You might remember early last week when The New York Times saw another exodus of progressive subscribers after it reported on President Trump’s speech about the El Paso mass shooting and filed it under the perfectly accurate headline, “Trump Urges Unity vs. Racism.”
But as we said, subscribers went nuts, and the paper changed its later Metro edition to read, “Assailing Hate But Not Guns.” If enough of your readers complain about something, just change it like Wikipedia.
The problem, obviously, is that original headline made no attempt to blame the president for inciting the shooter with his racist rhetoric — it made it sound as though the president was denouncing racism and white supremacy, and that narrative will not stand.
Slate on Thursday published a partial transcript of a “crisis town hall meeting” at the paper with executive editor Dean Baquet, and staffers wanted to know why the paper wasn’t calling Trump a racist more often.
Transcript of New York Times in-house town hall. After Baquet opening remarks, first question: 'Could you explain your decision not to more regularly use the word 'racist' in reference to the president’s actions?' https://t.co/Ggoi6HHMSq
— Byron York (@ByronYork) August 15, 2019
??? = NYT
— Make USC Great Again (@ricnalli1) August 15, 2019
— III (@SNLIII) August 15, 2019
This is just another piece of evidence for the bias and dishonesty that come from much of the American media today and why so many Americans find they can no longer trust them.
— jcope (@jtcope4) August 15, 2019
Everyone knows that the New York Times is not interested in the truth. Don't waste time repeating their lies.
— Sandra Dotherow (@DotherowSandra) August 15, 2019
Recommended
???
— Diane R (@diane15501) August 15, 2019
So the NYT doesn’t use the term “racist” often enough when talking about Trump and his supporters? Is this some sort of joke question. That’s ALL they do except when they are calling them white supremacists or white nationalists.
— Toby T (@Tobizoid) August 15, 2019
If Trump really were a racist, wouldn't it be big news that "Trump condemns racism" and well worth a headline?
— Eric Rasmusen (@erasmuse) August 15, 2019
But he’d obviously be lying, see? That’s why the headline was so offensive.
So weak
— Name (@CPazzanese) August 15, 2019
Holy mother of God, if this is what passes for critical thinking in today's newsrooms, this country is in deep shit.
— Dandy Bydo (@BydoDandy) August 15, 2019
So what I get from this is, all the NYT writers really want to do is type the word RACIST anytime they feel something might be RACIST no matter how innocuous or not really RACIST it might be because RACIST! ?
— Feral Federalist ? (@Ferallist) August 15, 2019
Yeah, are you not subscribed to The Mainstream Media Daily Coordination Newsletter?
— PolitixFix (@PolitixFix) August 15, 2019
Exposes exactly what’s going on. Run from this Marxist bullshit.
— forbin (@spiralarchetect) August 15, 2019
Aren't they supposed to provide news?
— Sal (@citygunz95) August 15, 2019
The President is no more racist than he was a Russian agent.
The New York Times is the enemy of the republic.— patriot (@weareunitedto) August 15, 2019
What? How much more regular must the use be to satisfy the baying hounds?
Perhaps a later question should have been, "has the NYT filed as a PAC yet?"— Alex Lekas (@TheAlexLekas) August 15, 2019
The transcript is well worth reading, and Baquet almost seems to understand what his job is: “… Our readers and some of our staff cheer us when we take on Donald Trump, but they jeer at us when we take on Joe Biden. They sometimes want us to pretend that he was not elected president, but he was elected president. And our job is to figure out why, and how, and to hold the administration to account. If you’re independent, that’s what you do.”
If you’re independent.
Related:
UH OH: NY Times’ Tuesday front page HL about Trump’s address to nation sends Resistance brigade over the edge https://t.co/EDvoIurgj0
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 6, 2019
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