Did anyone see the reporter on CBS this morning?

[Ganja Ninja]

He was doing a report on the injured and dead in Lebanon.

So he's standing at the back of a Semi trailer with 150 bodies in it and he says: "There 150 bodies in this trailer, fifty-five of them are children." "And for the record we cannot verify if there are any children in this trailer."

Seems odd to me that he had to cast suspicions on the claim.

[JNelson6563]

1. Maybe they were midgets?

Or Munchkins? Was it anywhere near Munchkin-land?

:shrug:

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. They were miniature

Hezbolla guerrillas.

[CottonBear]

2. I saw pictures of dead Lebanese children on DU a few days ago.

A medical worker was moving the charred bodies of little girls in a trailer or temporary morgue. :(

[Ganja Ninja]

7. See I know their in there and he knows their in there yet the guy ...

was compelled to cast suspicion on the claim.

Now why don't they do that every time Bush says anything? Just once I'd like to hear them say, "For the record we couldn't verify if anything coming out of his mouth had any basis in fact or reality."

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. Most likely because they could not verify the information

I am a Lebanese citizen. I show you a semi trailer and say that it has 150 bodies inside, 55 of which are children. I refuse to open it up so you can see for yourself, as showing off dead bodies for the cameras would violate my sense of decency about treating the dead respectfully and not as a public spectacle (that is, after all, why the bodies were collected and put aside.)

What are you, as a reporter, going to do? Very likely, exactly what the CBS reporter did.

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. I agree - see my post below

n/t

[Beausoir]

11. I agree. That was Lee Cowen. What was he supposed to do?

Open up each body bag and rummage around? They were stacked on top of each other in the truck.

I think he does a helluva good job.

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. I dunno - I thought it was a reasonable qualifier

The officials in Tyre who made the claim obviously have a dog in the fight, and it would have been unethical to report as fact 55 dead children in the trailer without having seen them or received other corroborating evidence. It was maybe a bit of overkill (pardon me) since he had already said that the hospital officials SAID it (that's usually qualifier enough in journalism), but I didn't see it as a bad qualifier on its face. My only hope is that the journalists proceed with the same amount of caution when providing any partisan claims, and that's where it usually falls down.

That said, you're right that it was striking. My wife and I saw this report on the news yesterday evening, and we looked at each other like "Huh?" Everything I'm saying in this post was a result of our discussion about the very line that you isolated here. I have to say that I was also pretty impressed that he went down to Tyre to file the report. It was aggressive journalism, and, overall, a good story.

[Ganja Ninja]

9. See my post 7 above.

Now why don't they feel so compelled when Bush, Cheney or Rummy say anything? Seems they're skepticism is reserved for brown people, muslims and liberals only.

[shain from kane]

8. If there were 150 dead civilians in the trailer, I would assume that

over 1/2 of them would be children. What is the ratio of children to adults in Lebanon? Wouldn't it be greater than 1:1? Especially in neighborhoods.
Editoralizing the news on the spot. If I was present, I would have opened the trailer and rubbed his nose in it.

[Howardx]

10. i saw that crap last night

what an asshole