I cannot help myself from commenting on The Wall Street Journal again. I have been reading it faithfully every morning for almost a year now and sometimes can’t help feeling that it is part of the problem. Yes, I know this is a strong and gutsy thing to say about one of our most respected newspapers. But a little forbearance would go a long way, and it would help to dispel the accusation that the media is biased and fraudulent in its reporting. What’s good for the left is good for the right.
Yesterday, February 4th, the Journal’s lead editorial was entitled “Liberalism’s Ministry of Truth.” This is, of course, right out of George Orwell’s 1984 and suggests that the Biden administration is complicit in suppressing truth. In short, Democrats and liberals, the whole nasty tribe, are moving toward government control such as Orwell warned about in his popular novel. The examples cited to support this view are cleverly spun to make the case. With sarcasm and half-truths the editorial fuels the very unsubstantiated biases of many of its readers. The editorial is almost amusing in face of how the Trump administration corrupted the truth with accusations of “fake news,”calling the pandemic a Democrat hoax, and saying that the former president won the 2020 election “in a landslide.” Please.
The Journal has a healthy following from readers who seek the truth in its pages as an alternative to The New York Times and other so-called liberal sources. I have a friend who sends me articles from The Wall Street Journal, hoping that I will see the truth. Frequently he mentions that I would not have seen the same piece in the Times. The point is that the Journal has a responsibility not to be a bomb-thrower. Its influence is such that many of its readers take what it says as an ex cathedra pronouncement which is infallible. This is sad.