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| "In future there will be only one man who will wield power and bear responsibility in Prussia-that is myself. A bullet fired from the barrel of a police pistol is my bullet. If you say that is murder, then I am a murderer. I know only two sorts of law because I know only two sorts of men: those that are with us and those who are against us." Hermann Wilhelm Göring, Minister Without Portfolio of the German Reich, from a speech announcing an official decree expanding the power of the police, 1933. |
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Annals of Propaganda
In its edition of November 30, the Times has given us a sublime example of how it can bury an otherwise highly provocative news item. Here is the headline and the first two paragraphs of the article as it appeared in the on-line edition:
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The Consumer Poisonings From a Popular Pain Reliever Are RisingDespite more than a decade's worth of research showing that taking too much of a popular pain reliever can ruin the liver, the number of severe, unintentional poisonings from the drug is on the rise, a new study reports. The drug, acetaminophen, is best known under the brand name Tylenol. But many consumers don't realize that it is also found in widely varying doses in several hundred common cold remedies and combination pain relievers. These compounds include Excedrin, Midol Teen Formula, Theraflu, Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine, and NyQuil Cold and Flu, as well as other over-the-counter drugs and many prescription narcotics, like Vicodin and Percocet. Copyright 2005 The New York Times |
Here is the same headline in which I have replaced the words "a popular pain reliever" in the headline as the Times wrote it with the universally recognized trade name for acetaminophen, Tylenol, which is in fact what the article is about. To show how the news item could have been given additional impact I added a photo which was well within the capability of the Times if it had wanted to do so.
This is what it looks like:
 The Consumer Poisonings From Tylenol® Are Rising
Despite more than a decade's worth of research showing that taking too much of a popular pain reliever can ruin the liver, the number of severe, unintentional poisonings from the drug is on the rise, a new study reports. The drug, acetaminophen, is best known under the brand name Tylenol. But many consumers don't realize that it is also found in widely varying doses in several hundred common cold remedies and combination pain relievers. These compounds include Excedrin, Midol Teen Formula, Theraflu, Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine, and NyQuil Cold and Flu, as well as other over-the-counter drugs and many prescription narcotics, like Vicodin and Percocet. NOT Copyright 2005 The New York Times |
It's revealing to compare the Times' suppression of urgency in the Tylenol story with its handling of germ warfare/weapons of mass destruction articles it published prior to the US invasion of Iraq. Here is a small sample of the drumbeat propaganda it published (Note: Each of these links is active and will take you to a synopsis of the original article.):
Every one of these headline treatments is in the sharpest possible contrast to its handling of the Tylenol story. In these, the Times had pulled all the stops and was doing everything within its journalistic power to cause panic in the US population, a panic which could only be assuaged by the destruction of Iraq, which not coincidently, was the premeditated intent of the Bush administration.
Let's see what the Tylenol story would look like with all the stops pulled.
This is what it looks like:
 The Consumer A Population at Risk: Death Comes Over the Counter; Poisonings From Tylenol® Are Rising
Despite more than a decade's worth of research showing that taking too much of a popular pain reliever can ruin the liver, the number of severe, unintentional poisonings from the drug is on the rise, a new study reports. The drug, acetaminophen, is best known under the brand name Tylenol. But many consumers don't realize that it is also found in widely varying doses in several hundred common cold remedies and combination pain relievers. These compounds include Excedrin, Midol Teen Formula, Theraflu, Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine, and NyQuil Cold and Flu, as well as other over-the-counter drugs and many prescription narcotics, like Vicodin and Percocet. NOT Copyright 2005 The New York Times |
This kind of high pressure headlining is not accidental. The Times consciously and deliberately and with every means at its disposal worked to provide the legislative and public climate of opinion which the Bush regime of war criminals needed to set in motion the Pentagon's machinery of destruction.
We are indeed living in an era of yellow journalism, the likes of which is unprecedented in world history.
OTTO HINCKELMANN
November 30,
2005
