Friday, May 27, 2005
E. J. Dionne and an "Assault on the Media"
E. J. Dionne claims that attacks on Newsweek's report of flushing a Koran down the loo in Guantanamo constitute a "sophisticated effort to demolish the idea of a press independent of political parties by way of discouraging scrutiny of conservative politicians in power." Yet Dionne himself writes
So, what Newsweek reported was false, but any challenge to that false reporting constitutes an attack on the free press. In Dionne's world, the media may freely write fake news and attack anyone who challenges them on it as being opposed to a free media.
Let's be clear: Newsweek originally reported that an internal
military investigation had "confirmed" infractions alleged in "internal FBI
e-mails." The documents made public Wednesday include only an allegation from a
prisoner about the flushing of the Koran, and the Pentagon insisted that the
same prisoner, reinterviewed on May 14, couldn't corroborate his earlier
claim.
So, what Newsweek reported was false, but any challenge to that false reporting constitutes an attack on the free press. In Dionne's world, the media may freely write fake news and attack anyone who challenges them on it as being opposed to a free media.
# posted by Thomas A. Becket : 11:25 AM
