Let me give you an example of what I was talking about in the previous post. I picked up the National Post today. For those who are unaware, it's Canada's newest national newspaper. Not more than 10 years old. The front page is splashed with articles mostly about the recent North Korean underground nuclear test. The article is mostly about international reaction at this point. Here's a quote from John Bolton, US ambassador to the UN.
"We do not want to do anything to hurt the North Korean people, who have suffered under this regime. These sanctions are aimed at the North Korean programs of weapons of mass destruction -- nuclear, chemical, biological -- their ballistic missile program and other illicit activities."
The sanctions to which he refers is, of course, the withholding of the aid the UN has been giving North Korea from drought and famine. North Korea is, as the same article suggests, dependent on Chinese and UN support for their starving population. Apparently 2.5 million people (10% of the population) died in three years from "near-economic collaspe and catastrophic famine," while the article next to it suggests Kim Jong-Il (the so-called Korean Dictator) imports "pleasure squads" of Swedish blondes to satisfy his lust.
The majority of both of these articles are chalk full of commentary. It admits to knowing nothing about Kim, as he allegedly has made almost no public appearances (much less with Swedish pleasure squads), yet seems intimately familiar with his intentions and his peoples' beliefs.
I'm not saying I'm sympathetic. I bought the paper to learn more about the situation. What I got was commentary. All this proves is that the National Post is unreliable.
"We do not want to do anything to hurt the North Korean people, who have suffered under this regime. These sanctions are aimed at the North Korean programs of weapons of mass destruction -- nuclear, chemical, biological -- their ballistic missile program and other illicit activities."
The sanctions to which he refers is, of course, the withholding of the aid the UN has been giving North Korea from drought and famine. North Korea is, as the same article suggests, dependent on Chinese and UN support for their starving population. Apparently 2.5 million people (10% of the population) died in three years from "near-economic collaspe and catastrophic famine," while the article next to it suggests Kim Jong-Il (the so-called Korean Dictator) imports "pleasure squads" of Swedish blondes to satisfy his lust.
The majority of both of these articles are chalk full of commentary. It admits to knowing nothing about Kim, as he allegedly has made almost no public appearances (much less with Swedish pleasure squads), yet seems intimately familiar with his intentions and his peoples' beliefs.
I'm not saying I'm sympathetic. I bought the paper to learn more about the situation. What I got was commentary. All this proves is that the National Post is unreliable.
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
(i hope your diminished sense of humour caught that bit of sarcasm)
For a long time I just gave up on following the news entirely, but eventually I realized that was the wrong approach! For issues I'm really interested in, I like to follow magazine articles b/c they tend to be better researched and more carefully prepared, and also b/c they tend to give exposure to a broader political voice than newspapers do (the differences between the Globe and Mail and the National Post are sadly narrow compared to, say, Utne and Harpers). I also like to listen to the BBC to 'stay up on things' - less commentary, more facts, more global.