associated press media bias 101

by Jim Bass

In journalism school, the profs taught us that news stories provide facts, just the facts, as objectively as possible. Opinion was for the oped page. "News analysis" is a hybrid that appeared in the news pages, but was always labeled as such. The following appeared in the Los Angeles Daily News as straight news.

After Turbulent Four Years, World Looks Toward
New Bush term with Anxiety
By Robert Barr
Associated Press Writer

Friday, January 21, 2005 - LONDON - As President Bush kicks off his second term, he has pockets of international support from Tokyo to Tel Aviv, but many around the world warily contemplate how the next chapter will unfold under a leader they see as cocky, shallow and dangerous.

Who sees him this way? Jacques Chirac? Kofi Annan? Saddam Hussein? Bush voters (presumably not Robert Barr) see him as decisive, incisive and heeding danger before it worsens.

They wonder: Will he now set his sights on Iran?

How does Barr know what these unnamed people are wondering? If he knows them that well, why not name them?

Will he widen the rift with Europe?

Will Europe narrow its rift with America? After living under our protection for 40 years of the Cold War, will it stop behaving like a spoiled teenage ingrate and help make the world safer? Will Germany acknowledge that our military action to destroy the Nazis, and our largess after the war, paved the way to their cushy sophisticated lifestyles?

Or will he become more conciliatory, seeking to secure a legacy the world will ultimately respect?

You mean, will Bush start kissing up to European intellectual elites hoping they will write nice things about him in history books? Where has Mr. Barr been?

There are some overseas supporters of Bush's foreign policy activism: pre-emptive strikes against perceived threats and the conviction that American muscle is a legitimate tool for spreading democracy. Israelis, for example, are grateful for his strong opposition to terrorism.

Oh joy, not everyone hates us. Israel likes us. In fact 18 European governments backed the US effort to remove Saddam. Australia is a staunch ally and voters there reelected John Howard with larger margins than before.

Many nations that broke with us over Iraq were on the take from Saddam Hussein via the Oil-for-Food program. By cheating (unilaterally) on the UN sanctions, they extended Saddam's brutal grip on power. Such immoral scum are unworthy of our concern other than for practical reasons.

But the Iraq war has undermined his relationship with allies in Europe. And many here are offended by his unilateralist approach, carried out with a perceived cowboy swagger...

Europussies confuse righteous action with swagger. Multilateralists winked at genocide in Bosnia. Ditto genocide in Darfur, so long as the Sudanese government allows their oil companies to do business there. Blood for oil indeed.

and accompanied by an overt religious fervor out of synch with Europe's secular politics.

Bush as religious nut is a fabrication. Rather than face the moral failures of their cowardly foreign policy, they project the idea that Bush wakes up each morning humming "Onward Christian Soldiers," then waits for God to channel his next war plan into his brain.

Consider this excerpt from Germany's Stern Magazine about Condoleeza Rice (hat tip to Medienkritik:

"They pray together and in the case that George W. Bush wishes it, Condi explains the conflicts of this world to him in clear, simple words. Most of the time the godly mission of America plays an important role. But what she really thinks, the convictions that she really holds are things that she has yet to reveal. (...)

His clear election result strengthens Bush in his conviction: America must change the world in a godly mission, as, for example, in Iraq."

There are even signs that unhappiness with Bush's policies and persona is spilling over into hostility toward Americans in general. A BBC World Service opinion poll released Wednesday indicated majorities in seven important countries thought less of Americans because of Bush, led by Turkey with 72 percent, France 65 percent, Brazil 59 percent and Germany 56 percent.

They don't like us? Please, don't tell Sally Field.

On the other hand, some commentators have suggested second-term presidents can prefer world allies to domestic constituents, with an eye on a place in world history. Some optimistically look to Condoleezza Rice as a secretary of state with intellectual and international credentials, and a respected deputy in Robert Zoellick.

What? Now they're turning on Colin Powell? He had no intellectual credentials?

But mixed signals have been perceived from Bush's new team, too.

