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Patriotism and the Press
New York Times ^ | 06/28/06 | Editorial Board

Posted on 06/27/2006 11:24:31 PM PDT by airedale

Over the last year, The New York Times has twice published reports about secret antiterrorism programs being run by the Bush administration. Both times, critics have claimed that the paper was being unpatriotic or even aiding the terrorists. Some have even suggested that it should be indicted under the Espionage Act. There have been a handful of times in American history when the government has indeed tried to prosecute journalists for publishing things it preferred to keep quiet. None of them turned out well — from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the time when the government tried to enjoin The Times and The Washington Post from publishing the Pentagon Papers.

As most of our readers know, there is a large wall between the news and opinion operations of this paper, and we were not part of the news side's debates about whether to publish the latest story under contention — a report about how the government tracks international financial transfers through a banking consortium known as Swift in an effort to pinpoint terrorists. Bill Keller, the executive editor, spoke for the newsroom very clearly. SNIP.

The Swift story bears no resemblance to security breaches, like disclosure of troop locations, that would clearly compromise the immediate safety of specific individuals. Terrorist groups would have had to be fairly credulous not to suspect that they would be subject to scrutiny if they moved money around through international wire transfers. In fact, a United Nations group set up to monitor Al Qaeda and the Taliban after Sept. 11 recommended in 2002 that other countries should follow the United States' lead in monitoring suspicious transactions handled by Swift. The report is public and available on the United Nations Web site.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: enemedia; enemywithin; fifthcolumn; leaks; nytimes; swift; swiftleak; terrorism
You have to read the entire piece. What a crock. IMO anyone who believes that there is any effective wall between the editorial pages and the news pages beyond one made of swiss cheese at the NY Times will be willing to buy a bridge in Brooklyn. Second, if there really is a wall shouldn’t the news side of the house be defending the decision not the editorial page editors who if there is really a wall have nothing to do with the article? Perhaps the public editor should be the one writing the justification or perhaps Pinch himself.

They also don't seem to understand what the decision in the Pentagon Papers actually said. It was a prior restraint case. The court plainly said that prosecution after the fact was an option. The way they brought it up is clearly a veiled threat to the administration by the NY Times.

1 posted on 06/27/2006 11:24:34 PM PDT by airedale
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To: airedale
To hell with them sum bitches!

And you can quote me on that.
2 posted on 06/27/2006 11:28:43 PM PDT by Texas_Jarhead
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To: airedale
They're trying to justify treason with the cloak of free speech. The New York Times is lucky America does not have an Official Secrets Act. If it did, it would be shut down today and no one would miss them.

(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")

3 posted on 06/27/2006 11:30:56 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: airedale

Wow, the Times must really be feeling the heat. Reminds me of Dan Rather a few days after the ANG story aired, protesting his righteousness, wrapping himself in the first amendment, etc. But just like Rather, these chumps are going down. Let's keep the pressure on!!!


4 posted on 06/27/2006 11:31:33 PM PDT by inkling
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To: airedale

Hey NYT: FOAD. You released OPERATIONAL DETAILS of a CLASSIFIED OPERATION. That is EXACTLY the same as releasing information about troop movements. There was no valid First Amendment grounds such as corruption, illegality, etc. You simply released OPERATIONAL DETAILS because you HATE GW Bush. YOU ARE A BUNCH OF TRAITORS WHO SHOULD BE TRIED, CONVICTED, and JAILED. (If this was a declared was, you should by tried, convicted, and SHOT.)


5 posted on 06/27/2006 11:32:15 PM PDT by piytar
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To: piytar

declared was = declared war PIMF


6 posted on 06/27/2006 11:32:34 PM PDT by piytar
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To: airedale

They can't deny they did it so they try to justify it. They should be prosecuted to the max for disclosing classified information and let the courts decide.


7 posted on 06/27/2006 11:44:12 PM PDT by jazusamo (DIANA IREY for Congress, PA 12th District: Retire murtha.)
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To: jazusamo

I want them closed, out of business....more pressure for a prosecution may send their already troubled stock spiraling down. They must be eliminated.


8 posted on 06/27/2006 11:55:48 PM PDT by wildcatf4f3 (Islam Schmislam blahblahblah, enough already!)
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To: airedale

"As most of our readers know, there is a large wall between the news and opinion operations of this paper"


This is a desperate attempt to assimilate their readers into a single entity in a bid to retain readers and at the same time use them as human shields.


9 posted on 06/27/2006 11:56:42 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper (ETERNAL SHAME on the Treasonous and Immoral Democrats!)
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To: airedale
The Swift story bears no resemblance to security breaches, like disclosure of troop locations, that would clearly compromise the immediate safety of specific individuals.

These f'in scumbags have some f'in nerve. So, what the NYT has done isn't the same as disclosing troop locations because they don't "clearly" put "specific" individuals in danger "immediately"??? They're actually trying to argue that, just because you can't definitively point to the exact individual who is being harmed at this very minute, what they're doing is okay. I'm astounded that even the despicable vermin at the NYT would try to use that argument.
10 posted on 06/27/2006 11:58:16 PM PDT by SeafoodGumbo
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To: airedale

11 posted on 06/28/2006 12:29:06 AM PDT by GeorgeBerryman
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To: airedale

"There have been a handful of times in American history when the government has indeed tried to prosecute journalists for publishing things it preferred to keep quiet. None of them turned out well — from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the time when the government tried to enjoin The Times and The Washington Post from publishing the Pentagon Papers. "



guess what, the general public has gotten a hell of alot smarter since then, and they see this treasonist paper for exactly what it is


12 posted on 06/28/2006 1:54:58 AM PDT by sure_fine (*not one to over kill the thought process*)
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To: piytar

"(If this was a declared was, you should by tried, convicted, and SHOT.)"




