[discuss-dan] The Media Does NOT Confer Legitimacy

[Doc Rosen <docrosen@dr.com>]

I thought that since so many of the folks on this list were in DC for
the coronation you might be interested in the following:

This letter supports FAIR-L's campaign telling the New York
Times that its coverage of the inauguration was unbalanced, that the
protests were important, that they should not have been ignored, and
that media images do not create legitimacy. The letter was written
by Kathie Turner on February 4, 2001. For more information:
http://www.fair.org/activism/inauguration-times.html



Editor:

I am enormously disappointed that the New York Times has chosen to
minimize the protests surrounding the presidential inauguration.
With so many people angered and disgusted with the election and
resulting administration, your reports of the day were unbalanced,
and therefore, inaccurate.

More disturbing, however, is a quote from an article entitled
"Tradition and Legitimacy: A Nation's Old Rituals Begin to Dissolve
Lingering Clouds of a Bitter Election Battle."

R. W. Apple wrote, "But the debate is likely to grow softer as the
nation grows accustomed to pictures of Mr. Bush speaking from the
Oval Office, boarding Air Force One, accompanied everywhere he goes
by the strains of 'Ruffles and Flourishes' and 'Hail to the Chief.'
In the television age, those images, more that anything else, confer
the mantle of authority and legitimacy on a leader."

The notion that media images rather than the accurately counted
votes of citizens give legitimacy to a leader is profoundly
anti-democratic. I expect more from the Times.

Sincerely,





Editor <nytnews@nytimes.com>,

If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?


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