The editorial response of the New York Times to the police-state measures imposed this week in New York City, Washington and Newark (“The Terror Alerts,” published in the August 5 edition of the Times) is thoroughly dishonest and disingenuous. The Times remains silent on the repressive and sinister character of the actions taken by the authorities, accepts as good coin the Bush administration’s lurid claims of an impending attack, and offers fraternal advice as to how the domestic “war on terror” might be more adroitly conducted.
Broad layers of the population are skeptical about the government’s claims and angry over the militarization of their cities. They instinctively suspect that political calculations, in the first place, an attempt to influence the presidential election, play a central role in the Bush administration’s actions. They have not forgotten that the clique around Bush lied about the supposed terrorist threat from Iraq to justify an unprovoked war that has already cost nearly 1,000 American lives, tens of thousands of Iraqi lives, and some $200 billion.
This sentiment is not shared by the New York Times. The editors of this leading newspaper are more than willing to accept as gospel truth the most lurid and unsubstantiated claims of Bush and company.
Such an approach is the direct opposite of that which would be taken by a genuinely democratic press—which the New York Times in no way embodies. Such a newspaper would consider it an elementary responsibility to treat all government claims critically and uphold the interests of the people by exposing official lies and distortions.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/aug2004/time-a07.shtml
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