Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Journalstic Liars and Cowards

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The year just ending has not been what the Left had in mind. They're in charge, but ineffective. They're confronted with facts that contradict their prejudices. So what has the Left accomplished this year?

They've entertained. And so as we do every year in this little abscess on the backside of journalism, we recognize the silliest and most futile emanations from that ideology ironically misnamed as "liberalism."
I would like to award my first Kozmo to the New York Times. the Times has taken the political position that the war in Iraq has nothing to do with the war on terror. This became increasingly complicated as the opposition in Iraq called itself Al Qaida and the US military intercepted communications between Al Qaida in Iraq (which it calls itself) and the Al Qaida leadership clearly implicated in the 9/11 attacks.
So, the New York Times adopted the Orwellian tactic of modifying the language to avoid linking the war in Iraq, which many oppose, with the war against Al Qaida which hardly anyone opposes. And so, on the pages of the New York Times and only in the Times, Iraq in Al Qaida became Al Qaida in Mesopotamia. As more and more evidence linking Osama bin Laden to Al Qaida in Iraq surfaced, the Times attempted to preserve its fading credibility by casting doubt on the military's honor and renamed Al Qaida in Mesopotamia as some derivation of "Al Qaida in Mesopotamia that the military claims is affiliated with Al Qaida."
You probably understand what that means, but the Times is hoping that its dwindling, misinformed, loyal readership won't figure it out. And so, we award the 2007 Walter Duranty Memorial Journalistic Disinformation Kozmo to the New York Times.
A few weeks ago, Times editor Bill Keller gave what qualifies as an acceptance speech when he declared that, "we do not work in the service of a party, or an industry, or even a country."
Often, the Times cannot work in service of its own version of the truth. Last year came the stunning scientific discovery that somatic cells could easily be transformed into the equivalent of fetal stem cells, overcoming the moral obstacle to research in this unpromising medical field, as no babies would have to be killed. The Times immediately grasped the peril in this and on its editorial page wrote: "The stunning announcement by Japanese and American research teams that they have obtained highly promising stem cells without having to destroy an embryo could help free scientists from shackles that have long hobbled their efforts. . . . Any claim that Mr. Bush's moral stance drove scientists to this discovery must be greeted with particular skepticism. The primary discoverer of the new techniques is a Japanese scientist who was not subject to the president's restrictions."
In that same edition, the Times front page told a somewhat different story: "When I saw the embryo, I suddenly realized there was such a small difference between it and my daughters," said Dr. Yamanaka, 45, a father of two and now a professor at the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences at Kyoto University. "I thought, we can't keep destroying embryos for our research. There must be another way."
Morality respects no borders.
And so, we award the Times our Fake But Accurate Kozmo.
MSNBC political analyst Lawrence O'Donnell and Newsweek's Evan Thomas split the Truth In Journalism Kosmo. The news media continually pat themselves on the back for keeping America free by speaking truth to power. But Lawrence O'Donnell revealed why journalists prefer pens to swords.
After calling Mormon prophet Joseph Smith a, "madman who
was a criminal and a rapist," he was asked if he would similarly criticize the Muslim prophet Mohammed:
"I would like to criticize Islam much more than I do publicly, but I'm afraid for my life if I do... They'll [Mormons] never take a shot at
me. Those other people, I'm not going to say a word about them."

Aren't you glad that your liberty does not depend upon men like Lawrence O'Donnell?
Evan Thomas takes home half a Kozmo for revealing an essential truth about journalism. Regarding the journalistic lynching of the Duke lacrosse team he said: "The narrative was right, but the facts were wrong."
So, from Bill Keller, Evan Thomas and Lawrence O'Donnell we learn that journalists are disloyal, agenda driven cowards.
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