Just think what would have happened if Bush cared about the environment:
The government announced today that an Atlanta-based pipeline company would pay $34 million in fines under the Clean Water Act, the largest civil penalty ever paid by a company in the 32-year history of the Environmental Protection Agency.By the way, this was on page A11 of the New York Times. Where do you think a story about lax punishment of a polluter by the Bush administration would have been placed?
Comments (2)
There's no real reason to assume symmetry. If Canada declared war on America, it would be A1, but we don't see headlines every day "Canada does not declare war on America". It all depends on what's the status quo. It's possible that NYTimes is suppressing the news disagreeing with them. But it's also possible that they think that, by and large, the status quo is the environmental system we have had in place, and it's only big news when it gets changed.
Posted by Poop | April 4, 2003 12:27 AM
Posted on April 4, 2003 00:27
Your analogy is faulty. I'm not criticizing the Times for burying non-news ("Canada doesn't declare war."), which is not news primarily because it's not surprising. Precisely the opposite: I'm criticizing the Times for burying news. Something unexpected happened: the Bush administration was tough on a corporate polluter.
(More to the point, I'm criticizing the Times for burying news that doesn't fit their ideological agenda.)
Posted by David Nieporent | April 4, 2003 6:34 AM
Posted on April 4, 2003 06:34