When Will the Media Stop Hating U.S.?

"Prime Minister Golda Meir once said that peace with the Palestinians would be possible only when the Palestinians started loving their own children more than they hated Israelis. I am reminded of that observation after reading the media-bashing column today by John Leo of U.S. News and World Report. Leo reviews the media distortions of America's role abroad in recent years, tracing them to hatred of the military since the Vietnam War, and the media's covering up for despots, attributing that to their youthful adulation of Fidel Castro.

I think he is right as far as he goes, but I think something like Meir's perspective is in order. Leo believes, especially when media people like Terry Moran of ABC recently and Evan Thomas of Newsweek last year admit their political biases, that "Something has to change." That thought never recommended itself to old French Bourbons, and it won't fly with the Old Media today. I believe change will come only when the media come to love the truth more than they hate their own country. While we're waiting for this to happen (after all, the Palestinians haven't stoppped hating the Jews), maybe we should just keep plugging away in the New Media and put the Old Media on the road to ultimate political extinction."

Richard Reeb
Claremont Institute