While fighting the misinformation takes time and energy away from activism and writing, Singh says "it's too dangerous to let that go," especially since inaccurate reporting could get him red-flagged by various U.S. government agencies, which might also result in difficulties crossing the border.

In an August 26 article, "Anarchists hot for mayhem," the New York Daily News calls Singh one of 50 "leading anarchists" with "up to 50 followers." It also purports he's "known for allegedly setting off hoax devices to detour police resources" and "allegedly catapulted teddy bears soaked with gasoline at police at the Quebec G20 protest in 2001." But all of this is untrue, Singh says.

The article says Singh was "seen shooting a handgun and allegedly received firearms training from [Black Panther activist Kazi] Toure." Singh says he's never met Toure (but would now like to as a result of the article), never had firearms training and doesn't use guns. Perhaps more disturbing is that an August 16 New York Post article includes a profile of Singh accompanied by "an undated photo of someone who is dark-skinned and vaguely resembles me shooting a gun at some sort of outdoor range," a photo Singh believes was taken from the Internet.

"As far as I know the picture was supplied to us by a third party who said it was Jaggi Singh," says Dave Boyle, the New York Post's photo editor. "Jaggi Singh doesn't seem to have gotten in touch with us."

Steve Rendall of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) says Republican Convention coverage in the New York Post and New York Daily News was "dreadful." Both papers predicted "mayhem to come" and that alleged anarchists and activists "were doing all sorts of things that some cop or reporter read on the Internet," Rendall says. "In spite of all the predictions, none of it happened."

"Usually the New York Post is the most unreliable and laughable newspaper in New York City," Rendall says. "It's possible that over the last few weeks the Daily News has outdone the New York Post."

 
 

		Write your comment on this article!

Jaggi was slandered and should sue     I do know Jaggi Sing, and I know him well enough for what he does and doesn't do, and also what he did and didn't do for the Quebec City Summit of the Americas, to say without reservations that Jaggi had nothing to do with any teddy bears or materials thrown at police, and he does not practice anything more dangerous than speaking against the powers that be, and organizing non-violent events. He is a threat, but not because of any illegal activity, but because Jaggi intelligently and relentlessly challenges the unjust status quo. By the way, the teddy bears were launched by a ancient looking catapult at the police, but they were not soaked in anything - it was just a surrealist and humorist action, and, Jaggi was arrested by undercover police before the teddy bears were launched. At first, I found it hilarious that Jaggi was charged with the teddy bears, but now even though the charge has, I think, been dropped against him, the silly teddy bears have been transformed by the media into malatovs - so the accusation is quite serious. The articles from the NY daily's were slander, deliberate and malicious, and I hope Jaggi is successful in suing the hell out of those newspapers.
Scott Weinstein	{38 votes}	September 10th, 2004
..learn basic media 101:     ...an interesting theory put forth by mathematician computer godfather claude shannon during the early twentieth century about information goes likes this: the more information introduced into a system makes predicting the outcome exceedingly difficult if not near impossible: within the 21st century: all bets are no longer sanction by virtues of truth and fair play as this becomes more and more the truth than former belief systems about truth and fair play within the media and the realm of journalism --- this died when the internet entered into the equation as photos and information becomes public domain to become re-casted and re-configured into many outcome not seen nor predicted to ever occur: the problem with the 'movement' among activists has been living in an rather obsolete realm where so-called truth and justice and fair play has been by-passed and the weapons of true mass destruction has become the use of information to not so much distort the 'truth' but to create a reality of fear and paranoia to the levels where awareness becomes overwhelmed by an external barrage of images and 'facts' that act as smart weapons and dismantle critical thought processes at the most immediate levels: what the activist of today needs to learn would be basic theory of information and semantics 101 to truly understand that protests that might have worked in the sixties are dead in the water because of the introduction of the internet as a tool to create an informational overload that destroys critical pathways to critical thinking and results in a basic short circuiting of an individual's ability to step back and see the larger patterns that are un-folding: jaggi singh would become a wiser and knowing man if he and his companions were to realise that the best way to beat the system to the punch would be to learn what the system has always known: the one that creatively uses the information will wield the influence and therefore create the desired outcomes.
Gary Womac	{17 votes}	September 10th, 2004
False allegations ?     Being an activist is as important now as it was in the past in order to ensure that the rights of us all are not burried under powerful organizations like corporations and the governments of many countries, including our own ! With that in mind, the press is another source of power that is suppose to tell the events like they happened and not to take their power to make unsure allegations about someone. I don't know Jaggi Singh, but I've seen through the news that he fights for freedom of speech, democracy and human rights. His fight is made without money and without violence. Having people like him around makes me feel like there's still hope of a better future for the working class people, the students, the poor AND the rich too ! I'm glad he's taken actions where, for myself, I would have looked the other way or shut my mouth. I'm thankful for the unviolent approach he uses. If the New York Daily News want to put out a story about someone who isn't rich or powerful, they should check out their information because it takes time and effort for a sole individual to clear his name. And if (I hope this never happens) we should find out that Singh was using violence or any other outlawed action, then, and only then should we treat him like a criminal.
Dominic Pelletier	{21 votes}	September 9th, 2004
The 'Rosebud' scenario becometh life     Can you trust the press? No. More importantly, could we ever? Maybe but even if we could those days are long gone--at least in Bush's America. Facts. Truth. These are just inconveniences to making more money and acquiring greater power and influence. Y'know, in a funny way, this is like we're living in the bizarro version of CITIZEN KANE where everything was a subjective application of personal politics on a large scale without a whiff of accountability.
Pedro Eggers		January 29th, 2005
You Can't Believe What You Read     Jaggi Singh's troubles with the press are not surprising. Some newspaper reporters have fabricated entire stories so they could win the Pulitzer Prize before the deception was revealed and the news media got another black eye. The movie "Shattered Glass" profiles one of these crooked individuals. If they continue, they will lose all credibility. Jaggi should take comfort in the fact that he has instant name recognition and this should help him if he lands in trouble. New York is so on edge as the third anniversary of 9/11 approaches that unfounded hysteria is less likely to be questioned. The weeklies such as Time or Newsweek have time to let all the information roll in before an article gets published and are therefore better sources of news events.
Stephen Talko	{15 votes}	September 10th, 2004

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