Feb. 14, 2007: Times Editor Keller approves the publication of the Pentagon’s plans for a Feb 15th strike on Iran, asserting that “there has been far too little debate about whether the sustained assault by cruise missiles and stealth bombers will provide a cover for the infiltration of several SpecOps teams from the Iraqi and Afghan bases, or whether these groups, code named ‘Red Six’ and ‘Blue Fourteen’ respectively, might suffer friendly fire. One error in timing, such as the barrage scheduled for the 3 AM on night of the 24th, could expose our troops to great harm. If this leads to a debate about whether the Tomahawk missile can be sent slightly off course by a concentrated microwave burst, as classified documents seem to suggest, it’s a debate we need to have.”Okay, so it's not a real story yet. Let's just call it "fake, but accurate."
But wait, there's more:
Oct. 31, 2007: Rumors in the Times newsroom indicate that Editor Keller has become a believer in the “Hidden Editor” sect of journalism. This sect believes that if newspapers create enough chaos in the world, the hidden, or Twelfth, editor will appear. This will institute a reign of peace, justice, rising circulation rates, an eternal lock on the classifieds market, and a general agreement that Walter Duranty was correct: Ukrainians really did starve themselves to death out of patriotic fervor.(Those unfamiliar with the NYTimes' Pulitzer Prize winning Benedict Arnold of the 1930s should check here. Sloppy fact checking at the paper didn't start yesterday. The NYT has a long, sordid record of unreliable reporting.)
Lileks' observations are funny because they're not at all implausible. But you could tell this to Keller and crew until they were blue in the face and it wouldn't faze them.
No comments:
Post a Comment