On Sat, Feb 23, 2002 at 08:36:13AM -0800, John Young wrote: > So, no Declan, you are wrong in invoking the unwarranted > personal exculpation of "what everyone else would do." Though > that invocation of crowd reveals a clue what you would do, have > done, will do.
I'm not saying that I would do it. But I have spent the better part of the last decade in the American political journalism community, and I feel entirely comfortable with my claim that pretty much every mainstream news organization would do the same. This is not a decision that would be made by an individual reporter in the field, but by editors and higher back home. Your rebuttal was a wishy-washy quote in a news article. Naturally mainstream journalists will say such things in an attempt to preserve the veil of journalistic objectivity and impartiality. It doesn't mean we have to believe them. You know better than that. > What is of interest is the way the personal tragedy is being used > to camouflage and direct public attention away from the political > aspects of what was a political kidnapping and murder. As the > Journal would say, "this was a national security issue, a major > issue, an are-lives-at-stake issue." Agreed. -Declan
