Sunday's Print Run Of Parade Intimates That Benazir Bhutto Is Still Alive

In a moment worthy of 'Dewey Beats Truman,' Sunday's Parade Magazine went out in newspapers all across the country with a blaring cover headline: "'I Am What The Terrorists Most Fear': Is Benazir Bhutto America's best hope against al-Qaeda?" Uhm...we sure hope not!

The article inside begins with an interior sub-headline that reads, "As Benazir Bhutto seeks a return to power, Tuesday's election in Pakistan could profoundly affect the fight against terrorism," and quotes supporters of Bhutto who chant, "Long live Benazir!" What it does not contain is any acknowledgment, anywhere, that Bhutto died ten days ago.

In a demonstration of why print media is dying a slow gurgling death, Parade's website does manage to acknowledge the fact that Bhutto was assassinated with the following statement, which only adds more confusion:

The assassination of Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto on Dec. 27 occurred after PARADE's Jan. 6 issue went to press.

Bhutto's murder adds more danger and confusion to the already chaotic situation in this region. Pakistan is vital to U.S. security interests and the global fight against terrorism. In late November, PARADE sent Contributing Editor and best-selling author Gail Sheehy to Pakistan to interview former Prime Minister Bhutto as she campaigned through the country. Bhutto told Sheehy that she had long been a target of terrorists as well as the Musharraf government. She knew she could be murdered at any time.

PARADE's Jan. 6 interview with Bhutto is one of the last interviews of her complex life.

After her assassination, PARADE immediately posted the entire interview online, and Sheehy appeared on network and cable TV news shows to discuss her face-to-face conversations with Bhutto.

So, Sheehy went to Pakistan back in November, the website was opportunistically updated on the day of her death, but nobody thought that the print article ought to be pulled in light of its inaccuracy? That makes about as much sense as referring to the article as a "Jan. 6 interview" in the correction.

Fittingly, one of the other heavily promoted online stories is titled, "Why Do We Forget Things?" Tune in next week, when Parade offers their expert analysis on whether John Edwards can prevail in the Iowa Caucus!

Comments

[WilliamWallace]

It's ok, the poor lady was killed a thousand times over in the media reports following her death.....­the spin machine was working overtime.

RIP, Ms. Bhutto...t­he world has lost an important voice.

[Kalima]

The latest from Musharraf is that It was Ms.Bhutto'­s
fault that she died because she stood up through
the sun-roof.I thought that I had heard it all.
Can anyone spare a bucket,please?

[jesuswazasocialist]

On the Mindless Menace of Violence

City Club of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio
April 5, 1968

"This is a time of shame and sorrow. It is not a day for politics.

It is not the concern of any one race. The victims of the violence are black and white, rich and poor, young and old, famous and unknown. They are, most important of all, human beings whom other human beings loved and needed. No one - no matter where he lives or what he does - can be certain who will suffer from some senseless act of bloodshed. And yet it goes on and on and on in this country of ours.

Why? What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause has ever been stilled by an assassin's bullet.

No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. A sniper is only a coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled, uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of reason.

Too often we honor swagger and bluster and wielders of force; too often we excuse those who are willing to build their own lives on the shattered dreams of others. Some Americans who preach non-violence abroad fail to practice it here at home. Some who accuse others of inciting riots have by their own conduct invited them.

Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, but this much is clear: violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul.

We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or enriched by hatred or revenge.

Our lives on this planet are too short and the work to be done too great to let this spirit flourish any longer in our land."

[Destin]

Big story about nothing really. Our paper carries that Parade and they explained how the situation was that the interview was done weeks prior and printing already done not long after. It's a magazine and like most magazines, kinda have to print stuff in advance. ;)

[Hollyse]

David Frost (alive & well & still interviewing) he and Bhutto had an indepth conversation prior to Bhutto's death. As Bhutto spoke eloquently and freely she stated, without interruption from Frost that Bin Laden was asassinated. She spoke as Bin Laden's death was already of the past gaining momentum in her message while Frost listened. He never blinked an eye when making the statement. If you look into YouTube you'll probably find it somewhere hidden like the American press choses to do with many key points of information leading to truths.

[raptor]

Huffington gaffe: Fawning over Obama and Arianna, little mention of Edwards, almost none of Richardso.

[cardtosser]

In February or March of last year, a short blurb was printed in Parade about the great racehourse Barbaro saying how well he was recovering from an injury in the previous year's Preakness Stakes. In fact he had been euthanized in late January 2007, weeks before the article appeared.

When you want news, you might consider other sources besides Parade Magazine.

[mickyx65it]

The paradox is that she was killed by the people she said she wanted to kill. Did she find nicer to kill than get killed?

[Noelle]

What is far more disturbing is the entire United States media ignoring one of Benazir Bhutto's last interviews with David Frost claiming that Osama bin Laden was dead.

Not only did she say he was dead but claimed that he was killed by Omar Sheikh, a "terrorist" with ties to the Pakistani military and intelligence community.

[LeftLeftLeft]

What a faux pas . . . the decision not to pull, update or include a last minute addendum on what was to become a major news story within just hours of press time. Save a few $$$ . . . for what? It was insulting to readers to run the story as if her death had not occurred. Shame on Parade!

[rh654]

"'I Am What The Terrorists Most Fear'"

She should have been thinking of her own words before she stood up in an armored truck and put her head out of the sunroof for heaven's sake.

[simplypissed]

I don't see what the big deal is.
The interview was conducted weeks before her murder. Unfortunately, this edition of Parade was also printed weeks ago. I know from experience they sit on pallets at my Sunday paper for as much two weeks before the publication date.

It's no a conspiracy, it's not indifference, it's just the unfortunate timing of a rigid production schedule.

My paper ran an explanation on page 1.

[DocManhattan]

Oh my God, that's weak. Speaking as one who wrote for a weekly news magazine for seven years, it just doesn't make any sense to me that a mag with a Jan 6 cover date would go to press more than 10 days before it hits the news stands. If that were the normal state of things, this sort of gaffe would be happening all the time, because the mag's content would keep getting overtaken by events in the outside world ...

Some editor's going to lose their job over this, I suspect. Or at least they should ...

[VOTER]

Another example of the Bushism of America.

Unbelievable!

[larry278]

Today's issue of PARADE is yet another reason why people don't trust or buy newspapers. While PARADE is a 10th rate insert in papers; the publishers of PARADE should have discarded the editions which didn't mention BB's murder & printed an edition which stated that BB had been murdered. They could have honored her memory. They have given us more reason to dismiss PARADE as an advertising supplement & nothing more. We also have even more reason to distrust the papers who inserted PARADE in their papers. It is easy to ignore a lack luster sheet published in a 1 paper town & use the web as one's reliable news media. Why buy a paper & get something which prints a lot of material which bores me & ads? I get the news which interests me on the web. Advertisers are well aware of this. The ads go to the more influential sites. The press is killing itself by inserting intellectual pablum which is inaccurate today to boot. When I want to buy-I look at ads on web sites. To repeat: advertisers know why newspapers have lost circulation & they don't advertise in newspapers.