Running With a Rant: A Case Study

Iran's Press TV picked up on a YouTube video accusing the IDF disaster relief team in Haiti of harvesting organs.

YNet News contacted the man who appears in the video, identified only as T. West of Seattle. He told YNet:

Regarding the recycled claims of harvesting organs in order to sell them, the man said, "This is not the official policy of the Israeli military, but a few individuals did this." To back up his claim, the man drew upon the recent arrest of Jews in the United States on suspicions that they were involved in an organ trafficking racket.

I don't agree with YNet's decision to publish a story about a fringe guy's online rantings. The story only gives T. West a degree of respectability and undeserved additional clicks. That's

That said, however, there's a big difference between the way YNet and Press TV presented the story.

YNet handled the story as an issue of anti-Semitism, while Press TV presented T. West simply to stoke organ harvesting libels. It's not news -- T. West presents no evidence -- but it's the kind of story that appeals to Press TV's audience, which is the real reason the Iranians ran with this rant.

Posted at 09:33 AM