I assume you meant to say a 'delcared war'?


well it is, and was clearly done so.... so they ARE traitors


13 posted on 06/28/2006 1:57:57 AM PDT by sure_fine (*not one to over kill the thought process*)
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To: butternut_squash_bisque

adding material to list


14 posted on 06/28/2006 1:59:16 AM PDT by sure_fine (*not one to over kill the thought process*)
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To: airedale

The NYT sounds like Natalie Mains. Same tune different "lady."


15 posted on 06/28/2006 1:59:46 AM PDT by madison10
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To: airedale
Patriotism and the Press..

have apparently never met.

L

16 posted on 06/28/2006 2:02:14 AM PDT by Lurker (When decadence pervades the corridors of power, depravity walks the side streets.)
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To: airedale

TRAITORS!


17 posted on 06/28/2006 2:02:22 AM PDT by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: airedale

Well aint that just Special the UN recomends it so the Slimes figure to take the heat off themselves by pushing it in the UN's direction of a recomendation...

Freakin Traitor's wriggle like Worms on a Hook

Journalist's Go Hang Yourself !


18 posted on 06/28/2006 2:17:32 AM PDT by ATOMIC_PUNK ( have long feared that my sins would return to visit me and the cost would be more than I could bear)
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To: airedale
You have to read the entire piece.
No, I don't. I'm not even gonna give 'em a hit on the page.
19 posted on 06/28/2006 2:58:54 AM PDT by philman_36
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To: airedale
IMO they've gone beyond the protections of the 1st Amnedment.
You're able condemn the government and not face reprisals...as in the King can't have you beheaded or imprisoned simply for telling him that you think the seige should end.
It isn't supposed to cover printing classified data for the world to see...as in lighting a lantern in the tower to notify the beseigers that you've left them fresh supplies outside the gate with a note about the next morning raid because you think the King should give up and end the seige.
20 posted on 06/28/2006 3:16:39 AM PDT by philman_36
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To: philman_36

The New York times demands transparency from the government, yet claims the cloak of secrecy for themselves. They live in bizzaro world. The Times is openly giving aide and comfort to the enemy -- and now a pattern exists to demonstrate this. Between the NSA story and the Banking story, the NYTimes have done nothing but help AQ in their planning. They can claim all they want in editorial pieces, but the truth is known by most americans. I wonder how much of a bonus check Mr. Keller, et al, received from our enemies for the publication of these stories? It is not Mr. Keller's decision to make on what to declassify and what not to; he should be in jail until the leaker is identified. Messers Risen and LIchtlau should be in jail as well. They are trying to be the new Woodward and Bernstein, but it ain't gonna work any more. These people simply do not understand the threat, nor to they care about the citzenry on New York City. Why should our tax payer dollars continue to go to support counter-terrorism programs that protect New York, when the city's paper of record just publishes those programs on their front pages? It is beyond disgraceful, it is treasonous.


21 posted on 06/28/2006 3:31:41 AM PDT by Laverne
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To: sure_fine

Got it for Friday's uasge. Thanks.


22 posted on 06/28/2006 3:43:17 AM PDT by butternut_squash_bisque (The recipe's at my FR HomePage. Try it!)
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To: sure_fine

Do you have the URL to the link for the story on Drudge yesterday, about the NY Slimes advocating financial investigations right after 9-11/ I can't find it on his site, anymore.


23 posted on 06/28/2006 3:59:53 AM PDT by butternut_squash_bisque (The recipe's at my FR HomePage. Try it!)
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To: airedale

Lest us not forget... The reporting of the this is one thing...THE PERSON OR PERSONS WHO LEEKED IT IS ANOTHER!


24 posted on 06/28/2006 4:20:56 AM PDT by nikos1121
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To: airedale

All I get when I click on the URL is a full-page flash ad about Verizon with no where to "skip" or advance to story!


25 posted on 06/28/2006 4:46:46 AM PDT by rightazrain (OK, who put a "Stop Payment" on my reality check?)
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To: airedale

Get a load of this crap, further down in the piece:

"From our side of the news-opinion wall, the Swift story looks like part of an alarming pattern. Ever since Sept. 11, the Bush administration has taken the necessity of heightened vigilance against terrorism and turned it into a rationale for an extraordinarily powerful executive branch, exempt from the normal checks and balances of our system of government. oversight role."


26 posted on 06/28/2006 4:53:06 AM PDT by rightazrain (OK, who put a "Stop Payment" on my reality check?)
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To: wildcatf4f3

"I want them closed, out of business....more pressure for a prosecution may send their already troubled stock spiraling down."

I could not agree more. I short sold the NYT stock on Mon., Sept. 13, 2004, as soon as I was certain the Dan Rather ANG story (which ran on Wed., Sept. 8)was completely bogus, but the NYT and Boston Globe continued to run with the story on the front page above the fold.

As a result, I short sold NYT at $40.75 and it is currently trading at $23.63!!!


27 posted on 06/28/2006 5:04:46 AM PDT by ArmedConservative (Visualize No Liberals!)
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To: ArmedConservative

You did good, AC!


28 posted on 06/28/2006 8:57:31 AM PDT by butternut_squash_bisque (The recipe's at my FR HomePage. Try it!)
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To: airedale

They understand completely, they are running a political campaign.

They don't have to be fair, truthful, or accurate.

Never, ever, forget that.


29 posted on 06/28/2006 9:01:53 AM PDT by roses of sharon
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