Posted on 06/28/2006 8:46:16 PM PDT by airedale
Two prominent former newsman for The New York Times, Max Frankel and Alex Jones, came out in defense of their old employer's recent disclosure of a secret bank monitoring program, saying the continued attacks on the paper are unfair and misplaced.
Frankel, who served as executive editor from 1986 to 1994 and held other posts in Washington and Moscow, called the recent criticism an "outburst of Agnewism," while Jones, a onetime press reporter for the paper and current director of the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University, said this was "an important moment for the watchdog press in wartime."
<>
Today, Congress is set to consider a resolution condemning the newspaper.
Frankel, who served as Washington bureau chief during Richard Nixon's first term, compared the attacks to then-Vice President Spiro Agnew's anti-press rants of the early 70s. He said going after the Times is part of an overall defensive mode the Bush administration and Republicans are currently stuck in because of problems that include the Iraq War.
"It is part of the stop-the-flag-burning [approach], the whole 'schmear'," Frankel said during a phone interview this morning. "They have dug themselves a deep trench, so they are all getting together to push all of the buttons. They know how to castigate the liberals and bring out their supporters." He added that "anytime the one, two, and three ranking officials of the government all come out talking off the same piece of paper, my propaganda antennae go up."
(Excerpt) Read more at editorandpublisher.com ...
I really like the closing paragraphs: "Frankel said there is a danger that the public can become convinced that such moves by newspapers are based on efforts to oppose national interest rather than report the truth. But he believed that this incident would not have a long-term negative impact. "The people who think the New York Times is the enemy will continue to think so and those who believe this is the function of the press, even in wartime, will laugh it off."
Jones, commenting on the attacks by public officials, said "part of it is sincere and part of it is politics." But he added that the overwhelming issue to keep in mind is that "the public is far better served by more information than by more secrecy." "
If they really believe this it's good they are retired from the paper, but the fact that one of them heads the Shorenstein Center at Harvard doesn't bode well for what future journalist will disclose.
"The federal statute on treason, 18 USC 2381, provides in relevant part: "Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States ... adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000."
The NYT is one of the reasons the Iraq war has been such a problem. They gave the insurgents a weapon to use against America - sympathy. Or perhaps empathy.
So, two old irrelevant Schmucks with fond wet-dream memories of the NYT come out in defense to point the finger at an administration acting,, on the defensive.....
Sounds a bit hypocritical to me. The NYT is all about agenda. If it were about selling papers, they'd have apologized by now. Normal people may actually read them for that,,,if one is in a forgiving mood that is.
What a bunch of scum.
I am almost of the mind that the banking story was an attempt at blackmailing the administration into pulling off other leak investigations.
It will be if they don't prosecute.
Gee, lets ask another fair and balanced "Journalist",Dan Rather, what he thinks.Or, on second thought, who cares?
"The people who think the New York Times is the enemy will continue to think so and those who believe this is the function of the press, even in wartime, will laugh it off."
Mr. Frankel,
The only ones laughing are the terrorists. You're a traitor, in addition to being an ***hole.
Why is it I know what these two think about the execution of the Rosenbergs?
Exactly! And may God protect your son...because the NYT certainly won't.
It's just a matter of time before an NYT is found at the site of some terrorist hideout. I HOPE the NYT keeps it up. The elitist snot-nosed journalism they churn out will very soon bite them in the a$$. They are getting more and more bold. I think the heat on them is great. I think the more pressure, the better. The LA Times too. I have yet to hear one journalist define what they mean when they say "public interest." They certainly can't be referring to the American public. That's laughable. The fact that other countries maybe be even more reluctant to help us out now is totally lost on the NYT. They believe in free speech without responsibility. What a bunch of freaks!
There. Fixed.
Yeah, the disclosure was of such minor consequence that the NYT put it ON PAGE 1 ABOVE THE FOLD.
THE NEW YORK TIMES DIDN'T MIND COVERING UP FOR KENNEDY BY SUPPRESSING THE NEWS!!!
While Frankel tries to give the impression that direct US involvement with the counter-revolution had come to an end after the Bay of Pigs fiasco, ex-classified documents contradict this. In Edward Lansdale's "Review of Operation Mongoose," dated July 25, 1962, we discover that the CIA was directly involved:
Frankel's portrait of John F. Kennedy is that of a chastised youth who has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar:
Perhaps Frankel's version of the Cuban Missile Crisis would be more credible if he had not admitted that the Times had participated in a cover-up at the time. Once Kennedy had decided to blockade Cuba, he needed to make sure that the Soviets were kept in the dark about his plans. This entailed lining up the NY Times (and the Washington Post) in a vow of secrecy. According to Frankel, who was listening to Kennedy and James Reston over an extension phone, Kennedy said, "If you reveal my plan, or print that we discovered their missiles in Cuba, Khrushchev could beat us to the draw." At first, Reston demurred: "You're asking us to suppress the news?" but soon came around to understanding Kennedy's "reasonable request" -- the news was indeed suppressed.
http://tinyurl.com/m4gq5
******
Alex Jones, former press reporter for The New York Times, is director of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He is co-author, with Susan E. Tifft, of The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind The New York Times.
Harvard media analyst Alex Jones
Max Frankel, his tennis partner Henry Kissinger
Max Frankel is a German Jew of Polish ancestry who arrived in the U.S. in 1940. In his 1999 memoir, The Times of My Life and My Life with the Times, he discussed the nature of his Judaism, his strong Zionist and Jewish tribal identity and, finally, his role as an outspoken liberal managing editor of the NYT.
Circle the Dinosaurs, Treason Times.
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
Putting on my socialist tinfoil hat, to better think like the Times.
Kim Jong II fires his missile [to test it] towards us.We shoot it down and take great offense.
So he enlists his fellow nutjob socialists,Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, to write a letter to the U.N. siding with Kim Jong II's reasoning.
This is supposed to make Kim Jong right, and convince everyone else. RIIIIIIGHT.......
Wait; this is exactly how the Times and the U.N. both would reason.
Scary Sh#t. How did the state of some people's minds get to this point?
"an important moment for the watchdog press in wartime."
"Watchdog" is a self important term. The media actually believes it has all the power necessary to protect us.
Who CARES what these creeps think about their traitorous ex-bosses.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.