NYT Shows How Propaganda Works
NYT Shows How Propaganda Works
December 2, 2014
Exclusive: The U.S. mainstream media pretends it operates with professional standards of objectivity and fairness, but especially in its international reporting the only real standards are double standards, as the New York Times has shown on Ukraine and Syria, writes Robert Parry.
By Robert Parry
In the multilayered double standards of its international coverage, the New York Times demonstrates how propaganda works: Outrage is the only appropriate response when an adversary breaks a rule but a shrug is okay when its our side. Plus, there must be perfect evidence to accuse our side of an offense but anything goes when its an adversary.
Recent Times articles illustrate how this hypocrisy works. Take, for example, international law, especially prohibitions against aggression. When the topic is Ukraine and the alleged violator is Russia, no extreme is too extreme in denouncing Russias President Vladimir Putin. But the concern about international law simply disappears when discussing Syria and the desirability of U.S. President Barack Obama overthrowing the government there.
In Ukraine, despite the murky circumstances surrounding last Februarys coup detat ousting the elected president and unleashing war in the ethnic Russian east, the Times refuses to see any merit in the Russian side of the argument. Its all about the sacred principle of non-intervention; the mitigating circumstances dont matter.
However, when it comes to demanding Obama dispatch the U.S. military to take out Syrias government, the Times forgets international law; its all about the mitigating circumstances that justify the U.S. bombing of Syrian government troops and paving the way for a rebel victory.
More:
http://consortiumnews.com/2014/12/02/nyt-shows-how-propaganda-works/