RE: Complaint about American Media

From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Fri Jan 31 2003 - 00:22:00 MST


In fairness to the New York Times, finally, after going down
two levels, and to a page containing 41 "headline" items, one
does find the 23rd one almost reluctantly saying

     Who Stands With U.S.? Europe Is of Two Minds
     By JOHN TAGLIABUE

     ARIS, Jan. 30 — As Europe struggles to define its position
     toward Iraq, the debate is generating not an Iraq problem
     but a Europe problem, a growing split between nations like
     France and Germany that are defending a narrower, European
     interest and those looking to a broader, North Atlantic
     alliance.

     [It still would just kill the NYT, evidently, to
     have the either the topic sentences or the headline
     to refer to the strong support itself.]

     The gravity of the problem became evident today after
     the leaders of eight European countries published an
     open letter in The Wall Street Journal and several
     European papers extolling the "bravery and generosity
     of America" and calling on the international community
     to take a united stand against Iraq...

But it's possible that *if* the letter had been sent to the
NYT in addition to the Wall Street Journal, it would have
received greater prominence. (But then, perhaps the senders
realized that it wouldn't get much coverage at the NYT anyway?)

Damien writes suggesting I checkout Melbourne's "The Age"
whose *lead* news item in the "world" section is entitled
"Europeans Rally Behind Bush".

> Go to the url and see for yourself. Go back to the top page:
>
> http://www.theage.com.au/
>
> > All I want is an objective news summary
>
> Well, the Age is a world class newspaper, and being Australian, it's run
> by capitalists for profit (but then I always assumed the NYT is too), but
> unlike many US newspapers its coverage is far from parochial. Similarly with
> Aussie TV news: even the crassest commercial channel seems to have more
> planetary information than most US channels. Since you can't get them
> without being there, spend a few days reading the Age as well as your own
> paper. Report back.

I will. Thank you very much.

> I'm biased, can't be trusted.

It is good when some of us are able to recognize that we have our own
ideological blinders. I only wish that everyone here was capable of that.

Lee



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