Author: George Salamon

A pivotal moment for the New York Times

By Media,

BY GEORGE SALAMON / For regular readers of our paper of record, the following sentences in an article about the slaughter of Egyptian civilians, “U.S. Condemns Crackdown but Announces No Policy Shift” by Mark Landler and Michael P. Gordon on Aug. 14, must have been one of those “I can’t believe what I just read in the Times” moments: “But Mr. Kerry (U.S. Secretary of State) announced no punitive measures while President Obama, vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard, had no public reaction. As his chief diplomat was speaking of a ‘pivotal moment for Egypt,’ the president was playing golf at a private club.”

The Zimmerman trial and race in the media: The usual soapbox derby

By Media,

BY GEORGE SALAMON / On July 16, after the Zimmerman trial had concluded with a “not guilty” verdict and a small army of experts and selected citizens were wrangling over the implications on television, you could have found these two statements in the media: “We’ve Had Our Conversation on Race. Now We Need One on Guns,” Alec Macgillis proclaimed in the New Republic. In an op-ed piece in the New York Times, Ekon N. Yankah, a professor of law at the Cordoza School of Law in New York, complained that “we are tired of hearing that race is a conversation for another day.” I have to agree with the professor.

Eyes wide shut: The New York Times reports on Egypt

By Media

The headline on Page 1 in the 4th of July New York Times proclaimed that “Ambassador Becomes Focus of Egyptians’ Mistrust of U.S.” Ambassador Anne Patterson’s face and name were indeed featured on many signs among the anti-Morsi protesters on Tahrir Square before his ouster by the Egyptian army. But the suggestion that she, and not President Obama, was the “focus” of anti-American rage (for our government’s closeness to and endorsement of Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood party) belies the evidence available from photographs – photographs our paper of record and others in the mainstream media chose to ignore.

The ‘Who Is a Journalist?’ debate picks up steam, substance

By Media

The early shots in the “Who Is a Journalist?” debate, ignited by the Edward Snowden-to-Glenn Greenwald leaks about NSA surveillance, were of lightweight caliber. (See “Who Is a Journalist? The New Republic Tickles but Does Not Tackle the Question,” GJR, June 27.) Now that a couple of journalistic heavyweights have entered the fray, the debate has gained steam and substance. Or, their contributions to it could put an end to what some see as a silly or insidious charade.