New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt has not had a chance yet to respond to questions about his commentary on the ACORN hoax (FAIR Action Alert, 3/11/10), instead devoting his Sunday column (3/14/10) to a discussion of political labeling. It included this question:
Why is the American Enterprise Institute almost always called “conservative” in the Times, while the Brookings Institution seldom gets a label, although it has been described as a Democratic government in exile during Republican regimes?
First off, the right-wing AEI (Extra!, 3-4/99) is not “almost always called ‘conservative’ in the Times“; a Nexis search of the paper over the past year turns up 77 references to the think tank, of which 18 have the word “conservative” in the vicinity. Twenty-three percent of the time is not “almost always.”
And Brookings “has been described as a Democratic government in exile”–who, exactly, has described it thus? The only previous time that Brookings was described as a “government in exile” in the New York Times, it was a column (9/29/89) that said the think tank served as such for Democratic and Republican economists alike.
It would certainly be an odd shadow government for Democrats that provided a home for so many Republicans. While its current president, Strobe Talbott, was a deputy secretary of state in the Clinton administration, his predecessor, Michael Armacost, was an undersecretary of state under Reagan (Extra!, 11-12/98); the president before that, Bruce MacLaury, worked for Nixon’s Treasury Department (Extra!, 5/91). Brookings’ current roster of experts includes George W. Bush administration alumni like Ted Gayer, Mark McClellan and Ron Haskins–not to mention prominent Iraq War hawks Michael O’Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack (Extra! Update, 10/07).
I find it amusing that so many people think that the news is still read in newspapers, where content isn’t questioned immediately, like it it’s still the last century. This is why I think the rapid decline in the Print media is taking place. When the “Cold War” ceased to be, “Pandora’s Box” was opened & the World hasn’t been the same since. Considering the present state of affairs in our declining Great Country, A total clean sweep of the elected Government, the breaking up of each & every monopoly, restoring our manufacturing base, single payer health care, self sufficient renewable energy, restoring the American Dream, and, rebuilding the infrastructure from the Roads to the Education system, is a start. I would also include Corporate welfare in all its glory.
I am seriously wondering if Mr. Hoyt shouldn’t be given his pink slip from the NYT due to senility. He no longer seems capable of the most minimal fact-checking.
He’s capable but couldn’t be bothered. it’s just as easy, to the delight of conservative think tanks , to pass the Brookings off as “liberal”against genuine conservatives like the AEI. NPR does this all the time.
The American Enterprise Institute just wants to be loved, too. Is that so wrong?
This is the International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park. But, you’re right. The trees add much needed chrcaater to the gardens. That first shot was one of the few roses still in bloom when we went, so I’m glad you liked the photo!Sherry recently posted..