Since 1897, the New York Times has used the slogan "All The News That's Fit To Print."In 2008, however, the slogan clearly needs an asterisk and a footnote:
We at the NYT don't really intend to print all the news, just the news that makes our liberal friends, especially those who happen to be running for office, look good. And we've got such brilliant writers here (if we do say so ourselves) that we can make any puff piece about a Democrat fit enough to print. It goes without saying, that positive news about a Republican or the success of conservative policies is not considered fit to print. Likewise, negative stories about liberals and Democrats shall not be seen in our pages.
The latest story of bias was reported on the Drudge Report today. Democrat presidential nominee-to-be Barack Obama wrote a piece called "My Plan for Iraq" which the Times published on July 14, 2008. GOP contender John McCain wrote a rebuttal, shredding Obama's "Plan." But the Times has rejected it, suggesting that McCain submit another draft - one that "mirrors" Obama's piece. The McCain camp knows what that means . . . change your position to agree with us and we'll print what you have to say. Thankfully, Drudge has printed McCain's piece in its entirety. And Drudge very likely has more readers than the Times does anyway. So all's well that ends well.
The New York Times is a private entity. As such, it has the freedom to take whatever editorial position it chooses. The Times is welcome to print only liberal opinion pieces if it chooses to do so. But if that's the position taken, the rag needs to come down from its disingenuous high horse of purported independence and and admit its liberal bias.
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