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EDITORIAL: The Right needs to write with reason (Univ. of New Mexico Daily Lobo, 5/19/2003)

The Daily Lobo ... has carried the moniker of Daily Liberal for quite some time and letters received by Lobo editors indicate that this reputation has arisen through content printed in the Opinion section. Whether this epithet is deserved or not is an object of debate....

But is the Daily Lobo the crux of liberal "propaganda" on campus? And if so, is this necessarily the fault of Lobo editors?

It should come as no surprise that institutions that expose the truth tend to be seen, at least in the public square, as leaning more toward the left than the right. A quick analysis of the attitude taken toward the media by Big Brother in George Orwell's 1984 will confirm this view. And although 1984 describes a totalitarian state, many of the techniques used by Big Brother are exaggerations of modern day conservative practices, i.e. the demand for more governmental control (of course, ironically, laissez faire is also desired) and the willingness to deceive the public in order to conceal unpalatable truths.

Thus, as a media source and revealer of facts, the Lobo is already stereotyped as moderate - exposure of the truth is often deemed dangerous by conservatives for fear of revealing too much.

But conservative qualms in this regard are not entirely unfounded. Despite newsmakers' efforts to reveal as little critical information as possible in their coverage of the war against Iraq, live broadcasts from American newsagents were assuredly being viewed by Iraqi intelligence officers. It's entirely possible, as many have vocalized, that reporting live from the battlefield actually assisted in Iraqi resistance, providing the "enemy" with helpful information.

However, magazines such as the Standard Review and the National Review are renowned for their reactionary conservatism, so not all news sources are necessarily branded overtly liberal....

Or perhaps the real reason [the Daily Lobo rarely prints a conservative opinion] is that conservatives on campus aren't saying much that's worth printing.... [O]ne can't squeeze blood from a stone.

I think that "quick analysis" is Lobo-ese for "uninformed analysis," and "stereotyped" is Lobo-ese for "authoritatively classified." I suppose the Daily Lobo didn't notice that it was a conservative administration that embedded journalists with its army in order to increase the volume of truths reaching the public, and conservatives who applauded the move, while liberals worried about the embeds getting too sympathetic with the troops and sending back the unpalatable. It would have been courteous to buttress accusations ("conservatives demand more government control") with examples. Those slips aside, this essay surely accomplished its ostensible purpose, of welcoming conservative contributors into the Daily Lobo's pages while refuting charges of immmoderation.

But the real purpose of my post is this: can anyone point me to the URL of the Standard Review? It sounds like something I might want to read.

Posted by Paul Jaminet at May 16, 2003 10:51 AM