US Voters skeptical Associated Press decides? the Foreign Press Foundation - 26.10.2004 17:11
Associated Press (pro Bush) will be the only 'info-agency' which will deliver the results of the nationwide US voting. To many observers and journalists AP's journalism record does not invoke any trust in a fair outcome. US VOTERS SKEPTICAL: ASSOCIATED PRESS DECIDES ? AP on the voting results: "Now they will rely on us alone." FPF-Oct. 26-2004 - The global american 'news agency' - Associated Press - (AP)*, today publishes the result of a poll, showing that sixty percent of the people asked is skeptical concerning the outcome of the 2nd of November presidential elections in the US. But in the whole item* about this phenomena, AP writer Lester does not mention the concern about the fact that Associated Press (pro Bush) will be the only 'info-agency' which will deliver the results of the nationwide US voting. To many observers and journalists AP's journalism record does not invoke any trust in a fair outcome. It is not a matter of being suspicious, but a matter of looking at AP's record from a journalists point of view. That should make one fear the worst, with only one press source - generally supporting George W.Bush c.s. - in charge of the results being a questionable so called 'news agency'. AP THE NEWS MOLOCH To get an idea about the vast area of influence, which can be used or misused, one might have a look at some of the figures given by AP: there are 242 bureaus worldwide, 1,700 U.S. daily, weekly, non-English and college newspapers, 5,000 radio/TV outlets taking AP, 1000 AP Radio Network affiliates taking AP Network News, 55 taking AP All News Radio, and AP's 24-hour news radio network. Outside the US the global reach of the announcer of the by them decided verdict on the United States presidential election voting results looks like this: 330 International broadcasters who receive AP's global video news service, APTN, and SNTV, a sports joint venture video service, 8,500 International subscribers who receive AP news and photos, 121 number of countries served by AP For the author it's even possible to get the 'Newspeak' served in my my own lingo, being one of the 5 distribution languages (English, German, Dutch, French and Spanish). The reports are translated into many more languages by international subscribers. To spread the news - whatever it is, or what course has to be followed, there are at present according to AP - 3,700 AP editorial, communications and administrative employees worldwide. The AP news report is: 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. FALSIFYING FIGURES How for instance this global 'News Moloch' is able to falsify figures, was clearly shown when AP reported on the figures concerning the people taking part in a surprisingly huge peace march in Florence, Italy, against the coming illegal US invasion and war in Iraq in 2002. What was described outside of the mainstream US media, was the World's biggest protest against the coming war, and the pictures showed a Florence engulfed by the world's biggest peace march. Police in Florence said about 450,000 people had taken part in the demonstration, the highlight of an anti war gathering here that started Wednesday and ends Sunday. The figure was more than twice the number expected. Organizer Vittorio Agnoletto estimated the crowd at 800,000 to 1 million. The fact that before noon AP in Italy via it's network started spreading the word that: 'a few thousand' marchers flocked in Florence, made the subscribers to the huge network (see above) use the false information. The Foreign Press Association in Italy (FPA) was worried about this falsification of reality, and discussed it with the members of the FPA and those working for AP, they confirmed when asked. It must raise quite some eyebrows in the US however, after all the news on possible and planned vote rigging in the electronic voting* without a 'paper trail', that the outcome of the election seems to be in the hands of people openly supporting George Bush, as the AP record/output shows. OUTFOXED by BUSH' COUSIN AP will now be able to play the same 'cloak and dagger' role, as Bush' cousin c.s. did with the abominable FOX propaganda machine. In the movie 'Outfoxed' one is informed about 'the press defeat' in Election 2000 and one of the the latest embarrassments: the election night call - declaring George W. Bush the winner - did not come from the news media polling group 'Voter News Service'. It came first from the political desk of the Fox News Channel, which was being run by Bush's first cousin, John Ellis. The other networks quickly followed, pressured by Fox's decision."* So what can we expect all mainstream media belonging to the multinational-industry to do, when AP decides W Bush is the winner? Guess! Memories of Florida's contested and stolen 2000 presidential election - and a growing number of pre-election lawsuits - are making Americans skeptical about a voting process they once took for granted. A clever thing to do is finding out at AP, and ask them about what they are planning to do, and how does the vote count differ this time? The official answer by AP is this: "ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel and AP chose to disband 'Voter News Service' — a POOL created in 1964 to collect election results, which was broadened in the early 1990s to conduct exit polls — following highly publicized failures in 2000 and 2002. The news organizations created the National Election Pool (NEP), and contracted with two veteran pollsters to conduct exit surveys. They turned to the AP for the job of vote counting. In the past, the participating news organizations received raw vote numbers from both VNS and the AP, and used one as a check against the accuracy of the other. Now they will rely on AP — the world's oldest and largest news cooperative — alone." [end quote*-AP] ASSOCIATED PRESS RIGS ELECTION ? The overwhelming question was asked last Friday by journalist Lynn Landes, in the PRNewswire: "Could the Associated Press (AP) Rig the Election?". According to Landes "The Associated Press (AP) will be the sole source of raw vote totals for the major news broadcasters on Election Night. However, AP spokesmen Jack Stokes and John Jones refused to explain to this journalist how the AP will receive that information. They refused to confirm or deny that the AP will receive direct feed from voting machines and central vote tabulating computers across the country. But, circumstantial evidence suggests that is exactly what will happen. And what can be downloaded can also be uploaded. Computer experts say that signals can travel both to and from computerized voting machines through wireless technology, modems, and even simple electricity. Computer scientists have long warned that computer voting is an invitation to vote fraud and system failure. TROJAN HORSES An examination of Diebold election software by several computer scientists, including Dr. Avi Rubin and his staff, proved that secret backdoors can be built into computer programs that allow votes to be easily manipulated without detection. Confidence is always build, never bought. But, can't the AP be trusted? Isn't it an objective non-partisan news organization? Some say no. The AP is batting for a Bush presidency. In Online Journal, Stephen Crockett and Al Lawrence, the hosts of Democratic Talk Radio, wrote, "...the Associated Press ran a story that was widely published in newspapers and on the Internet, headlined "Bush Leads Kerry In Electoral Votes," that could have been written by the Bush campaign. The assignment of states to candidates, the headline and the conclusions were all simply wrong. The Associated Press should have printed a retraction and work to see that it was widely published." We're still waiting... It is not a matter of pessimism, but, looking at the facts and figures available, one thing is clear, as Lynn Landes concludes: "The air will be thick with distrust and doubt on Election Night 2004." Henk Ruyssenaars Lester - AP Writer- Url.: http://tinyurl.com/4w62u Bush' Cousin: http://tinyurl.com/4zo8k Google - 'Electronic voting fraud': http://tinyurl.com/6asge AP - 'About Us' - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/5nqh3 AP - Different vote count? - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/47vr5 Lynn Landes - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/6wq7b FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION http://tinyurl.com/3crhn Editor : Henk Ruyssenaars http://tinyurl.com/2ghoh The Netherlands FPF@Chello.nl The Dutch author has this far worked abroad for 4 decades for international media, as a foreign correspondent, of which 10 years - also during Gulf War I - in the Arab World and the Middle East. Seeing worldwide that every bullet and every bomb breeds more terrorism ! ( US Senator Hollings agrees: http://tinyurl.com/2ylmv ) Evil triumphs when good men, women and we journalists remain silent: - http://tinyurl.com/3tgqa - Let's fight today, because tomorrow it may be too late... Help the troops come home ! We need them badly to fight our 'governments': http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/ HR |