The New York Times Would Work with Government to Conceal Pentagon Papers if Released Today
In the case of Airman Jack Teixeira the New York Times helped the government track him down.
By Alexander Muse ·
Fifty-one years ago, Neil Sheehan1 and Hedrick Smith2 received 7,000 pages of classified intelligence known as The Pentagon Papers3 from Daniel Ellsberg4. They revealed that the government had lied to the American people about the Vietnam War over the course of multiple administrations. The government attempted to prevent The New York Times from publishing Sheehan and Smith’s reporting but the Supreme Court eventually ruled that the First Amendment protected the right of the Times to publish the papers and their publication is considered a landmark moment in the history of American journalism and the government's accountability to the public.5 In light of the apparent close collaboration between the media and government today I can’t help but wonder what the Times would do with a similar leak today.
UPDATE: Ironically, after I published this post The New York Times actually launched its own investigation into the identity of the leaker forcing the FBI to accelerate the arrest of the suspect. Meanwhile, the paper is concealing the contents of the leaked documents from the American people.
Interestingly, with the release of hundreds of highly classified documents about the Ukraine war, we are getting a firsthand glimpse into how the media has abdicated its responsibility to hold our government accountable. Together the documents reveal that the war is going much worse than the Biden administration has been claiming.6 They also reveal that very little of the money Washington has been funneling into Ukraine is making its way to the battlefield—with the Pentagon calling Ukraine a ‘black box’ when it comes to U.S. tax dollars.7
Instead of reporting on the classified document’s revelations, the New York Times focus is on how the documents are likely Russian disinformation.8 They seemingly have no interest whatsoever in asking tough questions when it comes to the prosecution of Biden’s proxy war against Russia. Similarly, Newsweek is suggesting that the classified documents might be a “Putin Ploy” to undermine support for Ukraine.9 Ironically, U.S. News & World Report is reporting that Russia is calling the classified documents disinformation as well—disinformation perpetrated by the Pentagon.10 Finally, Foreign Policy is reporting that the leaked documents will ‘complicate’ Ukraine’s spring counteroffensive by providing Russia with a tactical advantage.11
Literally, not a single U.S. media outlet is even slightly interested in whether or not the Biden administration has been lying to the American people about the war in Ukraine. They’re not interested in what the White House plans to do (if anything) about the misappropriation of U.S. tax dollars by Ukrainian politicians and military leaders. Just as the U.S. media seemed to willfully defy logic to regurgitate the CIA’s ‘theory’ that a Ukraine couple on a yacht masterminded the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline—they’re tying themselves up in similar knots to avoid reporting on the real story—the fact that we’re losing our proxy war against Russia—badly.
DNyuz, an Armenian media outlet is one of the few actually reporting details from the leaked documents.12 From their coverage:
At the end of the day, Biden has made it clear that his proxy war with Russia can only end once Putin is removed from power. I don’t think he realizes who is poised to take power—I’m fairly certain that Russia’s new boss will be far worse than its current one:
We desperately need a free press in America.
