In a stunning new low for a dominant media that has forfeited all credibility with the American people, ABC News has been caught in the act trying to pass off video from a show at a Kentucky gun range as gripping footage of a Turkish attack on Kurdish forces in northern Syria.
The deception is captured here:
Wow! ABC News is trying to pass gun range videos as combat footage from Syria pic.twitter.com/zfTWtwwSfZ
— Wojciech Pawelczyk (@WojPawelczyk) October 14, 2019
The video was meant to support an ongoing ABC News narrative that President Trump has “betrayed” staunch US allies, handing them over to certain slaughter, by deciding to pull American troops out of another potentially endless war in Syria.
“Now horrific reports of atrocities committed by Turkish-backed fighters on those very allies,” ABC News weekend anchor Tom Llamas breathlessly declares as explosions erupt and tracer fire fills the night at the 2017 Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot at a range near West Point, KY. Revealing not a whiff of embarrassment at so egregious an “error,” ABC News posted a retraction on its official Twitter account that reads like a routine correction:
CORRECTION: We’ve taken down video that aired on “World News Tonight" Sunday and “Good Morning America” this morning that appeared to be from the Syrian border immediately after questions were raised about its accuracy. ABC News regrets the error.
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) October 14, 2019
“Regrets the error.” That may cover it when a small-town TV news outlet films the wrong pie as the winner of the local County Bake Off. But it falls woefully short here. As many news outlets have reported, the video is obviously cropped to edit out any identifiable signs that it came from the gun show. Whether ABC did that itself or was deceived by a “source” who supplied the edited video, the fact is a national television news network used an outrageously phony video to help frame a thoroughly biased narrative it was eager to pursue.
Fake News Promoting an Agenda
ABC News has repeatedly “reported” in recent weeks that Trump is abandoning former allies in the field to a gruesome fate and personally revitalizing ISIS through his actions to pull US troops out of yet another Middle East war zone. An Oct. 8 clip from the network’s AM flagship program Good Morning America is filled with loaded terms that paint Trump as a cartoon villain for his actions. “Trump’s Syria Firestorm,” a chyron blasts over the screen in the video segment. “President’s Decision to Withdraw Troops Sparks Bipartisan Backlash” reads smaller text.
The 3:39 clip is ripe with tart phrasing. “Betray,” “abandoning allies,” and “blindsided the Pentagon” pepper the report like accusations hurled at a criminal defendant on trial. Two notorious Republican neoconservatives are presented as stalwart Trump backers who surprisingly condemn the president’s actions.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is trotted out as Trump’s “closest ally on Capitol Hill.” He is then quoted denouncing Trump’s move as “shortsighted and irresponsible.” “Even former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, calling it a big mistake,” rips Trump, the narrator blurts out in an astonished tone. The word “even” is emphasized as if it is a grave shock that Haley, who supports an avidly interventionist US foreign policy, would say anything so disapproving about an American troop withdrawal abroad.
Slanted Coverage Throughout
David Muir
ABC News feverishly has propped up the notion that ISIS remains a threat in the area, despite its resounding defeat, even before news of Trump’s withdrawal broke. In a Sept. 9 article on its website, World News Tonight anchor David Muir “got exclusive access with American troops now fighting an enemy intent on resurging: ISIS.”
“Muir traveled deep into the Anbar desert” for his exclusive (or was it Palm Springs?), which had the sole purpose of stressing the need to keep American soldiers in northern Syria. A United Nations report is quoted as stating that ISIS commanders are “adapting, consolidating and creating conditions for an eventual resurgence,” although the network acknowledges that they have no financing. “The fight is far from over,” ABC News declares. As Americans weary to the bone with prolonged US military engagement overseas know far too well, it never is.
An “analysis” by ABC “roving senior field producer” and “video journalist” Matt McGarry in the wake of Trump’s announced pullout is a paean to Kurdish soldiers and excoriates the president for “abandoning” these brave allies to their “sworn enemy Turkey.” McGarry openly states that “Turkey has been fighting separatist Kurds across the border inside its own territory for decades, and in recent years has incurred several times into Syria to fight against Syrian Kurds.”
Apparently McGarry would have US soldiers stay by the Kurds’ side indefinitely as a regional conflict spanning “decades” that has no direct effect on American national security interests continues to fester. Keeping with the fake news motif that seems to thrive at the network, McGarry posted a retweet on his Twitter account saluting Native American political activist Nathan Phillips as a “Vietnam veteran.” This despite the fact that Phillips has been exposed as a liar who was forced to admit that he never served in Vietnam.
https://twitter.com/lulu_says2/status/1086789312388055041
Including this information is not a cheap shot. It’s a tell. ABC News is committed to keeping American soldiers engaged in Syria. With this egregious fake video incident, the network either deliberately perpetrated a hoax on the American people or comfortably fell for a deceit that perfectly suited its agenda. Whatever the case, it is another deep stain on a tottering establishment media complex that has given the American people no reason to believe anything it offers up as “news.”
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