"Will George W. Bush turn more moderate or will he continue (an) aggressive foreign policy?" wondered the Austrian daily Die Presse. "The responses being sent out by Washington are varying: Soothing words for aggravated allies in Europe and threats against the 'outposts of tyranny.'"

The newspaper was referring to Rice's labeling of several nations, including Iran, Zimbabwe and North Korea, as "outposts of tyranny."

In a nutshell, critics fret that Bush might make the world less safe for tyrants.

Across Europe, many vented their anxieties through Bush bashing.

A commentator in Croatia's Novi List daily quipped that as Bush was sworn in with the words "So help me God," the world might do well to "look up at the sky and say: 'God help us.'"

That's rich. Bosnian Muslims no doubt cried out for God's help as they were lined up over freshly dug pits and executed.

Anti-Bush demonstrators in Britain planned a candlelight protest outside the U.S. Embassy in London, called by the Stop the War Coalition, which staged mass rallies opposing the Iraq war in 2003. Protesters held a vigil Wednesday evening in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, holding a dozen American flags upside-down.

How precious. When Saddam was murdering Iraqis, were these same Eurotwits standing up for human rights? No, most likely marching against genetically engineered beef or other "Frankenfood" while they chain smoked.

Even one of Bush's staunchest allies, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said he hoped the United States would promote consensus in the second term. "Evolution comes from experience," Blair said in an interview with The Guardian newspaper.

Amid the prevailing pessimism, there were cautious signs of hope.

"After four years of horror, America tries a new duet with Europe," said Germany's highbrow weekly Die Zeit.

Horror for who? Saddam? The Taliban? Yes, we are guilty of horrifying Afghanistan and Iraq with free elections.

In Brussels, European Union officials urged Washington to be more active on issues including the Middle East peace process, and to embrace the Kyoto treaty on global warming which Bush abandoned four years ago.

The Kyoto Treaty was DOA before Bush ever took office. The Senate voted 95-0 not to support the treaty during Clinton's presidency.

And Washington's contribution of funds and troops to help Asia recover from the tsunami disaster has raised hopes of a gentler dimension to U.S. foreign policy.

"In recent weeks we have seen the humanitarian side of U.S. foreign policy ... This is something we would like to see more of," said Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natelegawa.

The Taliban once executed women for dress code violations, now they don't. Removing tyrants is humanitarian, too. Remove the scales from your eyes, Marty.

Following Rice's aggressive rhetoric and Bush's own refusal this week to rule out military action against Tehran over its nuclear program, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami on Thursday played down the possibility of armed conflict. "We think America is not in a position to take a lunatic action of attacking Iran," Khatami said in an interview with Iranian Radio.

He's right. We aren't lunatics. Irony alert: the Left in the US asserts that Bush is turning the USA into a theocracy. The Europeans accuse Bush of channeling God. But dare not speak ill of Iran's Mad Mullahs, who actually enforce a muderous theocracy, based on God's word.

The Russians, stung by recent Bush administration criticism of President Vladimir Putin's domestic policy, seen by some as curtailing domestic freedoms, generally have taken a wait-and-see stance on a second Bush term. Nevertheless, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov issued a sharp warning against any U.S. military action against Iran over its nuclear program.

Domestic policy that dismantles free freedom, jails dissidents and tries to rig an election in Ukraine? How impolite of Bush to speak up.

Yet, given the the warm personal relationship between Bush and Putin, Lavrov predicted a steady improvement in Russia-U.S. relations. "It's unlikely that the U.S. administration will revise a course aimed at developing a bilateral partnership that has been outlined by both presidents."

Bush's political allies around the world congratulated him.

Safely at the end of the article, Barr finds a few nice words for Bush.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he expected Bush to "continue to actively contribute to world peace and stability."

In Pakistan, chief government spokesman Sheikh Rashid Ahmed hailed Bush and pledged Islamabad's continuing support for the war on terror.

And the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expressed confidence that Bush would continue to back the Jewish state.

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Link: http://www.attackmachine.com/fisking_ap.htm