Posted July 15, 2003

Analysis by Richard Cowan

The New York Times is arguably the
world’s most important newspaper. It may also be the most self-important for
having a motto that famously proclaims, “All the news that’s fit to print”
and being called America’s “newspaper of record.” That was always
hyperbolic, but it makes clear that its decisions about what to report, and not
to report, should be held to a higher standard than most.

If, as I believe, the best two-word
explanation of cannabis prohibition is “bad journalism” then The Times is
more culpable than most, simply because it has not lived up to its own
standards.
See
Marijuana
Prohibition, Media Criticism, Copyrights and the 8th and 9th
Commandments.

Recently, The Times found itself very
embarrassed by the fact that one of its young journalists was making up facts
about something other than marijuana (which other reporters have been doing for
years.)

See
How
The New York Times Misleads Americans About the Canadian Marijuana Situation.
and

Mexican
Governors’ Proposal for “Legalization” Becomes “Decriminalization” In
The New York Times. Meanwhile Canadian Senate Committee Says Something That
Sounds Like “Legalization” But Is Ignored.
and

Quacks
and Hacks and The New York Times — Reefer Madness 2002 — Atoning for Printing
NORML’s Ad?

and
Reporting
On Survey Of Teen “Drug Use”Shows Prohibitionist Propaganda Is Still
Really About Marijuana. New York Times Suffers From Short Term Memory Loss.
Article and 2 Press Releases.

After quite a bit of public
self-flagellation, it now has a new Executive Editor, Bill Keller, who has
written critically about the war on cannabis. Last October 19th, in a
column on the New York Mayor’s anti-tobacco crusade Keller wrote, “Michael
Bloomberg is a guy who, when asked if he had ever tried marijuana, replied:
‘You bet I did. And I enjoyed it.’ (Alas, he’s not
willing to advocate decriminalizing the experience for the rest of us, but
that’s a subject for another day.)”

“Another day” came on November 30th
in a remarkable column entitled simply “Reefer
Madness.” Keller attacked John Walters’
obsession with cannabis, and said “the way to deal with marijuana is to remove criminal penalties for
possession, use (recreational or medicinal ) and cultivation of small amounts,
but not to legalize sale.”

See
I’m
A Legalizer. What Are You? The Nevada Fiasco. Analysis by Richard Cowan

Obviously, I disagree with the last
point (just where is the average New Yorker going to cultivate their weed?) and
other things in the column, but it is clear that Keller knows that there is
indeed something crazy going on.

When that column appeared it was
interesting, and more important than the average bit of punditry because it
appeared in The Times, but deviationist articles appear occasionally in
unexpected places. Now, with its author controlling the decisions as to what
constitutes news, it is much more important. It remains to be seen if Keller
will focus The Times’ great resources and prestige on something he clearly
knows to be amiss. If he does so, he may even have support from its editorial
page.

See
Astonishing
Editorial In New York Times Attacks Rosenthal Prosecution. Finally Taking The
Issue Seriously?

However,
it is not anti-prohibitionist editorial opinion that is most urgently needed,
but simply straightforward journalism. For example, The Times has almost
completely ignored the vast increase in marijuana possession arrests in New
York.
See
Dude,
You’re Getting A Journalism Lesson. The Media Won’t Report How Many Cannabis
Arrests There Are In DEAland, or New York City, But This “Celebrity” Arrest
Is Even Reported In The Washington Post.
and
How
the Success of NORML’s New York Ad Campaign Demonstrates The Failure of the
Mass Media to Serve Democracy.
and
Marijuana
Arrests In New York City Continue to Soar. Arrests Will Exceed 60,000 for this
Year. Up From Only 720 in 1992!
An exception from 1998, see
New
York Times Reports The Numbers In City’s Soaring Marijuana Arrests:
A Journalistic Breakthrough?

But there is another, more compelling, reason for The New York
Times, of all newspapers, to report on the war on cannabis. It is not just a
distraction from the war on hard drugs, as Keller noted last November. It is
also an enormous distraction from the war on terror.
See
Did
The Drug War Claim Another 3,056 Casualties On 9-11? Ariana Huffington’s
Extraordinary Indictment.

When the “Dell Dude” was arrested last February, the city was on
a high alert for terrorist attacks. Inevitably, New York remains one of the most
likely targets, and the idea of the City’s finite “Finest” spending their
time looking for cannabis smokers is insane.

The fact that Keller knows what is going on, however imperfectly,
places an added moral burden on him to see that it is reported.
See
Walters
Tells a New Lie. Oh Happy Day! People Need Treatment If They Are Sent to
Treatment, By Definition. And How Do They Treat “Marijuana Addicts?” We
Couldn’t Make This Up, But They Did.

Moreover, if he has a mandate to change the atmosphere that allowed a rookie to
make up facts, he surely must be prepared to make up for the fact that for years
the managing editor of The Times was a committed prohibitionist who was truly
“reefer madness” incarnate.
See

Transcript
of 1996 Conversation Between the Czar and the Former Managing Editor of New York
Times About Medical Marijuana Initiatives Gives Great Insight Into How Marijuana
Prohibition Really Works.

It
is clear from his November column that he does not yet know how right he is, but
Bill Keller has the opportunity to change the world by
hitting the Bush regime where it is most vulnerable and out of touch with the
American people.
See
Science,
Democracy, Ideology and the Prohibitionist Police State. Marijuana Use Doesn’t
Hurt “Thinking Skills” But Prohibition Does. Analysis by Richard Cowan

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