Daily Star: "U.S. Backs Mallat on Presidency"

You mean the government of the most powerful country on earth is supporting Chibli Mallat (a fine chap BTW) for the Lebanese presidency?

Not really. If you read the full article by Rym Ghazal, somewhere in the middle you are finally told:

[Mallat] received Thursday full endorsement of his candidacy by the U.S. Support Committee, called "The Mallat for President U.S. Support Committee".

I'm impressed. Mallat is supported by his own committee. However, that is not a Bush Administration endorsement, as implied by the DS' headline. Call it a lie, a white lie, sloppy editing, a mistake, sensationalism. It is still bad and shows, yet again, that Lebanese papers (and their web sites) are in bad need of editors. Even a college junior could improve the quality of these publications, their accuracy, and their English.

Of course Naharnet does this stuff on a daily basis. See Kais' blog for a far more irresponsible violation of writing, and content, standards.

When they get simple things wrong, let alone in instances of bad faith, how can we rely on the press to report on things as complicated as the Mehlis investigation, corruption at EDL, or a new election law?