Re: "Newspapers admit mistakes - unlike most other industries," Currents, May 29:
Editor Amanda Bennett appears to be patting herself and her colleagues on the back. Perhaps she felt it necessary to defend the media and her newspaper because of the intense level of criticism of the media from both the right and the left.
The Bush administration and its radical right cronies are working overtime to keep the media heeled (one wonders why, since the media, far from playing their "watchdog" role, have been Bush's lapdog since at least 9/11). Progressives have been criticizing this lapdog role for some time now. At the National Conference for Media Reform on May 22, Bill Moyers told the audience, "Instead of acting as filters for readers and viewers, sifting the truth from the propaganda, reporters and anchors attentively transcribe both sides of the spin, invariably failing to provide context, background, or any sense of which claims hold up and which are misleading."
Unfortunately, Bennett did not address this crucial issue of modern journalism. In so doing, she reveals the limited nature of the self-criticism that The Inquirer is prepared to do.
There are so many examples of what Mr. Mastellone is referring to that I can't recall all of them. However, here is one from today's Inquirer:
CRAWFORD, Texas - Bending the ears of lawmakers and their constituents, President Bush yesterday used his weekly radio address to ask Congress to set aside partisan differences and act on energy, trade and spending issues and fix Social Security.
Yep, Dubya has that "whining like a spoiled brat, give me everything I want" thing down pat...
Bush said that he wanted to see an energy bill that would reduce the nation's dependence on foreign sources of oil by Congress' August recess.
He keeps saying stuff like that, and we keep going to the Saudis for a handout...
He also urged lawmakers to restrain spending: "The House and the Senate have worked together to pass a responsible budget resolution that keeps us on track to cut the deficit in half by 2009. Now, Congress must keep its promise to exercise restraint on spending bills and to rein in mandatory spending."
Yep, trying to cut down the deficit that HE CREATED after inheriting a surplus...
The President pushed Congress to change Social Security to ensure its future solvency. And he asked the lawmakers to ratify the Central American and Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement, known as CAFTA.
"About 80 percent of products from Central America and the Dominican Republic now enter the United States duty-free," said Bush, who is flying to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., tomorrow to discuss CAFTA with other Western Hemisphere leaders.
"Yet American exports to those countries face hefty tariffs," he said. "CAFTA will level the playing field by making about 80 percent of American exports to Central America and the Dominican Republic duty-free."
Bush said the pact would lower barriers in key sectors such as textiles, which he said would make U.S. manufacturers more competitive globally. "CAFTA will make our neighborhood more secure by strengthening young democracies," he added. "CAFTA is a practical, pro-jobs piece of legislation. And Congress needs to pass it soon."
Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota argued in the Democrats' radio address that Bush and his congressional allies were not interested in resolving differences. "They demand that it all be done their way," he said. "But, of course, that is not the way a democracy works."
Dorgan also said the administration needed to be doing more to address a different set of issues, such as American jobs moving overseas, rising health-care costs, federal budget deficits, and high gasoline prices.
More jobs will be lost and the trade deficit will widen if CAFTA is approved, Dorgan said. He and other Democrats complain that it lacks labor and environmental protections to stop abuses of workers in poor, low-wage Central America.
(I love the phrase "partisan differences"...what kind of "differences" can be allowed when the majority party has its foot on the throat of the minority party, so to speak, a position the minority party deserves somewhat, by the way?)
Better writers than I have thoroughly uncovered Dubya's Social Security fraud, so I won't deal with that. Also, anyone who doesn't realize that anything he does regarding energy (everything really, but especially energy) is meant to reward the investor class for whom he fronts has been living under a rock since January 2001. Finally, I got suckered into NAFTA years ago by Clinton and the Repugs, so I won't make that mistake like that again on CAFTA, SHAFTA, or any other cutesy-sounding acronym some politico chooses to come up with.
To illustrate what Mr. Mastellone said about the press, though, take a look at how the Inquirer/AP treated the concerns about CAFTA raised by Sen. Byron Dorgan. They stuck what he had to say at the very end of the story instead of analyzing it along with what Bush said in context! "Oh, by the way, here's an opposing point of view," by which time most people have skimmed off the story and are looking at the Macy's ads for bras and panty hose before they get ready to hurry off to church.
(or, as Warren Zevon once sang, "the less you know, the better off you are".)
No comments:
Post a Comment