March 3rd, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government TimesCheck.com Executive Editor Kevin Mooney today blasted the New York Times for “failing to report on the jobless recovery of the U.S. economy.”
“Any administration would celebrate positive economic numbers as vindication for their policies. But not every president has The New York Times as a cheerleader and an apologist,” Mooney explained, adding, “Over the past few weeks The Gray Lady has reported with alacrity on robust Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers. But it has largely overlooked other key indicators that show the recovery to be weak, shallow and jobless.”
Mooney noted that both Presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan experienced strong periods of economic growth during their terms in office that coincided with low inflation and low unemployment, “But, apparently, this did not qualify as news,” Mooney said.
“Whereas The Times went to great lengths to explain away good economic news under Republican Administrations, the approach now is to bury the reality of a jobless recover under rosy GNP numbers,” Mooney explained.
Mooney said what he dubbed “the agenda-based journalism” at The Times “often operates by way of omission. But thanks to the powerful research tools that are the bane of liberals, it is possible to compare and contrast the congenial coverage afforded to President Obama with that of his immediate predecessors.”
Mooney noted that the double standard extends beyond coverage of the economy. “Although The Times was vociferously opposed to the troop surge into Iraq under President Bush and continually questioned the reality of political progress, it is now largely silent. The newspaper was certain to question and criticize the wisdom of Bush’s post 9/11 counter-terrorism policies. But now that the current administration has come around closer to the Bush position on Guantanamo Bay, interrogation techniques and overseas operations shouldn’t this at least be acknowledged.”
Mooney said that progress was being made, though. “It’s getting hard for The Times and other liberal media organs to continue with these gymnastics,” he said, noting that the Times covered the “Climategate” story on page A11 today by John M. Broder.
“It’s getting a lot more fun for TimesCheck.com,” Mooney added.
“Despite an influx of scientific research that questions the premise of man-made global warming The Times had, until today, continued to crusade in favor of burdensome and expensive regulatory schemes modeled after the Kyoto Protocol. Scientists who have been vindicated are dismissed as mere skeptics, while alarmists are celebrated as ‘mainstream’ thinkers,” Mooney noted.
Mooney said, however, that there was still more work to do. “The overall presumption in favor of the man-made global warming still pervades,” he said, adding, “Recently, we asked that the newspaper focus some time and attention on comments made by Phil Jones, the director of the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (CRU) in the United Kingdom. In the aftermath of ‘Climategate,’ Jones has conceded key points skeptics have making for the past several years. Is the Times willing to backpeddle on previous reports that advanced alarmist positions that are not supported by the latest science? Today’s article did not do that. We’ll be watching to see if there’s any follow-up.”
Mooney promised to keep up his efforts “to hold The Times accountable when they’re wrong, and to point out when they’re right.”
“The New York Times has a problem in that most Americans do not operate as they do with a `blame America first’ mindset,” said Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson, concluding, “An active and informed citizenry is the great enemy of a biased, duplicitous press that deliberately shades and slants the news. Our goal is to serve as a conduit for members of the public who resent cultural elitists and leftists who are hostile toward American interests.”
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