"Subtle Bias" Against Catholics in the Media
Catholic League president Bill Donohue points to some instances of bias in today’s The New York Times:
The reason I read The New York Times every day is because of its comprehensive coverage and tremendous influence on other media outlets. Editorially, at least on cultural issues, the positions of the New York Times are diametrically opposed to the teachings of the Catholic Church. They are entitled to their opinion. What bothers me are the subtleties of bias that creep in, as in today’s edition.
In the “Arts, Briefly” section today, there is a story on how some of India’s Sikhs are angry at Jay Leno for making a disrespectful joke about their religion. The piece begins by saying, “It’s the rare Jay Leno joke that results in ruffled feathers in the United States.” Really? I guess the reporter, Dave Itzkoff, never heard of one of Leno’s endless stream of jokes painting all priests as predators. [By the way, Leno is so relentless in bashing priests that we prepared a report detailing his offenses from April 29, 1996 to February 4, 2010 and sent it to NBC executives.]
When someone dies who may have had a checkered past, it is not unusual for a news story to cite the comments of his adversaries. And while an obituary may quote a critic of the deceased, it is highly unusual to see the remarks of an official from an advocacy organization make that page. Yet in today’s obituary on Archbishop Robert F. Sanchez, Dennis Hevesi allows a spokesman from a notoriously anti-Catholic group, SNAP, to hammer the late archbishop. [We issued a report on SNAP last year demonstrating its open hostility to the Catholic Church.]
Finally, tens of thousands of Catholics, led by many bishops, turned out yesterday for the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. There was no story about it in The New York Times. Yet when a few dozen “Occupy Wall Street” protesters were camping out, The Times had plenty of room to cover them, pictures included. By the way, The Washington Post has a front-page story on the March for Life in its B section today.
Sign up for the OV Daily Newsletter
Sign-Up Now for the Opposing Views Daily Newsletter
Sign up for the OV Daily Newsletter
When Donahue talks, it sounds to me like no one cares about the catholic church. He is right! Just like no one cares about the Sikhs. Leno exercises free speech as does the New York Times. Complain all you like, but we will not censor. Donahue may be more comfortable in a theocracy where comedians and journalists are censored, but that is not USA.
Everything I do, I do it for you.
Wow, Donahue knows no end to playing the victim card. The Catholic church has a long and sorrid history of moving priests from one parish to another after sexual abuse by their priests. They have a history of not telling the police. This policy goes to the highest echelons of the Vatican, including the pope. Does the Orthodox Jewish church have a similar history of denial and obstruction? I doubt it.
Donahue is very simply, someone who whines whenever the very powerful and influential Catholic church gets any criticism. In fact, for such a tremendously powerful institution, it gets hardly any real criticism. WHere are the articles detailing how the Catholic church's opposition to condoms/contracepives is devasting the parts of the world beholden to those teachings?
I am sorry, Catholic ideology is a belief system, it is no more deserving of inherent respect, than any other belief system. Just because it is powerful doesn't mean we must respect it or worry about Donahue's poor little feelings.
Jerome McCollom