MEDIA, article linking Congressman to terrorism misleading [7th CD]

What’s wrong with the Forest Park Review (Terry Dean) article “Terrorists’ money goes toward congressional junket”?

Linking Congressman Danny K. Davis is more sensational than accurate.

1. Davis did nothing wrong or negligent.
2. No one is alleging Davis did anything wrong or negligent.
3. No one is claiming Davis should implement any precautions to avoid doing the same thing in the future.

Davis went to see areas ravaged by the 2004 tsunami and how relief operations were making a difference. The stated purpose of the trip was what really happened.

The country Davis visited, Sri Lanka, has an on-and-off civil war. Partisans in war can have humanitarian impulses. Movements often provide services to bolster their credibility with potential followers.

The article begins,

Rep. Danny Davis (D-7th) said he did not know that a trip he took to the Asian country of Sri Lanka was paid for in-part with laundered money from a terrorist group.

The lead sentence is misleading because it implies Davis is denying an allegation that doesn’t exist. A more accurate story would start like,

The Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America received money from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (aka, the Tamil Tigers), which is a terrorist organization according to the U.S. Department of State. About $13,000 went to pay for Rep. Danny Davis to visit Sri Lanka to see the results of relief operations after the 2004 tsunami. Because of the money laundering Davis’ staff had no practical way to determine the origin of the money.

Of course this isn’t as sexy a story. But that’s because there isn’t much of a story here.

I don’t like the layout used by the Forest Park Review. It’s a thin story, so it probably doesn’t deserve to be on the front page. But even if it was a slow news week it seems unfair to link Davis to terrorism on the front page and in the headlines only to bury the information about how he didn’t do anything wrong on page 10. It’s not defamatory, but it’s misleading.

If you accept the criticisms in the article as legitimate then you favor a world where members of Congress will never get both sides of foreign policy issues. Members of Congress won’t accept invites from anyone who may receive funding from the same people who fund “terrorist” organizations.

Which brings up the point, how does the State Department distinguish between terrorism and legitimate insurgencies? The short answer is politics. If an organization is against the United States or U.S. allies they’re terrorists; if they use violence in support of U.S. goals they’re “freedom fighters”.

The Tamil Tigers tried to bribe their way off the State Department terrorism list and they got caught. I guess they didn’t hire the right Republican lobbyist to make their bribes stick.

journalism, Congressman, Tamil Tigers, Danny Davis, Sri Lanka, 2004 tsunami, tsunami relief, terrorists politics