How did Karzai find out about the Koran burning?

[Canuckistanian]

How did the news make it halfway around the world without even us at DU noticing it?

We don't usually miss anything.

[JustAnotherGen]

1. I've thought/questioned the same

Exact thing. So a rec for you. . .

[damntexdem]

2. Hmm, do you suppose he has cable TV? Internet?

How about his spy agencies -- err, intelligence establishment?

Or could Jones have him on his speed dial? ;-)

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. Jones probably sent his embassy the tape

[ReggieVeggie]

4. why did you miss it?

I heard about it. There were DU threads. There was national coverage about it.

[Bragi]

9. There was very little coverage

No network or cable TV, no radio, and very sparse print.

The US MSM are afraid to cover Jones, just liek they were afraid to publish the Danish cartoons of Mohammed.

They fear jihadist reactions. If you think these fears are unfounded, just Google Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris.

Given the outrageousness of what happened to her, the paucity of coverage is startling.

[liberal N proud]

5. World sNews Tonight - The Most Trusted Shame in sNews

Your guess is as good as mine but I am sure that once the moron publicized he did it, the M$M did the rest for him.

[Luminous Animal]

6. It was reported in the NY Daily News the day after...

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-03-21/news/29193194_1_pastor-terry-jones-islam-hating-muslim

And elsewhere:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hiqhizasRIx4id4gcrj5d09Gg_5g?docId=CNG.3c9302d7a8d3fe772d9bb86f058e598c.3b1
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n245114

[Bragi]

11. That is pathetically little coverage

Seriously, the story was virtually blacked out by UIS MSM, who are afraid to cover Jones.

Why? Google "Molly Norris" for an answer.

[Bragi]

7. Because there has been a virtual media blackout on Jones

Few on DU knew of Jones' Koran trial and burning stunt because there has been a virtual MSM media blackout on Jones since last September when he backed off his first burning stunt.

I have ben following this story closely, and recall that Agence France Press was probably the only major media outlet to give any coverage at all to Jones when he tried and burned the Koran on March 20.

Other than that, there was no coverage of him to speak of between September and last Friday when the riotous mobs showed up in Afghanistan.

Reports I've read suggest the mobs came about because Karzai made a public statement condemning the burning, and this was then picked up by Imams in their sermons at mosque last Friday, which triggered the mobs.

People who think this story is being promoted and sensationalized by US MSM are simply wrong. The US MSM seem to be as afraid of covering Jones as they were of publishing the Danish cartoons of Mohammed a few years beck.

I think it is the same fear that kept the US press from seriously covering Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris when she was forced last September to "go ghost" and disappear when a fatwa was put on her for doing a satirical "Draw Mohammed Day" cartoon.

[jberryhill]

12. There is a "news blackout" on the guy in my town who yells crazy shit on the corner, too

Yesterday, I couldn't find my wallet for a HALF HOUR!

None of the networks had coverage of this important event.

Does every batshit thing done by every batshit person need an hourlong special report?

[Bragi]

13. I followed Jones closely because I knew what would happen

Seriously, I've had a "Terry Jones" search panel on Tweetdeck since last September because:

- I knew this guy wasn't finished, and even if *he* was, at some point, someone else was going to burn a Koran to create a crisis, and

- I felt that when this happened, radical Islamists would take advantage of it and do their best to spread news of it.

So I've been watching it all quite closely. Unlike US media who are scared of covering Jones.

[jberryhill]

18. "scared of covering Jones"

Yeah, and if the lady down the street lets her cat out tonight, I'll bet it pees in my bushes again.

I'm following that pretty closely, unlike the cowardly national media.

[Bragi]

19. If you think they aren't scared...

Just think about Molly Norris, and how her plight has been virtually ignored by US MSM.

Think about the Danish cartoons, and the fact that barely one or two US news outlets published them.

As wikipedia notes:

Notable for a lack of republication of the cartoons were most major newspapers in Canada, the USA and the United Kingdom, where editorials covered the story without including them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy#Publication_of_the_cartoons

Think about the fact that newsrooms at Dutch newspapers that published the cartoons have become virtual fortresses.

And you think they aren't scared?

[jberryhill]

20. Did I say they aren't scared?

You think this looney deserves news coverage. I get that.

If my dog goes after my neighbor's cat again this evening, I could get injured by being pulled down my steps. That is a potential threat to my life.

Yet the news media refuses to cover what my neighbor does with her cat.

Cowards, the lot of them.

[Bragi]

21. I don't think he "deserves" coverage

Jones doesn't "deserve" anything other than our condemnation.

I'm just responding to the question "how did Karzai know" when almost no-one in the US knew of it.

I'm also trying to make the point that anyone who thinks the reason the riots are happening abroad has to do with irresponsible US MSM media salivating to cover Jones, that they are wrong, and are missing what is really happening here.

[jberryhill]

23. Well if you know what's "really happening", they should be featuring you, no?

I can never figure out why they don't hire me to explain stuff on the news.

Of all the people I know, I'm the only one whose opinions are always correct.

[DJ13]

8. Google Alert?

:silly:

[Gidney N Cloyd]

10. Argh. Beat me by 4 minutes

[Jazz Ambassador]

14. Not hard for Karzai to find out

If you go to Google News advanced search and search for the words "Koran burning" for the date range March 20-23 (the burning was on the 20th, Karzai responded on the 24th), you'll see that it was reported on by

AP
AFP
USA Today
CBS News
All major news outlets in Florida
All major news outlets in Detroit
A significant number of Indian and Pakistani newspapers
A smattering of UK newspapers

Also, Zardari, responded on the 23rd, and Karzai was probably prompted as much by that as by media reports.

[Bragi]

22. Sorry, that's not a lot of coverage

The story wasn't in most major US dailies, or on US cable or network TV news, or much of anywhere.

That's why many Americans were confused when the story seemingly came out of nowhere last Friday with the murderous Afghan mobs.

But please, go ahead and think the sparse coverage you documented represents significant penetration, and that the irresponsible US MSM media are, as usual, to blame.

I'm content knowing you're wrong. And how do I know that? because I've been following this guy closely for about the last 8 months.

But continue on...

[Jazz Ambassador]

24. That's not the point, doofus

Nobody is talking about what Americans did or didn't know. The question in the OP was not why Americans were taken by surprise; the question was how Karzai found out about it. The fact that the story was picked up by 2 international wire services, got big play in Detroit (with its large Muslim community who have family back home), got big play in the Pakistani media, and was addressed by Zardari on the 23rd all answer that question. That was also the question I was answering; titling my post "Not hard for Karzai to find out" was a clue most people could have followed.

"I'm content knowing you're wrong"? And I suspect you wander through the world with that air about you, you sad little man. Learn to read.

[Bragi]

26. It's been a real pleasure meeting you /nt

[Canuckistanian]

25. Ah, it must have been the Indian or Pakistani newspapers

That would make more sense than Google News alerts.

[white_wolf]

15. First Jim and now Terry.

Why are crazy cult leaders always named Jones?

[Yo_Mama]

16. Pakistani President talked about it in his opening address to Parliament

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/world/asia/23pakistan.html

He is having trouble with his hardliners (a good chunk of his Parliament didn't even show up for the speech). He is considered a moderate, and he condemned the assassinations (radical Muslims attacking politicians whose moderate positions offended them), so I think he wanted to have something on the other side.

[WatsonT]

17. They were scouring the news looking for something to be offended by

[Bragi]

27. This CNN blog article is also informative on Karzai's role

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/03/fareeds-take-quran-firestorm/