Left Press

Years ago I subscribed to World Magazine. After letting my subscription lapse last year (simply because I was busy), I recently renewed it. I really like this magazine and will probably share their articles with you from time to time. Keep in mind that although they are a conservative news magazine, which most of you will like, they are also a Christian magazine, and some of you may not always agree with their views. Still, they have some interesting things to say.

Wednesday night while watching Charlie Gibson on ABC News, I became irate when ABC reported from a Jordan prison where they interviewed convicted men who had been caught (and convicted) as terrorist in Iraq. ABC showed these men telling why they hated America. The men who were interviewed were not necessarily Iraqis, but were Arab men from different Middle East countries. One man said he felt he needed to fight Americans in Iraq before Americans came to his country too. There were other interviews, and I was furious. I looked at Toby and said, "Why are they interviewing convicted killers of innocent people? Who the hell cares what those men think of America!" I tell you, it is enough to make a preacher cuss.

Then while reading my "World Magazine" I came across this article by Marvin Olasky called "Press to the Left". Olasky gives his opinion of some of the worst news reporting this year:

Each year for the past 19 I've served as a judge for the Media Research Center's awards for the year's worst journalism. The winners will be announced any day now, and on my ballot MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Newsweek's Eleanor Clift are two of the leading candidates.
Olbermann said on Sept. 11, at the site of the World Trade Center, "Who has left this hole in the ground? We have not forgotten, Mr. President. You have. May this country forgive you." On Oct. 18 he announced that the Bush administration is "more dangerous to our liberty than is the enemy it claims to protect us from."
Clift, declaring on April 7, "There's nothing this administration won't do under the guise of battling terrorism," called for Americans to "stop Bush's imperial expansion of power." But Clift on July 15 said Russia's Vladimir Putin has "a commanding popularity among his own people, because he is perceived to be an effective dictator. What we have in this country is a dictator who's ineffective."
Imperialism and dictators: Los Angeles Times columnist Joel Stein wrote on Jan. 24, "I don't support our troops. . . . When you volunteer for the U.S. military . . . you're willingly signing up to be a fighting tool of American imperialism." CNN's Jack Cafferty on May 11 said that Senate Judiciary Committee head Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who had criticized the Bush administration, "might be all that's standing between us and a full-blown dictatorship in this country."

The article went on to quote some more humorous statements:

WORLD has covered the starvation in North Korea brought about by a real tyrant, but ABC's Diane Sawyer, reporting from a school there on Oct. 19, said, "It is a world away from the unruly individualism of any American school. . . . Ask them about their country, and they can't say enough." The clip showed a North Korean girl saying, in English, "We are the happiest children in the world."
Later, Sawyer said to the class: "You know The Sound of Music?" Children's voices chorused, "Yes." Sawyer then sang with the class: "Do, a deer, a female deer. Re, a drop of golden sun . . ." Anchor Charles Gibson intoned, "A fascinating glimpse of North Korea."

I saw Diane Sawyer’s report and thought, "Who could take such and idiot seriously?" A few weeks ago, Sawyer interviewed an American Iman (forgot his name). When she asked what he thought were some reasons that Muslims hate America, he answered that America needed to stop making politcial decisions based on bringing about the return of Christ. Hmm, interesting! I thought that the logical response to the Iman’s statement would be to ask, "Other than our support for Israel, what political decisions has America made to bring about the return of Christ?" But Diane never batted an eye at the ridiculous statement by the iman. So we will never know why he said such a thing, which he obviously thought was the heart of America’s problems with Muslims.

You probably wonder why I watch ABC News and GMA at all. Good question!