"What luck for the rulers that men do not think." -Adolf Hitler
"I will bring this war to an end in 2009. So don’t be confused." -- Senator Barack Obama

"If you don't like Obama, you is a racist!" -- Kelonda

Search This Blog

"If the government robs Peter to pay Paul, he can count on the continued support of Paul.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Claudia Rosett: First They Came for Fox News…

"Government personnel getting into this act is altogether different. These are people paid out of the public purse, and speaking under the imprimatur of public institutions — in this case the White House. Here they are, urging White House-favored news outfits to follow the White House lead, and ostracize a specific news outlet the White House doesn’t like. This is Banana Republic stuff, a stock tactic of pressure and intimidation. The effect of such stuff, as a rule, is not to promote accurate news coverage, but to cover up stories the government doesn’t want aired, and shut up critics.

"Other news outlets — the CNNs, ABCs, NBCs, CBS’s, or for that matter the New York Times and the Globe-Post-Mercury-Etceteras, may not agree with opinions expressed on Fox. But they would be wise to remember that what goes around comes around. And if they don’t rally now around the idea that the White House has no business vetting, according to its own 'perspective,' which news outlets are 'legitimate' and which are not, then the legitimacy of all news outlets becomes a function of 'point of view' held by the White House. Welcome to the road to China’s Xinhua News Agency and Russia’s Channel One TV."

No comments: