Thursday, June 6, 2013

Has President Obama Lost The New York Times?

The New York Times building in New York, NY across from the Port Authority. Wikipedia

President Obama’s Dragnet -- New York Times editorial

Within hours of the disclosure that federal authorities routinely collect data on phone calls Americans make, regardless of whether they have any bearing on a counterterrorism investigation, the Obama administration issued the same platitude it has offered every time President Obama has been caught overreaching in the use of his powers: Terrorists are a real menace and you should just trust us to deal with them because we have internal mechanisms (that we are not going to tell you about) to make sure we do not violate your rights.

Those reassurances have never been persuasive — whether on secret warrants to scoop up a news agency’s phone records or secret orders to kill an American suspected of terrorism — especially coming from a president who once promised transparency and accountability.

Read more ....

My Comment: Regular readers of this blog know that I have been critical of the New York Times and it's coverage of President Obama for years. Their unwillingness to do investigative reporting on this White House coupled with their eagerness to bury critical stories on the President when other news agencies reported it made me .... a regular reader of the New York Times since the mid-1980s .... throw my hands up in disappointment and disgust. So it is not surprising that with major scandals now swamping the administration, the New York Times has found itself behind the curve on all of these issues .... so much so that I now find their coverage irrelevant and/or days/weeks behind. To put it bluntly .... the New York Times is no longer the go-to-source for me on breaking news and analysis. They have (unfortunately) put politics before being a good reporter.

But this editorial is a start .... and long overdue. The New York Times is one of America's premier media and news institutions .... now is the time to act like it even if politically .... they support the President's other agendas. Failure to so would only mean that the New York Times .... so eager to say that President Obama is now losing credibility .... be guilty of doing exactly the same thing.

Update: Oooppps .... it looks like I was hoping for too much .... New York Times quietly changes published editorial to make it less damning of Obama.

No comments:

Post a Comment