Global Research - A survey by FAIR of the top 100 papers in the US by circulation
found not a single editorial board opposed to Trump’s April 13
airstrikes on Syria. Twenty supported the strikes, while six were
ambiguous as to whether or not the bombing was advisable. The remaining
74 issued no opinion about Trump’s latest escalation of the Syrian war.
Seven of the top 10 newspapers by circulation—USA Today,Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, New York Post,Chicago Tribune, Newsday and Washington Post—supported the airstrikes. The New York Daily News and San Jose Mercury News offered no opinion, while the New York Times was ambiguous—mostly lamenting the lack of congressional approval, but
not saying that this meant the strikes were illegal or unwise.
3 comments:
One night, probably in 1880, John Swinton, then the preeminent New York journalist, was the guest of honour at a banquet given him by the leaders of his craft. Someone who knew neither the press nor Swinton offered a toast to the independent press. Swinton outraged his colleagues by replying:
"There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job.
If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the journalist is to destroy the truth; to lie outright; to pervert; to vilify; to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell the country for his daily bread. You know it and I know it and what folly is this toasting an independent press. We are the tools and vassals of the rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes. "
This doesn't seem to rise to the level of "news." Merely a banal recitation of what anyone who pays attention at all already knows.
Matt seems a bit off the wall. The citation is quite eloquent and readers should know what it looks like for a journalist to be honest. And “banal”? What does that mean? (italicize ‘that’)
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