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Politics : I Will Continue to Continue, to Pretend.... -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (8443)	3/11/2005 11:27:08 AM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 35834

WASHINGTON POST'S MANAGING EDITOR SPEAKS HIS MIND By Michelle Malkin March 11, 2005 06:41 AM The Washington Post's managing editor, Philip Bennett, gave a fascinating interview to People's Daily Online, the official mouthpiece of the Communist Chinese regime. Assuming Bennett's remarks were correctly transcribed (and there is a significant possibility that they were not), it seems fair to say he has bad feelings about the Bush Administration, which he says deliberately lied about WMDs in Iraq and is excessively secretive. He can't define democracy, but whatever it is he disputes the notion that it's advancing in Iraq. He doesn't seem to place much value in freedom of the press, as evidenced by his enthusiasm about the idea of working as a journalist in China, which routinely censors web sites and news. He is darn sure that America shouldn't lead the world. On the other hand, he is quite fond of China and its leaders. He didn't go so far as to accuse U.S. troops of deliberately killing journalists a la Eason Jordan, but once again the anti-American mindset comes through loud and clear. I've included some highlights below, but read the whole thing. Bennett's views on democracy: <<< Democracy means many things. How do you define democracy? As a Chinese journalist, you may have your own definition of democracy which corresponds to your history and your way of seeing the world. I may have another definition. Someone else may have their own definitions. Democracy means a lot of different things. >>> On the failure of democracy (whatever that means) to advance in Iraq despite the country's first free, multi-party election in more than 50 years: <<< One of the jobs of our correspondents in Baghdad is to tell our readers what the Bush administration is trying to hide. Bush says democracy is advancing in Iraq, but our correspondents say the situation there is much more complex than that. >>> On the similarity of the roles of the press in the U.S. and China: <<< We receive a lot of criticism from the government for presenting views of events which are in odds with what they are trying to present. This is very important in our system and it is one of the fundemental roles of the press. We have seen that similar roles of the press are developing in China as media expose corruption. In any system corrupt officials are trying to cover bad things up. We may look at the press coverage of issues like SARS epidemic. At the very beginning there were efforts to cover things up. [MM notes: Chinese government officials reportedly locked up some 100 people for "spreading rumors" or "false information" about SARS over the Internet.] But then the news came out everywhere through the press and even the textmessaging. Then the government was forced to admit what happened. This role is quite similar with the role we are trying to play here in the United States. Of course, we have a lot of limitations on our ability to do that. The government of the US is becoming much more secretive, much more hostile to the press in terms of giving us access to the information. So a lot of what we do here is to fight for access to the information that we think the public should have. That takes a lot of our energy and resources. >>> On being a journalist in China: <<< If I were a young journalist today, figuring out where I should go to make my career, I would go to China.... I think China is the best place in the world to be an American journalist right now. >>> On whether the Bush Administration deliberately lied about WMDs in Iraq: <<< As you said, we are not aggressive enough in challenging and testing the statements the government is making. For me, this episode [the administration's claims that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq] is a good example of how difficult it is to independently verify the government's claims when the government is lying to you. >>> On America's role in world affairs: <<< I don't think US should be the leader of the world.... I also think it is unhealthy to have one country as the leader of the world. People in other countries don't want to be led by foreign countries. They may want to have good relations with it or they may want to share with what is good in that country. >>> On China's leaders: <<< I was very impressed by the degree of preparation, engagement, knowledge and vision that they have of China and China's role in the world. >>> Bennett is the Post's second-highest-ranking editor. He is likely to become the Post’s executive editor when Leonard Downie, Jr., retires, probably in a few years. (Hat tip: reader Mark Laflamme.) Related: Whitewashing Red China's record jewishworldreview.com Update, 9:29 am: Revised the title of the post (yes, I thought better of calling him the "Post's Eason Jordan"), reduced the length of some of the excerpts, and bold-faced a few of Bennett's more provocative statements. michellemalkin.com news.scotsman.com web.amnesty.org english.peopledaily.com.cn

To: Sully- who wrote (8443)	3/14/2005 1:10:20 AM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35834

Two from Column A, One from Column Idiot Roger L. Simon Maybe it's because Washington Post Managing Editor Phillip Bennett thought nobody back home would be reading it, but his interview by Yong Tang of China's People's Daily is one of most textbook examples I have ever read of the increasingly fuddy-duddy sclerotic pseudo-liberalism of much of our mainstream media. His old rhetoric about rifts with our allies and "not cooperating" has become so tedious (especially in the post Oil-for-Food era) it's a wonder Bennett can say these things with a straight face. Does he actually believe this blather? And then he goes on about how the US is hypocritical because we're opposing some tyrannies but not others (like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia). To the Chinese of all people! What a "progressive"! The truth is that people like Bennett don't want to think that America has been promoting democracies because they are embarrassed they were not on board... that indeed they may not be the "progressives" but the reactionaries. Well, guess what, Mr. Bennett? It ain't 1968 anymore and you are! BTW: I don't often use expletives on this blog, but the following excerpt seems to merit it. If you want bullshit at it's most rarified (or should I say blatant?), how about this quote from Bennett? <<< We have a little bit different roles in newspapers compared with our counterparts in Europe and other countries. We don't have any political point of view that we are trying to advance. We don't represent any political parties. We are not tied to any political movement. >>> No "political point of view we are trying to advance"? To quote the great Moon Unit Zappa: "Gag me with a spoon!" rogerlsimon.com english.peopledaily.com.cn

