CNN: Kidnapped Fox journalists released

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/08/27/fox.journalists/index.html

Two Fox journalists kidnapped two weeks ago in Gaza have been released, according to the Palestinian news service Ramattan and Fox News.

The release came shortly after the broadcast of a video in which the journalists read statements saying they have embraced Islam with the Prophet Mohammed as their leader.

The video, initially aired Sunday by Ramattan, showed Fox reporter Steve Centanni and photographer Olaf Wiig, both appearing to be in good health.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,210645,00.html

Two FOX News journalists were released Sunday, nearly two weeks after being seized by militants in Gaza.

First footage showed the two, Olaf Wiig and Steve Centanni, being dropped off at Gaza City's Beach Hotel. Centanni, of the U.S., embraced someone in the lobby, before both men were rushed upstairs.

Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, wore a white T-shirt, rather than the beige Islamic robe in which he appeared in a hostage video just hours earlier.

[krispos42]

1. That conversion will last as long as the flight home, I bet n/t

[Richard Steele]

9. And anyone with an ounce of brains (including the "captors") KNOWS that.

IMHO, this is just more evidence that the entire event
was a made-for-tv PR stunt.

[Bluzmann57]

12. Yeah right

and when Jill Carroll was abducted, that was just made up stuff as well. Nothing personal, but I think you may be allowing your hatred of fox "news" get in the way of logic. I am happy that these men are free and greatful that they are not dead, no matter who they work for.

[Richard Steele]

17. Can you defend your position without Straw Men and personal insults?

Description of Straw Man

The Straw Man fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a person's actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position. This sort of "reasoning" has the following pattern:

1. Person A has position X.(In this case, my opinion that this was fake)

2. Person B presents position Y, which is a distorted version of X.
(your sarcastic Jill Carroll reference to an opinion I DO NOT hold.)

3. Person B attacks position Y.

4. Therefore X is false/incorrect/flawed.

And, no matter how many times you use the preface "nothing personal",
an accusation that some (ASSUMED by you) 'hate' has left me incapable of
logical thought will ALWAYS be personally insulting.

[acmavm]

2. Did their captors really think these guys 'converted'? If they renege,

will that mean, never mind. I just find this too crazy.

I don't doubt it happened. It just makes no sense.

Will the people who forced them to convert in the first place track them don't if the de-convert?

[CJCRANE]

7. Like I said

in a different thread...who benefits from this story?

How come Palestinian kidnappers never forced journalists from other news agencies to convert?

It all seems tailormade to rile up Fox News viewers.

[Richard Steele]

8. Yup. This looks nothing like any GENUINE kidnapping.

Everything about it is WRONG. It looks like a CARICATURE of
an Islamic Militant operation; a made-for-TV caricature based
upon the average Fox Viewer's half-baked conceptions of
Islamic Militants.

It really feels like a Fox Publicity stunt.

[acmavm]

10. I don't doubt for a minute that you're right. And that's one of the

saddest things about the whole Operation Iraq Liberation thing (or whatever they call it now). It is no longer possible to believe anything you read in the American media (although they've always been a little shaky with their info), and it's an absolute given that no matter what our own government says, they're lying through thier teeth.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ninja Jordan]

4. "Muslim-American reporter Steve Centanni"

lol

[sknabt]

5. Fox News team released by kidnappers

Captors Release Two FOX News Journalists Kidnapped in Gaza Aug. 14
Sunday, August 27, 2006

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Two FOX News journalists were released by their kidnappers Sunday, nearly two weeks after they were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.

Steve Centanni, 60, and Olaf Wiig, 36, left Gaza and have since crossed into Israel after their release. The men left Gaza through the Erez border crossing.

The freeing of Centanni, a correspondent, and Wiig, a cameraman, ends the longest-running drama involving foreign hostages in Gaza.

The two journalists were dropped off at Gaza City's Beach Hotel by Palestinian security officials and appeared to be in good health. A tearful Centanni embraced a Palestinian journalist briefly as he entered, then rushed upstairs as Wiig followed.

Centanni, in a phone interview shortly after his release, said "I'm fine. I'm just so happy to be free."

He said he was so emotional because he was out and alive.

"There were times when I thought 'I'm dead,' and I'm not," Centanni said. "I'm fine. I'm so very happy."

