Editor&Publisher: The Right Should Show 'NYT' a Little Gratitude

[DeepModem Mom]

The Right Should Show 'NYT' a Little Gratitude
As many conservatives pillory The New York Times for its revelations about Bush administration snooping into phone calls and bank records, the newspaper must be wondering why it's not getting a little more love from the right. After all, the Times helped the Bush administration "sell" the Iraq War.

By Dave Astor

(July 17, 2006) -- As many conservatives pillory The New York Times for its revelations about Bush administration snooping into phone calls and bank records, the newspaper must be wondering why it's not getting a little more love from the right.

After all, the Times helped the Bush administration "sell" the Iraq War with those bogus Judith Miller stories about alleged weapons of mass destruction. The Times's Op-Ed page includes two conservative columnists (David Brooks and John Tierney) when right-wing opinion pages like The Wall Street Journal's and The New York Post's feature no regular liberal voices.

The Times recently published a lengthy and invasive front-page story about the Hillary-Bill Clinton marriage while not doing a similar story about the state of any prominent GOP couple's marriage. Just this Sunday, the Times offered a sympathetic front-page profile of Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Bush administration's favorite Democrat. Other examples abound of the Times periodically cozying up to America's conservative establishment.

Yet the Times is called "treasonous" by a number of prominent conservatives, some of whom also disgustingly "joke" about what method should be used to kill Executive Editor Bill Keller. And the newspaper Friday received an envelope containing an Xed-out Times editorial defending the bank-surveillance story and a mysterious white powder (that turned out to be harmless).

As discovered by Rep. John Murtha -- the longtime military hawk who turned against the Iraq War -- being conservative some of the time doesn't cut it when it comes to avoiding right-wing attacks. Total, or near-total, loyalty to conservative doctrine is required....Overall, the Times is an establishment newspaper that leans liberal. (It's indicative of the success conservatives have had shoving America's "center" rightward that some consider the Times left-wing.) The Times -- and any other newspaper -- should offer coverage and commentary without periodically pandering to the far right in an effort to retain access and appear more "patriotic." If a paper wants to be conservative, it should be conservative. But it should do that out of sincere belief, not to counter the myth of liberal media bias. Because, as we've seen, playing ball with the Bush administration only provides immunity from right-wing attacks if you play ball 24/7/365.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/syndicate_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002840357

[AX10]

1. Yes and Democrats should learn to unite and fight...

the GOP head on at every turn.