The following exchange between New York Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller and President Bush (covered at Weekly Standard) tells you everything you need to know about media bias:
She began: "Paul Wolfowitz, who was the-a chief architect of one of the most unpopular wars in our history-
Bush interrupted: "That's an interesting start."
Bumiller: "Is your choice to be the president of the World Bank. What kind of signal does that send to the rest of the world?"
This is a reporter from the most prestigious media organization in the United States asking the president a question fraught with editorial bias. Bumiller should be ashamed. The NYT should be ashamed. This one small example should be taught in journalism schools (I know, an oxymoron) as a "how not to" lesson in asking questions at a press conference.
7 comments:
Wolfowitz was an architect of Vietnam? I never knew that part of his history.
Wolfowitz was an architect of Vietnam? I never knew that part of his history.
Wolfowitz was an architect of Vietnam? I never knew that part of his history.
Wolfowitz was an architect of Vietnam? I never knew that part of his history.
Wolfowitz was an architect of Vietnam? I never knew that part of his history.
I've been reading a truly dreadful book with a great name: Attack Poodles, by James Wolcott. Wolcott purports to explain how evil right wing pundits are destroying political discourse in America and, ultimately, aiming to destroy America altogether. I mention it here because what makes the book a resounding failure is Wolcott's inability to articulate why his position is better. If he could have done this, of course, it would have given him an opening to explain why the conservative pundits are evil for seeking to destroy this system. What characterizes Wolcott's book, therefore, is the same presumption that characterizes what's-her-names question: namely, that conservative are evil, a fact that, like the sun's inevitable rise in the East, needs no proof.
Jay,
She said "ONE of the most unpopular wars in our history" not thee most unpopular war in our history.
What did she say that was wrong? Wolfowitz is going to be unpopular because he was one of the chief architects of the Iraq war, a very unpopular war.
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