NY Times - Pravda on the Hudson.
Former NY Times reporter
Jayson Blair: "I believe that "The New York Times" newsroom does have a social change agenda, and it's very [leftist], it's certainly anti-conservative.
You could make the argument that it's a pro-[leftist], anti-conservative social change agenda, and Howell didn't just push it, but he made it obvious. It's normally more subtle and more hidden and...
O'REILLY: OK. So they wanted...
BLAIR: ... masked and cloaked.
O'REILLY: So they wanted a new society, more secular society, more liberal society. Is that fair to say?
BLAIR: That is fair to say.
O'REILLY: And if you didn't buy into that, what would happen?
BLAIR: I can't think of anyone there who didn't buy into that.
O'REILLY: All of them -- all right. Let me give you ... a real simple question.
BLAIR: All right. Go.
O'REILLY: If you walk into the newsroom and you said that "The O'Reilly Factor" is my favorite program, I love that O'Reilly guy...
BLAIR: Well, look at what...
O'REILLY: ... what would happen to you if you were a "New York Times" reporter?
BLAIR: I'd be laughed out of the newsroom. I mean, people would brand me as a neo-con, and, you know, they'd stop talking to me. They would...
O'REILLY: Really?
BLAIR: It would hurt my stories. People would say that I -- you know, there are a handful of people who have conservative...
O'REILLY: Yes, they've got a couple of token -- Safire and these guys.
BLAIR: Right. But they're outcasts ..
O'REILLY: So the prevailing wisdom inside the nation's most powerful newspaper, all right, is...
BLAIR: It's not open to middle America, let's put it that way, Bill.
O'REILLY: Right. It's a very sharp agenda that they push, not only in their editorial pages, but in their news pages.
BLAIR: Unfortunately yes.
O'REILLY: OK. And if you don't tow that line ... then your career at the "Times" is hurt?
BLAIR: Yes, yes.
O'REILLY: Are you telling me the truth, because they're going to say this guy lies -- this guy Blair lies about everything. He's trying to get us.
BLAIR: Look, Bill, you know, the first step for me -- you know, I lived a life of lies, I lived a double life. The first step for me in changing on the in -- I mean on the outside is changing on the inside, and that means coming clean. I'm telling...
O'REILLY: So you're telling me the truth.
BLAIR: ... you the truth. I mean, Bill, I am [leftist] to moderate personally. It does nothing for my political views to lay this point out, but it is the truth...
O'REILLY: Why does the publisher and all of -- why do they tolerate this kind of a -- you know, "The New York Times" has a proud tradition -- I mean has a proud tradition...
BLAIR: I mean...
O'REILLY: .., and now it has become an ideological hack. Why do they tolerate it?
BLAIR: Well, I mean I think that the new publisher -- there's a book being done right now about the years -- by Bill McGowan (search) who wrote, "Coloring the News" (search) about the years of Arthur Salzberger, Jr., as the publisher of the paper, and he has a [leftist] agenda that he wants to push, and...
O'REILLY: So it comes right down from the top.
BLAIR: ... and he thinks the fact that it's -- the newspaper is respected by so many other media outlets, it doesn't matter what they print .. ".
more BILL O'REILLY INTERVIEWS NY TIMES REPORTER JAYSON BLAIR.
Posted by Greg Ransom
