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How the Media Have Fallen
Garen Yegparian
BY GAREN YEGPARIAN
Imagine, the newspaper that exposed Watergate now condones corruption!
That's how bad things are in the media universe these days. I refer,
of course to The Washington Post and the Matt Bryza loving article by
Fred Hiatt, Editorial Page Editor, which appeared on Sunday December
18.
Unfortunately, this kind of lapse is what gives the right-wing,
anti-reality propaganda machine the real instances of impropriety to
feed their constant, ginned up transgressions. Why Hiatt goes so far
out of his way to speak up for a compromised candidate for the
position of U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan is a mystery. Perhaps they
struck up a friendship when he was working in Moscow for The
Washington Post while Bryza was there in a diplomatic capacity (their
Moscow stints overlapped in 1995, based on their biographies).
What a difference four decades can make (Watergate to Bryza). Someone
charged with the serious responsibilities of an editor of a newspaper
of The Washington Post's condones the clear conflicts of interest and,
at the very least, the appearances of such conflicts. I won't waste
readers' time listing all the questionable associations and actions
attached to Bryza, since to readers of Armenian publications, these
are common knowledge.
In the capacities that I serve in, on local and state agency boards,
I'm required to take a biennial course on conflicts of interest.
Admittedly, this training focuses on financial conflict, gifts, etc.
but it certainly creates sensitivity to the issue. I have no doubt
the federal government has similar trainings. How can somebody like
Bryza, who works in the federal government not be cognizant of the
conflicted situation he's in? Add to it the fact that he works for
the State Department where everything is about appearances, protocol,
tact, finesse, etc., and the improbability of his not being aware of
his conflict of interest (or, once again, at the very least, the
appearance of it) becomes mind-bogglingly monstrous.
With all this being so self-evident, how can Hiatt defend and advocate
Bryza's appointment? Somehow, even personal friendship seems
insufficient to account for it. I am left to conclude he has some
agenda or ideology dictating such a position. Otherwise how to
explain:
- the fact that he leaves unremarked in his article the oddness of the
fact that the two Senators who placed a hold on nominee presidential
nominee Bryza are from the president's own party;
- mentioning that Bryza's wife is Turkish and insinuating her
nationality is the reason for the ANCA's (in Hiatt's world, an
organization to demonize) opposition to Bryza, rather than her actual
doings, writings, and affiliations which indicate a very
understandable bias on her part which can't help but manifest through
their domestic connection;
- comparing the Armenian Diaspora to that of Cuba, Israel, and Latvia;
I know not what the Latvian reference entails, but we are hardly like
the Cubans who are (largely) driven by an anti-Castro mindset that
espouses a very hard line towards the current regime; Neither are we
like the Jewish Diaspora which has a much more nuanced, mixed, and
evolved approach towards Israel;
- citing as Bryza's supporters `the heads of the National Endowment
for Democracy, Freedom House, the National Democratic Institute and
the International Republican Institute', relying on most readers' lack
of awareness of these organizations - they are what would best be
described as American propaganda operations (obviously, not unnatural
to have), hardly the people you want speaking up for you when issues
of credibility arise;
- claiming `the larger U.S. national interest can fall victim to
special-interest jockeying and political accommodation' when the bases
for questioning Bryza's propriety are among the most American of
considerations.
- the cynical use of the reconciliation fetish that attends some
discussions of Armenia-Turkey relations as evidenced in the crocodile
tears shed by Hiatt lamenting that `one reason for the sub-par
(economic, GY) performance has been Armenia's inability to settle
grievances with neighboring Azerbaijan and Turkey' and later `the
biggest losers in all this won't be Americans or Azerbaijanis (who, by
the way, enjoy about twice the per capita income of Armenians), but
Armenians - poor, isolated and once again victims of a power play that
has nothing to do with their well-being.'
Fred Hiatt should be utterly ashamed of his naked obsequiousness! If
Bryza is such a competent diplomat, let him be assigned to posts that
are not rife with the sorts of conflicts he finds himself in when
called upon to serve in the Caucasus, Armenian Plateau, or Anatolia.
Those reading this should go to The Washington Post's website and post
their comments. There are over 130 already, and relatively few
represent the decent position to hold on this matter. Of course,
Azeris are posting, but so are otherwise un- or under-informed
citizens. We should be correcting that imbalance and filling the gap.
