Monday, May 16, 2011

Distance between Governments and the Press

With all the unrest happening in the Middle East, I have been reading many news articles. What consistently strikes me is the disconnect between the press and the official view of their government. For example, the New York Times has an article about Netanyahu coming to the US soon where he will outline his policies. In the article it says that Netanyahu will not negotiate with the Palestinians when Hamas is included in the government (and does so in a way that makes him seem obstinate). But this is not news, especially as the U.S. goverment also considers Hamas to be a terrorist group. So if the American government treats them as terrorists, then why does the Times have to report this as news, or treat Hamas as if it is only a terrorist group according to the US government. What I am trying to say is that while newspapers should definitely question their government, shouldn't there be some overlap between the press and their government in terms of foreign policy?
If not, then why?

1 comment:

  1. There definitely should be some overlap. The problem is that if theres too much of it the news source in question is suspected of being an inaccurate and untrustworthy puppet of the government.

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