Yours,
Eric
rayrena wrote:
> Liza Featherstone wrote, re: Hitchens' claims in Salon:
>
> >And boy does he not substantiate it! He says it "was leaked". brilliantly
> >vague
> >sourcing. Does he mean it was just leaked to him?
>
> This is all very lame, because a) it's one of those things that I *really*
> want to believe; and b) Hitchens does not have to resort to fictionalizing
> or to unsubstantiated claims--that Clinton kowtows to whatever interests
> serve his own at that particular moment is obvious and well-known. Why
> resort to psuedo-investigative-reporting techniques ("was leaked," "sources
> say," etc.) when just repeating the obvious over and over is more
> effective, especially from someone occupying Hitchens' rather lofty
> position? Vague claims like "was leaked" only cheapen Hitchens' sentiment.
>
> And here is a piece with a similar theme from last week's Village Voice:
> http://www.villagevoice.com/columns/9902/cotts.shtml
>
> Press Clips by Cynthia Cott
>
> Why ruin a good story with the truth? That's the credo of
> many journalists, who would gladly downplay accuracy
> and fairness for entertainment value. They rarely cop to
> that standard, but you don't have to look far to see it in
> action. Case in point: last week, Christopher Hitchens
> and Matt Drudge peddled stories that sounded good at
> first, but fell apart under scrutiny.
>
> [snip, the Drudge part]
>
> Christopher Hitchens began
> his column in the January 11-18 issue of the Nation
> with a little behind-the-scenes gossip about Henry
> Kissinger. The scene: at a party two years ago, a Nation
> colleague was introduced to Kissinger, who growled,
> "The Nation? So I suppose that to you I am a war
> criminal?" Nervous laughter ensued. When the leftie
> pointed out that, these days, the Nation was just as likely
> to call Clinton a war criminal, Kissinger deadpanned:
> "Mr. Clinton does not have the strength of character to
> be a war criminal."
>
> It's a great story, beloved by journalists of all stripes. The
> Nation's Eric Alterman tells it often, as does New York
> Press publisher Russ Smith, a/k/a Mugger. Indeed,
> Smith helped put the story in play, misquoting it first in
> his New York Press column of January 6-12 and then in
> the short version of his January 8 column in the online
> Jewish World Review (headline: "DRUDGE IS THE HERO").
>
> Only one problem, boys: Dr. Kissinger denies it. Through
> a spokesperson, he told Press Clips that the first quote
> attributed to him is correct, but the second is not, and
> the Nation never checked the story with him.
>
> Ironically, the Nation published the Kissinger quip in the
> same issue as a Jonathan Schell editorial called "Land
> of Dreams" in which Schell laments the rise of a "new
> media machine" whose primary purpose is to entertain.
> One of the machine's characteristics is its preference for
> fantasy over reality, thereby giving journalists the
> "capacity to mistake a world of their own making for the
> real one."
>
> Nation editor in chief Katrina vanden Heuvel says, "We
> stand by the story," and notes that Kissinger was speaking
> in jest.