The Bush Syndrome
A NEW BRAND OF MCCARTHYISM
Posted on Sunday 17 February @ 01:23:05 | |
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2002

ANALYSIS/COPING WITH OUR TALIBAN
MEDIA WITCH HUNT: A NEW BRAND OF MCCARTHYISM

BY BRUCE S. TICKER

You might recall five months ago when writers for two obscure newspapers lost their jobs after daring to criticize President Bush's travel patterns on Sept. 11.

It happened again, this time in a roundabout way. The editor of an even more obscure newspaper, the weekly Courier in Littleton, N.H., was canned on Wednesday after he stood up to his bosses over the firing of a controversial cartoonist and anti-Bush editorial published on Feb. 6.

The cartoonist, Mike Marland, was subjected to the wrath of both the White House and Concord Monitor readers after the New Hampshire capital city daily published a Marland cartoon which depicted Bush piloting an airplane into twin towers that signify Social Security.

Rightly or wrongly, both Monitor editor Mike Pride and Marland himself wrote columns apologizing for the cartoon which many readers regarded as tasteless.

Come Thursday, The Caledonian-Record of St. Johnsbury, Vt., reported on Tim McCarthy's belief that he was fired for opposing a decision by Salmon Press, the Littleton Courier's parent chain, to cancel Marland's cartoons.

Marland has been drawing cartoons for the Courier, the Concord Monitor and other newspapers for 20 years. McCarthy was fired after eight years with the paper, which circulates in northern New Hampshire across from the Vermont border.

McCarthy told the Caledonian-Record that Salmon Press publisher Rich Piatt gave no reason except for possible insubordination. Piatt would not comment to the newspaper. Associate editor Olivia Garfield, widow of the late publisher, praised McCarthy and said all of us feel betrayed.

It is ironic that the fired editor shares the same last name as Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who a half-century ago terrorized ordinary Americans in the name of ferreting out communists in Hollywood and Washington.

One might say that this McCarthy was victimized by a new kind of McCarthyism.

Of course, the newspaper's credibility was severely damaged by McCarthy's firing, not that his former bosses would care. Worse, it reflects the damaged credibility of the news media in general with its questionable coverage of the Bush administration.

Many Bush critics claim that the right wing controls much of the media. The twin incidents of intimidation against the Monitor for running the cartoon and McCarthy's firing for backing the cartoonist constitute another situation which fuels such suspicions.

Many news organizations make no bones about their right-wing biases - publications such as The Washington Times, The New York Post and The Weekly Standard. We must wonder where they find the money to operate.

More bothersome is the saturation of right-wing columnists on the editorial pages of mainstream daily newspapers. Chronic liar Linda Chavez is among those whose bylines disgrace these pages where they often make sweeping generalizations and omit relevant facts which would interfere with their absurd opinions.

All responsible viewpoints should be aired, be they liberal, conservative or otherwise. It is another matter to supply a regular platform to so-called writers who neglect to back up their opinions with the facts.

Equally disturbing is the mainstream media's often shallow news coverage of Washington politics. Even The New York Times recently gave better play to a television anchor's hiring than a significant Enron development.

It may be no accident that the better coverage is found in newspapers which are under ownership of a more independent bent and the more dumbed-down coverage is carried by newspapers belonging to large chains.

Lesser newspapers have had their moments and great newspapers have dropped the ball. The newspaper which broke the McCarthy firing story often runs extremely conservative editorials.

Lowering standards at media outlets with substantial resources only serves to encourage the firing of editors like McCarthy.

Let's hope that McCarthy finds another perch to air his views.

We're still not powerless despite ever-shrinking limits on the freedom of expression.

We can still write letters to the editor, submit op-ed columns, suggest news stories to reporters and raise concerns about news coverage to editors, among other steps.

And we can continue to bear witness to the injustices of our time and write about them.