0610 GMT: Oil Watch. A classic example of How to Produce Good News from the English-language edition of Khabar Online, "Iran’s Crude Oil Exports to India Climb 53%":
Newly released data indicate that Iran’s oil exports to India have increased 53 percent in September despite West’s unilateral embargoes against Iranian oil and financial sectors.According to the tanker discharge data, Iran’s crude exports to India rose to 294,400 barrels per day in September, Reuters reported on Thursday.
A straightforward success story --- that is, until you go to the original Reuters story, "India's Iran Oil Imports Fall in Apr-Sept":
India's oil imports from Iran fell about 19 percent in the first half of 2012/13 to about 257,000 barrels per day (bpd), even lower than planned....Volumes imported from Iran [in September] were up from a month ago and over last September, however, as one-off factors came into play....
The monthly jump came as MRPL, a key Indian client of Iran, picked up imports again in September after a gap of two months because of shipping issues, and HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd, part owned by steel tycoon L N Mittal, bought for the first time.
0540 GMT: Nuclear Watch. The Guardian provides the clearest example of how a leading media outlet can spread false "news" based on distortion and failure to check the original source:
Iran has suspended the enrichment of uranium stockpiles to the 20% purity needed to bring it a short step from building a nuclear device, news services in the region have reported.Mohammad Hossein Asfari, a member of parliament responsible for foreign policy and national security, was quoted as saying that the move was a "goodwill" gesture, aimed at softening Iran's position before a new round of scheduled talks with the United States after this week's presidential elections.
Asfari said he hoped sanctions would be lifted in return for Iran's actions, otherwise it would resume the programme, according to a website belonging to the Al Arabiya news channel.
Al Arabiya is not Iranian but Saudi, and its report was based on the exaggerations of opposition Iranian outlets (see 0520 GMT).
United Press International is a bit better, noting the denial of the exaggerated report by Fars. However, its headline, "Messages Mixed on Iran's Nuclear Enrichment", gives the false impression that Asfari had declared unilateral suspension --- rather than the distortion of a much different statement by the Iranian MP.
0520 GMT: With an apparent temporary truce in the political in-fighting between President Ahmadinejad and the heads of judiciary and Parliament, and with the continued blackout on news about the economy, Saturday was taken over by a false story about a "breakthrough" on the nuclear issue.
The flutter started with a statement by MP Mohammad-Hassan Asfari, a member of Parliament's National Security Committee, to the Iranian Students News Agency --- he said Tehran could suspend enrichment of 20% uranium "in certain conditions", notably the lifting of sanctions.
That in itself was worth no more than a quick note, as the description fits the nine-step plan put forward since this summer by Iran's negotiators, both in public and in talks with Catherine Ashton, the lead official for the 5+1 Powers (US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China). Afshari did not mention whether the proposal had been put directly to American officials in secret talks this autumn --- the significant development in the story over the past two weeks.
However, the MP's statement was soon exaggerated by the outlet Digarban. The website, almost always critical of the regime, converted Afshari's words into a declaration that the Islamic Republic had unilaterally suspended 20% enrichment. The opposition website Rah-e Sabz picked up the claim, which then made it into Al-Arabiya.
Although there were no substance to support the supposed breakthrough, only the distortion of the original statement, it was enough to prod the regime into a rebuttal. An "informed source" told Fars that the Islamic Republic is continuing the enrichment with "no changes".
Posted via email from lissping
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