To: Sully- who wrote (8443)	3/16/2005 11:14:03 AM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35834

PHILIP BENNETT UPDATE By Michelle Malkin March 16, 2005 04:48 AM Washington Post managing editor Philip Bennett tells Hugh Hewitt the People’s Daily of China misquoted him--a possibility I acknowledged in the second sentence of my initial post on this topic last week. Bennett says: <<< The version published in the People’s Daily includes numerous and important inaccuracies. In many places words and sentences were removed to change the meaning of what I said. In some places words or sentences were invented that I did not say. In one typical example, where I said “China is not a democracy” the People’s Daily version quoted me as saying “China is not a democracy either by American standards.” At the same time, comments critical of China were deleted. >>> Bennett says the interview was tape recorded, and he released a transcript of his comments regarding whether the U.S. should be the leader of the world. Bennett says the transcript shows his words "were rearranged to express a different view" than he had clearly intended. Take a look and judge for yourself: <<< People’s Daily version: Yong Tang: In such sense, do you think America should be the leader of the world? Bennett: No, I don't think US should be the leader of the world. My job is helping my readers trying to understand what is happening now. What is happening now is very difficult to understand. The world is very complex. There are various complex forces occurring in it. I don't think you can imagine a world where one country or one group of people could lead everybody else. I can't imagine that could happen. I also think it is unhealthy to have one country as the leader of the world. People in other countries don't want to be led by foreign countries. They may want to have good relations with it or they may want to share with what is good in that country. That is also a sort of colonial question. The world has gone through colonialism and imperialism. We have seen the danger and shortcomings of those systems. If we are heading into another period of imperialism where the US thinks itself as the leader of the area and its interest should prevail over all other interests of its neighbors and others, then I think the world will be in an unhappy period. What was really said: Yong Tang: Another question is that since the Washington Post is mainstream media in American how does the newspaper deal with the relations between America and the rest of the world? Do you think America should be the leader of the world? Bennett: You know I don't ask myself that question. Again that would be to express a political view, an editorial view, and I... Yong Tang: How about personal opinion. Bennett: You know, I don't... Yong Tang: First of all I think that America should be the leader. Bennett: I don't think in those terms. And I'm not trying to dodge the question. It's just that my job is to help people try to understand what's happening now. And what's happening now is very hard to understand. The world is very complex, there are very complex forces occurring in it. I don't think you can imagine a world - given where we are with technology, culture, with economics - I don't think you could imagine a world where one country, where one group of people, lead everybody else. I just can't imagine that happening. And I think it would be unhealthy if one country - whether or not it was this country or China or France or Great Britain - would describe itself as the leader of the world. People in other countries do not want to be led by a foreign country. They may want to have good relations with them and they may want to share in what's good about that other country. But that's almost sort of a colonial question. I feel like we've been through an era of colonialism, of imperialism, and we've seen the dangers and the shortcomings of those systems. If we are headed into another period of imperialism where either the United States or China, for example, thinks of itself as the leader of its area and where it's interests should prevail over all others interests of its neighbor or others then I think we are headed for an unhappy period. So I guess that's how I would answer that question. Maybe the answer is then no I don't think the United States should be the world leader. But what I really mean to say that I don't think we are headed into a period of history where one country or one set of ideas is going to dominate all others. >>> Bennett says the interview includes "numerous and important inaccuracies," but the small portion of the transcript that he released deals with his response to only one question. It would be helpful to know if he was also misquoted in other instances, such as when he is quoted saying that - the Bush Administration lied about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, - China is the best place in the world to be a journalist, and - the Bush Administration is wrong to suggest that democracy is advancing in Iraq. Bennett can quickly and easily set the record straight by releasing the tape and/or a transcript of the entire interview. I just sent him an e-mail asking him to do so. Previous: - Washington Post's Managing Editor Speaks His Mind michellemalkin.com - Reacting to Philip Bennett michellemalkin.com Update: Although Bennett is distancing himself from the comments attributed to him, not everyone found the reported comments objectionable. My old debating partner Eric Muller, for example, called the reported remarks "mundane" and likened me to Joseph McCarthy for calling attention to them. isthatlegal.org michellemalkin.com