Do you know know what the maggot mob is? That is the nickname some celebrities use for the paparrazi, particularly the ones who look for the big shot, the one where a starlet flashes her panties, or something else. The one where the star is getting out of a car with a hooker. The one on the nude beach. You know, degrading and demeaning shots. That’s basically what the NY Times has become: a news/political version of TMZ.
The Politico story starts out explaining how the NY Times was left out of this round of document drops by Wikileaks, despite an agreement with scumbag Julian Assange, and how it was so wonderful that there was international cooperation to tear down the United States, and other countries, leading to
So, in one of the back story’s strangest twists, the Times had to get the leaked cables through something akin to a second leak – obtaining them from The Guardian, of London. Guardian investigative editor David Leigh told Yahoo’s Michael Calderone that the British paper handed over the source material because British law “might have stopped us through injunctions [gag orders] if we were on our own.” Keller told readers in a Q&A Monday that The Guardian “considered it a continuation of our collaboration on earlier WikiLeaks disclosures.â€
Remember the good old days, when news sources worked to protect their countries from being damaged? Fortunately, some, like CNN and the Wall Street Journal, wanted no part in making a deal with Assange. Not so the NY Times
“It’s unprecedented, and to be commended. The volume of the material that WikiLeaks obtained is unprecedented, so to tackle a subject this complicated is going to take more resources. And just as everything else has gone global – crime and multinational corporations – so we are starting to see the beginning of a more global investigative journalism,” said Mark Feldstein, a professor at George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs
It would be one thing if these documents exposed malfeasance, instead of simply being a titillating way of damaging the interests of the USA, which the NY Times seems very interested in doing.
The collaboration began in June, when Nick Davies, a senior contributor to The Guardian, tracked down Assange in Brussels and suggested that the paper would devote a team to researching stories within WikiLeaks’ cache of documents, Clint Hendler reported in the Columbia Journalism Review. Assange suggested that the New York Times and Der Spiegel be involved as well. Editors from the three papers agreed to a deal in which they’d keep the documents under wraps for a few weeks and publish simultaneously with WikiLeaks.
The result was the July 25th story of the Afghanistan war logs. A similar process was used in the release of the Iraq war logs last month and Sunday’s release of the U.S. embassy cables, though the list of papers had expanded to include Spain’s El Pais and France’s Le Monde.
Got that? The NY Times actively perused a deal to damage its own country. Don’t call them unpatriotic, though.
But the deals the papers strike with WikiLeaks makes such holding impossible. The scope of action available to the papers is limited: they can provide context and verification, but they can’t stall or kill the story.
Yet, they could refuse to cooperate with Assange in releasing documents that damage their countries and world affairs. Yes, government has a role to play, and, despite left wing talking points about Conservatives, we believe government is necessary. Sometimes a necessary evil, but, necessary. These releases are nothing more than damaging titillation.
Furthermore, the news outlets could warn their respective governments, who could then take action. The public does not need to know everything, and with freedom of the press, like with Speech, there is a responsibility.
Overall, though, the Politico story is one in which it attempts to defend the Times, and the rest of the media, from being known as a maggot mob, more concerned with getting a beaver shot of a drunk and stoned starlet than acting like responsible adults seeking to protect their countries from harm.
Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU. sit back and Relax. we’ll dRive!
