The political tone of U.S. coverage in the London Financial Times usually falls somewhere between that of The Washington Post and The New York Times – that is to say mainstream Democratic tending to liberal. Most of the analysts the paper quotes are from Democratic or liberal institutions and it often knocks conservative viewpoints. So it is perhaps not surprising that a reader has finally rebelled. In a letter to the editor published September 9, Jeff Lancaster of San Francisco correctly takes the paper sharply to task for badly misreporting the White House’s dismissal of Van Jones, President Obama’s “green jobs czar.”
The FT apparently did not know that Jones, a self-described communist, harbored numerous erratic, radical left-wing views, including the belief that the Bush government was involved in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The paper’s report said he had resigned for criticizing past abuses of congressional majorities by Republicans – hardly a major crime in the Obama White House.
Mr. Lancaster asks: “Would it be too hard to find a single Republican to work as an editor at the FT so that you can run every story past that person just to make sure there isn’t anything that’s obviously complete rubbish?” His wish is unlikely to be fulfilled.
