Editor of the New York Times Jill Abramson claims her paper’s coverage on Israel and Iran is impartial and there’s no chance the “flawed” 2003 reporting over Iraq could happen again (via Politico): Q: What are the concerns and considerations you take into account when covering the tensions between Israel and Iran, especially in light…
Showing all posts tagged New York Times
US backing for Egypt largely about arms trade
How grubby (via the New York Times): An intense debate within the Obama administration over resuming military assistance to… Egypt, which in the end was approved Friday by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, turned in part on a question that had nothing to do with democratic progress in Egypt but rather with American jobs at…
Leading American Zionist calls for “Zionist BDS”
Something is stirring in the American, Jewish, liberal, Zionist heartland. Peter Beinart, former supporter of the Iraq war and tough Zionist, has become a very vocal and very public critic of occupying Israel. His “dream” is still to maintain so-called democratic Israel, an inherently undemocratic outcome for the countless Palestinians inside Israel, but this is…
Beijing as world leader in pursuing surveillance state
Since the release of my book The Blogging Revolution (latest edition just out in India) the use by China of Western and local security firms to monitor citizens has only grown. This piece in the New York Times signals the depth of the problem: Chinese cities are rushing to construct their own surveillance systems. Chongqing,…
Memo to media; US massacre in Afghanistan is about Afghans not US military
Another tragedy in Afghanistan. And what do most of the corporate media focus on? How will this affect NATO strategy? What will US troops do? Will Obama’s supposed counter-insurgency tactics be derailed? What about wondering about the Afghans themselves? Here’s FAIR: The news that a U.S. Army sergeant killed 16 civilians, most of them children,…
Please remember to close the door behind you in Afghanistan
“The country is in a state of slow decline”, says… Jennifer Rowell, advocacy coordinator for CARE in Afghanistan, in the New York Times. The country’s reliance on foreign aid has made the situation dire and as security deteriorates it appears many programs will disappear. Relying on mercenaries to protect civilian work creates a whole range of…
Saluting the power of Anthony Shadid-style journalism in a cynical age
Famed New York Times journalist Anthony Shadid died tragically in February in… Syria… while reporting the war there. He was one of the finest reporters of his generation, spending years in the Arab world explaining its twists and turns. He proved that insightful, punchy and beautifully written journalism still matters in the modern age. Now his widow,…
ABCTV News24’s The Drum on Israel/US/Iran and Syria
Last night I appeared on ABCTV’s The Drum (video here) discussing both domestic and international affairs. The key part of the show began when this week’s meeting between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu was discussed. The New York Times tells the world that, “Israel should not doubt this president’s mettle. Neither should Iran.” Netanyahu, speaking…
Finally, in the NYT, acknowledgement that media leading us to war against Iran
Slow down there, eager journalists, hacks, politicians, Zionist lobby and think-tankers. An attack on Iran is clearly the war you’ve been dying for (since Iraq and Afghanistan worked out so well for you). This piece in the New York Times, a paper with a long history of backing America’s imperial wars, offers necessary caution: The…
RIP Anthony Shadid
The New York Times has a moving obituary of this truly great journalist; a rare mainstream reporter who realised that the big stories aren’t about “important people but the effect of power on citizens of the world, in his case the Middle East.