This is something that bothered me for quite a while. I finally decided to write to Yahoo to get this fixed. Below is an open letter to Yahoo News:
Over the last few years you continue to publish a list off fatal casualties incurred by US allies in the Iraq war. That list appears at the end of articles which update the US military deaths total. The list seems to list countries in a decreasing order of casualties with one very conspicuous exception: Ukraine with 18 casualties is listed ahead of Poland with 21. It looks something like this:
“The British military has reported 179 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia and Georgia, three each; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand and Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan and South Korea, one death each.”
Now what irritates me is this: Not only does this imply that 18 Ukrainian casualties are more significant than the 21 Polish ones, but these numbers are WRONG. They should read something like this:
180 from UK , 32 from Italy , 23 from Poland , 18 from Ukraine , 13 from Bulgaria , 11 from Spain , 7 from Denmark , 5 from Georgia , 5 from El Salvador , 4 from Slovakia , 3 from Latvia , 3 from Romania , 2 from Thailand , 2 from Australia , 2 from Estonia , 2 from Netherlands , 1 from South Korea , 1 from Czech Republic , 1 from Hungary , 1 from Kazakhstan , 1 from Azerbaijan , 1 from Fiji , 1 from Canada
I realize the extreme nationalistic HATE the Ukrainians have for Poland and that many have worked very hard to cover up their Genocide in the Carpathians against the Native Poles whom they have exterminated in a number close to 500 thousand. It is quite possible someone with a past or views like John Demjanjuk wrote that list. Rest assured those atrocities will eventually come to light in the international arena. I don’t care to speculate why the casualties are being presented in this manner or if it is intentional or accidental.
What I WILL NOT TOLERATE is inaccurate information presented in offending fashion by AP. I will also post this as an open letter on my blog to show how “accurate” Yahoo news and AP reporting is. Do feel obliged to write me back, because as this festers in my mind it may cost you thousands or readers…
I will post their response if and when I get one. I will also look for the corrected totals on their next article.
1 user commented in " Yahoo and AP - inaccurate offensive reporting… "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackYes, how about the fact that Yahoo is slowly being eliminated and will go under within a year? It is no longer the number 1 ranked page in the world… it is now ranked number 3…. and their new CEO has failed to keep them competitive. Yahoo is losing ever larger share of it’s advertising income to Google and other competitors and there is absolutely nothing that would indicate any change in that trend… their failure to respond to my letter and the continued inaccurate publishing of outdated inaccurate information is indicative of the troubles within the company. I for one, no longer have Yahoo as my homepage (it is now a third homepage tab after BBC and the New York Times)