Posted on 02/24/2006 1:18:33 PM PST by DogByte6RER
This time, the press failed the public
By William J. Bennett and Alan M. Dershowitz February 24, 2006
There was a time when the press was the strongest guardian of free expression in this democracy. Stories and celebrations of intrepid and courageous reporters are many within the press corps. Cases such as New York Times v. Sullivan in the 1960s were litigated so that the press could report on and examine public officials with the unfettered reporting a free people deserved. In the 1970s the Pentagon Papers case reaffirmed the proposition that issues of public importance were fully protected by the First Amendment.
The mass media that backed the plaintiffs in these cases understood that not only did a free press have a right to report on critical issues and people of the day but that citizens had a right to know about those issues and people. The mass media understood another thing: They had more than a right; they had a duty to report.
We two come from different political and philosophical perspectives, but on this we agree: Over the past few weeks, the press has betrayed not only its duties but its responsibilities. To our knowledge, only three print newspapers have followed their true calling: The Austin American-Statesman, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The New York Sun. What have they done? They simply printed cartoons that were at the center of widespread turmoil among Muslims over depictions of the prophet Muhammad. These newspapers did their duty.
Since the war on terrorism began, the mainstream press has had no problem printing stories and pictures that challenged the administration and, in the view of some, compromised our war and peace efforts. The manifold images of abuse at Abu Ghraib come to mind – images that struck at our effort to win support from Arab governments and peoples and that pierced the heart of the Muslim world as well as the U.S. military.
The press has had no problem with breaking a story using classified information on detention centers for captured terrorists and suspects – stories that could harm our allies. And it disclosed a surveillance program so highly classified that most members of Congress were unaware of it.
In its zeal to publish stories critical of our nation's efforts – and clearly upsetting to enemies and allies alike – the press has printed some articles that turned out to be inaccurate. The Guantanamo Bay flushing of the Koran comes to mind.
But for the past month, the Islamist street has been on an intifada over cartoons depicting Muhammad that were first published months ago in a Danish newspaper. Protests in London – never mind Jordan, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Iran and other countries not noted for their commitment to democratic principles – included signs that read, “Behead those who insult Islam.” The mainstream U.S. media have covered this worldwide uprising; it is, after all, a glimpse into the sentiments of our enemy and its allies. And yet it has refused, with but a few exceptions, to show the cartoons that purportedly caused all the outrage.
What has happened? To put it simply, radical Islamists have won a war of intimidation. They have cowed the major news media from showing these cartoons. The mainstream press has capitulated to the Islamists – their threats more than their sensibilities. One did not see Catholics claiming the right to mayhem in the wake of the republished depiction of the Virgin Mary covered in cow dung, any more than one saw a rejuvenated Jewish Defense League take to the street or blow up an office when Ariel Sharon was depicted as Hitler or when the Israeli army was depicted as murdering the baby Jesus.
So far as we can tell, a new, twin policy from the mainstream media has been promulgated: (a) If a group is strong enough in its reaction to a story or caricature, the press will refrain from printing that story or caricature, and (b) if the group is pandered to by the mainstream media, the media then will go through elaborate contortions and defenses to justify its abdication of duty. At bottom, this is an unacceptable form of not-so-benign bigotry, representing a higher expectation from Christians and Jews than from Muslims.
While we may disagree among ourselves about whether and when the public interest justifies the disclosure of classified wartime information, our general agreement and understanding of the First Amendment and a free press is informed by the fact – not opinion but fact – that without broad freedom, without responsibility for the right to know carried out by courageous writers, editors, political cartoonists and publishers, our democracy would be weaker, if not nonexistent. There should be no group or mob veto of a story that is in the public interest.
When we were attacked on Sept. 11, we knew the main reason for the attack was that Islamists hated our way of life, our virtues, our freedoms. What we never imagined was that the free press – an institution at the heart of those virtues and freedoms – would be among the first to surrender.
Bennett is the Washington fellow of the Claremont Institute and a former secretary of education. Dershowitz is a professor of law at Harvard University.
