All the news that's fit to print?

Lois Weiner

December 15, 2009

"All the news that's fit to print" is, of course, the slogan of the New York Times. But who determines what's "fit" and why?

We read much liberal hand-wringing about what will become of democracy without daily newspapers and reporters who serve as watchdogs of government. We need an independent press, for sure. But we don't have one.

Consider today's post on Doug Ireland's blog, about a young Honduran LGBT activist, Walter Trochez, who was assassinated. Ireland quotes Trochez's open letter describing the increase in "hate crimes and homophobia towards LGTB as a result of the civic-religious-military coup in Honduras.”

http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2009/12/honduran-gay-activist-walte...

What are the odds the NYT will cover this story?

And compare the (infrequent) mish-mash the NYT dishes out about Honduras with Paul Street's description on Znet of the US role:

"Obama has responded with pronounced imperial ambiguity toward the blatantly illegal coup, which was of course carried out by U.S.-trained and U.S. funded military forces and conducted with U.S.-supplied military equipment."

http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/21909

It's not just analysis that we don't receive in the mass media. We are also starved of information. Liberal lamentations about newspapers going out of business rarely get to this problem - and the reason people turn to the internet and alternative media.

With our new website, New Politics provides information and analysis you won't find elsewhere. Subscriptions cover only a small portion of our costs, and we're in the midst of the annual fund drive that supports publication of the print edition (twice a year) and this website.

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http://newpolitics.mayfirst.org/donate

Then feel free to wring your hands over the decline of the mass media.