Did a global news service with over 1,300 clients pay a fond farewell to the founder of an organization that has carried out some of the world’s deadliest terror attacks, and now facilitates Iranian expansionism?
The Associated Press (AP) wire service published on December 10 a feature titled, Final Goodbye: Recalling Influential People Who Died in 2021, which includes close to 250 people who had an impact on society during their lives. While most of the notables mentioned were forces for progress – in some cases truly inspirational – there are a handful of exceptions.
On AP’s list is Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour:
A Shiite cleric who as Iran’s ambassador to Syria helped found the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and lost his right hand to a book bombing reportedly carried out by Israel. June 7. COVID-19.”
Compare that to how The Associated Press depicts Bernard Madoff:
The infamous architect of an epic securities swindle that burned thousands of investors, outfoxed regulators and earned him a 150-year prison term. April 14.”
Anyone reading the description of Madoff would instantly understand that he was not merely ‘influential,’ but an ‘extraordinarily evil man.’
But imagine if Associated Press writer Bernard McGhee had been as evasive in his description of Madoff as that of Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour:
The influential investment banker who found himself at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, serving a 150-year prison term. April 14.”
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Besides Madoff there were other descriptions in The Associated Press piece that much more accurately described certain notable figures’ deplorable legacies:
Phil Spector, 81. The eccentric and revolutionary music producer who transformed rock music with his “Wall of Sound” method and who later was convicted of murder. Jan. 16.
Abimael Guzmán, 86. The leader of the brutal Shining Path insurgency in Peru who was captured in 1992. Sept. 11.
Meanwhile, an Associated Press reader not familiar with Hezbollah or its founder would have no way of knowing that it is, in fact, a brutal organization responsible for the murder of innocent civilians around the world.
And based on this vague description, readers may well come away with the impression that Israel reportedly blew Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour’s right hand off for no discernible reason.
Fortunately, not every Associated Press client copy-and-pasted Final Goodbye: Recalling Influential People Who Died in 2021. While ABC News, US News & World Report and other news outlets essentially republished the piece, Fox News should be credited for removing Hezbollah’s founder from its final version of the AP list.
Related Reading: All You Need to Know About The Hezbollah Threat to Israel
New York Times’ ‘Philosopher,’ Washington Post’s ‘Austere Religious Scholar’
AP’s linguistic sleight of hand brings to mind The New York Times’ recent portrayal of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the assassinated mastermind of Iran’s illicit nuclear weapons program, as having “wanted to live a normal life,” someone who enjoyed poetry, studying Islamic philosophy, and spending time with family.
Another example of terrorism being sugarcoated by the media occurred in 2019. The Washington Post (WaPo) was lambasted for a headline that described Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in a US raid, as an ‘austere religious scholar.’ Though WaPo quickly amended the headline, the damage had been done.
Once again, a prominent news organization had trouble calling out a terrorist for who he was.
AP Sanitizes Hezbollah, Ignores Plight of Lebanese People
Given the arsenal it has amassed, combat experience, and support from Iran, Hezbollah presents a serious threat to Israel’s security and the well-being of the country’s citizens. But AP’s whitewashing also serves to diminish Hezbollah’s role in the Lebanese people’s growing poverty and despair. Many of Lebanon’s six million citizens are increasingly blaming AP’s “militant” group for multiple crises plaguing the country, including a dramatic currency crash and severe shortages in medicine and fuel.
In next year’s annual roundup, The Associated Press should take better care to distinguish between people who changed the world for the better and those who spent their lives inflicting misery and spreading hatred.
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Featured Image: Photo Credit: Mehr News Agency
