New York Times Killed "Bush Bulge" Story

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http://www.fair.org/press-releases/bush-bulge.html

PRESS RELEASE:
New York Times Killed "Bush Bulge" Story

Five days before the presidential election, the New York Times killed a
story about the mysterious object George W. Bush wore on his back
during
the presidential debates, journalist Dave Lindorff reveals in an
exclusive
report on this week's CounterSpin, FAIR's weekly radio show. The
spiked
story included compelling photographic and scientific evidence that
would
have contradicted Bush's claim that the bulge on his back was just a
matter of poor tailoring.

"The New York Times assigned three editors to this story and had it
scheduled to run five days before the election, which would have raised
questions about the president's integrity," said Lindorff. "But it was
killed by top editors at the Times; clearly they were chickening out of
taking this on before the election."

Lindorff says two other major newspapers, the Washington Post and the
Los
Angeles Times, also decided not to pursue the story, which featured a
leading NASA satellite photo imaging scientist's analysis of pictures
of
the president's back from the first debate.

The Times' bulge story is the latest example of possible
self-censorship
by major news media during the election campaign. In September, CBS's
60
Minutes decided to delay until after the election an investigative
segment
that questioned the Bush administration's use of forged Niger uranium
documents in making its case for the Iraq war, saying that "it would be
inappropriate to air the report so close to the presidential election"
(New York Times, 9/25/04; FAIR Action Alert, 9/28/04).

And on September 10, CNN reporter Nic Robertson said of a CNN
documentary
on Saudi Arabia, "I don't want to prejudge our executives here at
CNN...
but I think we can be looking forward to [it] shortly after the U.S.
elections." The segment is now scheduled to air this Sunday, five days
after the election.

Lindorff first broke the story of "the bulge" in Salon (10/8/04). His
latest report, "Was Bush Wired? Sure Looks Like It," was published
October
30 on MotherJones.com
(http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2004/11/10_407.html).

CounterSpin provides a critical examination of major media stories
every
week, exposing issues the mainstream press misses. It is heard on more
than 130 noncommercial stations across the United States and Canada,
and
can also be heard on FAIR's website.

To listen to Lindorff's CounterSpin interview (available in Real Audio
in
MP3 format), go to:

http://www.fair.org/counterspin/110504.html

The interview begins 17 minutes and 30 seconds into the show.