Lying Amber Lyon

Since the rioting broke out in the mid of February 2011, several western journalists made Bahrain their only mission in life, or so it seems. They bashed the Bahraini regime in an amazing apathy to the outlaws and portrayed them as "pro democracy activists". Some journalists flew to Bahrain to justify the pre-conceived conclusions they already had in their minds, while others did not even bother.

Of these reporters Amber Lyon of CNN , Nick Christof of the New York Times  One may wonder as to why these award winning journalists produced lopsided, totally biased reports without giving credence to journalistic integrity and balanced reporting.

We shall try to shed some light on these journalists and see what make them tick; maybe, just maybe, we can understand their ulterior motivations .

:AMBER LYON, SELLING THE GIRL NEXT DOOR

This is a title of a sensational report of Ms. Lyon aired on CNN in which she investigated the sexual abuse and exploitation of underage girls. She made unsubstantiated allegations that between 100 – 300 thousands teenage girls are forced into prostitution in the US annually. "Selling the Girl Next Door " triggered a wave of criticism for Lyon who manipulated the facts to suit her flimsy story. The Editor of the The Village Voice , Tony Ortega  said "That's just bad journalism. But it's what happens when an organization takes on a cause, regardless of the facts".

One blogger Med USA Arrow  -wrote "Amber Lyon is an opportunistic disinformationist who cares nothing ... are going to let the likes of Amber Lying exploit a families pain"

Another wrote  CNN LIES "CNN News is telling lies about Sex Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Prostitution, Sex Slavery, CNN Freedom Project is lying". The net is full of these; you may help yourself to find them.

It was quiet interesting that a provocative poster of the report was published with a picture of Amber Lyon no less in silhouette posing as a prostitute. The Paris Hilton of journalism, Amber is a 3^rd rate reporter at best, trying to make a name for her, in britches way too big for her size. This St. Louis bombshell blond with a boxer's nose, is a washed-out investigative reporter wannabe, who is as stimulating as passing a gall stone.

Before "selling the girl next door", Amber took on one of the largest companies on the net Craigslist also on a sexual related matter. She framed evidence and ambushed the founder . CBS NEWS.said " It was a direct violation of the Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics" . James Poling - wrote of her " It seemed less selfless and more self-serving. It wreaks of shock journalism and your actions demean the cause you are trying to help. You should be ashamed of yourself Ms. Lyons".  Again thousands of examples fill the net you may have some fun searching.

It seems that Ms. Lyon's obsession for sexual deviancies started while she was in college in Missouri, where she made a 3 part series about "battered women". So, is this goodie two shoes standing head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to high moral grounds?  Maybe not so. Some of her college mates claimed that she "experimented with illegal narcotics", high alcohol consumption and promiscuous activates of her own. We don't really know if such allegations are true or not, and honestly, who gives a rat's hairy hinny about what she does with her body.

While I was doing my do diligence searching the net on Ms. Holier than Thou Lyon, I came across sites that allege that she came too close to men who were subjects in her stories. Some of these men were in Florida and another in Guatemala and an interesting rumored liaison right here in Bahrain with one prominent so called opposition figure. Again, I elevate myself from sharing such heresy and innuendos with you, and I would not, even if they were supported with videos.

It can't be helped though, but such stories cast shadows of doubt on her integrity, at least her professional one – assuming she has it. The image that I have been able to compose of her is that of a self-serving, opportunistic and conniving woman who will stop at nothing to stay on the air. Even if that meant fudging the story, ambushing a subject, exaggerated lies and has no problem of hurting many for the sake of a story. 

Why is it when reporters who live in glass houses throw stones at other people? Why is it that once they step-in before the camera they are instantaneously put themselves into judges and juries of others? I think the answer is simple, it just a way to make a living – a good living, as a reporter, the more controversy you stir the bigger your audience the fatter your paycheck. These people forget that the code of ethics of journalism is not what others set for them as rules, rather it is built-in one's person and referred to as a "conscious".   

So, it was a huge leap for Ms. Lyon from sex crimes stories to covering Bahrain. Totally ignorant of the complex political and social issues, she over simplified the rioting to good against evil.  All the sudden the rioters became the good guys, pro-democracy activists who were demonstrating "peacefully" to achieve their basic human rights. And boy she was off, way off, but why!!??

Ms. Lyon as we said wanted to be taken seriously by her bosses and the public. She is a very ambitious young woman and wants to be with the greats of American investigative reporters like Wallace, Safer, Stahl and even Geraldo Rivera. At the rate she is going, she has a steep hill to climb. Morley Safer  for example, of CBS 60 MINUTES  has far more journalistic talents in his little finger than she has in her entire body. He has hundreds of investigative reports and thousands of interviews and tons of awards to go along with it, YET he modestly calls himself a "correspondent", while that was not good enough for her and she gave herself title of "Investigative Reporter". By the way, I have been able to find a total of 5 investigative reports for her, 4 about sex crimes and one about Bahrain!!

It has been widely talked about in the social media that Ms. Lyon was paid by a PR company hired by the Bahrain so called "opposition" the sum of $ 25,000 per report. And it was said that the same PR firm facilitated her Bahrain trip and arranged for the interviews, hotel and a driver and so on. But once again, I am only reiterating what the social media is saying and I repeat it with a great deal skepticism.  

Americans, and indeed the world, love the underdog and they rally to his support. The Arab Spring revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and Syria gained great support from people around the world but were very well covered by the international media. There was absolutely no place for her to cover any of these, and go head –to –head with the brightest names in reporting, simply because she has no foreign reporting experience whatsoever. Bahrain coverage on the other hand was very skimpy; simply there was not a big interest in Bahrain and which is more importantly there was no revolution. As one foreign reporter - Robin Mcfee called it THE POPCORN REVOLUTION . But the eager beaver Lyon won't let small thing like that deprive her from her 10 minutes of fame and possible fortune on the expense of Bahrain and its stability. She concocted a modern day David and Goliath, staged stories – like she had done in the past -, demonized the government, added some heroics on her part and viola; you have yourself a report worthy of an Emmy.

We can't tell for sure if this Girl Next Door Amber Lyon Sold herself for the sake of fame, money, love or just plain apathy, but she sold herself  cheaper than as a secondhand polyester suite in a flea market.

I predict that Lyon will have the life of span of a mosquito as a journalist, you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time. All she needs is one more botched report like the ones I mentioned, and she will be the wood for her burning fire.

            

                                                                   

DR. KNOW

Nick Christof is next