Monday, June 18, 2012

The New York Times' Latest Sin Of Omission

I suppose you get used to it, when the subject is politics or anything relating to it.  Refuse to investigate Barack Obama's shady past, give no coverage to scandals like Climategate, ignore the controversy over Obama appointees like Van Jones, report on only the administration's side of cover-ups like "Fast & Furious"...when it involves Times' ability to turn their backs on inconvenient news,the list is virtually endless.


But on a "human-interest" level, especially involving stories in which individuals have made the greatest personal sacrifice one can make - their lives in the line of duty -  one would naturally assume the Times would report on it, even if in a perfunctory fashion.  And certainly when the story involves New York, the city name still attached to the paper's masthead.  But even when the story involves slain heroes (citizens of the city the Times calls home), weeping families, and solemn invocation, the so-called "paper of record" can still turn their back, as they finally prove their ultimate goal is to maintain the narrative, over all else.


This omission is truly a sin:

Here’s the way to grasp The New York Times’ coverage of the New York Police Department. The paper sees the NYPD as another version of the Catholic Church.

As with the church, which the paper reduces to pedophile priests and stonewalling bishops, the Times finds nothing good to say about the NYPD. Historic low crime rates and incredible feats of bravery are vastly overshadowed by phony controversies and excessive attention to bad apples.

The distorted picture came clear when the former newspaper of record was the only major paper in New York to skip the annual Medal Day Ceremony. It was an especially poignant event, with a posthumous Medal of Honor awarded to two officers killed in the line of duty last year.

Detective Peter Figoski, gunned down when he responded to a Brooklyn robbery, was lauded by Commissioner Ray Kelly as “a role model for other officers...”

Detective Figoski’s four daughters, Christine, Caitlyn, Caroline and Corinne, whose loss led to an outpouring of generosity, were there, too.

Brooklyn Officer Alain Schaberger also was awarded the Medal of Honor, which was presented to his mother, May. Responding to a domestic-violence call, he was pushed over a railing and died...

Yet not a word, not a photo, made it into the Times. Instead, the next day’s edition ran a long column attacking Kelly and the mayor on stop-and-frisk and an article on a proposal for another investigator to focus on the police....


So the next time this piece of fish-wrapping masquerading as a newspaper omits a story that might paint Democrats or liberalism in a less-than-positive light, or slurs your favorite politician or cause, do not take excessive umbrage.  Just remember how low they are willing to go in order to keep a falsified story line intact...

2 comments:

DismalDave said...

That's why I gave up my free NYT account for a paid WSJ account - not thrilled lately with WSJ coverage but still better then NYT

Jim - PRS said...

When I receive a offer in the mail to subscribe to the NYT, I take great joy in using the prepaid envelope to tell them that I wouldn't paper a bird cage with their stinking rag.