The Logistics of Middle Eastern Commentary
Nick Cohen is making a point so important to grasp that I'd like to force people to read this article, have it printed on boxes of breakfast cereal, make it pop out of cash registers at every grocery store. The ideology of Middle East commentary hasn't just been shaped by infantile leftism, it's been shaped by logistics:
No news organisation in the West could base their main Middle Eastern bureau anywhere other than Israel, for the simple reason that it was the only free country with a free press, an independent judiciary and a constitution.
And this observation isn't confined to the Middle East. Logistics shape every aspect of the news-gathering business. Think this through as a logistical problem: If you were a news bureau, what problems would you have to solve right now to report from Abidjan? Just think it through and list them.
First, try to book tickets to Abidjan for the whole film crew.
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Jun '10
Re: The Logistics of Middle Eastern Commentary
A lot of people don't seem to understand the important difference between these two rules: 1) What's not allowed is forbidden, and 2) What's not forbidden is allowed. The difference is never that stark, but the practical difference is always night and day.
Jun '10
Re: The Logistics of Middle Eastern Commentary
Potemkin would be jealous of the level of gullibility of these fellow traveling "journalists" and "watchdogs". Really, it is "faux" gullibility for some, because though there are lots of sheep among the wolves on the left, they have no real power and do not ultimately direct the operations. The sheep are gullible, that's true. But, the fact that they are under the sway of the wolves isn't an accident. These sheep are not educable. The wolves must be overcome by power politics alone before they get us all killed or destroy our country. But, at present, they are making common cause with all our enemies. This time in concert with many members of our government.
David Horowitz has a great book entitled Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left. But, of course, it isn't just with Islamists that the left is currying favor.
Jul '10
Re: The Logistics of Middle Eastern Commentary
This was actually a great bone of contention in my debates during the '73 Arab-Israeli War. It was a free-time school room debate, I took Israel's side along with a Jewish Defense League member, opposing was a child of a Syrian diplomat and a child of a Washington Post foreign correspondent.
When I raised the issue that the foreign coverage the other side was citing was biased against the United States and Israel because they had press freedoms while the other participants did not, the Syrian objected strenuously, but the Post was emphatically silent, knowing that any honest comment would create "issues".
It was easier to be sensitive to this issue during the Cold War, when Pravda and Tass would provide howlers almost daily that folks like the great Paul Harvey would highlight. The CNN Baghdad revelations ca. 2003 are the only time I recall it being discussed openly in the media. Many people do not appreciate that what is not covered is often far more significant than what is, and the media is not at all comfortable with the topic.
The heroic lone blogger, like @sandmonkey in Egypt, can do more and better journalism than "professionals".
Nov '10
Re: The Logistics of Middle Eastern Commentary
Ezra Levant makes a similar point in his book "Ethical Oil" about the superiority of Oil Sands oil over viable alternatives, as measured by standard "progressive" calipers of human rights and environmental harm; in one chapter he examines the excesses of environmental "heros" such as Greenpeace.
Did you know that Greenpeace staffs a national office in China? Good idea, huh?After all, China owns the largest nationalized oil company in the world, active around the globe, is the world's largest polluter by a wide margin and, in terms of scale, has one of the worst human rights records.
The materials produced by the Beijing office of Greenpeace, however, only sings the praises of China. In at least one case the regime wrote their actual copy, which Greenpeace propagated verbatim. Reminds me of the old joke "In US you are free to criticize government; in USSR we have same freedom ... to criticize US government!"
I agree that this is an important point to make, Claire. But it doesn't amount to a full explanation. Consider the aggressive narrative-building of CPT and various news agencies. I don't see mere sampling error, but willful selection of data.
Edited on Apr 4, 2011 at 3:04pmJun '10
Re: The Logistics of Middle Eastern Commentary
Sisyphus: ...
The heroic lone blogger, like @sandmonkey in Egypt, can do more and better journalism than "professionals".
I like the quotes. I don't mind that journalists are biased and admit their bias. What makes the modern journalists and leftist "watchdogs" so evil is that they will not admit what is patently obvious to everyone. NPR is a perfect example of that sickening bias with no admitted self-awareness.
I think that this particular problem was made worse for America because we operated so many years with the Fairness Doctrine. The fairness doctrine said that you had to show both sides if you had a biased guest or biased opinion. What the MSM did with this is over the years is they just decided that their opinions and guests were unbiased really and so no opposing side was necessary. This is why they all defend the lie that there is hardly any bias in America's newsrooms.
Oct '10
Re: The Logistics of Middle Eastern Commentary
Sickness abounds in fashionable quarters.
Oct '10
Re: The Logistics of Middle Eastern Commentary
So, tell me again how the demise of the 'mainstream media' will be a bad thing?
Jul '10
Re: The Logistics of Middle Eastern Commentary
Found a scholarly tale from Barry Rubin of generations that sheds a little light on some of the institutional biases affecting the Regime, and also bears on this topic.
Edited on Apr 5, 2011 at 10:44pm