Re: I gather the paper is an Australian paper. How about some commentary on what it's all about as a paper and why we should believe pieces published therein
The Sydney Morning Herald is Australia’s most prestigious newspaper. And since Australia does not have major power ambitions, I find that the Australian view of the world is not colored with self-interest.
Here are some reasons for not putting your full faith and trust in the US press:
Dan Rather's Mea Culpa in an Extraordinary Interview
By Javier Sierra
Special for www.libertad-prensa.org
21 May 2002
Washington, USA, May 20th, 2002 - Dan Rather, the anchor of CBS News, one of the country's most influential journalists, has confessed that the current political climate has led him, and the rest of the US journalism profession, to self-censorship.
In extraordinarily candid interview with BBC, Rather said that since the terrorist attacks of September 11, the US media have stopped asking President George W. Bush and his government "the toughest of tough questions."
"I do not exempt myself from this criticism," he said during his appearance last week on BBC's Newsnight program, on which he stated that "patriotism run amok" has put the integrity of the journalism profession at risk.
Rather used extreme examples to illustrate his assertions.
"It is an obscene comparison - you know I am not sure I like it - but you know there was a time in South Africa that people would put flaming tires around people's necks if they dissented", he said. "And in some ways the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck. Now it is that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions."
icfj.org
CNN tells reporters: No propaganda, except American
By Patrick Martin
6 November 2001
In an extraordinary directive to its staff, Cable News Network has instructed reporters and anchormen to tailor their coverage of the US war against Afghanistan to downplay the toll of death and destruction caused by American bombing, for fear that such coverage will undermine popular support for the US military effort.
A memo from CNN Chairman Walter Isaacson to international correspondents for the network declares: “As we get good reports from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, we must redouble our efforts to make sure we do not seem to be simply reporting from their vantage or perspective. We must talk about how the Taliban are using civilian shields and how the Taliban have harbored the terrorists responsible for killing close to 5,000 innocent people.”
“I want to make sure we’re not used as a propaganda platform,” Isaacson declared in an interview with the Washington Post, adding that it “seems perverse to focus too much on the casualties or hardship in Afghanistan.”
wsws.org |
