New York Times Editor: Iraq Going Badly & Partisan Blogs Create A Toxic Climate
Executive Editor Bill Keller delivered the Hugo Young Memorial Lecture in London last week, sponsored by the liberal Guardian newspaper…and since he felt safe, and in the presence of other liberal, left-wing journalists, he said many things we know for sure he wouldn’t say to the general populace, or maybe people like Pat and I to our face.
Hmm, Keller, Times, Soros, MoveOn.org…hmmm.
Below are some quotes from that lecture:
“And I would argue that in this clattering, interconnected, dangerous world, journalism that cuts through the noise has never been needed more. We have a war going very badly in Iraq, and another one in Afghanistan where our declaration of victory looks very premature.”
He says this? Perhaps he needs to read his own newspaper’s headlines sometime, say from a few weeks ago.
“…we are agnostic as to where a story may lead; we do not go into a story with an agenda or a pre-conceived notion. We do not manipulate or hide facts to advance an agenda. We strive to preserve our independence from political and economic interests, including our own advertisers. We do not work in the service of a party, or an industry, or even a country. When there are competing views of a situation, we aim to reflect them as clearly and fairly as we can.”
Yeah, right. And I have a bridge I’d like to sell you.
“It (the Bush admin) has helped create a toxic climate for the press by inflaming the polarization of our public. At least since the election of 2000, with its attendant questions of legitimacy, some of the wide, reasonable middle of the American electorate has gravitated to angry and intolerant fringes, right and left. There are many reasons for this — including the proliferation of partisan blogs, hate-mongering radio broadcasts and intemperate television shout shows.”
“Whatever you think of its policies, the current administration has been more secretive, more mistrustful of an inquisitive press, than any since the Nixon administration. It has treated freedom of information requests with contempt, asserted sweeping claims of executive privilege, even reclassified material that had been declassified. The administration has subsidized propaganda at home and abroad, refined the art of spin, discouraged dissent, and sought to limit traditional congressional oversight and court review. The war in Iraq alone is a case study of the administration’s determination to dominate the flow of information — from the original cherry-picking of intelligence, to the deliberate refusal to hear senior military officers when they warned of the potential for chaos, to the continually inflated claims about the progress in building up an indigenous Iraqi army.”
This guy is Out-to-Lunch. WTF does he mean? It is the Left-dominated (90%, polls have been taken) mainstream media that “dominates the flow of information” from Iraq…all bad, I might add.
“Too often, though, the critics are shrill, personal, and humorless - neo-Bolsheviks and mini-McCarthy’s. After our decision to report on the government’s warrantless wiretapping program, some members of the administration’s amen chorus proposed that the Times be charged with treason under the Espionage Act. A right-wing radio pundit suggested that I be put to death. And another defender of the national interest posted maps to my apartment — and my publishers’ — on the internet, for the benefit of any lunatics who wanted to drop by and set us straight. Those of you who are acquainted with New York apartment life can imagine how that went over with my co-op board.”
This guy is one of the main reasons that more and more Americans are getting their news and information from many different sources outside the mainstream media, of which he is a big part.
Hmm, Keller, Times, Soros, MoveOn.org…hmmm.
Nods to Clay Waters at Newsbusters.org.
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Screw that guy and his newspaper. I wouldn’t piss on that rag.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:51 pmHe probably laments the fact that from the entrenched liberal defeatist position it’s going bad - for them. Is he drinkin’ Rolling Rock? Probably had a “6″ before the speech - Let ‘em preen and fawn all over each other, their credibility dwindles w/each passing day.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:02 pmPOS reminds me of the wicked witch of the north shriveling up and disappearing.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:18 pmYou lying POS, you and your rag and the MSM are history, get over it, better yet, get out of my country.
Independent of political and economic interests my ass, stay in your bubble you jerk.
Doesn’t burn well in fireplace or hold puppy urine, what good is it(NYT)?
December 6th, 2007 at 1:40 pmSteve M
That is kind of funny, the rolling rock comment. I am sure he got ragged on by his peers for that. In between deployments to Iraq I worked at Chilis in the affluent part of Baltimore County.
The only people who ever ordered rolling rock were decent hard-working blue collar types. I never ever sold one to an elitist type.
Oh me, look, I am stereotyping people. How wrong of me.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:41 pmI think Bernie Goldberg pegs these clowns “more right” than I anybody I’ve heard. Where there is no dissent in opinion and it’s all left and Dhimmi, they honestly can’t understand why anybody of sane mind could think differently.
Hence, all of us flyover country folk are just too dumb to understand Iraq, the economy, or why we should be protesting against the military.
December 6th, 2007 at 2:58 pmI’ve watched something similar to this on cspan a month ago…
December 6th, 2007 at 3:24 pmHis real message is that bloggers are not held to the standards that the journalist are in reporting for the paper…He is losing readers and reacting in his true nature by attacking feloniously what he perceives as a threat to his livelihood….Here he is starting a propaganda wave in hopes to smear blogging as disreputable…This guy is truly a corn log
yeah the NY Times sucks, my school used to give away free USA todays which i though sucked but now the school gives away free NY times, out of the pan and into the fire, i can’t even get shallow untimely sports coverage anymore. How i long for a Chicago Tribune, you don’t know what you got till its gone.
December 6th, 2007 at 5:21 pmThe editor of the Walter Duranty Times actually had the balls to use the word ‘Bolshevik’?
That paper has been carrying water for tyrants for a very long time.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:59 pmEven CNN hates bloggers. I guess they’re just bitter cause no one watches them anymore.
December 7th, 2007 at 12:07 amHe’s screaming, “It’s not fair!” while his subscription numbers and share price head for the bottom of the Black Pit. The Marketplace will have its way, however …
December 7th, 2007 at 1:38 pm