Today's New York Times has finally been compelled to address the oil—for—food scandal in a prominent way, by giving the story a tiny foothold on the front—page and more expansive coverage within the first section. Whereas, many news outlets have directly blamed the program's administrator—Benon Sevan— for corruption in the program and have implicated Kojo Annan (the son of the UN Secretary General) in possible acts of malfeasance, the Times take is quite different.
 
In the lengthy article, the journalists seem to blame everyone at the UN for any possible corruption and in doing so seemingly absolves everyone of responsibility. Apparently, these "investigative journalists" believe they are protecting the image and integrity of the Secretary General by refusing to point the finger at the few culprits who are ultimately responsible for these problems:the boss of the program (Sevan) and the boss of the UN (Koffi Annan). If this scandal were occurring in the Bush White House or in a corporation, the Times would  be  more targeted in their criticism—they would name names.

Posted by Ed  8 13 04