't so. (And I bet a large number of NPR listeners, and others, still believe it, despite this correction.)

Surely that mistaken belief fed by the media feeds into the number of people who want Wiki frontman Julian Assange iced forthwith, as here and here.

Nick Gillespie from earlier today on why WikiLeaks is the story of the year.

Comments

[John]

Instead of another wikileaks thread, how about one on the little story about how the Japanese are about to default?

http://online.wsj.com/article/.....tion_Heard

[Pro Libertate]

Ye gods, I hope not. That would be a disaster.

[BakedPenguin]

So much for the yuan-yen co-prosperity sphere.

[Pro Libertate]

I saw that--utter nonsense. No way will the Japanese give up their access to American women. No way.

[John]

It will be. But they have basically been practicing Kruganomics for 20 years.

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, but there had been some sane sounds emanating from the islands not too long ago.

[Tman]

It's funny that in the 80's when Japan was buying every piece of America they could get their hands on people were freaking out that they were going to take over the US and eventualy become the new dominant superpower.

Now everyone is saying the same thing about China.

The reality is that both China and Japan have centralized economies that they continue to support through Kruganomics, and they both have created bubbles in real estate and other areas that eventually pop.

Japans just popped, and China's is coming.

Krugnuts will still have a job at the NYT though, and this bothers me.

[Pro Libertate]

Japan can and will recover, once it realizes the error in its way. For all of its problems, there is plenty right with its culture and industry. China is too screwed up in too many ways to avoid its fate.

We're more like Japan and not as far along their path, so a resurgent America is still, in my opinion, likely. Provided we stop the nonsense sufficiently over the next few years. Otherwise, decades-long recession, here we come!

[Tman]

Japan can and will recover, once IF it realizes the error in its way.

I don't think this is a given anymore. We need a sizable majority of the US to suddenly realize that we can't afford to put half the country on Medicare. If they don't, then we're fucked.

[Pro Libertate]

I tend to think the Japanese will figure it out. We may not, but we have a little longer to totally screw things up.

[SIV]

I'll offer to buy some of their stuff.
WWII memorabilia, a Toyota 2000GT, old telescopes...

[Kolohe]

If the Japanese are about to default, why does the Market (PBUI) assign its debt the lowest interest rate in the world? (1.17 for the 10 yr) http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/

[ola]

Log in or subscribe? Fuck that.

[Old Mexican]

Surely that jmistaken [sic] belief fed by the media feeds into the number of people who want Wiki frontman Julian Assange iced forthwith, as here and here.

I don't want him iced! I want him jmistakenly jiced.

[Pro Libertate]

You realize, of course, that no one knows what you're talking about now.

[Pro Libertate]

You've underestimated the fluid, self-correcting nature of the Internet.

[Old Mexican]

I had my fun... for 5 minutes at least.

[Pro Libertate]

At least the evidence of your fun is preserved in your comment. Unlike the Day of the Commenters, when tags blinked and videos, well, videoed.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Day of the Commenters...

AKA the day I called the FCC and asked them to rein in the internets.

[Pro Libertate]

I have no doubt that that experience is exactly why the FCC decided it could get away with regulating the Internet.

[Paul]

But what does Nina Totenberg say?

[Enos]

She say that while she was at a -- pardon the expression -- Chrismas party, Assange showed her his didgeridoo.

[Jim]

Did you hear about the latest Wikileaks cables?

Scots are cheap, Canadians are bland, and Japanese love cameras.

I know, earth-shattering items along the lines of all the other Wikileaks stuff I've seen.

[Les]

Also, the U.S. killed a bunch of civilians in Yemen and blamed it on the Yemeni forces and Hillary Clinton ordered U.S. diplomats to spy on the U.N. officials. Nothing we don't expect, of course, but still stuff we need to know.

[Paul]

Scots are cheap

Where can I buy one?

[Enos]

I buy mine at Teuchters -n- Things.

[Pro Libertate]

All Things Scottish has some nice deals. And they toss in a free haggis pizza if you spend more than $50.

Remember, "if it's not Scottish, it's crap!"

[anomdebus]

I am not seeing a significant difference between what is publicly available now vs what they have and will almost certainly release at least an overwhelming majority at some point.
Since Aftenposten reportedly has the entire dump, it may be sooner than later.

[Tman]

Can someone explain to me why the Jacket thinks this is "the story of the year"?

Really?

What actually changed as a result of Wikileaks? Diplomats are more careful now?

[Enos]

That was my thinking. I gues the biggest sweep in the House since 1948 is just meh.

[?]

This just in: Hillary Clinton thinks Kim Jong-il is short.

[Pro Libertate]

Casus belli.

[cynical]

Maybe he's been around long enough to recognize that the Republican takeover won't do shit, whereas increasing the percentage of people aware of government (U.S. and otherwise) chicanery may lead to an increase in classical liberal thought worldwide.

[Sinic]

When the state and the media are on the same page about something it becomes truth to most everybody. See also, WMD in Iraq.
Greenwald has been beating this horse for weeks but it's probably never going down. Hell, there are still people that believe there were WMD's (W'sMD?) in Iraq.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I thought Juan Williams had his Republican cronies do away with NPR already.

[P Brooks]

Get back to me when NPR decides to send me a refund of the money they've wasted.

[Matthew Schafer]

NPR's correction highlights a pervasive misconception propagated (likely unwittingly or perhaps just out of sheer laziness) by news media around the world. In the first several days of WikiLeaks coverage, multiple news outlets suggested that WikiLeaks posted all 250,000 cables on its website at once.

You can see a list of several of those outlets that did the same thing as NPR here: http://bit.ly/dP4izx