New York Times Doesn't Report Bush's Criticism Of GOPers' Syria Trip -- Only Mentions Attack On Pelosi
April 3, 2007 -- 2:00 PM EST // // Post a Comment
Okay, here's a depressing new twist to the big news orgs' irksome tendency in recent days to report the White House's criticism of Dem Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria while omitting any mention of the similar trip taken by House Republicans.
At today's press conference, President Bush finally acknowledged that Republicans and Democrats had both taken the trip, for once seeming to dole out a bit of equal opportunity criticism to members of both parties. Progress, right?
But in its account of the Syria portion of the presser today, The New York Times not only fails to mention that Republicans went on a similar trip, but also failed to even report Bush's acknowledgment that this involved members of his own party. Instead, the paper only reports Bush’s criticism of Pelosi’s trip -- it describes Bush's remarks only as criticism of Pelosi.
What the heck's up with that?
From the press conference:
QUESTION: You've agreed to talk to Syria in the context of the international conferences on Iraq. What's so different or wrong about Speaker Pelosi having her own meetings there? And are you worried that she might be preempting your own efforts?THE PRESIDENT: We have made it clear to high-ranking officials, whether they be Republicans or Democrats, that going to Syria sends mixed signals -- signals in the region and, of course, mixed signals to President Assad. And by that, I mean, photo opportunities and/or meetings with President Assad lead the Assad government to believe they're part of the mainstream of the international community, when, in fact, they're a state sponsor of terror...
Here's how The Times summarized his remarks:
The president offered no startling new language today about the war or his disagreements with Democratic leaders about how to conduct it. Rather, he strove to reassert his role as commander in chief of the military and as the leader in charge of American foreign policy, chiding the Speaker of the House, Nancy J. Pelosi, for visiting Syria today.Mr. Bush said that visits like Ms. Pelosi’s, with their accompanying “photo opportunities,” may lead the Damascus government to see itself as “part of the mainstream of the international community,” and not the terrorism promoters they are. The Bush administration has been trying for two years to isolate Damascus diplomatically, but critics have called for dialogue with Syria as a means to help stabilize Iraq.
Given that this assault on Pelosi has been a key talking point for the White House and its media enablers for days and days on end, an acknowledgment from the President himself that the trip was taken by Republicans as well as Dems is not a small thing. But The Times didn't even bother to report it. According to The Times Bush only criticized Pelosi for this.
Look, Lord knows that deadlines and quick writing lead to all sorts of inadvertent omissions, and there's plenty of time to correct this glaring omission. Maybe it'll be fixed by the time the print edition of the paper rolls off the presses tomorrow. For now, though, this is pretty friggin' weak.
How will the rest of the media handle this, if at all?
To visit the homepage of this blog, where you can see many more posts, click here.