> As Doug has already pointed out that was an editorial.
> While NY Times editorials do carry some weight, the
> newspaper's real power is manifested in its ability
> to dictate what events are worth reporting about,
> and how are they to be covered. When the NY Times
> decides that some event is worth covering, its lead
> is quickly followed up by most of the rest of the
> US media.Those events that the NY Times deems to be not worth
> covering, tend not to get covered by most other
> media outlets in the US. That's real power IMO.
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The NYT, along with the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, are
probably the three papers which most influence politicians, policymakers,
and senior corporate officials, ie. the ruling class - and not only in the
US. Ruling class opinion is far more important than mass opinion when there
is little organized mass unrest, and is at least as important when the
status quo is being threatened. These publications are an essential mirror
on the strategic choices confronting the American political and economic
leadership on the entire range of issues, and the divisions which they
produce. Yoshie and Carrol represent that part of the left, however, which
thinks these differences are largely insignificant and should be of little
concern to the mass of the American population because, despite these
internal differences, the ruling class as a whole, liberals as well as
conservatives, is committed to the preservation of the system.