Ernest Partridge on the New York Times' newest op-ed contributor, Neoconservative non-thinker William Kristol.
Jan. 9, 2008 (crisispapers.org) – Have you ever been betrayed by a old and trusted friend?
If so, you might understand my rage at and disgust with The New York Times.
While I gave up on the Times some time ago, I can’t allow the latest outrage, the hiring of William Kristol as the newest Times columnist, to pass by without complaint.
The New York Times and I go way, way, back. Since before I was born, my parents subscribed to the Times. Throughout college, graduate school, and early career, the NYT was my gold-standard of journalistic accuracy and integrity. It was reputed to be “the newspaper of historical record,” and I believed it. When, in the sixties, I lived in Manhattan and taught at the City University of New York, I would eagerly await the Saturday night appearance of the Sunday edition, which I would then take home, spread out on my bed, and devour.
All the News That Gives Us Fits.
Had you been reading the Times for the past two decades, you would have learned:
**That Bill and Hillary Clinton were involved in a crooked land deal, dubbed “Whitewater.”
**That Chinese-American nuclear scientist, Dr. Wen Ho Lee, was probably spying for the Peoples Republic of China.
**That Al Gore was a “serial liar” who had claimed, among other things, to have “invented the internet” and to have “discovered Love Canal.”
**That Bush would have won Florida and the 2000 election, regardless of the Supreme Court decision, Bush v. Gore.
**That Saddam Hussein was importing aluminum tubes to manufacture weapons-grade uranium.
**That Saddam Hussein was stockpiling and prepared to use weapons of mass destruction.
All this was published as news, not as opinion. And it was false. All of it!
Had you searched elsewhere for news – the independent and foreign press, and the internet, you would have discovered:
**That the GOP slanders against Al Gore were all groundless.
**That the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" conducted a baseless smear against John Kerry, and conversely, that Kerry’s military record and his medals were authentic.
**That George Bush was absent without leave from his military obligation with the Texas Air National Guard.
**That Bush likely violated securities law as an executive and investor with Harken energy.
**That there is compelling evidence that the 2000, 2002 and 2004 elections were stolen by the Republicans through election fraud.
**That, according to "The Downing Street Memos," prior to the outbreak of the Iraq war, Bush and Blair were willing to "fix the intelligence" to fit the pro-war policy.
None of this was prominently included among what The New York Times proclaims as “All the News That’s Fit to Print.”
To its credit, the Times reported that the Bush Administration violated the FISA laws on wiretapping of US civilians. However, the NYT held the story past the 2004 election, an editorial decision which might have affected the outcome.