Kudos to the Dallas Morning News for stepping up to the plate, and showing its readership a photo of the head of poor Nick Berg being held aloft by one of the goons who savagely sawed it off. Because it is a family newspaper, the editors rightfully blacked—out the actual head itself. There is no need to inflict nightmares on the children.

But there is a need for the American public to understand the forces of barbarism which do indeed threaten to overwhelm us, and turn the world into a global caliphate, realizing the dream of almost a millennium and a half. The editorial accompanying the photograph lays out the reasoning quite well.

A substantial segment of the public has wised up to the insane double standards being applied by most of the media. When horrific crimes against Americans are committed, discretion reigns supreme. No bodies hurtling from the Twin Towers, no pictures of Daniel Pearl's head held aloft, please. But if homoerotic pornography created in an Iraqi prison might damage Bush, why the public has a right to know, harrumph!

The DMN is one of the biggest papers in America. Unfortunately, though, its readership includes relatively few members of the media elite. Its readership, however, can now be considered some of the best—informed among America's newspaper readers.

Posted by Thomas  05 13 04