Time Magazine's
Dedication to the Truthiness

On 11/26/2007, I sent Time Magazine the following letter to the editor, in response to Joe Klein's article "The Tone Deaf Democrats":

We don't get to make up our own facts. The new FISA bill clearly does not "require the surveillance of every foreign-terrorist target's calls to be approved by the FISA court," regardless of what GOP operatives have been feeding to reporters. In a "correction" on Joe Klein's blog, he blames the confusion partly on "fierce disagreements between even moderate Republicans and Democrats on the Committee about what the bill actually does contain."

Note: there is more to journalism than simply printing the truth and the lie and saying there's a "disagreement." But if that's the best we can expect, at least try to include the truth.

I realize there's a great deal of pressure to support a particular point of view, but professional journalists have a duty to rise above that. For far too long, the press has parroted Republican talking points and turned a deaf ear to the Administration's critics, or simply belittled them.

In response to a number of complaints, Time has now made the following correction:

In the original version of this story, Joe Klein wrote that the House Democratic version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) would allow a court review of individual foreign surveillance targets. Republicans believe the bill can be interpreted that way, but Democrats don't.

Joe Klein says he has "neither the time nor legal background to figure out who's right."

He has clearly taken to heart Stephen Colbert's remarks at the White House Correspondents' Dinner:

... let's review the rules. Here's how it works: the president makes decisions. He's the Decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know - fiction!

More info in Glenn Greenwald's column, "Everything that is rancid and corrupt with modern journalism."