Comment by Aurornis
2 days ago
> E.g. like reading the sentence:
> >TIME has been unable to independently verify these figures.
> And going "hmmm".
Journalists couldn’t possibly independently verify large scale death counts, especially at this point.
That doesn’t mean they’re wrong or propaganda.
If you start “going hmmm” when journalists honestly report their own limitations then that’s just going to leave you more vulnerable to the psy-op peddlers who never give such disclaimers.
MediaZona is one example of an organization that uses a large diversity of sources to assemble what looks like a very accurate Russian soldier casualty count. Their process is excellent.
TIME magazine didnt do anything like that. They most likely got a call from the state department in between their Iran invasion planning meetings to say "hey, we've got a totally legit guy on the inside of rhe iranian ministry of health with an EXPLOSIVE story you wanna talk to him?"
That guy will be getting paid to risk his life talking to the enemy and he will know that he shouldnt disappoint.
The US paid all sorts of informants to provide information on WMDs and shockingly, they told the state department what it wanted to hear and TIME printed all of that nonsense too.