A simple news segment about the media coverage of Syria spun wildly out of control during Sunday’s Reliable Sources on CNN. It started with Foreign Correspondent Lara Setrakian noting how little coverage the Syrian civil war received in the early years. But it ending with Jeremy Scahill, founder of The Intercept, going off the rails and declaring that “We need to understand the historical context of how a butcher like Assad actually has more in common with someone like Dick Cheney than he does with the average Syrian…”
Scahill’s inane tirade derailed the whole segment from the moment he opened his mouth. “Jeremy, I think there is awareness of what’s been going on in Syria, but for some reason maybe people are desensitized. What is your view of the coverage,” host Brian Stelter wondered? That questioned opened the floodgates of a rant that sounded quite similar to those lobbed during Vietnam:
Well, first of all, let's look at this in the big picture. Donald Trump has given greater latitude to the military to conduct strikes for almost no regard for civilians! Just in the March-- In the month of March, Brian, U.S. and allied forces has killed more than 1,000 civilians in Iraq and Syria, according to the non-partisan independent group Airwars.
But the claims he cites are dubious at best. Airwars’ own website states that: “Funding from the Open Society Foundations allows us to employ a full time [sic] US-based investigative reporter and a UK-based Syria researcher, along with a part time [sic] London-based web and data producer. Our director is jointly funded by JRCT and OSF.” But Open Society Foundation was founded and is currently chaired by socialist billionaire George Soros. They were also funded by the Network for Social Change which aims for “providing funding for progressive social change.”
...