The last academic project I developed before being removed from my tenured associate professor position at Florida Atlantic University was titled, “Covering 11/13: The Stagecraft of Reliable Sources,” an invited contribution to Dr. Kevin Barrett’s 2016 edited volume, Another French False Flag? Bloody Tracks From Paris to San Bernardino, from which the passage below is excerpted.
A gifted Islamic studies scholar, Barrett was witch hunted out of the University of Wisconsin system by State GOP operatives in the mid-2000s for repeated public questioning of the tragic September 11, 2001 events. As the experiences of Barrett and myself attest, combined public comment and academic research on such complex events is unacceptable in the Anglo-American university system. At the same time, such research is crucial for coming to terms with occurrences such as the June 12, 2016 ISIS “attack” in Orlando Florida being touted by major news media throughout the West as “the worst mass shooting in US history.”
“Covering 11/13” places mainstream reportage of the Paris attacks in the framework of journalistic ethics routinely emphasized to undergraduate journalism students at university and rookie reporters alike. The article contends that consulting sources and overall reporting of contemporary terror events is stage-managed, and thus necessitates a complete abandonment of such ethical guidelines. Indeed, we would be poorly served to confuse genuine journalism with the government and corporate media’s stark promotion of these increasingly surreal and doubtful incidents.-JFT
A gifted Islamic studies scholar, Barrett was witch hunted out of the University of Wisconsin system by State GOP operatives in the mid-2000s for repeated public questioning of the tragic September 11, 2001 events. As the experiences of Barrett and myself attest, combined public comment and academic research on such complex events is unacceptable in the Anglo-American university system. At the same time, such research is crucial for coming to terms with occurrences such as the June 12, 2016 ISIS “attack” in Orlando Florida being touted by major news media throughout the West as “the worst mass shooting in US history.”James F. Tracy , Ph.D.
An unquestioning faith in the integrity of journalistic institutions is a cornerstone of modern secularism which has to a large degree replaced religious faith in France and throughout the West. Journalism holds power in check, so this catechism goes, ensuring free exchange in the “open society.” In this line of thinking, close study of news reports and the information contained therein suggests apostasy to the secular credo, perhaps even “conspiracy theory” if the analysis is developed alongside careful consideration of political power to any significant degree.
Continue reading Orlando via Paris – ‘Covering 11/13: The Stagecraft of “Reliable” Sources’