Get to work.
http://asbarez.com/99994/how-the-media-have-fallen/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Garen Yegparian
BY GAREN YEGPARIAN
Imagine, the newspaper that exposed Watergate now condones corruption!
That's how bad things are in the media universe these days. I refer,
of course to The Washington Post and the Matt Bryza loving article by
Fred Hiatt, Editorial Page Editor, which appeared on Sunday December
18.
Unfortunately, this kind of lapse is what gives the right-wing,
anti-reality propaganda machine the real instances of impropriety to
feed their constant, ginned up transgressions. Why Hiatt goes so far
out of his way to speak up for a compromised candidate for the
position of U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan is a mystery. Perhaps they
struck up a friendship when he was working in Moscow for The
Washington Post while Bryza was there in a diplomatic capacity (their
Moscow stints overlapped in 1995, based on their biographies).
What a difference four decades can make (Watergate to Bryza). Someone
charged with the serious responsibilities of an editor of a newspaper
of The Washington Post's condones the clear conflicts of interest and,
at the very least, the appearances of such conflicts. I won't waste
readers' time listing all the questionable associations and actions
attached to Bryza, since to readers of Armenian publications, these
are common knowledge.
In the capacities that I serve in, on local and state agency boards,
I'm required to take a biennial course on conflicts of interest.
Admittedly, this training focuses on financial conflict, gifts, etc.
but it certainly creates sensitivity to the issue. I have no doubt
the federal government has similar trainings. How can somebody like
Bryza, who works in the federal government not be cognizant of the
conflicted situation he's in? Add to it the fact that he works for
the State Department where everything is about appearances, protocol,
tact, finesse, etc., and the improbability of his not being aware of
his conflict of interest (or, once again, at the very least, the
appearance of it) becomes mind-bogglingly monstrous.
With all this being so self-evident, how can Hiatt defend and advocate
Bryza's appointment? Somehow, even personal friendship seems
insufficient to account for it. I am left to conclude he has some
agenda or ideology dictating such a position. Otherwise how to
explain:
- the fact that he leaves unremarked in his article the oddness of the
fact that the two Senators who placed a hold on nominee presidential
nominee Bryza are from the president's own party;
- mentioning that Bryza's wife is Turkish and insinuating her
nationality is the reason for the ANCA's (in Hiatt's world, an
organization to demonize) opposition to Bryza, rather than her actual
doings, writings, and affiliations which indicate a very
understandable bias on her part which can't help but manifest through
their domestic connection;
- comparing the Armenian Diaspora to that of Cuba, Israel, and Latvia;
I know not what the Latvian reference entails, but we are hardly like
the Cubans who are (largely) driven by an anti-Castro mindset that
espouses a very hard line towards the current regime; Neither are we
like the Jewish Diaspora which has a much more nuanced, mixed, and
evolved approach towards Israel;
- citing as Bryza's supporters `the heads of the National Endowment
for Democracy, Freedom House, the National Democratic Institute and
the International Republican Institute', relying on most readers' lack
of awareness of these organizations - they are what would best be
described as American propaganda operations (obviously, not unnatural
to have), hardly the people you want speaking up for you when issues
of credibility arise;
- claiming `the larger U.S. national interest can fall victim to
special-interest jockeying and political accommodation' when the bases
for questioning Bryza's propriety are among the most American of
considerations.
- the cynical use of the reconciliation fetish that attends some
discussions of Armenia-Turkey relations as evidenced in the crocodile
tears shed by Hiatt lamenting that `one reason for the sub-par
(economic, GY) performance has been Armenia's inability to settle
grievances with neighboring Azerbaijan and Turkey' and later `the
biggest losers in all this won't be Americans or Azerbaijanis (who, by
the way, enjoy about twice the per capita income of Armenians), but
Armenians - poor, isolated and once again victims of a power play that
has nothing to do with their well-being.'
Fred Hiatt should be utterly ashamed of his naked obsequiousness! If
Bryza is such a competent diplomat, let him be assigned to posts that
are not rife with the sorts of conflicts he finds himself in when
called upon to serve in the Caucasus, Armenian Plateau, or Anatolia.
Those reading this should go to The Washington Post's website and post
their comments. There are over 130 already, and relatively few
represent the decent position to hold on this matter. Of course,
Azeris are posting, but so are otherwise un- or under-informed
citizens. We should be correcting that imbalance and filling the gap.
Get to work.
http://asbarez.com/99994/how-the-media-have-fallen/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress