“the Press is the enemy of the people!” — this catchy phrase President Donald trump regularly denounces the liberal media, primarily the newspaper The New York Times. At first glance it seems just a manifestation of resentment: America is polarized, journalists are constantly trying to put the presidency trump the disaster, a laughing stock, and expressive, the White house does not regret the sharp words in response. But the latest scandal surrounding the publication in the NYT makes you wonder if lightweight the words of the President.
the Storm broke out after the newspaper was printed column the Republican Senator Tom cotton. Conservative Congressman from Arkansas who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, protested blatant vandalism on the streets of the United States and called for the use of troops to quell the violence. Cotton emphasized that talking about the rioters, not the protesters in General: “Not to be confused with the majority who are protesting peacefully, with gangs of rascals”.
the Senator recalled how it was used by presidents Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy and George Bush. Therefore, I am sure cotton, no death of democracy by sending troops into the streets is not going to happen, on the contrary — the protection of citizens from violence is “a constitutional duty of the government.”
Publish literally blew up the NYT editors, journalists which, contrary to corporate ethics, not recommending to publicly criticize his newspaper, staged a protest. Some have argued that the article threatens black employees of the newspaper, and some even considered it “fascist.” I have received thousands of critical letters from readers and subscribers.
the Editor columns opinion James Bennett initially rushed to defend the pluralism of opinions in the newspaper, calling it important for readers to present them with different points of view. But a day later, under pressure, resigned.
the Representative of the newspaper stated that the article allegedly didn’t answer editorial standards, publish it not followed and the responsible officers did not pay it due attention. Other journalists learned about it only after printing Newspapers, because in the American press, the division of opinion usually operates independently of the editorial staff and reports directly to the publisher. Now the NYT will review the procedure for editing these articles.
On the website of the newspaper publication of the cotton now preceded by a detailed commentary. It explains that his allegations of involvement in the massacres “of leftist groups like antifa” are unconfirmed. The Senator’s words that “the police took the brunt of the violence” in the newspaper was considered an exaggeration. Finally, the overall tone of the article was allegedly “too hard, it lacks thoughtful approach” and its ��agrovoc “Send troops” is too volatile.
Note that the Senator encouraged the use of troops only against rapists and robbers to clean up the mess. Moreover, according to the Morning Consult poll, 58 percent (that is most significant!) Americans support the idea of using troops.
Turns out, Americans elected Senator has voiced a view which is shared by most of his countrymen. But one of the leading Newspapers of the country publicly declares that this view is not a place in its pages. Journalists, which the Americans did not choose to represent their interests, silenced the people and their elected representatives, proclaiming themselves the heralds of truth.
Looking at America in recent years, we must recognize that this is a systemic flaw.
Left is not the first time the NYT is subjected to criticism when it publishes the views of conservative authors. Finally, remember that during the election campaign of 2016 NYT and almost all the American press decided that Donald trump is not the man you should choose America. Almost all national and regional media published an editorial, in which he called not to vote for him, but the people defiantly decided otherwise.
even then, it became clear that mochuda the whole world the American press is divorced from the realities and needs of ordinary citizens even in their own country. But lessons from that have not been learned. After that, trump’s words of “enemies of the people” begin to look different.
Igor Dunaevsky
