More Media Cluelessness

When in Japan, I tend to read the Yomiuri Shinbun's (読売新聞) English edition (since my newspaper Japanese is decidedly rusty). One thing I noticed in the time I have been here, is that the Yomiuri gets a large chunk of its foreign news and op/ed from the Washington Post. This is not in and of itself a bad thing, but it does propagate the general anti-American, anti-Bush cluelessness displayed by so many reporters, both in the United States and abroad.

For example, in the one of the past week's print edition of the Yomiuri, there is a long article about how the United States has become much worse under President Bush. The writer, who apparently has little or no expertise in foreign policy, economics or any other discipline, claimed that our economy was in the tank, that Bush, who came to office promising to unite, not divide, had made polarization worse, that Bush's 'unilateralism' had made the US a pariah nation and that we needed to work very hard to regain our world status.

This fatuous, and extremely untrue article can be refuted at every point. The economy is doing just fine- unless you are a big Hollywood actor who is being reviled for your left-wing views. The war in Iraq is not and never was 'unilateral' and the fact that we have removed two sadistic and unfirendly regimes and replaced them with burgeoning democracies is quite astounding. The PResident's low poll numbers can be attributed to the ferocity and dedication of the national and internationla news organizations to destroying Bush's Presidency. And the 'division' in American politics is a good thing. Let Democrats and Republicans present their differing views (at least for the Republicans- I haven't seen that the Dems HAVE any plans as of yet), and then let the voters decide.

However, the most important point is that this article was in the Yomiuri, but after Googling it, I cannot find it on any US media site. This is backed up by Gaijin Biker's appropriate comments on the infamous Japanese Newsweek cover. It seems that the Press is fearless in attacking America and the Republican Party overseas, but sees to be a little afraid to placing their poisonous opinions wher Americans might actually read them.