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Missile Defense

Technology has always found its greatest consumer in a nation's war and defense efforts. Since the last attempts at a "Star Wars" defense system, has technology changed considerably enough to make the latest Missile Defense initiatives more successful? Can such an application of science be successful? Is a militarized space inevitable, necessary or impossible?

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rshow55 - 04:30am May 29, 2003 EST (# 12151 of 12156)
Can we do a better job of finding truth? YES. Click "rshow55" for some things Lchic and I have done and worked for on this thread.

Harry Truman - and "the buck stops here."

http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?BuckStopsHere

Responsibility isn't just a key matter for the President of the United States. Right or wrong - as a matter of fact it has often been true that in the news business, in the United States "the buck stops with The New York Times."

When the NYT won't face things - there can be real losses. This thread hasn't been "a casual matter" for people involved for a long time. The TIMES knows some of the people involved - and something about the stakes.

I started New Years day on this board with 7177 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.jWwobfrbbNZ.0@.f28e622/8700

" I think this is a year where some lessons are going to have to be learned about stability and function of international systems, in terms of basic requirements of order , symmetry , and harmony - at the levels that make sense - and learned clearly and explicitly enough to produce systems that have these properties by design, not by chance."

Learning is hard - and maybe that's working out. But these are dangerous times. Stakes are high enough that checking to closure is important.

Does the NYT ever think it has a responsibility for that?

lchic - 05:10am May 29, 2003 EST (# 12152 of 12156)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

News Organizations Address Jayson Blair Controversy

RealAudio: Journalism experts discuss the Jayson Blair plagiarism controversy's impact on The New York Times and its repercussions in the American media.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/ 29th May

lchic - 05:14am May 29, 2003 EST (# 12153 of 12156)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

The Editor of the Rocky Mountain News (News Hour- above) said, as a buyer of news product, he'd found it difficult to communicate with, and get responses from the NYT.

Said they had no policy on authenticity.

Said he had to himself 'check' sources before using them - and those that didn't add up could not be used.

One item quoted was an article re 'shooting looters' that will be found here, somewhere way above. He didn't use it because it could not be sourced.

lchic - 05:16am May 29, 2003 EST (# 12154 of 12156)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

A further point pushed on this program (for real or pretence) was that there was 'shock' that Americans might not be able to 'trust' the media.

----

A further point on Americans was made regarding their wanting 'news' that 'fitted' with the current arrangement of their mind and thinking -- rather than taking news as truth and incorporating new truths into their mindset.

Maybe this related to whacko fundamentalists who still belive the earth is flat.

lchic - 05:26am May 29, 2003 EST (# 12155 of 12156)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

Terence Smith reports on how newspapers can prevent such fraud and fabrication ...

The Boston Globe is now investigating possible problems with stories Blair wrote when he was a summer intern for the paper in 1996 and 1997 ..

Executive editor Howell Raines said on the NewsHour Friday evening that the paper had no defense against someone like Blair ...

HOWELL RAINES: This system is not set up to catch someone who sets out to lie and to use every means at his or her disposal to put false information into the paper ...

TERENCE SMITH: But in its Sunday article, the paper quoted its publisher, Arthur Sulzberger, jr., as describing the Blair affair as a "huge black eye" for the paper, and conceding that it needed to improve lines of communication in its newsroom ...

there's a communication issue because throughout the piece, we note that problems with this reporter were not communicated to successive desks where they moved the reporter. I think there's an issue particularly at a place as large as the New York Times about communication. We're in the communications business but as we who are in it know all too well we often don't communicate that well -- particularly internally ...

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/jan-june03/blair2_05-12.html

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New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense