DECONSTRUCTING THE TIMES: Steven Den Beste looks at a New York Times article that “tries to portray Reagan so as to present a sharp contrast to President Bush, and in the end…puts Reagan inside a bunny-rabbit costume and presents him as an accommodating cooperative multilateralist who was only interested in getting along with everyone and who didn’t have a confrontational bone in his body”.
Den Beste concludes, “If you have to lie about something, it’s stupid to lie to someone who knows the truth. It’s really stupid to lie when 100 million people know the truth, and to tell that lie in a NYT column which lots of them are sure to see”.
For those who paid attention last week, numerous Websites, but especially the Media Research Center and National Review Online provided a valuable service: examining the original pieces that journalists and broadcasters filed on President Reagan before and during his two terms of office. Never have so many been so wrong about a man, and to this day been loathe to admit it. Why should The Times start now?
No wonder the credibility of the press has plummeted. When you can use the ‘Net to fact check their asses (to coin a phrase), it’s easy to see how often they let their biases get in the way of their reporting.
UPDATE: For future Times articles, Jeff Goldstein has an easy to follow template that should make first drafts much easier.
CATS AND DOGS LIVING TOGETHER UPDATE: H.D. Miller is praising a Times article, something that I doubt happens very often.
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