NYT's Politics As Usual On The Fourth

I was amazed when this popped up on Memeorandum when I looked. I don't for one minute believe its real target is China. And its ending with Banned in Boston helps to give that away. Some excerpts:

No News Allowed

News has always been a tough nut for Communist dictators. It happens unexpectedly, giving bureaucrats precious little time to prepare the correct ideological explanation; it often undermines whatever propaganda line the state is pushing, and if it happens to involve embarrassing events like riots, strikes, accidents or outbreaks of disease, it can make the party bosses look less than perfect....

The draft law says that newspapers, magazines, Web sites and television stations would face fines up to $12,500 each time they published information about a sudden incident "without authorization."

This Independence Day seems like a good day to point out that no country does itself any credit when it tries to control the free flow of news. ... Billing a story as an "unauthorized sudden incident" could become the Chinese equivalent of the old, seductive "banned in Boston."

True, they mostly kept the point of the article focused on China. But in today's political climate, it's also fairly clear that their target remains the Bush administration, even on the Fourth of July.

Comments

[Happy4th]

As much as the news media would like us to think..
I do not beleive many are paying much attention
anymore to all these fruitckaes.

[Kathy]

I don't for one minute believe its real target is China.

I don't, either. It's obvious they are trying to make a larger point. How unfortunate that the Bush administration and its right-wing supporters have positioned themselves in the same camp as China when it comes to freedom of the press and the public's right to know.

[Rick]

"its right-wing supporters"

Yeah! Kathy you're so right! Those right wing assholes are the same ones who gave us the technology to shoot those damned missiles out of the sky. I for one wish they would get the hell outta the way so YOU could have the left wing dictatorship you so richly deserve.

[tester]

"Those right wing assholes are the same ones who gave us the technology to shoot those damned missiles out of the sky"

Oh, I thought it was Al Gore.

Actually, the interceptor missle was a multi-administration project.

[Rick]

"Actually, the interceptor missle was a multi-administration project."

Very good tester. I just bet it goes back at least to the NIKE programs of the 50's-60's. Tell me, are you old enough to remember hiding under your desk during civil defense drills?