World-shaking news from one source is usually crap

[cthulu2016]

For instance... here is a story that even a casual readers should immediately know to be FALSE because it is was TRUE one would not be hearing about it from FarsNews.com.

If Putin had actually given orders to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to launch a massive strike on Saudi Arabia if we bomb Syria the news would be rather widespread, on account of being by far the biggest element of the Syria story and maybe the biggest news story since 9/11.

It would have moved oil prices a tremendous amount, been central to the political debate about Syria in all nations, and would be reported in all American news outlets. They would SPIN it differently, based on their partisan and institutional interests, but the bones of the story would be known to all.

(Did a religious leader in Pakistan tell followers that Putin threatened to bomb SA if we hit Syria? Yes, some religious fanatic said that, seeking to stir up some protest or another. Did Saudi Arabia raise their alert level when it looked like we were about to bomb Syria? Yes, they did. Do those two data points mean that Putin made such a threat? Um... no.)

I am not saying that everyone should know that FarsNews or the JerusalemPost or RussianTimes or whoever is never to be believed. This is not abut the merits of each individual source. The point is that extraordinary news claims from any single source are to be taken with a mountain of salt. If they are not bullshit and would be really big news then they will tend to be picked up very fast.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) reported that President Putin’s orders this week to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation for a “massive military strike” against Saudi Arabia in the event that the West attacks Syria has “stunned” the Saudis forcing them to go on “full war alert”.

The Arabic Al-Ahd News Service confirmed the Saudis war alert by further stating:

“The Saudi Army is on full alert since today due to the increased possibility of a military attack by the US military against Syria. The ground force operations command of the Saudi Army has ordered all the military units in Saudi Arabia to stand at a level 2 alert and fears were bolstered by recent statements by the Russian President Vladimir Putin in terms of a possible military strike against Saudi Arabia by Moscow.”

Meantime, according to whatdoesitmean.com, the GRU has also reported that Pakistan’s largest religious-political party Jamiat Ahle Hadith (JAH) is now threatening Russia too over Putin’s “war order” against Saudi Arabia, and as we can read as reported by The International News Service:

Read more: http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13920610001158

[SidDithers]

1. Agreed. Sources matter...

Sid

[Schema Thing]

2. yep.

[pnwmom]

3. Yes -- if it's shocking and scary and REAL it will quickly be reported by a legitimate source. n/t

[Arctic Dave]

4. LBN is being littered by these type of "news agencies".

One poster in particular is doing there best to scrounge up every basement "news" outlet to further their agenda.

[dkf]

6. We've seen our media does as the admin asks. Don't expect you will get the entire truth from

Domestic sources.

[Arctic Dave]

8. True.

But like the OP says, sensationalist hearsay from an unknown source shouldn't be in LBN.

It has turned into the Enquirer for personal agendas.

[cthulu2016]

9. The question here is about false claims of fact, not breadth or nuance

Of course no news organ offers the full and complete truth.

And in extremes, the majority of news organizations around the world might be barking up the wrong tree.

But a factual claim that Putin announced something that the entire global news media would have made the lead story is not spin or bias or a new angle on the news.

It is a claim of an event that anyone who thinks about it for five seconds knows did not happen.

(It is actually a lie that some religious figure told some followers, which is a uniquely bad source for news.)

And people's reliance on tabloid-level bullshit when it agrees with them is alarming.

[dkf]

5. This is an amalgamation of pieces I've seen so yes some of the sources are suspect.

On the other hand, the idea that our media is giving us a thorough reading of all the players is a laugh. Because it hasn't been widely broadcast is no measure of truth and you are a sucker if you believe it.

[Junkdrawer]

7. Looks like they picked it up from here...

MARKAZI Jamiat Ahle Hadith (JAH) has strongly condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for issuing open threat to attack Saudi Arabia in retaliation to US-led western attack on Syria, and announced to observe a countrywide protest day today (Friday).

Addressing a Press conference on Thursday, JAH Vice President Allama Zubair Ahmad Zaheer said that his party would hold demonstrations in all major cities to express solidarity with Saudi Arabia, and to condemn Russian president for his wild and unscrupulous threats.

He warned Putin that he would invite wrath from entire Muslim world if he dared to attempt harm Saudi Arabia. He demanded Islamabad to sever ties with Moscow since Putin’s threat was not meant for Saudi Arabia alone but was a threat to entire Muslim Ummah. He said Russian president’s threat would be treated as a declaration of war against Islam and a strong Jihad would be waged against Russia from all over the world.


http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-5-199004-Russia-flayed-over-attack-threat-to-Saudi-Arabia