Reprinted from Paul Craig Roberts Website
I was happy to read this column by Robert Parry. He managed to avoid blaming Ronald Reagan for the dumbed-down state of the NYT.
I appreciate Parry's hard-hitting columns. He is one of America's few remaining real journalists, the likes of which can no longer be found in the US print and TV media. But somewhere along the way he got very sour on President Reagan and has a hard time explaining any of our current woes and evils without blaming Reagan. About much else, Parry is correct.
We need to ask ourselves why first class journalists like Parry are not editor-in-chief of the New York Times. Why, instead, is the NYT a propaganda organ for the government?
When you read Parry's critique of the NY Times' Russian/Ukrainian coverage, ask yourself why the Times cannot report a story truthfully. The facts about Russia and Ukraine are not hidden, so what is the reason the NY Times cannot report them truthfully? Is the reason the stupidity and ignorance of the reporters and editors, or is it that the reporters and editors are required to lie in order to serve Washington's goal of US hegemony?
When a country's newspaper of record is only a propaganda organ, what becomes of public discourse? What happens to the ability of free speech to constrain the government and to hold government accountable to the truth? Obviously, these foundational principles of American democracy cannot be performed by a media that serves as a ministry of propaganda.
Ask yourself how the liberal NY Times, publisher of the Pentagon Papers, became a warmonger that validates neoconservative US government lies.
Then read Professor Lance deHaven-Smith's book as I discuss here, and gain insight as to the answer.
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