The New York Times and the Beirut protests. On the front page, the NYT has a picture (not showing any crowds) under the headline: "Protesters Swamp Beirut...". The picture inside also has no scene of a crowd. Only the NYT can manage that. Certainly, the March 14th crowds were not described as "swamping" the city. Also, while I think that Michael Slackman's coverage of Lebanon has been least biased of NYT's coverage in the last two years, I did not like this: "There are government supporters who appear afraid and threatened." That raises the question: who is threatening whom in Lebanon? But I like this passage: "Hezbollah and its allies have managed for 10 days to control the center of Beirut with a loud, peaceful, organized protest. In many ways, Hezbollah has adopted a strategy that has been cheered by the White House in the past, in places like Ukraine, and even Lebanon, leaning on large, peaceful crowds to force unpopular governments to resign and pave the way for elections. But this time Washington and its allies have said the protest amounts to a coup d’état, fueling charges that the United States supports democratic practices only when its allies are winning."