------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the June 19, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
THE NEW YORK TIMES: WHY SOME LIES ARE FIT TO PRINT
By Gary Wilson
The sudden announcement that two top editors of the New York Times resigned June 5 was greeted with both cheers and jeers.
Right-wingers were cheering. But many progressives also probably didn't mind seeing the biggest national daily newspaper in the United States taken down a peg or two. Its offenses are many and its air of self- importance pervasive.
But much of what happened at the Times remains hidden. The official story is that this is all about a young reporter who had made up facts and plagiarized his way through some 30 articles published in the newspaper.
That might only be a small part of what the fuss is about. The shakeup at the New York Times comes at a time of social crisis for the U.S. ruling class. Despite the Pentagon's apparent military victory in Iraq, that country is in a state of resistance. The whole of the Middle East is a cauldron nearing a full boil. At the same time, the global capitalist economic crisis is deepening as the U.S. economy shows many signs of further decline and rising joblessness.
Hidden just below the surface is a story of inter-capitalist rivalries that have become dangerous and unstable.
There are many levels to what is happening at the Times. The official story about the young reporter, Jayson Blair, is no more sensational in its detail than other stories of liars and plagiarizers in the corporate media, but none have received anywhere near the attention this one did.
By focusing on Jayson Blair, a Black reporter who admits he was suffering from mental illness and substance abuse, the right-wing- dominated media have used the incident to further their attacks on affirmative action. Howell Raines, who resigned from his post as executive editor, was faulted because of his openly stated support for affirmative action. And Gerald Boyd, the managing editor and one of the few Black editors in a top executive position at any news organization in the U.S., was forced out simply because he is Black. He had not covered for Blair in any way.
What is left out of almost all the media reports is that not only are there almost no Black executives at any of the corporate media in any position, but there are few Black journalists at any of the big business- controlled media conglomerates. They make up only 5.3 percent of the professional news staffs across the U.S., according to the National Association of Black Journalists.
Thus, statements attacking affirmative action are coming from one of the most segregated industries in the whole country.
The crisis at the Times was never really about Jayson Blair. "One clue," reported Jack Shafer on Slate.com on May 13, "...can be found in the story of fabricator Christopher Newton. Last fall, the Associated Press fired Newton after learning he invented sources and quotations in at least 40 stories, an act of journalistic malfeasance equivalent to Blair's. Who called for the resignation of the editor of AP or the heads of Newton's editors? (Can you name the editor of the AP? I can't, either.) Nobody cried for blood, as far as I know, even though the AP is as important a journalistic institution as the New York Times."
The shakeup at the Times is supposed to give the impression that there was just this one breach of honesty and it won't happen again. The reader is supposed to conclude that everything else printed in the Times is the unvarnished truth.
LIES REPORTED AS FACT
Of course, the Times is full of stories that rely on unnamed, unverifiable sources. Most often these are cited as "high-ranking Washington officials." These lies are then reported as fact.
Many think the all-time expert at these kinds of stories filled with officially sanctioned lies and fabrications is Judith Miller. Miller co- wrote with Michael Gordon a Sept. 8, 2002, front-page report in the Times that purported to reveal an Iraqi effort to purchase aluminum tubes to be used for nuclear weapons. Was the story coordinated with the needs of the White House? That same day Vice President Dick Cheney pointed out the story when he was being interviewed on Meet the Press. He implied it proved the need for a war on Iraq.
When, months later, the United Nations weapons inspectors conclusively refuted all aspects of the story and said it was based on outright lies and fabrications, the New York Times did not print even a word of clarification, let alone any kind of public disgrace for Miller or Gordon.
Instead, the Times followed that with another front-page story by Miller. On April 21, just as it was becoming clear to all that even under total U.S. military occupation no "weapons of mass destruction" could be found in Iraq, Miller wrote a story quoting an unnamed Iraqi scientist with alleged knowledge of a secret Iraqi weapons program.
Slate's Jack Shafer wrote on May 15 about Miller's apparent piece of fiction, pointing out that it is not all that uncommon for the New York Times to print falsehoods:
"Other equally dubious Times stories go uncorrected to this day, such as the ones about the Saudis' agreement to allow the United States to use Saudi bases to fight Iraq, the plans for long-term military bases in Iraq, and Czech President Vaclav Havel's alleged phone call to President George W. Bush about Mohammed Atta."
At the root of the shakeup at the Times is the social crisis of capitalism. V.I. Lenin, in his guide to imperialism, noted that the imperialist stage of capitalism is not just about taking control of foreign countries. It involves monopolization and the concentration of finance capital, as well as inter-imperialist and inter-capitalist rivalries. Like imperialist countries, capitalist monopolies rival each other, and internecine battles take place that are usually hidden from public view.
As the economic crisis deepens, these rivalries become more desperate and dangerous. Twice in the last century, inter-imperialist rivalry led to world war.
In the U.S. ruling class, bitter rivalries for control are taking place. They could be seen in the Florida coup that put George Bush into the presidency. Among the backers of the Bush clique are two of the most powerful media conglomerates in the country, both very big and powerful businesses: Clear Channel and Fox.
Is it just a coincidence that Clear Channel and Fox are the main beneficiaries of a recent decision by the Federal Communications Commission to ease what few restrictions there are on monopoly ownership of the media?
Generally, the New York Times, a pillar of the Democratic Party, is seen by the right-wing as a liberal opponent of the Bush administration. Fox News chairperson Roger Ailes had particularly targeted the Times and Howell Raines for giving less than lock-step support to the Bush administration's war on the people of Iraq.
As Lenin noted, imperialist capitalist rivalries tend to become bloody. This is not something that can be ended by reform, but rather is built into the system. The only cure is a total makeover.
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe wwnews- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
