To the editor:
What do all the U.S. mainstream corporate broadcast, print news, and opinion outlets, from The New York Times to Fox News, appear to have in common?
My answer: Their coverage of deadly economic and political issues frequently distorts or entirely ignores essential historical and factual information, from detailed, well-documented sources, information directly relevant to those issues.
Three such issues: Israel’s actions since 1948 in Gaza and the occupied territories of the region formerly known as Palestine; relations between the United States and Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991; and the chronically ruinous domestic economic effects of our country’s 80-year addiction to preparing for and waging war.
Surely many, if not most, of the producers, editors, and corporate owners behind the pretty faces and mellifluous voices of the broadcast media and behind the print reporters and opinion writers in our major newspapers are aware of these easily accessible and searchable sources.
Why do the editors and producers of Fox News, PBS News Hour, the CNN/PBS program “Amanpour & Company,” CNN, MS NOW, NPR News, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times (many of whom have impressive academic credentials) all appear to be totally ignorant of these detailed, often impeccably documented sources?
For two plausible explanations, I suggest:
- Read the 1988 book “The Manufacture of Consent” by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman.
- Heed the observation of Steven F. Cohen (1938–1920) (professor of Russian and Soviet studies for 40 years cumulatively at Princeton University and New York University) in a long 2015 interview in Salon: “Let them study history, because few of them, if any, seem ever to have done so.”
John Breasted
Great Barrington
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