Sunday, January 16, 2011

Douglas Hamilton goes off his meds

Demonstrating once again why Reuters is the object of so much criticism and the butt of so many jokes about "unbiased" reporting, correspondent Douglas Hamilton opens up with his feelings about Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.  A few choice excerpts from Hamilton's "news" story:
Some leaders would have fired him months ago for insubordination. But Avigdor Lieberman, denounced by critics as the Jewish Joe McCarthy, just wraps himself tighter in the flag...
... the abrasive scourge of "bleeding heart" peaceniks on Friday explained his lengthening enemies list...
Analysts say this explains a flagrantly maverick act, which has included telling the United Nations that Middle East peace is a distant dream, whatever [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu may say, and promoting a "loyalty oath" as a test to flush out the unpatriotic...
Critics say Netanyahu tolerates Lieberman -- who lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank -- at a cost to Israel's image, issuing limp responses to his verbal offensives that fall short of political disavowal...
Likud is "not the dictatorship of one opinion", he told the minister publicly, in a jibe at the democractic credentials of Lieberman's party, which critics say enjoys the unthinking support of one million of his fellow Russian-speaking Israelis...
Pundits suspect Lieberman's real aim is to prove to Netanyahu he can outflank him among an electorate that has moved steadily to the right, and so must be kept in the fold, or else.
Along with insults spewed at Lieberman, the Israeli Prime Minister, and the "unthinking" one million Russian-speaking Israelis, note how Hamilton deflects responsibility for his own hyperbolic editorializing to anonymous "analysts", "critics" and "pundits", a clear violation of the Reuters Handbook.

Apparently, Douglas Hamilton is mad as hell and not going to take it any more.  We feel for ya, Doug.

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