Wednesday, September 26, 2007

McClatchy and the N&O

What follows is taken from a news report of President Bush’s address to the U. N. General Assembly. The report begins:

President Bush implored the United Nations on Tuesday to recommit itself to restoring human decency by liberating oppressed people and ending famine and disease.

Speaking before the United Nations General Assembly, the president called for renewed efforts to enforce the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a striking point of emphasis for a leader who's widely accused of violating human rights in waging war against terrorism.

Bush didn't mention the U.S. prisons in Afghanistan or at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. practice of holding detainees for years without legal charges or access to lawyers, or the CIA's "rendition" kidnappings of suspects abroad, all issues of concern to human rights activists around the world.

"At first read, it's little more than an exercise in hypocrisy. His words about human rights ring hollow because his credibility is nonexistent," said Curt Goering, the deputy executive director of Amnesty International USA. "The gap between the rhetoric and the actual record is stunning. I can't help but believe many people in the audience were thinking, 'What was this man thinking?' "
The rest of the report is here. The story is from the McClatchy news service.

McClatchy is the parent company of the Raleigh News & Observer, the paper which last March told its readers a deliberately fraudulent story about the “ordeal” of a young, black, Durham mother who was subjected to a night of “sexual violence.”

Three innocent men were subsequently indicted while the N&O withheld for thirteen months critically important news it had that was exculpatory for the men. The N&O only released the news the day after the men were declared innocent by North Carolina’s Attorney General.

McClatchy and the N&O are liberal/leftist news organizations. In my opinion, both engage in Bush-bashing and sliming America; the story cited here being just one more example of that.

However, McClatchy and the N&O both deny doing any of that. The N&O’s executive editor for news, Melanie Sill, says people who think either McClatchy or the N&O do anything other then fair and accurate news reporting are simply wrong.

I reported and commented. Now you decide.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Has anyone communicated with the McClatchy board of directors?

Anonymous said...

The McClatchy Board of Directors can read. They know what the organization is doing. Does anyone think writing them would make them come to their senses? The board obviously wants the papers to continue their practice of intermixing news reports with editorial comment. So what's news about that? Folks, they ALL do it today. That's why print journalism is on its way to join the dinosaurs. Get over it.

Anonymous said...

Its all about money over accuracy and fairness. If it sells, its right. That is Sill's job,,,bring home thebacon baby.

gak said...

I mean no insult here but I don't see the problem in the snipit you posted from the N&O. For Bush to say what he did, doesn't ring true. With all due respect John, what am I missing here???

GAK