Read the rest of the story at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,210645,00.html

[OnionPatch]

6. What, you mean he didn't say

"Praise Allah, I am free!!" :shrug:

[Charlie Brown]

13. I'm glad they're okay nt

[Bluzmann57]

15. As am I

We should all be happy that they are safe and sound. There is at least one poster in here who apparently thinks this whole thing was a sham. I'm not one of them. Glad they are ok.

[Jazz2006]

20. Agreed.

It is good news that they have been released safely. I do not believe that their kidnapping was a sham.
I am glad that they are okay.

[darkism]

11. It's a shame they'll have to lose their jobs now.

Fox News would never have a Muslim work for them. ::zing::

[IChing]

14. I wonder if they will now be put on a NO FLY LIST

They now fit all the parameters.

I'm glad they are safe but the story still smells.

[Marie26]

16. Whew

I'm so glad they were released safely. And for the haters, at the press conference, both Centanni & Wiig spoke out about the plight of the Palestinian people, and expressed hopes that this kidnapping wouldn't prevent journalists from covering the Gaza strip.

[gully]

18. Fox News journalists describe captivity

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060827/ap_on_re_mi_ea/gaza_journalists

By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Two Fox News journalists freed by militants Sunday described a harrowing two weeks of captivity during which they were blindfolded, tied in painful positions and forced at gunpoint to say on a video that they converted to Islam.

After their release, the men met with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and left Gaza, but first appealed at a brief news conference for foreign journalists not to be deterred from covering the plight of the Palestinians in the volatile coastal strip.

"I hope that this never scares a single journalist away from coming to Gaza to cover the story because the Palestinian people are very beautiful and kindhearted," said Steve Centanni, a 60-year-old American reporter who was released along with cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand. "The world needs to know more about them."

In a phone call with Fox News, Centanni said they were abducted Aug. 14 by four masked gunmen on a side street in Gaza City. He said the assailants covered his head with a black hood, and crammed him and Wiig into a small car.

[ConcernedCanuk]

19. And we should believe FoxNews journalists, why? - 911/Saddam my ass

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From the posted article:

"The two journalists headed to Israel and were spending the night at the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem."

Why didn't they go into Iraq and report the USA's ongoing slaughter there?

THAT's news!

OH . . .

but that'd be telling the TRUTH!!

[gully]

21. Not all Fox journalists are corrupt.

What part do you dispute? The part where they said the people of Palastine are "beautiful and kindhearted?"

:eyes:

I am not a fan of FOX news, but they do have legitimate people working for them around the globe, what the corporate elite choose to report is another matter.

[ConcernedCanuk]

22. I wasn't disputing any "part" - just Fox's rep - - check out "Outfoxed"

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About Outfoxed

"Outfoxed" examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news. This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the publics right to know.

The film explores Murdoch's burgeoning kingdom and the impact on society when a broad swath of media is controlled by one person.

/snip/

This documentary also reveals the secrets of Former Fox news producers, reporters, bookers and writers who expose what it's like to work for Fox News. These former Fox employees talk about how they were forced to push a "right-wing" point of view or risk their jobs. Some have even chosen to remain anonymous in order to protect their current livelihoods. As one employee said "There's no sense of integrity as far as having a line that can't be crossed."

/snip/

http://www.outfoxed.org/OutfoxedSummary.php
_________________________________________________

People have family and financial obligations they feel they have to protect -

And many will say anything to protect their jobs/reputation so that they can keep fulfilling those obligations that they feel are mandatory.

In my 40 years in the work force - I have seen it many times, people who hate their job, but kiss the boss's butt just to keep it . . .

And Fox News ain't no different - some people will put up with a lot before they quit

[gully]

23. Gotcha. Can't stand fox, but I know they hire people around the globe

and I try not to lump all of the employees into one bad pile.

I've seen outfoxed and it's an excellent documentary.

[ConcernedCanuk]

24. "I try not to lump all of the employees into one bad pile." - I agree

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I don't do that myself -

I treat people as they treat me, on a person to person basis.

I do not alienate any ethnic groups because of their race, religion or background.

I've visited the US dozens of times, and even lived in SanDee for 14 months between 79-80

I wanted to retire to southern California, but that shawknawe thing turned me off of the USA forever . . .

So y'all don't have to worry about THIS person(me) ever crossing our border again . . .

Thanks a lot George . . (sh*thead)