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My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

theintercept.com

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Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#121

Post by jancsika »

SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #28
rdtsc wrote: post #9

> Obama was determined to extend and even expand many of Bush’s national security policies, including a crackdown on whistleblowers and the press. Ignoring the possible consequences to American democracy, the Obama administration began aggressively conducting surveillance of the digital communications of journalists and potential sources, leading to more leak prosecutions than all previous administrations combined. I…

>For some reason I thought privacy, freedom of speech and transparency would be priorities but they weren't. He's a constitutional law professor! He loves his blackberry! Those girls that campaigned and danced around for Obama were hot. Yay his skin color doesn't matter - except it totally matters! He'll stop the wars! He's so cool he tweets out things! Because you were sold on an extremely effective misinformation c…

> I'm sorry, perhaps I'm bitter because I saw exactly what this was in 2007

And what exactly did you see back in 2007? Because it sounds to me like you are merely describing politics since the advent of television at the national level in the current U.S. two-party system.

Do you really mean to say you saw the same type of fake news campaign spread across social media in 2007 as is described in recent NYT pieces wrt the 2016 election (e.g., troll accounts so widespread that a Facebook lobbyist recognized one as one of his mom's Facebook friends)? If so can we see an archive.org link of what you wrote back then?

Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#122

Post by areyousure »

tptacek wrote: post #117
areyousure wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a strangely specific list of questions, but here is an attempt to address them: > Did Obama work with the GOP to privatize entitlement programs? No, but he often supported or considered cuts to Social Security and Medicare (including in the context of working with the GOP). For example, Obama's executive order 13531 established the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform ("Simpson-Bowles"), whi…

It's not a strangely specific list if you look at the GOP platform in each Presidential election year from 1976 through 2016. Starting in 1980, at the conclusion of the national "ideological sort", the common thread of GOP policy goals has been: 1. Reduce taxes and simplify the tax code 2. Appoint federalist pro-life judges 3. Privatize federal programs that can be privatized 4. Devolve funding and authority to the s…

Fyi, I am not the commenter above who compared Obama to a "Republican president", and I tried to stick directly to your questions.

You'll note that the answers were mostly "no", except for whether he passed a major tax cut.

Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#124

Post by blindwatchmaker »

sDlEzAtyoNAz wrote: post #115
blindwatchmaker wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not really sure what to say. I thought I was pretty clear in my previous post?

>I'm not really sure what to say. You could start with answering the questions that I asked.

Perhaps you could acknowledge what I've actually written instead of sidestepping around it?

Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#125

Post by [deleted] »

the_rosentotter wrote: post #62
hopler wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is the new york times staff or owners profiting from supporting those moneyed interests?

I don't know that the editors and writers profit directly, beyond their salaries. More like the companies are run at a loss in order to control the conversation. Of course seats are filled with people that push the line the owners prefer.

[deleted]

Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#126

Post by fmajid »

resters wrote: post #17

The major takeaway is that one can't count on the NYT to challenge powerful interests. This makes the NYT a powerful conservative force in US culture. It follows that most of the articles that appear opposed to powerful interests are a) inconsequential, or b) used as a distraction, helping to create the impression that the paper is anything but a powerful conservative force. It's no accident that the paper ran the Ju…

The NYT is not useful as a source of important news. It is useful as a barometer of what a portion of the US establishment thinks. It's pro-Iraq war cheerleading predicted there would be no significant pushback against it, for instance.

Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#127

Post by fmajid »

deogeo wrote: post #91
spamizbad wrote: post #60

I think it's fair to say the majority of the US "Mainstream Media" is overwhelmingly pro-interventalist and by extension pro-military. MSNBC had a clear conflict of interest in the run-up to the Iraq war, with its parent company being a defense contractor, yet ran overwhelmingly pro-invasion stories. A more modern example was the run-up to our involvement with Syria, where you had major network personalities like Jak…

> MSNBC had a clear conflict of interest in the run-up to the Iraq war, with its parent company being a defense contractor I'd be grateful if you could elaborate - I'm having trouble following the ownership chain, since there was a merger with Comcast I think after the Iraq War.

Read this outstanding article by John Hockenberry to understand how the dynamic works: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/409217/you-dont-understan...

Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#128

Post by fmajid »

hopler wrote: post #27
the_rosentotter wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the big papers (New York Times, Washington Post) have always been the voice of the establishment. I remember reading their editorials broadly condemning the labor movement while it was fighting for basic rights (and being slaughtered by public and privatized law enforcement) in the middle of the 19th century. Perhaps at times more humanist than others, but nevertheless. I also think it is really obvious that…

How is the new york times staff or owners profiting from supporting those moneyed interests?

The owners like to think of themselves as the decision-making elite of the country, and the White House flatters that delusion by giving them illusion of being consulted. This creates sympathy for the WH's views at the top of the NYT, and that attitude percolates implicitly to the editors.

Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#129

Post by fmajid »

rkagerer wrote: post #46
resters wrote: post #17

The major takeaway is that one can't count on the NYT to challenge powerful interests. This makes the NYT a powerful conservative force in US culture. It follows that most of the articles that appear opposed to powerful interests are a) inconsequential, or b) used as a distraction, helping to create the impression that the paper is anything but a powerful conservative force. It's no accident that the paper ran the Ju…

I don't think that's the takeaway the author means to convey. The picture he paints of the Times is that they've become much more resilient to political pressure as a result of his ordeal. In fact the article closes: Since then, the Times has been much more willing to stand up to the government and refuse to go along with White House demands to hold or kill stories. I think the major takeaway is really the erosion of…

He is trying to whitewash his record, and that of Judy Miller (who escaped the full censure she deserved because she is a personal friend of Arthur Sulzberger, the owner of the NYT).

Risen should have been fired for the Wen-Ho Lee with hunt alone, where the Federal judge in charge of the case apologized on behalf of the judicial branch of the Federal government to Mr. Lee for the way he was mistreated, with Risen acting as a cheerleader for the notorious Notra Trulock.

He does have a point about the Plame affair, but there is a big difference between journalists helping cover up malfeasance in public office and those protecting whistleblowers. This could be addressed by extending the whistleblower statutes to cover journalists.

Re: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror (2018)

#130

Post by sDlEzAtyoNAz »

blindwatchmaker wrote: post #124
sDlEzAtyoNAz wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I'm not really sure what to say. You could start with answering the questions that I asked.

Perhaps you could acknowledge what I've actually written instead of sidestepping around it?

What is there to acknowledge other than your claim that the elites inside and out of government are historically right wing, except for a few brief periods of time? The bit about Nixon being a left-wing president? I don't care about your classification of Nixon as a left-wing president. It has nothing to do with your claim that the elites inside and out of government have historically been right wing.
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