There's something I should have spelled
out explicitly in my previous rant. "Sociopathic, genocidal
dictators plant propaganda in respected news outlets through think
tanks and paid experts" is bad enough. These commissioned op-eds
can do real damage, muddying the debate and preventing or delaying
sanctions and other actions against these regimes, but the more
frightening headline is "Even sociopathic, genocidal dictators
can plant propaganda in respected news outlets through think tanks
and paid experts."
We are literally talking about some of
the worst people in the world arguing some of the most indefensible
positions imaginable. If they can, with enough money, buy not only a
platform but also a veneer of journalistic respectability then there
really is no standard. No speaker or message is too repugnant or
dishonest to be whitewashed by the press.
If editors and publishers won't bother
to vet proxies for Assad and Charles Taylor, what kind of scrutiny
can we expect for a political party or a Fortune 500 company? When we
read an editorial about global warming or see a study on tax
increases cited, can we assume that the journalistic standards are
any higher?
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