Excellent, @RosieGray! Questions Surround Pro-Assad ‘News’ Site

Posted on | October 2, 2013 | 14 Comments

Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed has a fascinating story today about the Minnesota-based site that published a story in late August claiming Syrian rebels had used chemical weapons supplied by the Saudis.

You may not remember that weird Aug. 29 item from Minnesota-based MintPressNews.com — I saw the headline, but dismissed it as obvious propaganda — but some people took it seriously, because it carried the byline of a veteran Mideast correspondent for the Associated Press, Dale Gavlak. Yet there was something distinctly fishy about this story: How could a Web site with no previous reputation as a source for foreign affairs reporting suddenly get this “EXCLUSIVE” story that, rather conveniently, was in direct contradiction of what everyone believed about the situation in Syria?

Whereas reports of chemical weapon use against the rebels by the Assad regime had aroused worldwide indignation, this little-known Web site based in Minnesota had a story claiming the opposite was true, that in fact it was the Syrian rebels who had gassed innocent civilians, and that the Saudis had supplied the poison gas.

Fishy, see?

Beginning with that basic common-sense impression that something didn’t add up, Rosie Gray started digging around and asking questions. She discovered a story involving Mnar Muhawesh, a 26-year-old “progressive” editor who, as an undergraduate at St. Cloud State University, had gained recognition as “the first reporter to wear a hijab on the school’s TV news program.”

The young editor’s brother-in-law, Muhammad Muhawes, is managing editor of MintPressNews.com, and it appears that the money behind the operation comes via the editor’s father-in-law, “Odeh Muhawesh, 54, a Minneapolis businessman born in Jordan,” who “studied under an ayatollah for five years after the Islamic Revolution.”

As I say, fishy.

Anyway, having first met Rosie Gray out on the 2012 campaign trail, and having occasionally given BuzzFeed a hard time — they hate it when you call them a “liberal blog” — I was quite impressed with this particular exercise in long-form reporting. The principle of credit where credit is due requires me to praise this article, urge you to go read the whole thing, and thank Rosie Gray on Twitter.

Good work, Rosie. But I still say BuzzFeed is a liberal blog.

Category: Journalism, Syria

Comments

14 Responses to “Excellent, @RosieGray! Questions Surround Pro-Assad ‘News’ Site”

MrEvilMatt
October 2nd, 2013 @ 11:52 am

Excellent, @RosieGray! Questions Surround Pro-Assad ‘News’ Site: Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed has a fascinating stor… http://t.co/ajsEg8LbBq
Lockestep1776
October 2nd, 2013 @ 11:52 am

Excellent, @RosieGray! Questions Surround Pro-Assad ‘News’ Site: Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed has a fascinating stor… http://t.co/GbDaiUAqIm
CHideout
October 2nd, 2013 @ 11:52 am

Excellent, @RosieGray! Questions Surround Pro-Assad ‘News’ Site: Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed has a fascinating stor… http://t.co/J9vypdHlVG
Citzcom
October 2nd, 2013 @ 11:52 am

Excellent, @RosieGray! Questions Surround Pro-Assad ‘News’ Site: Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed has a fascinating stor… http://t.co/B1wK5cVLBu
jwbrown1969
October 2nd, 2013 @ 11:52 am

Excellent, @RosieGray! Questions Surround Pro-Assad ‘News’ Site: Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed has a fascinating stor… http://t.co/SY6qg8HHd1
Quartermaster
October 2nd, 2013 @ 12:12 pm

While I share your suspicions of the website, I also suspect Assad did not use Chem weapons. He was gaining on the opposition so it makes little sense to use something that he knew would bring the west down on his head.
rsmccain
October 2nd, 2013 @ 12:24 pm

RT @jwbrown1969: Excellent, @RosieGray! Questions Surround Pro-Assad ‘News’ Site: Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed has a fascinating stor… http://t…
robertstacymccain
October 2nd, 2013 @ 12:44 pm

Well, the evidence that I saw struck me as rather convincing, but I’m not a specialist in Middle East policy, so I’m at the mercy of those who are.

But what Rosie found about this “MintPressNews” operations was fascinating.
rsmccain
October 2nd, 2013 @ 3:24 pm

RT @MrEvilMatt: Excellent, @RosieGray! Questions Surround Pro-Assad ‘News’ Site: Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed has a fascinating stor… http://t.…
ali
October 2nd, 2013 @ 4:15 pm

Reading: Excellent, @RosieGray! Questions Surround Pro-Assad ‘News’ Site via @rsmccain http://t.co/xG8ZlS4Stl
rsmccain
October 2nd, 2013 @ 4:18 pm

RT @ali: Reading: Excellent, @RosieGray! Questions Surround Pro-Assad ‘News’ Site via @rsmccain http://t.co/xG8ZlS4Stl
Quartermaster
October 2nd, 2013 @ 7:07 pm

I’m not a specialist in mideast policy and, frankly, I don’t you are required to be one to evaluate evidence. The question is a matter of being cynical about the data itself and asking if you have all the data. Data can also be massaged to tell any story you like as well.

I’m not a Mideast policy specialist by no means, but I have been a student of human nature longer than I can remember. My knowledge is not rendered me infallible, but it does breed a healthy skepticism when it comes to someone telling me that in the situation Assad has mange to create for himself that he would forfeit that to do something that won’t get him anything but opprobrium and bring the west down on his head.
BobBelvedere
October 2nd, 2013 @ 8:20 pm

RT @MrEvilMatt: Excellent, @RosieGray! Questions Surround Pro-Assad ‘News’ Site: Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed has a fascinating stor… http://t.…
Good Stuff
October 3rd, 2013 @ 3:37 am

still tracking this story – http://tinyurl.com/Goodstuff-tracking-Syria