The news media hasn’t fooled Dennis Prager

In, American news media: little courage and little honesty, columnist Dennis Prager writes:

American news media have suffered in recent years. Thanks to the Internet and talk radio, millions of Americans have ceased relying on The New York Times and CNN for their written and televised news.

But it is difficult to recall a greater blow to the credibility of American news media than their near-universal refusal to publish the Mohammed cartoons originally published in a Danish newspaper that have brought about worldwide Muslim protests.

This loss of credibility owes to two factors: dishonesty and cowardice.

Everyone and his mother knows why the networks and the print journals haven't shown the cartoons -- they fear Muslims blowing up their buildings and stabbing their editors to death.

The only people who deny this are the news media. They all claim that they won't show the cartoons because of sensitivity to Muslim feelings.

Which brings us to the other reason for the latest blow to the news media's credibility: They are lying to us. If some politicians were telling lies as blatantly as the news media are now, the media would be having a field day exposing those politicians and calling for their removal from office.

But, alas, what TV news station will criticize another TV news station? And what newspaper or magazine will criticize another newspaper or magazine?

Prager says a lot more. He roasts liberal MSM for it craven hypocrisy in first, flaunting its support for "artist" Andres Serrano's Piss Christ, and now invoking "respect for religious feelings" as their cover for collapsing in the face of Muslim threats.

Prager ends with:

But the liberal news media's lack of courage coupled with their dishonest justifications make for a devastating commentary on American news media.

One should not be surprised. A few years ago, New York Times foreign affairs reporter John Burns reported -- to his great credit -- that some of the most prestigious American news organizations had made a deal with Saddam Hussein not to report negatively about his regime in exchange for being allowed to have a Baghdad news bureau.

When it comes to taking on conservatives, Catholics, Evangelicals and the like, liberal news media are Supermen. When it comes to confronting real evil, however, the news media are Mickey Mouse.

My only quarrel with Prager is he lumps Mickey Mouse in with the news media types. Mickey deserves better.

Mickey never published photos of Piss Christ or called it "art" when feces was smeared on an image of the Blessed Virgin. And he's not now surrendering to Muslim threats.

Be sure to read Prager's column. It's a "clip and save" because sure as can be news organizations will do all they can to help us forget these past few weeks.

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