TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE STEP BACK AT WAPO – AT 8:33 A.M. ET:  We follow with interest the progress, or regression, in major news organizations.  The Washington Post has made some announcements, as reported in The Politico:

The Washington Post, which already provides a home for Michael Gerson on its op-ed page, today featured a new weekly online column from another former Bush speechwriter, Marc Thiessen...

...In the past, Thiessen has written in support of torture, and is now making the rounds to promote his new book: “Courting Disaster: How the CIA Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama Is Inviting the Next Attack.”

That is grossly unfair, and, I'm sorry to say, a sign of the leftward drift I've noticed in The Politico in recent weeks, as the Obama administration comes under increasing political pressure.  For the record, Thiessen, an extremely well informed chap, has denied that he supports torture, but says that he supports interrogation techniques that fall short of torture.  One can argue definitions, but for The Politico to say bluntly that he "has written in support of torture" is indefensible journalism.

Another Post decision was disappointing:

The Post also added a liberal voice to the roster this week, giving Katrina vanden Heuvel a weekly online column.

Huh?  When did Katrina vanden Heuvel become a liberal?  The Politico misuses the term, which left-leaning journalists use far too often to describe anyone on the left.  Vanden Heuvel is, in my view, the irresponsible and borderline Marxist editor of The Nation, which is emphatically not a liberal publication, but a far-left magazine.  There is a difference.  The blurring of the difference between "liberal" and "far left" is one of the embarrassments of modern journalism. 

The Post's editorial page, and op-ed page, continue to evolve.  The opinion pages of The Post are far stronger than those of The New York Times, and, from what I've seen, do seek to give readers a variety of well-written viewpoints.  A strong welcome to Marc Thiessen.  Half a clap for vanden Heuvel.

The Post will also add centrist Matt Miller to its op-ed page, which is just fine. 

February 15, 2010