One of Rush Limbaugh’s frequent pieces of advice is read the entire article when reading something from the AP or the NY Times. What they’ll do is bury the most important facts or the thing that undermines the entire story in the last paragraph. If anyone ever calls them on their distortion or omission, they’ll point to the last paragraph and say “See, we did mention that”. It’s like the White House appointing people the day before Christmas or announcing something Friday afternoons at 4 PM.
Case in Point
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/us/07indict.html
This is a story about a former CIA official being indicted for disclosing classified information to the NY Times about the CIA’s attempts to disrupt the Iranian nuclear weapons program that may have actually backfired and taught the Iranians how to make weapons.
It’s not until the 16th paragraph that we learn:
“Mr. Sterling, who is black, had a stormy history with the C.I.A. He accused the agency of racial discrimination and later tussled with it over permission to publish his memoirs. The indictment says he harbored “anger and resentment” against the agency and leaked as “retaliation.””
Somehow I doubt I’ll be hearing Al Sharpton getting angry about Eric Holter going after his Brother.
The reporter involved mostly writes about military issue. Interestingly, he wrote the piece about how Afghanistan is awash in trillions in mineral riches if the United States just keeps troops in Afghinstan for a few more generations
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html