At least a few of the bloggers are brave enough to post the Danish cartoons on their sites. Example: Michelle Malkin at:
http://www.michellemalkin.com
"This time, the press failed the public"
- What do you mean "this time"? The press has been failing us for as long as I can remember.
It's not my title for the article.
Either the editors at the San Diego Union-Tribune coined the title, or the authors of the op-ed named it.
Wow! Strange bedfellows! They couldn't be closer to the truth in this case. I'm just wondering why it took so long.
Here's a bit about how the UAE has reacted to the cartoons.
AND they seem to have the same sentiments as the rioters all
over the world. "Westernized" UAE, my foot.
_______
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/02/08/cartoon.protests/index.html
The cartoons have prompted boycotts of Danish goods throughout the Muslim world. In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, travel agents said travelers were not booking flights to Denmark or Norway.
Also in UAE, a university professor was fired after distributing copies of the cartoons to her students. The nation's minister of education, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak al Nahan, said he ordered Clauda Keepoz's dismissal because "her behavior has nothing to do with the freedom of expression."
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=5256
Protests against “blasphemous” cartoons mounts in Islamic nations
Jan. 31,2006
[snip] Burnt flags, political condemnation, and appeals for a boycott are involving even traditionally moderate Islamic nations, like Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. The Arab League and Organizations from the Islamic who announced their intention to appeal to the United Nations for a resolution blocking all forms of attacks against religious faiths.
But the wave of protest continues. “It’s cultural terrorism, not freedom of expression” intoned Mohammad al-Dhaheri, Minister for Justice and Islamic affairs of the United Arab Emirates.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0201/dailyUpdate.html
In an editorial, the Khaleej Times of the United Arab Emirates expressed dismay that the Danish government has not formally apologized for the episode.
The prime minister continues to defend the insensitive newspaper in the name of ‘media freedom’. All freedom including that of the media comes with responsibility. Mocking people’s deeply held religious beliefs and sentiments is no media freedom. It’s sheer and unpardonable callousness.
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-world.asp?parentid=38492
Branches of French hypermarket Carrefour in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have also stopped selling Danish goods. "Danish products have been removed from all (UAE) branches of Carrefour," one official said.
This time? Only this time? These days, the MSM fails us every day!
The speaker is Alan Dershowitz, and for him it IS the first time.
bttt
That about nails it. What does he mean "this time?"
The common thread in all liberal doctrine is fear: fear of the religious right, fear of corporate power, fear of certain ideas, fear of second hand smoke, fear of environmental cataclysm. Now the disease that promotes the dogma has infected its purveyors, and for all who see clearly it is undeniable: cowardice and liberal politics have become synomous.
What did Al Teach Bennett how to count cards. Why the odd couple? Dershowitz or Bennet got children in the Iraq theater of operations? I doubt they would be so anxious to stir the pot harder if they risked something.
That, and the fact that the MSM apparently has some interest in the demise of this Country and for which it stands.
That loud crash you just heard was the sound of Militant Islamics crashing their jets into the First Amendment. I bet some of the old greats of WWII who lost their lives covering the war are turning over in their graves. Democracy, Freedom of Speech. PTUH! At the first sign of genuine resistance, the MSM wet their pants and ran!
You posted it.....
Comments about the article come back to you.....
That's kind of how it works around here.....
This appeared in the SD Union-Tribune, which has apparently not printed the cartoons.
Odd, that.
When a country is taken over by socialist/communist or militant muslims the first thing they do is take control of the media. Next, they round up the intellectual elite opposition and imprison or kill them. Our MSM are endangering themselves by supporting our enemies.
ping for later
Every newspaper in the country is still free to print those cartoons. Perhaps most of them prefer to stick to their standard, syndicated political cartoons rather than reach for incendiary material simply to prove they are free and for the sole purpose of pi$$ing people off. Every newspaper in the country is also free to present the facts as they see them, which in turn brings stories laden with bias. All are free to make those decisions and let the chips fall where they may business-wise.
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