NPR as Orwellian Mouthpiece

This is a very good post written by Glenn Greenwald in response to the NPR ombudsman's public defense of why the "harsh interrogation techniques" used by the American military and intelligence operatives in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanimo will not be referred to by NPR as "torture". I heard this ombudsman on the radio (NPR of course), and her spoken argument mostly follows the written argument, ie these actions were not done to Americans, Bush said it was not torture, and calling it torture could infer that there is some sort of crime committed that should face consequences.

So basically, the goal is to avoid truth-telling and journalistic integrity. As Greenwald points out, it is ironic how such supposed paragons of "liberal media" as the New York Times, Washington Post and NPR are so unwilling to risk official displeasure by calling American war crimes what they are. Apparently access to the elite is all-important. And these are the very media institutions that complain about new media and the way that it is making life difficult for older media organizations that are the "pillars of democracy" (ie themselves).

Another gripe I personally have with NPR is the way that they constantly refer to those supportive of civil liberties, and who oppose the torture techniques and war crimes committed by the Bush administration, as "far left". Since when has the defense of constitutional liberties and the upholding of internationally-established norms regarding the laws of war become "leftist" or "liberal" (in the American sense)?