{"id":98035,"date":"2017-09-04T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T11:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=98035"},"modified":"2017-09-04T10:28:58","modified_gmt":"2017-09-04T09:28:58","slug":"nyt-only-the-latest-corporate-media-outlet-to-give-free-publicity-to-mercenary-profiteer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/09\/nyt-only-the-latest-corporate-media-outlet-to-give-free-publicity-to-mercenary-profiteer\/","title":{"rendered":"NYT Only the Latest Corporate Media Outlet to Give Free Publicity to Mercenary Profiteer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Erik Prince<\/p><\/div>\n

30 Aug 2017 – <\/em>The New York Times <\/strong>(8\/30\/17<\/a>) decided to turn over a large chunk of the most precious opinion space in the English-speaking world to mercenary entrepreneur Erik Prince, so he could promote his plan to privatize and profit from the US occupation of Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Though the Times<\/strong> did disclose in its bio of Prince that he was \u201cthe chairman of Frontier Services Group,\u201d and \u201cfounded the company formerly known as Blackwater, a security contractor,\u201d it never specified his direct profit motive in the plan. Perhaps it was thought to be implied, since Prince says the strategy is his, but the average reader could understandably miss what, exactly, \u201cFrontier Services Group\u201d does to generate revenue.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

In the print edition, the headline was \u201cA Third Way for Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

Far more egregious than a simple conflict-of-interest problem is that the New York Times<\/strong> decided to give an opinion column to someone linked to murder<\/a>, money-laundering<\/a> and a whole host<\/a> of other legally and ethically repugnant behavior. As the Times<\/strong> presumably turns down hundreds of request for op-eds a week, it\u2019s curious that it chose to give a platform to someone who is, at best, a war profiteer, and at worst a war criminal<\/a>. \u00a0(This comes a day after the Times <\/strong>opinion section ran an op-ed\u20148\/29\/1<\/a>\u2014by neoconservative demagogue and US government\u2013funded<\/a> writer James Kirchick, who\u00a0 defended the imprisonment of one of the Times<\/strong>\u2019 former sources<\/a>, Chelsea Manning.)<\/p>\n

The media\u2019s love affair with the Blackwater snake-oil salesman isn\u2019t limited to the New York Times<\/strong>. In the past three months, Prince has published op-ed pieces in the Wall Street Journal<\/strong> (5\/20\/17<\/a>) and USA Today<\/strong> (8\/8\/17<\/a>), and been allowed to pitch his services on CNN<\/strong> (8\/8\/17<\/a>), Fox News<\/strong> (7\/30\/17<\/a>) and NPR<\/strong> (7\/24\/17<\/a>). (Though most of this coverage was fluff, NPR <\/strong>at least bothered to ask him about the civilians wantonly killed<\/a> by his death squads in Iraq.)<\/p>\n

As there were vague reports<\/a> that President Donald Trump was considering engaging Prince\u2019s services, one could argue that this makes his plan newsworthy. But one can cover a war strategy without giving uncritical coverage, let alone op-ed space, to the person who stands to profit the most from it.<\/p>\n

Of course, as FAIR (5\/8\/17<\/a>) has noted before, war profiteers using the media to promote their wares is nothing new; it\u2019s just usually laundered<\/a> through a third-party think tank or \u201cexpert,\u201d instead of having the CEO make an outright pitch in the opinion section. This latest iteration is certainly worse\u2014if not in substance, certainly in degree and sheer crassness. The Times<\/strong> has stripped away any pretext of impartiality, turning its column inches into a QVC<\/strong> for a greasy war pitchman, without any apparent news rationale for doing so\u2014maybe the biggest PR victory so far for Erik Prince\u2019s 2017 corporate press tour.<\/p>\n

**********************<\/p>\n

CNN<\/strong> media reporter Oliver Darcy got a non-response<\/a> from a New York Times<\/strong> spokesperson:<\/p>\n

We would not have published the piece if it did not meet our editorial standards and we don\u2019t discuss the editorial process for op-ed submissions.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you\u2019d like to discuss the New York Times<\/strong>\u2018 editorial process, you can send a message to letters@nytimes.com<\/a>\u00a0 (or via Twitter<\/strong>:@NYTimes<\/a>). Please remember that respectful communication is the most effective.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Adam Johnson is a contributing analyst for<\/em> FAIR.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 fair.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York Times (8\/30\/17) decided to turn over a large chunk of the most precious opinion space in the English-speaking world to mercenary entrepreneur Erik Prince, so he could promote his plan to privatize and profit from the US occupation of Afghanistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98035\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}