Comments on: Mea culpa time, all over again

By: Jeff Asjes

Jeff Asjes — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 20:54:37 +0000

This critique is spot on; it is fairly obvious upon an actual examination of the document that there has been a lot of exaggeration of the severity of its conclusions. It is hardly a new problem, though. Instead, it's just the latest instance of a long history of yellow journalism regarding the Middle East as a whole, and Iran in particular. Even two years ago, Cyrus Safdari was already writing lengthy commentaries on the rampant exaggeration of U.S. newspapers regarding Iraq, and he has reiterated those complaints in response to the most recent spat of media hyperbole. Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that people are a lot more likely to pick up a paper with the headline "Atomic Monitor Signals Concern Over Iran's Work" than they are to read an article entitled "IAEA Not Overly Concerned About Iran". As long as that is the case, and it always will be, I think the best one can hope for is milder exaggeration and some level-headedness on the part of readers.

By: Jeff Asjes

Jeff Asjes — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 20:42:33 +0000

This critique is spot on; it is fairly obvious upon an actual examination of the document that there has been a lot of exaggeration of the severity of its conclusions. It is hardly a new problem, though. Instead, it’s just the latest instance of a long history of yellow journalism regarding the Middle East as a whole, and Iran in particular. Even two years ago, Cyrus Safdari wasalready writing lengthy on the rampant exaggeration of U.S. newspapers regarding Iraq, and he has reiterated those in response to the most recent spat of media hyperbole. Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that peopleare a lot more likely to pick up a paper with the headline “Atomic Monitor Signals Concern Over Iran’s Work” than they are toread an article entitled “IAEA Not Overly Concerned About Iran”. As long as that is the case, and it always will be, I think the best one can hope for is milder exaggeration and some level-headedness on the part of readers.

By: Mehrnaz Shahabi

Mehrnaz Shahabi — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:01:56 +0000

Thank you for the excellent review. After the poisonous propaganda bombardment of the past few days, it is refreshing to see a sane and measured report on IAEA’s report.