The NYT:
-->"Faith in Agency Clouded Sanders's VA Response" proclaims the front page of last Sunday's NYT (Feb 7, 2016). Reading through the article, however, one never really gets to what the problem is. Sanders wanted proof that claims against the Office of Veterans Affairs were credible. Once verified, he moved to implement changes in how veterans were dealt with.
There was really no story here at all. But the headlines speak louder than any of the facts presented. "Clouded Response," "slow to respond," and "lenient in his oversight" are key phrases to convey doubt about Sanders' judgement and qualifications for the presidency. Our newspaper of record is favoring Wall Street's candidate, Hillary, by distorting the news. Let's put opinion where it belongs, on the opinion page.
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The NYT
-->Just in case anyone could misunderstand how The NYT uses news coverage to propagandize, one need only to look at it's next day coverage of the Democratic primary campaign. The front page story was about female "Icons" telling young women to "Get With It" and vote for Hillary. Next came a story about Bill Clinton unleashing a "Stinging Attack on Sanders." Finally, there is a story about Hillary's grandstanding in Flint, calling the water crisis "Immoral."
Yes, the corporate establishment is scared to death of a Sanders run for president. The coverage of the race in the last several weeks shows readers how far the "Gray Lady" will go to promote the interests of the wealthy elite. Would Sanders have a chance in the general election with the mainstream media so dead set against his winning? There would have to be a revolution in the media, as well as the Democratic Party to actually see a change in the American Empire.
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The NYT
-->Of course, the same can be said about The NYT's coverage of Israel and the illegal settlements. Monday's edition (Feb 8, 2016) saw the first mention of the Airbnb controversy over renting flats in the West Bank Settlements. But instead of saying very much about the morality of these rentals, the article goes on to praise them as offering good deals for the adventurous. There is the obligatory mention of international law, a few sentences buried in the middle of the article, but the piece is all about brave settlement owners willing to offer something different.
Readers are told, "With the Internet, people see a nice area, it's cheap, Let's go, they don't care ... It's a global world now, and nothing will stop people coming."
Missed a tour of the Cambodian "Killing Fields" while the action was hot, or Auschwitz at the height of the extermination? Come to the West Bank for a little adventure in apartheid, promoted by your newspaper of record.
