Lies on the Front Page, the Truth Buried on the Back Page

Phyllis Chesler | 2:27 PM on March 02, 2008

An F/A-18 Super Hornet launches from the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) as the ship conducts flight operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations supporting Operation Inherent Resolve. The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group is currently deployed to the area supporting maritime security operations, strike operations in Iraq and Syria as directed, and theater security cooperation efforts in the 5th Fleet AOR. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Alex King/Released)

Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the New York Times recently run a front-page but barely factual story about Senator McCain’s alleged improper or romantic relationship with a much-younger lobbyist? Today, the Times has buried an in-depth, highly factual report of Senator Obama’s possibly improper relationship to Tony Rezko, a Chicago real estate developer who goes on trial for corruption tommorrow; the article appears on page 25. According to the Times, “the Obamas obtained their dream house” through Rezko who also “bought an empty lot next door.” Isn’t this front page material given that the Texas and Ohio primaries take place on Tuesday? Given their bias, why did the Paper of Record even bother printing this artcle at all?

This reminds me of how the New York Times buried its coverage of the Holocaust against the Jews of Europe on its back pages–and I am talking about the real Holocaust, not about the trendy, Orwellian, inflammatory use of the phrase to further demonize the Jewish state which has been undertaken by the international media. Recently, Reuters and the BBC, both claimed that Israel, a country whose civilians have been under relentless attack by rockets launched against them both by Hamas and by Al Qaeda–and from an utterly unoccupied Gaza–had finally threatened to take some self-defensive and self-protective action. The British media reported that the Israeli Deputy Defense Minister had threatened a “holocaust” against the Palestinians, most of whom had voted the rocket-launching Hamas into power and none of whom are actively resisting their reign of fundamentalist tyranny.

Good Germans–moderate Muslims; a great idea but if the “good” people do not actively resist and oppose the “bad” people then, at the end of the war, they are seen to have collaborated with evil in order to save their own lives or to profit from the misfortunes of a scapegoated group.

For reasons like this, years back I started reading the the mainstream media back to front. And, when they savage a film–I go see it.

Dear Readers: Please share your favorite media stories with me.