Bad Times

[Terri]

By Thomas Sowell
February 26, 2008

The front page of the New York Times has increasingly become the home of editorials disguised as "news" stories. Too often it has become the home of hoaxes.

Going back some years, it was the Tawana Brawley hoax that she had been gang-raped by a bunch of white men. Just a couple of years ago, it was the Duke University "rape" hoax that they fell for.

In between there were the various hoaxes of New York Times reporter Jason Blair, who was kept on and promoted until too many people found out what he had been doing and the paper had to let him go.

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[jack virtus]

Lets face it, the New York Times no longer makes a pretense of being a "fair and balanced" publication. The Times is losing credibility almost as fast as it's losing money which is quite a feat. I look at the Times now in the same light as "The National Enquirer" and "The Star", at least those papers do not try to be considered serious news sources. The Times is now a Joke, it is now best used to wrap dead fish or line bird cages.

[STEELMAN]

Which brings to mind the tabloids that use undeniably rediculous stories which border on the category of the Twilight Zone and UFO abductions to get reader attention.

Another source of real far out stuff is found in the comics and TV series called Tales from the Crypt. That's about the level they have become.

If the NYT printed the truth their printing machines would break down due to the pressure created that it's not used to.

[ACRScout]

Many publications have gone the way of the DoDo Bird, hopefully the NY "Slimes" will follow suit, along with the "Com"-Post, NewsWreck, and the "Completely Brainless System" of (CBS) will soon follow. Since Bush got into office and left started bashing him, I quit watching any news broadcasts. I look at what the AP tosses into the air, then look around 20-30 sources on the WWW to verify/discredit the stories. The so called "Gentlemen of the Press" are not to be trusted.

In a recent flap where Obama, "cherry picked" facts to make it appear that the current administration had sent units to war without all of their people or equipment is a total falsehood, yet many in the media are still eating it up. In reality, Obamas staffers got the story from a soldier (currently an Army Captain) who was a Lieutenant at the time of the deployment, did deploy to Afghanistan without a full compliment of soldiers, but the equipment he claimed not to be issued was equipment he wanted but was not authorized, and the unit was near full strength and recieved replacements soon after deployment.

The news media ran with the story because they thought they could club the administration with it, true or not.

[Frank Jones]

It isn't about the Sex. It's about the favors that happened after this woman started the 'friendship' with McCain. Why is is always about sex with you folks????

[Amawalk John]

Jason Blair, who was kept on and promoted until too many people found out what he had been doing and the paper had to let him go.

This was pretty much what happened with the McCain story. However, because of the steady output of screw ups and intentional misrepresentations it took only a few hours to establish the Times's malfeasance; its presumption of excellence and integrity is long gone, squandered and irretrievable.

Still, the Times didn't acknowledge its error until virtually the entire television and press establishment had condemned it. And even then, I think, Keller, the editor, still maintained the legitimacy of the story.

"Sorry" seems to be an impossible word for the sanctimonious snobs at the Times to say, to their readership, to their stockholders, or to their journalistic and managerial predecessors who bequeathed them such a fine institution decades ago. "Sorry" is the state of American journalism, most particularly, The New York Times.

Oh, and it's Jayson Blair. I suspect it was a spell checker that overruled Dr. Sowell's correct spelling and replaced it with the conventional version of that name.

Edited to add: The real "story" wasn't about "sex" or even "influence". Like most recent stories floated by the New York Times, the "story" was about cheap advocacy journalism masquerading as legitimate news.

[1workingmom1]

I couldn't care less what the NY Times wrote or writes about McCain or any of the Pres. candidates. I consider the source and go from there. People believe what they want to believe whether it's true or not. By the end of this election the two remaining candidates will have been "hit" more times than we will remember. Do I feel sorry for the "victim" of these articles - NOT!!! They're adults spending millions of dollars during a financial crisis in this country in order to satisfy their quest for the most coveted job in America and at the same time feeding their overgrown egos!!
I might feel differently if those of us who are completely disenchanted with out government had a true candidate in this race, but we don't. Right about now I'm thinking of casting my vote for Ralph Nader just to keep McCain out of the White House!! Amen.

[phillyfanatic]

The Times, Globe, Post, et al have been opeding the news for nearly 60 years.It is gettin worse since like MSNBC and CNN, there is no effort to just do the news but they all pontificate through the lens of their liberalism. The RNC and the Right of the GOP will just have to point these things out to the Indies. It is those voters who now will decide the election plus , of course, turn out. If the masses cannot figure out that the nightly news on the Big 3 plus the print media in the large urban cities are mostly leftist, then this nation is in worse trouble than we all think. The voters often are portrayed as brilliant and if only the facts were out, surely they would see the inanity of the Dems' pacifist socialism but in this wacky election year, who knows?

[Jack Reacher]

Feeling disenchanted with your government or your party's candidate is only a minute part of the misery you will suffer by throwing away your vote on Nader and allowing a real liberal to take the reins.

McCain isn't exactly my cup of tea; But in reality I don't really care for tea.

Jack

[FlaJim]

Mr. Sowell needs to research about 100 years further back to uncover the full story of the New York Times' substituting opinions for straight reporting.

One of the most outrageous series they carried were by a 'reporter' by the name of Durant in the 30s. He was their USSR correspondent and reported all the great things that Stalin was doing: refuted the famine in the Ukraine, a deliberate action on Stalin's part because the farmers refused to collectivize; and won a Pulitzer Prize. Despite irrefutable evidence that the 'reporting' was false, the NYT still refuses to acknowledge it and the Pulitzer Foundation refuses to rescind their award.

The paper has achieved their prominence through longevity and a lot of money. The latter is now dwindling, thanks to diminished readership. May the trend continue.