Wednesday, June 20, 2012

One more point about that "On the Media" story

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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