The New York Times yesterday declared, “U.N. Report Cites U.S. and Japan as the ‘Least Generous Donors’.” Of course, by the fifth paragraph the Times gets around to telling us that the U.S. is actually the world’s largest donor — the study measures aid as a proportion of national income. The Times story says nothing about private giving, which in the U.S. is quite high by international standards.
This story in the Independent has a lot more background on the U.N. report — including the political context. Rather than something to be taken seriously, this is just the latest salvo an ongoing political struggle between the U.S. and the U.N. That context is totally lacking from the NY Times account.
Claudia Rosett has more on the U.N. circus.