Anonymous quotes
I just got a kick out of the double standard the media has for anonymous sources.
President Bush has discovered bloggers. Iraqi bloggers.
Bush – a man not known for his love of the working press, and certainly no fan of anonymous quotes – cited two Iraqi bloggers yesterday in a speech asserting that his troop buildup, despite congressional criticism and calls for withdrawal, was helping improve everyday life for Iraqis.
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“I want to share with you how two Iraqi bloggers – they have bloggers in Baghdad, just like we've got here,” Bush told an audience of ranchers and cattlemen, after remarking that Iraqis were beginning to see “positive changes.”He went on to quote the bloggers directly: “Displaced families are returning home, marketplaces are seeing more activity, stores that were long shuttered are now reopening. We feel safer about moving in the city now. Our people want to see this effort succeed. We hope the governments in Baghdad and America do not lose their resolve.”
But just who were these anonymous bloggers?
The deputy White House press secretary, Dana Perino, spent a good chunk of her regular briefing yesterday deflecting that question and defending the propriety of the president's use of anonymous quotes.
I'm all for this new standard . . . as long as the New York Times agrees to follow it too.
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At the rate they are going, we won't have to worry about the NYT much longer. Ad revenue took a hit in Feb, and the stock is worth about half what it used to be just a few short years ago. That's quite an accomplishment when the economy is good and the market is rising. It's hard to sell lies when the truth is free.
It's too bad they don't stick to honestly reporting the facts.