http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/despite-dc-media-reticence-huge-majority-says-waterboarding-is-torture/Despite D.C. Media Reticence, Huge Majority Says Waterboarding Is “Torture”
New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt had a fascinating Sunday article about his paper’s controversial reluctance to describe waterboarding as “torture.” Hoyt concluded that “precision and caution” urged against the word, a position apparently shared by many in the Beltway press who have grappled with this dilemma.
But now the Times has just released a poll finding that a surprisingly large majority has reached the opposite conclusion.
The relevant numbers are buried in the poll’s internals:
Seventy one percent think waterboarding is torture, while only 26% say it isn’t.
Intriguingly, the paper’s article about the poll doesn’t mention this finding, perhaps because that might have necessitated using the word “torture.”
Seriously, why won’t the paper use the T-word? Times Washington editor Douglas Jehl told Hoyt that the current administration describes waterboarding as torture, but the Bush administration doesn’t. “On what basis should a newspaper render its own verdict, short of charges being filed or a legal judgment rendered?” Jehl asked.
But the bottom line is that
by not using the term, the paper is rendering a verdict, too — in favor of the Bush administration. There’s a reason the Bushies don’t call waterboarding torture: It happened on their watch, and calling it torture would be an admission of guilt. Naturally, their official position is that they didn’t torture. By not describing the acts committed under Bush as “torture,” the paper is propping up the Bush argument. Period.
That’s the paper’s own choice, but it might as well admit it, instead of imagining that there’s some kind of middle ground to stake out here.
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