Is the AP working with al Jazeera?

The Associated Press reported recently that Shiite militia burned four Mosques and six individuals (burned alive) in Baghdad. The claim was principally sourced to a man the AP calls Captain Jamil Hussein of the Iraqi police. The story was quickly seized upon by bloggers interested in investigating the incident further. Curt, at his blog, Flopping Aces has communicated with the Central Command public affairs office to learn more about the captain. According to CENTCOM PAO, neither they nor the Iraqi government can verify that either the attacks occurred as reported or even that the Captain Jamil Hussein is a real captain in the Iraqi police.

Curt’s disclosure has triggered a fire storm of conflicting emails between the Associated Press and CENTCOM. Bottom line, the AP says Jamil Hussein is a trusted source and the DOD says he is an undocumented spokesman and furthermore, not who he says he is to the AP. On top of that, no physical evidence of an attack the scope of which matches the initial reporting has been made public and a key witness has recanted.

Bloggers and news organizations all over the country are literally asking the question “Who is Jamil Hussein?” Well maybe I can shed a little light on the sources in question. I have been investigating Hussein and some other “unofficial spokesman” named by CENTCOM. The misreporting of one incident may be the least of the Associated Press’s worries. It appears very much like the AP is working with al Jazeera.

I found two articles here and here both dated in March of 2006. Both of these al Jazeera articles use Jamil Hussein as a source. Curt has searched the AP articles from Iraq and it appears that Jamil Hussein first shows up in the AP articles in April of 2006. For whatever reason, the Captain was an al Jazeera source and switched to being an AP source within weeks.

It gets deeper. I investigated a man named Lt. Thaer Mahmoud. While searching for background on him I came across two articles, one from the AP  another from al Jazeera posted a week later. What is interesting is that neither article is attributed to a writer, at least as viewed on the respected websites. But when you read these stories, it is clear that they are almost point for point the exact same:

AP:
11 killed (in the title)

Bomb at hospital (source Thaer Mahmoud)

Audacious attack on security firm

 

Al Jazzera:

11 killed (in the title)

Bomb at hospital (source Thaer Mahmoud)

Audacious attack on security firm

 

There are many more similar elements but I believe that illustrates they are the same story. I think it is reasonable to conclude that either al Jazeera reprinted the AP story (with or without permission) or they are employing the same writer, maybe a freelance local journalist known as a stringer. So which is it?

Al Jazeera runs the story with cosmetic writing changes, kind of like a writer might change the story just enough for it to be considered unique reporting for a separate news organization. If al Jazeera was carrying the AP article legally, why make the changes at all? Would they really plagiarize an entire article? Unlikely, they really wouldn’t need to after all. Of the two I am sure they have more sources, quality aside. It looks very much like this unidentified writer has written two articles from the same set of notes for two different news agencies.

Considering that al Jazeera used Jamil Hussein as a source and he subsequently started sourcing for the AP (no more mentions on al Jazeera after working with the AP) and considering that a writer appears to be submitting essentially the same stories to both the AP and al Jazeera, one has to wonder, what exactly is the relationship between them?

Is the AP sharing writers and their sources with al Jazeera? It sure looks that way. One has to wonder then if the AP accepts the anti-American al Jazeera news organization’s reporting standards as its own. For those of you not familiar with al Jazeera reporting, it can be summed up like this; every American bullet is aimed at a Muslim child and every American bomb is aimed at a Muslim hospital or mosque. So the question has to be asked; is the Associated Press’s new motto “If it’s good enough for al Jazeera, it’s good enough for the AP”?

Michelle Malkin has more

Comments

[Tom Blumer]

Your second "here and here" AJZ link doesn't work (goes to blank page). I'm pretty sure it's this one (our buddy Jamil is referred to in it):
http://english.aljazeera.net/News/archive/archive?ArchiveId=22388

Larger point: Hussein has another name he apparently uses that the miltary person mentioned:
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/006452.htm
(fairly close to the top)
"And the second name used is Lt. Maythem."

So, he may have switched to this name for post-March AJZ reports.