2008 Woodie Awards
New York Times apologizes for slam on General Petraeus
Special interest group's advertisement questions Petraeus' commitment to patriotism
Nicole McRuiz
Issue date: 9/27/07 Section: World Views
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A lot of people, at least those who like to have a broad sense of what's going on in the world, will tell you that's there's one newspaper or television channel that they have some sense of loyalty towards. Whether it's the Wall Street Journal, CNN, or the Washington Post, it can seem like choosing a news source is whole realm of politics in itself.
And sometimes news sources, like politicians, can behave in such an agenda-driven fashion that not only embarrasses them on a personal level, but it can also contribute to the invalidation of their real goal: to tell the people what's going on in the world. Anyone thinking The NY Times?
The NY Times isn't the sole perpetrator, but it sure hasn't had a great track record in the last year or so. Last summer, the Times received the bulk of the popular blame for the leaking of a government plan designed to track the movements of suspected terrorists. Though several other news sources leaked the plan, none did it quite so early, or with quite so much malice towards the Bush administration.
After that, though, the organization had a relatively uneventful year, and I went back to desperately attempting to complete just one of their crossword puzzles. Then fast forward to a few weeks ago, September 10.
The New York Times raised commotion over an ad in their September 10 paper from the group www.moveon.org. The organization's website claims that their mission statement is "to realize the progressive promise of our country" (nice and ambiguous!). In reality, the group is a pretty liberal anti-war organization that really does give some low blows to our government. But fine, there's nothing wrong with that.
Anyway, the Moveon.org in the Times shows a picture of General Petraeus with the caption, "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" The ad then has a synopsis of General Petraeus' strategy in Iraq since he took the job last year.
An uproar of criticism was soon to follow, mainly from the far-right Republicans. Tony Snow called the ad "a boorish, childish, unworthy attack," and John McCain called the ad a, "McCarthyite attack on an American patriot… No matter where you stand on the war, we should all agree on the character and decency of this exceptional American."
And sometimes news sources, like politicians, can behave in such an agenda-driven fashion that not only embarrasses them on a personal level, but it can also contribute to the invalidation of their real goal: to tell the people what's going on in the world. Anyone thinking The NY Times?
The NY Times isn't the sole perpetrator, but it sure hasn't had a great track record in the last year or so. Last summer, the Times received the bulk of the popular blame for the leaking of a government plan designed to track the movements of suspected terrorists. Though several other news sources leaked the plan, none did it quite so early, or with quite so much malice towards the Bush administration.
After that, though, the organization had a relatively uneventful year, and I went back to desperately attempting to complete just one of their crossword puzzles. Then fast forward to a few weeks ago, September 10.
The New York Times raised commotion over an ad in their September 10 paper from the group www.moveon.org. The organization's website claims that their mission statement is "to realize the progressive promise of our country" (nice and ambiguous!). In reality, the group is a pretty liberal anti-war organization that really does give some low blows to our government. But fine, there's nothing wrong with that.
Anyway, the Moveon.org in the Times shows a picture of General Petraeus with the caption, "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" The ad then has a synopsis of General Petraeus' strategy in Iraq since he took the job last year.
An uproar of criticism was soon to follow, mainly from the far-right Republicans. Tony Snow called the ad "a boorish, childish, unworthy attack," and John McCain called the ad a, "McCarthyite attack on an American patriot… No matter where you stand on the war, we should all agree on the character and decency of this exceptional American."
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