Creative News Reporting

Last night a Georgian news channel reported a hoax on Russia's military invasion of the country under the disguise of news. Only at the end of a 30-min program was it announced that it had been actually a "possible scenario of the events." I suppose, due to his old age, Senator McCain was asleep and did not manage to make a timely announcement that we are "all Georgians now," which - of course - prevented him from looking like an idiot yet again. One time more, one time less would not make that big of a difference, though.

Our newscasts which have been feeding us tales of the economic recovery - lacking the disclosure of a prank at the end - are not that far from such a hoax, yet have not stooped this low so far. (Maybe not all of us are Georgians? Just a thought.) This is an interesting idea for creative journalism, though. Just imagine if at the end of a segment on how great the latest improvements in hiring and manufacturing are our anchors would honestly say, "Just kidding!"

Seriously, I so much liked this postmodernist approach to news reporting, I am placing here the complete text of the event from msnbc.com named "Georgia invaded? Hoax report causes panic
Residents mad at TV station over broadcast of advancing Russian tanks":

"TBILISI - Panic gripped Georgia on Saturday when a pro-government television station broadcast a fake report that Russian tanks had entered the capital and President Mikhail Saakashvili had been killed.


Imedi TV introduced the report as an "imitation of possible events," but the warning was lost on many viewers as mobile phone networks crashed and residents of Tbilisi rushed into the streets.
The report thrust the ex-Soviet neighbors back to August 2008, when Russia crushed an assault by U.S. ally Georgia on the rebel region of South Ossetia in a five-day war and sent tanks to within 28 miles of Tbilisi.


The Georgian Interior Ministry said the report, which did not carry a banner saying it was a hoax, caused "great panic." A cinema in Tbilisi emptied as parents called their children home, a frantic filmgoer said.

Russian Interfax news agency flashed the report on the "alleged" but unconfirmed entry of Russian tanks and death of Saakashvili, and Moscow's Echo Moskvy radio station interrupted its regular programming with the "news."

'Worst day in Georgian history'
Using archive pictures from the 2008 war, Imedi showed advancing Russian tanks.

Switching to a live talk show, the anchor apologized for any panic the report had caused, saying: "We just wanted to show what the worst day in Georgian history might look like."

The report was a barely disguised swipe at opponents of Saakashvili who recently met Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow and called for the countries to restore ties.

Georgy Arveladze, head of Georgia Media Production Holding which owns Imedi, told Reuters the aim was to show the "real threat" of how events might unfold.

Dozens of angry Georgians converged on Imedi, where opposition politician Nino Burjanadze told reporters the stunt was "disgusting."

Tell Me Who Your Friend is

The USA is squarely on the side of the "young Georgian democracy" in its conflicts with Russia. Here is what I - surprise, surprise! - do not see reported in our American propaganda - eh-h-h - news. The democratic republic of Georgia decided to blow up a WWII memorial. Let me remind you that the Soviet Union was the decisive force in the victory over the Nazi Germany having lost 27 million lives of its own citizens. Among those killed were 300,000 Georgians. Not to worry. The monument was to be demolished to make way for the construction of the new Georgian parliament building (curiously being moved outside of the Georgian capital Tbilisi). Mr. Saakashvili timed the demolition so that it would coincide with his birthday on December 21 (incidentally, that day is also the birthday of another famous Georgian, Stalin). Georgian opposition voiced their protests against the demolition which were, naturally, ignored in the best traditions of the Georgian democracy. Anyway, the blast was eventually held 2 days ahead of the schedule for reasons unexplained to the press. During the explosion a woman and her 8-year-old daughter were killed by a piece of debris which accidentally hit them.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Saakashvili! Hope you get a particularly tasteful tie as a present.

Great friends we have, really! Blowing up monuments to people who defeated fascism (blowing up their own citizens as a collateral damage, too). Huge portraits of Stalin can still be seen on the streets of Georgian cities. What do friendships like that say about us? Oh, wait. I remember that at some point Osama bin Laden was our friend. Never mind!

The news has been reported by Reuters, and some other Western media - but not the US. Oh, no, not the US. We do not report unpleasant news about our dear friends. We are all Georgians here, remember? Count me out.

The Real Size of the US Deficit in 2009 is $9 Trillion

I already mentioned the site http://www.shadowstats.com/ on my blog as a source of information about the economy which does not tweak the economic data to make it more palatable for the general public consumption, and does not put a positive spin on the numbers. The problem is that the site is not free. Well, I stumbled across a source which reports the recent information off that site in the open Internet. And what they are reporting is shocking.

It turns out that the release of an annual US deficit report by the US Treasury will be delayed by two months till at least February 2010. This deficit calculation uses the Generally Accepted Accounting (GAAP) principles, the same which are required of all of the US corporations. And according to the shadowstats website, it is going to show a deficit of $9 trillion in 2009 ALONE.

"The reason why the “official” deficit numbers are so radically different from the real budget numbers for the United States is that with GAAP accounting, the government is not allowed to hide its “unfunded liabilities” off of its balance sheet." You can read more on the story here.

So as a corporation, the US is almost bankrupt: with a $14-trillion-a-year GDP we can't be running annual deficits of $9-trillion for long.

So let us wait till February and see how much of this information we will be able to read in the - what some of my friends consider to be - American news.