The Failing New York Times Issues an Apology to it’s Readers for Biased Reporting
By Amy Moreno
TRUTHFEED
November 12, 2016
The New York Times, along with the rest of the North Korea-style propaganda media, made a mockery of journalism by shamelessly shilling for Hillary Clinton.
Now that she has lost, the media is terrified that they’re doomed (they are) and are issuing apologies for their “biased reporting.”
The Gray Lady feels the agony of political defeat — in her reputation and in her wallet. After taking a beating almost as brutal as Hillary Clinton’s, the New York Times on Friday made an extraordinary appeal to its readers to stand by her.
The publisher’s letter to subscribers was part apology and part defense of its campaign coverage, but the key takeaway was a pledge to do better. Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. admitted the paper failed to appreciate Donald Trump’s appeal.
“After such an erratic and unpredictable election there are inevitable questions: Did Donald Trump’s sheer unconventionality lead us and other news outlets to underestimate his support among American voters?”
While insisting his staff had “reported on both candidates fairly,” he also vowed that the paper would “rededicate ourselves to the fundamental mission of Times journalism. That is to report America and the world honestly, without fear or favor.” Ah, there’s the rub. Had the paper actually been fair to both candidates, it wouldn’t need to rededicate itself to honest reporting. And it wouldn’t have been totally blindsided by Trump’s victory.
Instead, because it demonized Trump from start to finish, it failed to realize he was onto something. And because the paper decided that Trump’s supporters were a rabble of racist rednecks and homophobes, it didn’t have a clue about what was happening in the lives of the Americans who elected the new president.
Sulzberger’s letter alludes to this, promising that the paper will “striv[e] always to understand and reflect all political perspectives and life experiences in the stories that we bring to you.” But bad or sloppy journalism doesn’t fully capture the Times sins.
Not after it announced that it was breaking it rules of coverage because Trump didn’t deserve fairness. As media columnist Jim Rutenberg put it in August, most Times reporters saw Trump “as an abnormal and potentially dangerous candidate” and thus couldn’t be even-handed.
That wasn’t one reporter talking — it was policy. The standards, developed over decades to force reporters and editors to be fair and to build public trust, were effectively eliminated as too restrictive for the Trump phenomenon.
Sorry, no dice. You’re done, New York Times.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Shit, for a moment I thought the headline read ‘eradicate.’ No such luck, damn it.
2 comments:
Newspapers in print are a dying business. Trump called the NYT out several times about their biased reporting. He was right. The NYT knows they fucked up because Trump won. If Hilary had won we wouldn't have heard a peep from them.
The N Y TIMES is a sick, sad joke of a newspaper. They would be better off taking nothing but ads for topless bars and escort services. The only people who read it for actual news are people who are too stupid to actually think for themselves. They became an arm of the Democrat party years ago. I don't think there is any way they can claw their way back to respectability. Right now it's best use is to wrap fish and line the bottom of bird cages.
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