A reader writes: I can’t help but notice that the CIA had no problems using the word “torture” as they devised legal strategies to shield them from the consequences of using it. They knew it was “torture,” and called it such, but how long did it take The New York Times to use the word? … Continue reading The NYT Discovers Torture
5.00 pm. Since we’re now in our sixth hour of live-blogging, I’m going to wrap it up for the time being. But I want to end on a positive note. Everything that happened in this damning report is because of Americans. But the report itself is a function of other Americans determined to push back … Continue reading Darkness Visible: Live-Blogging The Torture Report
Their exchange is one of the high moments of debate as journalism evolves in the digital era. If you haven’t, do yourself a favor and read it. I come down in favor of both approaches, i.e. alleged “objectivity” or an attempt at impartiality in competition with a press more open about its own biases and … Continue reading Keller vs Greenwald: Why Not Both?
The former executive editor of the New York Times recently wrote the following sentence on his blog: The editors (I was one at the time) argued that what constituted torture was still a matter of debate, that this issue was not just linguistic but legal and had not yet been resolved by a court, and … Continue reading Bill Keller Won’t Correct An Error Of Fact
[Re-posted from earlier today.] There was something almost poignant about a post yesterday by former NYT executive editor Bill Keller. It’s his way of explaining why he decided the Times could not use the plain word ‘torture’ to describe torture – when it was conducted by the Bush administration. He conflates the issue with the … Continue reading Bill Keller, Still Flailing
Greenwald shoots and scores! From today's NYT: After the Nazi invasion of France, Mr. Hessel fled to England and then flew secretly into occupied France as a Resistance officer. Captured by the Gestapo, he spent time in concentration camps. Asked how he survived torture, he said, “The third time of waterboarding, I said, ‘Now, I’ll … Continue reading The NYT And Torture: The Double Standard Deepens, Ctd
John F Burns pens a wonderful obit today on the remarkable British spy in France, Eileen Nearne, in 1944 who was tortured by the Nazis. Somehow, Bill Keller let the following paragraph slip through the copy-edit cracks: As she related in postwar debriefings, documented in Britain’s National Archives, the Gestapo tortured her — beating her, … Continue reading The NYT And Torture: The Double Standard Deepens
For some reason, I missed this NYT blog-post about the paper's decision to abandon the word "torture" to describe, er, torture. Bill Keller's response is an appalling piece of weaseling: “I think this Kennedy School study — by focusing on whether we have embraced the politically correct term of art in our news stories — … Continue reading “Torture” Is “Politically Correct”?
This blog, along with others, compiled some anecdotes and research to show how the New York Times had always called "waterboarding" torture – until the Bush-Cheney administration came along. Instead of challenging this government lie, the NYT simply echoed it, with Bill Keller taking instructions from John Yoo on a key, legally salient etymology. Now, … Continue reading The Legacy Media And Torture
Here's proof positive that what was once considered routine to call torture in the pages of the New York Times has now been changed, to accommodate the Bush administration. An obit, obviously written before Bill Keller decided to take his editorial cues from Dick Cheney, describes the torture undergone by an American Korean War airman … Continue reading The New York Times And “Torture”
The Dish 