Saturday, February 25, 2006
In a Stunning Turn of Events, Right and Left Unite to Condemn the Timidity of the American Media
The MSM in America seems to find it most appropriate to use every epithet against President Bush, call those to the right of Alec Baldwin names, or to dismiss Republicans out of hand. Yet they find incredible strength to resist criticizing Muslims, whatever they do, or to refuse publish those cartoons that make Muslims suicidal, as if that was the only thing driving their nuttery, even while they denounce any attempt to criticize their showing of a crucifix in a bottle of urine, or Jews shown eating Palestinian children in cartoons.
How strange must it be that a rightwinger, Bill Bennett, and a leftwinger, Alan Dershowitz (who this column has trouble with), have united to call the MSM in America on their kowtowing to Islamic terror.
A Failure of the Press
How long before the Left excoriates Dershowitz for refusing to bow to the Leftist philosophy of kissing Muslim ass?
The MSM in America seems to find it most appropriate to use every epithet against President Bush, call those to the right of Alec Baldwin names, or to dismiss Republicans out of hand. Yet they find incredible strength to resist criticizing Muslims, whatever they do, or to refuse publish those cartoons that make Muslims suicidal, as if that was the only thing driving their nuttery, even while they denounce any attempt to criticize their showing of a crucifix in a bottle of urine, or Jews shown eating Palestinian children in cartoons.
How strange must it be that a rightwinger, Bill Bennett, and a leftwinger, Alan Dershowitz (who this column has trouble with), have united to call the MSM in America on their kowtowing to Islamic terror.
A Failure of the Press
There was a time when the press was the strongest guardian of free expression in this democracy. Stories and celebrations of intrepid and courageous reporters are many within the press corps. Cases such as New York Times v. Sullivan in the 1960s were litigated so that the press could report on and examine public officials with the unfettered reporting a free people deserved. In the 1970s the Pentagon Papers case reaffirmed the proposition that issues of public importance were fully protected by the First Amendment.
The mass media that backed the plaintiffs in these cases understood that not only did a free press have a right to report on critical issues and people of the day but that citizens had a right to know about those issues and people. The mass media understood another thing: They had more than a right; they had a duty to report.
We two come from different political and philosophical perspectives, but on this we agree: Over the past few weeks, the press has betrayed not only its duties but its responsibilities. To our knowledge, only three print newspapers have followed their true calling: the Austin American-Statesman, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Sun. What have they done? They simply printed cartoons that were at the center of widespread turmoil among Muslims over depictions of the prophet Muhammad. These papers did their duty.
How long before the Left excoriates Dershowitz for refusing to bow to the Leftist philosophy of kissing Muslim ass?
