Mehdi Hasan’s Moving Words of Support. The AP Makes Multiple Stumbles. | Winners & Losers in Today’s Green Room
THE DAILY NEWSLETTER – MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2022
MEDIA WINNER: Mehdi Hasan
MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan offered a statement of “love and support” on his eponymous show Sunday evening to the Jewish community in the wake of the Texas synagogue hostage attack, and it’s a must-watch segment.
More detailed coverage of Saturday’s events is below in the A-Block, but the key facts are that a 44-year-old British man named Malik Faisal Akram took four people hostage at a Texas synagogue, eventually being killed by police Saturday evening. All four hostages escaped unharmed.
“What happened yesterday was an outrage,” Hasan said. “Synagogues shouldn’t be places where Jewish-American worshipers have to be afraid. Synagogues shouldn’t be places that require armed guards.”
“All of us have a role to play in pushing back against the anti-Semitic tropes and bigoted rhetoric that inevitably fuel anti-Jewish violence and hate crimes,” he declared, before unequivocally expressing his love and support for the members of the synagogue and all his Jewish viewers.
It was a powerful message, given additional gravitas due to Hasan’s position as one of the few Muslims on cable news.
MEDIA LOSER: The Associated Press
The Associated Press on Monday deleted a tweet from the weekend on the subject of the hostage standoff at the Texas synagogue, replacing it and sending a correction note on Twitter.
“BREAKING: The FBI says the Texas synagogue hostage-taker’s demands were specifically focused on issue not connected to the Jewish community,” the original tweet read, linking an article that read in part: “[FBI Special Agent in Charge Matt DeSarno] said the hostage taker was specifically focused on an issue not directly connected to the Jewish community…”
Both the original tweet and article were widely attacked this weekend.
Now, partial fault lies with the FBI here, as it was their agent who made that comment, but the AP is under no obligation to repeat, much less amplify, such a boneheaded description of a gunman’s attack on a synagogue to take Jews hostage and demand the release of violent anti-Semite Aafia Siddiqui.
That was far from the AP’s only stumble in reporting this story. They downplayed Siddiqui’s history in the original draft, stealth editing the article after criticism, and omitted her anti-Semitic history in a separate article about her.
Links We Like:
The Silent, Vaccinated, Impatient Majority
– Yasmeen Serhan, The Atlantic
How I learned the power of lies: Fact and falsehood in the age of Trump (and long before)
– Arnold R. Isaacs, Salon
How to sponsor an Afghan refugee family
– Sigal Samuel, Vox
Gun Control Is Just as Racist as Drug Control
– Jacob Sullum, Reason
Read the full Mediaite Green Room Newsletter here, including the latest updates on the hostage attack at a Texas synagogue. Sign up for your free subscription here.
