The Record of the Paper: The New York Times on US Foreign Policy and International Law,1954-2004
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The Record of the Paper: The New York Times on US Foreign Policy and International Law,1954-2004

The Record of the Paper: The New York Times on US Foreign Policy and International Law,1954-2004

By
Richard A. Falk (Author) Howard Friel (Author)  

Hardback

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the 1954 Geneva Accords on Vietnam to Iraq today - has failed to incorporate international law into its coverage of US foreign policy. This lapse, as the authors demonstrate, has had profound implications for the quality of the Times' journalism and the function of the press in a country supposedly governed by the rule of law. In this meticulously researched study, Howard Friel and Richard Faulk reveal how the Times has consistently misreported major US foreign policy issues, including the bombing of North Vietnam in response to the Tonkin Gulf and Pleiku incidents in 1964-65, the Reagan administration's policy toward the Sandinista government of Nicaragua in the 1980s, the 2002 military coup that briefly overthrew Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's elected president, and the Bush administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq. In their analysis of the Times' coverage of Iraq, the authors analyze the specious legal rand policy arguments given to support the invasion, the claims of Iraqi WMD, the Times' use of Ahmed Chalabi, the US cluster-bombing of Baghdad and the Iraqi town of Hilla, and a lengthy New York Times Magazine cover story that appeared to advocate the abuse and inhumane treatment of detainees that was published just as the Abu Ghraib story was breaking. Friel and Falk's eloquent and damning book concludes by proposing an alternative editorial policy that incorporates international law into the Times' coverage of US foreign policy, which, they argue, would improve the news and editorial products and the Times while aligning its editorial mission with the defense of constitutionalism and the rule of law in the United States.
"There could hardly be a more critical issue today that whether the world will be governed by the rule of law or the unilateral resort to force. This closely argued and penetrating study reviews half a century of increasing contempt for law and preference for force from a dual perspective: US Government policy, and 'journalistic malfeasance with far-reaching implications for constitutionalism in the United States and the rule of law for our country and the world' - no exaggeration, as the authors demonstrate in meticulous detail. The Record of the Paper should be read and pondered carefully, and taken as a call for action by concerned citizens. - Noam Chomsky "Friel and Falk provide a thorough and convincing analysis of how the New York Times advocated for the Iraq invasion, avoiding dissenting views, ignored global opinion and established fact, and dismissed the relevance of international law. Perhaps most importantly, this book frames the shameful coverage of Iraq within the culture of the New York Times, with its consistent endorsement of US foreign policy from Vietnam to Nicaragua, Venezuela to Iraq. Read this book and join the fight for an independent media." - Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!
  • Contributor: Richard A. Falk
  • Imprint: Verso Books
  • ISBN13: 9781844670192
  • Number of Pages: 320
  • Packaged Dimensions: 152x203mm
  • Format: Hardback
  • Publisher: Verso Books
  • Release Date: 2004-10-28
  • Binding: Hardback
  • Biography: "There could hardly be a more critical issue today that whether the world will be governed by the rule of law or the unilateral resort to force. This closely argued and penetrating study reviews half a century of increasing contempt for law and preference for force from a dual perspective: US Government policy, and 'journalistic malfeasance with far-reaching implications for constitutionalism in the United States and the rule of law for our country and the world' - no exaggeration, as the authors demonstrate in meticulous detail. The Record of the Paper should be read and pondered carefully, and taken as a call for action by concerned citizens. - Noam Chomsky "Friel and Falk provide a thorough and convincing analysis of how the New York Times advocated for the Iraq invasion, avoiding dissenting views, ignored global opinion and established fact, and dismissed the relevance of international law. Perhaps most importantly, this book frames the shameful coverage of Iraq within the culture of the New York Times, with its consistent endorsement of US foreign policy from Vietnam to Nicaragua, Venezuela to Iraq. Read this book and join the fight for an independent media." - Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!

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